Love, Marriage and Divorce

LOVE, MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE: CHAPTER FIVE

[Calvin]

Calvin sat with his friends at Skhebo's house. They gathered outside the yard, talking nonsense about school.

"Mr. Phuthego told us to write two compositions about A Midsummer Night's Dream, and to bring it in on Monday," complained one of his friends.

"I told you going into literature was hard, but you never want to believe me," said Calvin, comforting his friend as tried not to laugh.

"Can you imagine reading old ass books like those ones?" asked another one.

"I don't know, ask him," replied Calvin, pointing to his friend.

"At least I won't have a problem with writing them now, since he showed up,"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Him, the new transfer," he looked up and saw the boy he saw earlier at school, now wearing a Nike tracksuit. "The principal's son,"

"That's Ms. Walter's son?" he asked, surprised.

He tried to deny it, but he could not help but admit he was cute, and only seeing him for a few seconds at school, he was curious to find out more about him.

"Who's he here with?"

"His classmate, the won who fell when he was running to first base and lost," they all laughed in unison, remembering the embarrassing moment.

"Why would the principal's son be friends with such a loser?" asked Calvin.

"It's Mr. Phuthego's class, they're all losers," they all laughed again, while Calvin sneaked another look at the mysterious boy.

"Can't have the principal's son be seen with such mediocre people. I'll have a chat with him tomorrow," he whistled at the boy, who immediately turned to his direction and Calvin gave him a nod, since he was close enough he could see him, and he returned it before being called by someone in the car, and left with them.

Getting home at around eight at night, he walked in the sitting room and found his sister, Carol, sitting quietly. He greeted her, to no response from her. He went to look at her and saw she was crying, seeing something on her phone.

"What's wrong?"

'It's your brother," she wept, giving him the phone.

He looked at the message, and saw a lengthy paragraph from Carlos, who had disappeared from the city for a month. He explained that he was a wanted man, along with his friends. He was afraid of revealing more in case his messages were being recorded by the police.

"Did you tell Dimakatso?" he asked. He couldn't wait for an answer and called, her.

"What is it?" she walked in from her bedroom.

"It's Carlos," her face dropped and rushed and sat next to them. She looked at Carol's face, and saw how pained it looked.

The three of them sat quietly, sadly digested the heart-breaking message.

"What did I do wrong with this child? Is it our mother's fault?" asked Carol, his older sister who was responsible for three of her siblings.

"It can't be your fault, he's had a rough time since mama has gone,"

"Yeah, we all are. He'll come back to us, I trust him to do so," he said, confident.

Underneath that tough exterior, he was scared at how much trouble he's in. And knowing how dangerous his friends were.

********

[Dim-Sum]

Dimakatso was having a bad day. Ever since she read Carlos' message last night. Even getting up in the morning was a force on its own. She missed hearing his voice, seeing him everyday after school and them play fighting with her brothers.

Ever since he left, she had noticed a different energy within her siblings. She would always find Carol, day dreaming, or would find her absent minded.

They never really talked about Carlos even before, and by then, when he was still present in their lives, he created such a volatile situation within the family, Dim-Sum was not there when he left, finding an empty space in his small bedroom.

"I was out with you guys when he left," she started as she sat with her friends in class, and waited for the teacher to arrive. "I was mad with my sister about wanting to go out and Carlos was giving her shit for something he wanted to do. I'm sure she was so stressed with dealing with that,"

"I'm so sorry," said Naledi, comforting her.

"I almost forgot Carlos was still at school and would wait for him to come home, and it hurts remembering what he's done,"

"I'm sure he'll return, the police in this country are useless sometimes," said Naledi.

"But what about when they are useful, he could get arrested. I don't want him to go to prison," she sobbed, and quickly gathered herself, forgetting she was in class.

"We can go get ice-cream at the mall after school, you need to feel better," said Donald, who sat in front of her. She gave him a small smile, appreciative of the love.

Later that morning in Chemistry, she received a message, which vibrated in her blazer, which surprised her, thinking the phone was going to ring in class. She gave Donald who was now sitting next to her. She patted her chest, on her phone, a signal they both knew whenever she gets a message. He lifted the textbook in front of her, took out her phone and was turned off by her older gentleman texting her, as she was not in the mood, she replied she was wanted to get ice-cream with her friends, to which he replied rather quickly and agreed to taking them.