When Two Elephants Fight

Chapter 2

Days passed and every monthend my mother would go to town for the maintenance money. She would bring me some rock buns, Danish cream buns and lots of fish enough to fill up our fireplace. I was very happy with these developments especially the improvements on our diet. Thanks to the "messiah I got to eat things l didnt even know their existence. " I guess this is how it feels to be a teacher's child", l thought to myself. My mother also bought me a new school bag and some shoes. By the way l already received a uniform from those donors so it was minus one problem for my mother. I was very happy with my new look. Though the money was not enough to buy bread and butter everyday for my lunch at school as l had hoped, it was enough to have some bread during the first days of the month. After all we were given porridge at school during breaktime so lunchbox wasn't that necessary. I was used to the porridge at school though.I always thank God for finally answering my prayers especially my mother's prayers because she wasn't working for people anymore. We had enough money for the needed pesticides and food so we were good.

One monthend my mother came back from town with lots of papers and was busy writing a long list on the papers. I asked what that was all about and she said the lawyer told her that its possible to apply for a raise in the maintenance fee she was receiving and that was exactly what she was doing. She was writing a list of things we needed and was going to present them to the judge and ask for the fee to be raised. "Ohhh more money more luxury, that's not so bad then" , I happily mumbled to myself. I looked through the list she wrote and l liked what l saw. She wrote even things l have never had or dreamt of having. She added  the total amount of the bread l needed for the whole term, school tracksuits, sports shoes, though l was not even that much into sports and even pocket money! I was filled with joy. I imagined myself going to school wearing my tracksuits in winter, wearing sport attire even if l wasn't participating in sports nor even in the cheering squad and buying myself some sweets and chocolates with my pocket money. Or l would save up my money in a piggy bin like those rich kids and buy myself a more expensive thing like a watch. I saw myself being transformed already. I even helped my mother into adding other things on the list and how much they cost. She told me she was supposed to write eveything and its price then add up the total and that was the amount she was going to request in court.

My mother came back from town happy as usual after the trial. Her request was approved and she received the amount she had requested. We were both happy but my mother was the happiest as she kept on talking of how satisfied she was to see my father's angry face whe he lost the case. It looked like she was more interested in punishing my father than receiving the money for our upkeep.
As days go by my mother was best friends with the lawyer and she always came home with all sorts of Law jargon. She would tell them all to me and l would just listen though l didnt understand any of those words. She would talk of "apiri case", "samanisi" and "afidhaviti". It was until l was in high school that l realised that she was talking of appeal case, summons and affidavit respectively. I couldnt stop laughing when l made this discovery. The lawyer taught her about all these words and use them to punish my father. It was also until l was much older that l realised the maintenance was more of a tool to settle scores than having justice served.

The more she got used to these Law jargons, the more my mother spent most of her life in court. I didn't even get half of the things that was written on the lists which were presented to the judge. Besides the uniform and shoes  there was nothing else that was added, no sports attire nor tracksuits.
The school shoes became smaller when l was in grade 7 and l didn't receive a new pair. Infact l got a pair of slippers. I was using them for going to school, to church and everywhere. My mother said the money was not enough as the inflation was now a problem and also she had to use most of it for her courtroom battles  with my father. I wasnt sure if l should feel grateful anymore to the "messiah" or l should just shoot her if l could. Ever since her meeting with that lawyer woman my mother became a very different person. It was like she was living so that she could punish my father till he drops. The court became her second home. I saw less of her at home and l was mostly alone. It was better before the maintenance because l knew that she will be away during the day but by sunset she will be at home. I didn't know what to make of all those changes. If l should be happy or sad because she was always away because she was fighting so that we could get more money. That was what she said, she was fighting for a just cause. Making my father to take responsibility like a man. I dont know if that was her own words or the lawyer's. The lawyer was like a goddess to my mother and she took it upon herself to make sure l study hard because she wanted me to be a lawyer like her lawyer friend. And ohhh Mrs Mlambo was the lawyer's name. I would never forget that name as my mother always sang her praises. Whenever she comes back from court she would imitate how Mrs Mlambo confidently defends her cause in court and made the jury to sympathize with my mother and always rule in her favour. Hearing her sang the lawyer's praises like that l also started to think maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if l also become a lawyer. I would also defend poor abandoned women in court and make their ex husbands pay for their sins. Though the lawyer was making my mother to be scarce at home, she at least made my father pay. That was enough for me because it made my mother happy so if she is happy then l was also happy though l had to see less of her.

At school noone even dared to ask the reason behing my transformation or should l say shortlived transformation as it didn't last that longer. My grade six was good but in grade seven l was more or less back to where l was when Mr Sithole made me register myself as an orphan. Back to that man, l was very happy l had left him in grade six. In grade seven l was taught by Mr Shumba who was too quiet you would think he couldn't talk. The guy knew how to mind his own bussiness and l liked him for that. Since l had registered myself as an opharn in grade six l remained an orphan. The maintenance didn't  change anything and l never mentioned it to anyone. The donors were not bringing uniforms but pens and crayons sometimes. Those were a bit useless, not the pens as such but the crayons as l was a bit too old for colouring pictures. My uniform was short and torn. My mother always promised to replace it but she never did. She would always complain how buses are raising their fares at a daily basis. By the way that was in 2007 and the economic situation was deteriorating gradually.

If things were not good financially on my mother's side then it wouldn't have been better to the person who was earning the money also. The court appeals and maintenance raises became too much that it finally forced my father out of wherever he was hiding.