Chapter 22

Pamusha—Home

Priscilla opened her eyes long before the sun came out. She stared at the ceiling, excited and nervous about the day ahead. She couldn’t believe how time had flown. Smiling, she turned and looked at Chamu, who snored lightly beside her. He slept so soundly because he worked so hard during the day. Lately he seemed busier than usual. As she closed her eyes again she heard tiny feet running towards the bedroom. A bigger smile filled her face, and before she could get out of bed a little girl in a long pink nightdress flung her bedroom door open.

“Mummy. Mummy. Wake up,” Rudo said. “Daddy. Daddy.”

Chamu woke up and immediately smiled. She walked up to his side of the bed, and he picked her up and put her on the bed. Rudo put her arms around him.

“Do you know what today is?” Rudo looked at Chamu. Her eyes were wide and questioning. Priscilla watched her adorable face, warmed by the love on Chamu’s face. Rudo always made him smile no matter what time of day it was.

“Sunday?”

“No,” the child said.

They played the game for a few minutes then Rudo started tickling Chamu.

“It’s my first day of school,” she cried. He tickled her ribs and she fell back in fits of laughter.

“All right, you two, enough playing around,” Priscilla said, getting out of bed. “You have to take a bath.”

“Me?” Chamu asked.

“You, too, sir, but mainly the little lady. She thinks she can go to school without bathing,” Priscilla said.

“I bathed yesterday,” Rudo quipped. Priscilla loved her voice. It was a younger version of Aunt Mukai’s, so husky and sweet for such a little girl. She called it a honey and Sprite voice; it was sweet, but with the fizz that tickled her heart every time she heard it.

“I know you did, but today is the first day. You have to smell nice. Come, I’ll use bubble bath in our Jacuzzi tub.”

“Yeah!” Rudo excitedly jumped into Priscilla’s arms. While Priscilla ran the water in the huge tub, she could hear Chamu’s cell phone ringing. She swirled the bubbles around with her hand, one ear intent on the bedroom.

“Why are you calling me so early? I told you not to call me at home.” Chamu’s accusing voice carried clearly to her suspicious ears. Priscilla realized she wasn’t supposed to be hearing the conversation.

When she left the bathroom to get Rudo’s towels Chamu immediately stopped talking. He looked warily at her first and then gave her an uneasy smile, phone still pressed to his ear. Priscilla walked out of the bedroom, anxiety filling her heart.

Rudo was ready and dressed in thirty minutes. Priscilla couldn’t get enough of looking at her baby in the green school uniform, long brown socks and brown shoes. Her hair was neatly braided in cornrows at Mukai’s salon and she wore silver studs in her ears.

“You are the most beautiful first-grader in the country,” Priscilla said, holding back tears. Her little girl was going to school.

“Thanks, Mummy. But can we go now?” Rudo said.

They walked into the kitchen. The maid, Maidei, had made a full breakfast, and also a lunch for Rudo. She was a young woman that Chamu’s mother had found for them and trained before Rudo was born. She had been with them for six years. Priscilla treated her like family, paying her more than the going rate and training her with cooking and sewing courses. Maidei loved Priscilla like a big sister.

Her daughter was going to those schools she had only dreamed about. Rudo had the world before her, and Chamu was seeing to it that she got the best of everything.

After eating breakfast, they all stepped out into the warm sunshine. The gardener, Lovemore, busily wiped down the silver Mercedes, making it shiny and spotless. Priscilla watched him jump around like a puppy trying to please Chamu and make sure that everything was perfect. Lovemore adored Chamu since he moved into their servant quarters three years ago. He had been selling wares on his bicycle when he accidentally swerved in Chamu’s way. After talking to him and hearing his struggles to sell fruits and vegetables around the city and failing to support his three children, Chamu had given him a job. Lovemore was delighted. At first he brought his wife to live with them, but after a few months he had decided to send her to a village somewhere close to Rusape to live with his family. When Chamu explained it, Priscilla was not impressed but had no choice but to accept it. How did Lovemore manage, only seeing his three children once or twice a year?

The early morning sun sparkled on the windows, sending shards of rays out to greet the family. Their sleepy dog lay on the corner of the wall, gazing at them lazily.

“Bye, Bruno! I’m going to school,” Rudo called to the sleeping mixed breed. Bruno just twitched his ears and burrowed further into the wall. Priscilla giggled. That dog was the laziest animal she had ever seen. He was supposed to guard them at night, but she was sure he would do nothing if intruders came.

“The car looks great, Lovemore,” Chamu commented, inspecting it.

“I’m glad you like it. I’ll take care of yours, madam. It’s not looking bad, but I can polish it up.” The last was directed to Priscilla, and she thanked him. It had taken her a while to get used to having people doing everything for her, cooking, cleaning and washing cars. If her mother could see this, she would not be amused. Monica believed in hard work more than breathing.

They drove to school and dropped off Rudo together. Priscilla tried to hide her tears as Rudo walked into the classroom confidently. The teacher, Miss Bradwell, was a tiny woman with short blonde hair and pale blue eyes. She looked kind, and that was very important to Priscilla. Her only concern was she hardly saw any other black children as she scanned the class. She felt better when another little black girl arrived just as the bell rang.

She looked at Chamu, who held a video camera. Rudo looked comfortable, happy, and even waved goodbye to them as they left. Rudo was doing better than the other children, who cried and clung to their parents.

“She’s going to be all right,” Chamu said as he opened the car door for her. “She’s a strong girl.”

“I know.” Priscilla wiped her tears and put her head back in the car.

“I won’t be able to meet you for lunch today,” Chamu said.

“Oh. I thought we could celebrate her first day together with a nice lunch,” Priscilla said.

“Why not dinner?” Chamu asked. “We can book a table at the Miekles.”

“No, dinner would keep us out late and I’d like to be home early tonight. This is such a big day for Rudo, she’ll probably go to sleep early,” Priscilla said. “I’d like to be home to hear all about her day and to tuck her in.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Chamu said.

Priscilla didn’t comment. Lately something had been preoccupying him. Somebody kept calling the house and speaking to him even late at night, but he would never tell her who it was.

Priscilla was still unsettled that weekend when Chamu left the house very early and didn’t call her the whole day. He had always been so attentive, so romantic, and Saturdays were usually reserved for their fun outings or dinners at fancy restaurants. Even Rudo was puzzled.

“Where are we going today?”

“I don’t know, my dear. What would you like to do? You and I can go and visit gogo.”

“Can Daddy come?” Rudo asked.

“He’s not here right now, and I can’t reach him on his cell phone. Let me call gogo and then we can go and visit her,” Priscilla said.

She called her mother, but when Monica finally picked up she seemed to be in a hurry. “I have to go to a meeting at church. I’ll talk to you tonight, my dear. Bye.”

She really didn’t want to spend time with Chamu’s mother. That woman still acted strange around her, but Priscilla couldn’t put a finger on the cause. Priscilla felt that Lina didn’t like her at all. Lina hadn’t warmed up to Rudo, either. It didn’t make sense. It was almost as if she knew about Rudo, but surely Chamu would not have said anything. She would go and see her out of duty and because it made Chamu happy. Lina always had something to complain about when they visited. She was abrupt with Rudo and didn’t like the way Priscilla cooked or washed dishes.

“When you cook sadza you need to make sure that it has the right texture. Yours is either too hard or too soft,” Lina had said the last time she visited.

When they finished eating the sadza, which was too hard this time, Priscilla walked to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Lina didn’t want her servant to do anything when Priscilla was there. The maid could take a break or even go and watch television with the kids while Priscilla worked alone in the kitchen.

“I can see a streak in my special pot. You need to let it soak for a few minutes before washing, or use this to get rid of the marks,” Lina said, taking a tub of sand and giving it to her. “Don’t put those glasses there. Glasses need to be dried immediately or they’ll have marks on them.”

By the time she left the house, Priscilla felt horrible, as if she had no brain and couldn’t do anything right. Her head ached and her manicured nails had lost their gloss. Her feet hurt from standing and walking from the kitchen to the dining room.

Remembering the negative emotions she got when at Lina’s house, Priscilla still reached for her cell phone to call Lina, but it rang before she could dial her mother in-law’s number. It was Chamu.

“Hi, Mai Rudo. How about I come home and pick you up and visit some friends who are having a housewarming party?”

“Who are they?” Priscilla glanced at her daughter, who was playing with her dolls on the living room floor. The house was all Chamu. He had decorated most of it before she even moved in. Nothing much had changed since her visit. It was the same house he lived in when they met; Priscilla had tried to add some touches, but it was hard. Lina had chosen most of the furniture, and it was all her taste of laces and frills and flowery curtains. Priscilla was still waiting to get the energy to redo the whole house.

“Can Rudo come? Will there be children there?”

“Yes, of course she can come. I’ll be there soon,” he said and rang off.

Priscilla dressed in a cream cotton flared skirt and a long red and cream top that she bought when they were in Paris. She was finishing the final touches on her simple makeup when she heard Chamu drive in. She quickly smoothed Rudo’s hair, which was in cornrows, and dressed her in jeans and a flowery pink top. When they left the bedroom, Chamu was just getting into the living room.

“You look beautiful,” Chamu said, giving her one long look.

“Thank you,” she replied, trying to see something in his eyes. He did look different somehow. There was a light of excitement in his eyes that Priscilla couldn’t place, and he seemed harried. He was always busy, but lately he seemed even more preoccupied.

“Well, let’s go,” Chamu said.

About twenty minutes later, they arrived at the gated community where she could glimpse a few huge residences above in the hills. There was a security guard at the gate.

“Wow. Who lives here? Government ministers?” Priscilla asked as she looked around. One house they passed was so big it looked like a hotel. It even had a lake and a lake house, and really only people in government or with connections in government could live like that.

“No. Just wealthy people with good taste,” Chamu said with a grin.

“Daddy, look at that house,” Rudo cried, pointing to her right.

“You like it?” Chamu asked her.

“Yes. It’s nice,” Rudo said, her eyes wide with wonder. They had visited people with lovely homes before, but none as big and ostentatious as those. After winding up the road a little there came into view an incredible cream house with palm trees lining up the driveway all the way up to the mansion, a hundred meters away.

Priscilla gasped as she stared at it. It was like arriving at a tropical island.

“Wow. This is some kind of heaven,” she said. Chamu grinned.

He rang the intercom.

“Who is it?” a male voice asked.

“Chamu,” he said and watched as the gates yawned open. There were a few cars parked in the driveway, and more in front of the three-car garage.

“It must be a very small party,” Priscilla said. She looked at the surrounding lush green grass and pond with white ducks. She particularly loved the stone Shona sculptures. She remembered how she had always wanted a garden with a few Shona sculptures, and was annoyed that somebody else had copied her idea.

While she was looking around Chamu came to her side of the car and opened her door. Priscilla and Rudo stepped out, both staring at the house and surrounding gardens.

“What do these people do?” Priscilla asked, walking with Chamu towards the door. “I’m guessing government. They are the only people who seem to have such money.”

“Not government, but they are into many things,” Chamu said. He knocked on the front door and a waiter in white and black clothes and a bow tie opened the door.

She stepped into the darkened room. Just then the lights in the room came on.

”Surprise!” Priscilla’s jaw dropped in shock and Rudo jumped behind Chamu, stunned. They were surrounded by about twenty people.

Priscilla saw her mother and Oliver were there, and, at closer assessment, she saw that she knew everybody gathered in the barely furnished room. There were tall tables and stools covered in white tablecloths and a bouquet of flowers on each one.

“What’s going on?” Priscilla asked, looking at Chamu with tears of shock. “It’s not my birthday.”

“I know. This is your new home,” Chamu said, spreading his arms to encompass the marble floors and crystal chandeliers.

“What?” Priscilla gasped, and tears of shock tumbled from her eyes.

“It’s your new home,” Rutendo said. Even her sister knew about it. “Chamu has been working on this for over a year. He didn’t want you to know.”

“He what?” Priscilla cried and laughed at the same time. Chamu drew her to him in a hug, and her mother walked towards her and embraced her.

“It’s a beautiful house,” Monica said, smiling. There seemed to be genuine joy in her mother’s eyes, and it made Priscilla feel even happier.

Aunt Mukai came forward, too. “Congratulations, my dear. You have an incredible husband.”

After the initial shock, and after everybody finished congratulating her, the party began and Priscilla was able to enjoy herself. Priscilla still could not believe it all as Chamu took her on a tour of the house. It was completed, he told her, but the furnishings would be up to her. They went up the winding staircase to the bedrooms that all had attached bathrooms; two of them had a Jacuzzi tub and huge separate shower. Their bedroom took her breath away with its lush white carpet, sunken tiny lounge and the most incredible gold and cream bathroom with brown and gold tiles, a shower that looked like a tropical rain forest with a skylight and a huge bathtub that looked like a swimming pool.

“What do you think?” Chamu’s voice was close to her ear.

“Wow! It’s-it’s amazing,” Priscilla whispered, running her hands over the marble sink. She touched his cheek as she marvelled at the beauty surrounding her and tried to contain it all inside. She remembered her friend Julia’s words just after she got married to Chamu.

“Chamu is nice now, but wait until a year. Then he will show his true colors. My mother always tells me that he who is courting bows down, he raises his head when married.”

Priscilla shook her head at the memory, glad that Julia had been so wrong. Chamu was in a class all his own: a husband who grew more devoted with time.

The kitchen had light tile with brown flecks, and the cabinets were a deep solid oak with stainless steel appliances. The three living rooms were all different but all beautifully finished in deep lush carpet. Priscilla took in the fireplaces, the sliding French doors that overlooked the garden and felt like she was dreaming.

After the tour, Priscilla ate with her family and Chamu gave everybody the details of how he tried to conceal the house from her.

“The last few days were the hardest because there was so much to be done to finish off, and finally I left the planning of the party to my secretary, who kept calling me day and night with questions and problems. I was beginning to feel that she was getting suspicious. Many times, I nearly gave up and just wished I could tell her what I was up to, but I think it was worth waiting to see the look on your face today, Pri. It was worth it.”

“I think I only suspected something this week. Before that I never imagined anything.”

“I used to take her around to look at houses and see what she liked. I knew you liked palm trees and Shona sculptures,” Chamu said, putting his arm around her. Priscilla smiled, nodding her head.

“This home is more beautiful than I would have imagined. Thank you,” Priscilla said sincerely and put her arm around him.

Chamu continued to relate how he had masterminded and visualized that very day and all the problems he had encountered, making everybody laugh with joy.

Priscilla laughed, remembering how suspicious she had been. Rudo, after the initial shock, was running up and down the stairs and had already claimed her room. Priscilla looked around at her smiling sisters talking to her beaming mother. Vimbai was without Gilbert, of course.

Mukai sat chatting to Oliver, but they were both smiling and Mukai was nodding to something Oliver was saying. Priscilla held her glass of sparkling champagne and then met Sidney’s eyes. Chamu’s younger brother seemed pleased also. Finally, Priscilla locked eyes with Lina. The look in her mother-in-law’s eyes made the blood in her veins freeze. Lina stared at her with unmistakeable anger and hatred. Priscilla tried to shake off her stare and bring a smile to her face, but Lina’s eyes continued to be hard and unfriendly.

Priscilla rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling chilled, and turned and walked away.