Night Before the Swing

Missing the swing

CHAPTER 4

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The new house and cars came with a number of changes in the way the Mason family did things. Instead of walking to school, Nala had to be driven there because of the added distance. That change alone added to the torture of having to spend more time with her mother. Christian dreaded driving to Nala's school because he felt beleaguered by educators who showered him with praises for his financial contributions to the school. Nala would hear her father complain about people he gave money to for one thing or another. "Why can't they just take the money and disappear?" he would ask rhetorically. Nala never understood why he gave away so much money to different people then came home and spoke ill about the very individuals. Christian even gave money to a church not too far from the swing house yet he hated the idea of his family going to church. He questioned the existence of a God. The logic behind a young white man dying for the sins of thugs and prostitutes just so they could have eternal life. Christian couldn't wrap his head around a place with fires created especially for those who dared used their own brains. "How can someone create a person with a brain then punish them for using it to question the existence of a heaven and hell?" Christian would ask Gwen whenever she tried to defend a belief she followed before meeting him. Christian also gave good money to Neaty's family. Neaty goes to the same school as Nala and her father died mysteriously after going to hospital for a liver transplant. Neaty missed school for a week and Nala missed seeing her. Neaty was her senior by two years at school and even though they have never been friends, they knew each other well. Neaty had been popular from her first day in high school. Her beauty and well sculptured body drew a lot of male attention. She looked like a twenty-year-old with curves and an hour-glass shaped body. A lot of boys at school drove themselves crazy trying to get her attention. Initially, Neaty gave a few some of her attention and was once rumoured to be dating one of the final year students at their high school but that was never confirmed. Soon after her father's death, she completely stopped being friendly with boys but looked happier. Her golden brown hair looked alive with new maroon high lights. She even had a better cell phone than Nala which she apparently got from a rich married man. Nala wondered if her father would continue assisting Neaty's family if he knew she was a forward girl.

Nala doesn't recall Christian complaining about giving his money to Neaty's family, though.

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Being dropped off at school by her mother on her first day turned out to be quiet eventful. Her mother's new jeep cherokee was all her school mates wanted to converse about. Nala noticed that the car was shinny and lovely and had a smell of newness but she paid it no mind. All she could think about was who the new owner of their previous home was. She had to know. Since her mother was a teacher at a local school; fetching her after school was easy and quick so Nala couldn't walk past her old block before rushing back to be collected. She thought about what could happen to delay her mother at her work place so she could be thirty minutes late. She spent a week formulating a plan that would give her an hour before her mother showed up. She did get away with going to a party without her mother's knowledge and also bought shoes with the money Gwen thinks was stolen by a struggling colleague. Poor Mrs. Rudolf was going through a divorce and to Gwen, that's the worst thing that could happen to a woman with two children. She knew this would be true for her because Christian's wealth was her pride and joy. Gwen went from worshiping the God of Israel to worshipping Christian Mason. Gloria often said Mason's wealth was questionable and this made Gwen so furious, she briefly stopped her daughter from visiting them on school holidays. It was one of Nala's worst times in their old home. Christian had volunteered for only a week then returned for the remainder of the two weeks of her school break. As always, he played the perfect husband and tried hard to be a good father. He surprised Nala with a visit from someone Nala had met a year earlier. Nala woke up one morning to find Lizzy sitting comfortably in their TV room. The guest looked very happy and couldn't wait to go play on the swing and for the first time that day, Nala was glad her father's questionable money could be used for ice skating, car racing and two movies to be watched back-to-back. By the time the second movie was over, it was past the time Lizzy's parents had said they'd be back for her. There was no time left for the swing. Nala liked and enjoyed Lizzy's company and the only reason their friendship couldn't go beyond that day, was because Nala couldn't get Lizzy to not want to swing the next time she would come around. Lizzy was also the first friend her parents approved who was not from a well-off family. Gwen desperately wanted Nala to have friends but she and her husband always did a thorough background check on every potential associate to make sure they'll fit in.