Chapter 7

Vimba—Hope

The rain of the night before was gone and the sun shone brightly and chased away the dark clouds. The warmth filled Priscilla with hope as she leaned back in her aunt’s car and watched the morning traffic. Mukai now knew all that had happened the night before and was just as upset as Unashe.

“What time do you start?” Mukai asked her.

“Eight. What about you?”

“You know me, Pri. I start when I get there. The joys of having your own business,” she said, her voice husky.

“Lucky you,” Priscilla said with feeling. She looked around at the houses they drove past. All seemed very secure with high walls and gates. Leaving the quiet residential areas, they entered the busy wide roads that lead to the city center. Priscilla could see the tall buildings in the distance.

The first major building was the gold Sheraton hotel that rose like a majestic jewel in the city skyline. Beyond that was the ruling government party headquarters, which had been recently finished. It didn’t look that wonderful from the outside. It echoed the drab uniformity of most government buildings except for the symbol of the party, a black cork emblazoned into the grey walls.

The numerous traffic lights now slowed the traffic flowing into the city center. Impatient drivers hooted and rushed pedestrians were forced to run across the road as the drivers didn’t give them way. Mukai double-parked and waited for Priscilla to leave the car when they reached Anderson House.

“Thank you, Aunty. I will return these soon,” she said, looking at the clothes Mukai had given her.

“No hurry. Now, will you be okay?”

“I think so. I’m just excited about my new flat.”

“It’s exciting, isn’t it? I felt the same way the first time I had my own place. Anything is possible after that.”

“I feel the same. I better go.”

“Okay. I’ll get your clothes for you,” Mukai said as Priscilla opened the door.

“Thank you. But please don’t get into a fight with Baba on my account.”

“Okay. But I was looking forward to a good fight,” she said, and they both smiled.

Priscilla was about to step out when her aunt gave her a wad of money. She was about to refuse when her aunt spoke.

“You don’t even have your handbag. Take it. How will you get home? What will you eat?”

She felt tears sting her eyes. She recalled how upset Mukai had been when she told her about her night’s ordeal. She was grateful for both her and Unashe. “Thank you, Aunty.”

Priscilla stood there for a while watching her aunt’s car merge into the traffic. People rushed past her as she tried to compose herself, and she only moved when she realized people were looking at her strangely.

She got into the elevator, which took her to the sixth-floor reception area.

“Good morning, Priscilla,” the young receptionist, Mavis, greeted her in Shona.

Priscilla responded and then walked into the office. No one was in yet, and as soon as she sat down the phone rang.

“Priscilla. It’s Mr Tengani,” Mavis said.

“Thank you. I’ll take it,” Priscilla responded.

“Hello, Priscilla. How are you?” he asked in a cheerful, happy voice. Priscilla wondered how he could sound so upbeat so early in the morning.

Priscilla really tried to match his enthusiasm, but she realized she probably sounded only slightly awake. She forced herself to sit up straighter. Mr. Tengani was an important client. She tried very hard to inject some enthusiasm into her voice.

“Good morning. I’m fine, and you?”

“Well, thanks. How is work?” he asked.

“Fine, fine. And how is business?”

“It’s going well,” Chamu said, picturing her sitting in her office. He really was excited to be talking to her. He felt his heart begin to race as her voice caressed his ears. A favorite memory of her always came into his mind as he remembered her many years ago in high school. She’d been much younger, but still as hauntingly beautiful. She had been on the high school netball team and though he never watched the sport, he remembered her walking to a practice in her short maroon games skirt.

She had stopped, and, while the others chatted, she had smiled at him and greeted him first. Being shy and awkward, he had only managed to say hello to her and nothing else as he watched her smile. Her eyes and everything about her remained etched on his mind forever.

Since then she’d been his ideal woman. He had never met any woman that he didn’t compare with her. She was the only woman who could fulfil all his dreams. He came back to the present when Priscilla asked him if there was anything in particular he wanted.

“Oh, yes. I know you are still finishing off the rental car system but I was wondering if we could organize the training of some of my accountants to use your new accounts package.”

“That can be arranged. Would you like me to get hold of our training department and talk to them or can you give them a call?” Priscilla asked. That wasn’t really her area, and though she had studied the package herself there were other people employed to do the training. She just developed software for specialized clients and sometimes adapted existing packages to suit her particular client. Though she didn’t really like teaching, sometimes her job required that she train her clients on the new software she had developed. To her that was the least fun part of her job.

“I’ll call them, then. I thought you did everything,” he teased her.

She tried to smile. “Not yet.”

“Have you made any plans for lunch then?”

“I actually can’t go out for lunch today. I have another deadline which I have to work on,” Priscilla said, tapping a pen on her desk calendar.

“Maybe another time?”

“Maybe,” she said and ended the conversation. After she hung up, she stared at her computer for a while. She had so much work to do and she knew that would keep her mind off her personal problems. Julia, her colleague and friend, soon arrived full of exciting stories and laughter. She lived near Rutendo and always seemed to know what was going on with her neighbors.

“Do you remember that girl I told you about? The one going out with the married man?”

Priscilla looked blank. She really couldn’t keep up with all the names.

“That one, Tarisai. The one who is a receptionist at Dairyboard?”

“Oh, yes. I remember her.”

“Well, last night the wife caught Tarisai and her husband together. She was screaming and hitting Tarisai. The husband was also in the flat. They were making so much noise.”

The day went fast as they had meetings with the director, and, of course, Julia would always entertain them all while they worked. Finally, at 5 p.m., Priscilla was ready to go home.

Home.

Priscilla thought of what her home had been until a day before. She hadn’t been happy there at all.

Joining the rushing crowds as they left their offices, Priscilla stood for hours in the queues until she finally got onto a bus. The bus was crowded with all sorts of rushed and impatient people. There were middle-class workers who couldn’t afford cars and women carrying their babies on their backs and even those who sold their wares in the streets. It was stuffy and smelly and Priscilla was grateful she had sat by the window and kept her eyes outside away from the man, named Jealous, who was trying to strike up a conversation with her.

The bus stop was a short walk away from her new flat. She got there in about ten minutes. She climbed the polished wooden stairs and got to her door with her keys in hand. The key gave her trouble initially, but soon she had opened the door.

She stood looking at the bare room with patterned wooden tiles on the floor. She loved what she saw, even though it was going to need a lot of work.

“Well, this is my new home,” she said, trying to smile even though she felt more like crying. Her voice seemed to echo back to her in the still empty room.

She walked towards the side glass door, which opened onto the balcony. She unlocked it and stepped onto the small empty space. From there she could see the gate and out to the street where the traffic moved and pedestrians rushed home to their families. The sun was setting, and some headlights from the traffic flashed at her. Priscilla stood there for a long time taking in her new life.

When it was getting cooler, she walked back into the house and went into the bedroom. She liked the big space and beautiful built-in pine cupboards. The bathroom came off the bedroom and was all white with a decent size white bathtub. As she opened the medicine chest with a mirror, she heard a strange sound. Feeling frightened she listened intently and heard it again.

Fearfully, Priscilla walked into the lounge and realized that what she had heard was a knock.

“Who is it?” she asked furtively.

“It’s me. Unashe.”

Smiling, she opened the door and there he stood holding blankets piled up to cover his face.

“Oh. You,” she cried and pulled two of the top blankets from him and let him into the house.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, smiling broadly as she closed the door.

“I came to check on you,” he said, looking around at the flat.

“Thanks. But I’m fine,” she said.

“Fine. Where were you going to sleep?” he asked, then looked at the floor. “Here?”

“Well, I hadn’t thought of that yet. Okay, I had, but I hadn’t come up with any ideas,” she said, though she was smiling.

“Well, I was thinking about it all day,” Unashe said, still holding the blankets. “Where should we put them?”

“Well, the floor is quite clean. Let’s put them in the corner.”

They did that and then stood facing each other.

“Thank you Una. You are a life saver,” she said, smiling up at him. He acted like somebody who wasn’t serious about people or their problems, but he was one person who didn’t just talk about caring, but actually did something.

“It was no problem,” he said, still looking at her. Her eyes took him in gratefully. He wore a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and Adidas shoes. His defined and handsome features showed his concern and his dark brown eyes said a lot, though it seemed he chose not to say it aloud.

“Are you okay, though?” he asked her, strong arms folded in front of his chest. Priscilla nodded, moving to sit on the window ledge.

“I’m fine.”

He came and sat next to her. “I mean about what happened yesterday.”

“I’m trying not to think about it. There is actually more you don’t know about,” Priscilla said, looking ahead. She was biting her lower lip as she always did when she was worried.

“Tell me about it,” Unashe said gently, his deep voice soft and filled with concern. He couldn’t imagine anything worse than what she had gone through the night before.

She started talking about the wedding and what she had overheard. She related the complete shocking story to him, leaving nothing out.

“I should have known something. All these years he would look at me as if he hated me. I should have guessed,” she said.

“There is no way you could have known, Cilla. He had no right to treat you like that. So you are certain he is not your father?”

“Yes. I told you what your mother said. It is sad, but true. She even knew,” Priscilla said with a tired voice. She looked at him and caught him looking at her with so much sympathy.

“So who is your father?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed and looked back at him. Unashe reached for her hand and gently held it. It was so comforting, and she felt herself getting warm. She was not used to this.

“I’m sorry, Cilla,” he said and slowly enfolded her in his arms. Surprised at first, Priscilla soon found that she felt comforted by Unashe’s embrace.