Turning Table

Part 144

***Mbali's premonition ***

🌹Lethukuthula 🌹

" are you going to sit here starring at him or are you going to go talk to him"
My mother said standing next to me by the sliding door, as we both looked at Mzi who was sitting by the garden and smoking as if his life depended on it,

Me: and say what?"
Her: you have questions only he can answer"
Me: as well as you..."
I said turning, looking at her
Me: why you never told us that we have an uncle "
Her: it was not my place to say "
Me: mama!"
She sigh and looked down

Her: I too found out about Mzi after a year in a relationship with your father, he, your father hated talking about Mzi"
Me: but why?"
Her: to be honest I don't know the real story"
Me: mama just tell me the story that you know, please"
She sigh and looked up,
Her: It's believed that mntungwa had a hand in the killing of his family "
Me: what? "
Her: as I said before I don't know the whole truth..."
I stepped away from her trying to gather my thoughts
Me: but why mama?"
Her: Your father was always greedy for power and on the other hand Mzi had that power your father desperately wanted"
Me: what power?"
Her: Back in those days, To be Black meant to be oppressed but Mzi was rebellious, he refused to be trapped in a titanic clash between black anger and white fear. And he became a freedom fight­er, he was one of the most prominent leaders in the anti-apartheid struggle, and his ambition was ruthless in  de­stabilise the government and wrestling power from the white minority but like all leaders he too had a weakness"

I bite my lip thinking
Me: which was his family?"
She nodded
Her:you see baby all he wanted was a better future for your father and  being the oldest, he did not want your father to join umzabalazo, the  movement for people who were  oppressed”
Me: so my father disobeyed him by being  a politician?"
Her: more like your father  dishonored his own destiny...and decided to follow into his brother's path "

Me: why? Because he was envious?"
Her: you can say that, I tried to convince him the other way but your father was stubborn, I even told him about the dream..."
She stopped and bit her lip realizing that she said too much
Me: what dreams mama?"
Her: I shouldn't have..." She said turning her back to me
Me: Mama what dreams?"
Her: I had one dream  that was troubling me..."

Me: you had a premonition about the massacre of our  family?
She nodded and looked down
Her; I should have done something, told someone but in those days I had no clue that I had a calling and my dreams were some kind of massage..."
Me: mama it was not your fault "
Her: but why do I feel guilty at times"
Me: Mama you had no hand in this do you hear me "
I said holding her hands, she slowly nodded and breath out loud
Me: what did my father do mama?"

She looked at me and swallowed, I guess this is wearing heavy on her
Her: you see baby siblings mostly walk on the same path, but got on different shoes, live in the same building but got different views,
your father discovered the worst way that the picture he thought was right or rightfully his actually turned out to be the wrong picture"
A lump in my throat started building up

Her: the fire that killed the Khumalos was never going to happen if only Mtungwa stayed in his own lane, but envy or jealousy drove him to act without thinking, he invited the wrong crowd that eliminated his entire bloodline "
I gasped and held my mouth in  shock

Me: so you telling me that?"
Mama nodded her head looking down
"When a snake is in your kitchen, you don't invite it to dinner, you cut off its head, that one lesson Mtungwa failed to understand "
Me: ooh my God!"
I said with tears running down my face, as I felt pain rush all over my body "

Her: now does Mbali's premonition make sense to you now?"
I slowly nodded, she faintly smiled and wiped the lone tear that had fallen down my cheeks
Me: so why is Mzi here?"
Her: I tracked him down and told him I can not do the cleansing ceremony without him"
Me: mama no! This man suffered a great deal due to what my father did to him and you...."
Her: abaphansi bakhulumile and I followed up on their own instructions"
Me: Mama!!!"
Her:your father is not welcomed in the spiritual realm his roaming the earth, this home, surrounding us with bad energy, till he makes amends with his  only living family, his sibling he will then cross over "
Me: bullshit! ... Because of that busted we have no family no grandmother or grandpa or Aunt, because of his actions...because of his greed I lost my bloodline!!!! And you want to help him cross over! ....cleanse the blood on his hands!!!!... Mama the man was a murderer, and you want to help him get away with it!!!!! Fuck no! ..."
Her: Lethu!"
Me: I'm not partaking in this shit, do you hear me!"
Her: LETHUKUTHULA I SAID ENOUGH!"
I looked at her with tears running down my face and attempted to stomp out of the room but she called out for me

Her: LETHU! I believe your uncle is hungry, Jisha had dished up for him, please take the trey of food to him!!!!"
I froze not sure how to answer that, the last thing I need is to look into that dead men's eyes, why is Mama doing this?
I slowly nodded as she walked past me, but she stopped in her tracks and looked at me

"Everything I do, I do for this family, I just wish you could understand that I am a person who is unhappy with things as they stand. We cannot accept the world as it is. But Each day I wake up foaming at the mouth because of the injustice of things. . ." she said walking away

I looked at my uncle sitting outside, I took a few steps to the kitchen but my phone made me stop in my tracks as it vibrated in my pocket
" mam-Ntungwa, I'm on my way to Durban...hit you up when I'm there "
It was a message from Mlondi, I rolled my eyes  and shoved the phone back into my pocket,

As I made my way to the kitchen a million thoughts
ran through my mind Mbali talked about bloody hands, dead eyes, and petals that fell on the ground, what did Mzi sacrifice?
A huge lump in my throat developed making me gasp for air, as I took the tray of food and slowly walked to Mzi's direction, I approached him with shakey hands the  tray of food in my hand so unstable, I feared that I will not make my to him with his food still on my hands

" sawbones," I said softly making his attention shift to me, he cleared his throat and smiled at me
Me: mama said I must bring you food "
Him: thank you kindly "
I placed his food on the garden table and found myself standing next to him,

Me: uuuuh Baba uMzi about earlier I would like to apologize for the way I reacted "
Him: don't worry about it, I fully understand"
I bite my lip thinking about what should I say next, without thinking I found myself saying
" Sometimes we feel we truly know someone, until one day, they become a stranger."
Him: I know the feeling "
I folded my arms and looked at him,
Me:Mntungwa hid a lot of things from us ... And after his death Tables Turned as we slowly realized what kind of man he was..."

He nodded and breath out loud
Him: when I found out the news about Mntungwa's death, I chuckle not believing it, It was until a few months later when I was driving down the road coming here, windows down, and music turned up that I began to think about my so cold brother and how I lost him. Not lost in him in the sense that he passed away and I'll never see him again. The thing that I found painful the most was the idea that he was out there alive all along, alone, sick, and I was not there to be with him because of everything - our past. Your father was an obsessive devious man,  a mental illness that had no cure, an illness that  completely destroyed him and everything around him, an illness that could never be fixed because to him it felt normal..."

Me: mama told me what happened, is it true....? "
I swallowed trying to find the right words to say, He looked at me and shook his head, and looked away
Me: is it true that Mntungwa had a hand in the..."
Him: I always told myself that
If I die in a war zone,
box me up and send me Home.
Put my medals on my chest,
tell my mom I did my Best.
Tell my dad not to bow,
he won’t get tension from me Now.
Tell my bro to study hard to be everything that I was not for a gun is not a solution to this war but education is key,
Tell my sister not to be upset,
her bro will take along sleep after Sunset.
Tell my love to forgive me, Keep a picture of me beside the bed and kiss me goodnight.

Tell my nation not to cry,
“Because I’m a soldier Born to Die...but never once have I thought that the people I fought so hard to protect will be ambushed by the enemy within! "
I looked at him and felt tears run down my cheeks,

Him: for years I hated my  brother, ooh what the fuck even now I still do! I  watched him rise, climbing the blood-slippery steps to be the man he was, it was never by honor but by blood sacrifice, my family's blood...as I fought for this land...this so cold freedom we have, in the shadows, your father was making deals with the oppressor, yet they honor him and call him a politician, a freedom fighter! ..."

He shook his head and bite his lower lip suppressing his rage
Him: But I always say that, If you have enemies within, good that means you stood up for something...something Good "
Me: but at what cost? ..."

Him: life is..."
Suddenly...we both froze stunned by the loud music that was playing outside my yard,
My heart skipped a bit when my phone vibrated inside my pocket,
" shit!" I said under my breath as I read the text from Mlondi

" I'm outside...."
.
.
.
To be continued