Lost and Curious

Chapter 4

Women are way different from men when it comes to in-house manners. Even when there is no one watching, they want to do things properly. No wonder why the bible says they represent the church. It is satirical that the real you is seen when you are amongst the people who don’t know you or when you are alone. That’s when you show your real character. Theresa prepared a full formal meal for herself in the morning despite her need to rush for a mission with James. Probably she was compensating for the previous days that she couldn’t eat and sleep thinking about her toils. She also made sure her room was left clean – in other words she was literally smart. After feeding herself she then put on her red dress that went just a few millimeters below the knees. Her pumps blended with the dress very well and the dark weave complimented everything.

James called Theresa from outside to alert her that he was waiting. In response she told him that she was finishing preparing and would shortly join him. They were not going to work because it was a Sunday, but they had a mission as agreed the previous day. James knew she was going to delay and he turned on his radio. He heard the female reporter claiming that Manchester United is planning on taking back Cristiano Ronaldo in a month’s time. He was a great football fan, and this was good news to him since that was his team, and he was a personal fan of Ronaldo as well though the star was presently playing for another team. Amidst this great excitement, he heard a knock on his car door. James unlocked the doors to Theresa who just marveled at the way he was smiling.

“Why are you so excited?” she asked whilst leaning on the door. James was surprised he was wrong.

“Why are you so early? That’s way unexpected of you,”

“I won’t stop amazing you, more is coming, and you better reserve your questions for later,”

“By the way you look great,” He complimented.

“Thanks,” she replied, adjusting her seat.

“And shorter,” he started the car.

“Shut up,”

“Well, we are buying Cristiano back, for around 200million.”

“Who is Cristiano? What is that all about?” Theresa was a bit confused. She took comfort of her seat and chuckled, “And who are the ‘we’?” To Sophia that was something strange. Was he one of the team managers? No, he was just a fan, that’s fanaticism.

“Well, do you know anything about football?” He asked. James started the car and tried to explain.

“Oh, it’s about football ha-ha, don’t bother, what I only know is I love Mars” she laughed.

“What is that?” James was stunned.

“The one who plays for Barcelona” she replied.

“Oh, you mean Lionel Messi, which means we are going to fight” James laughed.

“Yes that one, you know I always win,” The discussion went on for some time and shifted gears severally until Theresa fell asleep. The journey was not short; Masvingo to Harare was a distance of around 290km. James was however a man of the road so it didn’t take them 3hours to reach the capital city. Theresa woke up to a poke on the arm and realized they were already at the Harare toll gate.

“Ma’am you are not allowed to sleep when everybody else is awake, you know why?”

“Come on, I told you we needed to prepare, don’t blame me,” she replied, rubbing her eyes. They both laughed and James handed the toll cashier his card. He pulled off just a few metres after the tollgate just to stretch a little and Theresa got out as well.

“I forgot to tell you, you are looking good,” Theresa complimented. James smiled and looked at her.

“Thanks,”

“Your jeans make you look younger than your age,” she added.

“And my t-shirt…?”

“Like a monster but it’s nice. Black blends with your hair,” she laughed heading back to the car. James laughed also and followed her. Theresa then directed him where they wanted to go from there.

In her sixties, Mother Zinguwo could still groom children like no one else in the region. She was a kind hearted old woman. It was very fortunate to have her around, especially as your mother. In her own words, she used to say she was drawn into this job by the need to save children from irresponsible parents and unfortunate circumstances. She also was a victim, having been raised by a single mother who never was available to attend to her needs. There are so many such situations in this century, mainly because of the decay in moral standards amongst the youths. Other children were found dumped at a very young age and some were brought from the streets. She didn’t care what the case was; all she wanted was to contribute towards humanity in this particular fashion. She gave it her all, just to make sure her passion she fulfils.

This Sunday morning she was just inducting some university students who were enquiring something about her services when she saw this suspicious vehicle approaching. She quickly dismissed the students and waited curiously to find out what the men of the law wanted from her. As soon as she glanced at her former student and child she shouted, “Theresa!” and ran towards her. The two hugged in tears of joy and reminiscence as mother Zinguwo softly rubbed Theresa’s back. James’ tears were stirred also though he fought them back, he was impinged on. He handed mother Zinguwo a parcel that they had brought. Mother Zinguwo led her visitors to her sitting room and prepared some drinks and biscuits. She had this wonderful culture of sharing the little she had. She was taught in her youth that what goes around always comes around, and it worked very well for her. Sharing is really hard especially when you don’t have much, but if you try it, it brings results.

Theresa introduced her friend to her teacher and they began asking each other common questions. She always sent her gifts to the home via mobile means, and she had taken a bit longer, about a year without visiting physically. The teacher assumed there was something beyond the usual that these two were up to. She decided to refresh the atmosphere by telling them something that she had come across the past week.

“Girls are becoming more and more irresponsible nowadays. You know, a man came here a week ago with a little boy, claiming that he had found him in a rubbish pit. I had to liaise with the social welfare team first before officially accepting the child. They came and we had a meeting. Someone amongst the team picked up that the man was hiding something and asked him seriously, ‘Sir, tell us the truth, is this child yours or not? If you say he is not yours then we take care of him, we send him to school and we give him everything until he is established. Unfortunately you’ll never be allowed to see him again.’ He took a few seconds of thinking and then admitted it was his son. It was dramatic; he said he was afraid of the child’s mother who was threatening him.” They all laughed in excite though it was in another way a serious issue.  The children are not yours until they reach 18years of age. If you abuse them, you get arrested. Everyone has got the mandate to make sure any child is enjoying their rights. It is ironic again that when they reach 18years, they are no longer yours because they are old enough to look after themselves. If you abuse them, you get arrested. That’s law.

After a few minutes of reflecting and updating each other on the current affairs, Theresa cleared her throat and introduced their mission.

“Mum Zinguwo, you may wonder why we have visited this particular time. There are a few things that I really want to understand, both about my past and my future. It really bothers me to…” she was interrupted.

“Oh, Theresa... I knew you’d come. I was worried you were taking too long.” These were the first words of Mother Zinguwo’s narration while Theresa and James were paying closer attention.

“It’s your right to know everything that concerns you Theresa; it’s just unfortunate that your case is a bit unique and complex.” She stood up and went into another room and came back in a while with a folder. “Your mother brought you here when you were 4years old. She claimed that her husband had divorced her due to cheating allegations which she claimed to be false. Her name was Pennina Chiware, and Chiware was her husband’s surname. For your birth certificate we opted to use her maiden surname, Chibaya. She was the only one who could assist. It was a mammoth task, I found her after a long struggle, and she was already ill.” Theresa then decided to ask about the so called ‘father’.

“So what about...?”

“This sadly means I don’t have any useful information about your father, with the exception of his name, Ryan Chiware, maybe and his address, but I doubt very much if that address is still valid, it’s been long.” Mother Zinguwo interrupted. That was a bolt from the blue. Theresa looked at James who was going through the folder and put her head aside in despair.

“That name is a step ahead, and if only he is alive, we’ll find him.” James then confided. “The files show that the divorce was formal, and the appeal was made on the 1st of March 1998.” He continued.

“About 3months before she brought her here, makes sense.” Mother Zinguwo agreed.

Theresa was assured, “So can we find anything from the court?”

“Definitely” James nodded in agreement. They continued to analyze the information in the file until they decided their next step.

It was around 1pm when the pair convinced themselves that they had everything they wanted from Ms Zinguwo and decided to leave. Mother Zinguwo accompanied them to the car.

“It was really nice having you two here; please keep me up to date on the progress. Oh and don’t forget, you’ll have to travel a lot,” Zinguwo cautioned.

“Thank you very much ma’am for the information, we’ll do our very best.”

“Please do, and don’t let grass grow under your feet.” When the car started off, the children followed it singing in excitement. Theresa threw a pack of sweets to the cheering crowd through the window.

“I love being around kids, innocent souls indeed.” She said.

“Me too,” James agreed, “When family debated on who should take care of my brother’s kids I did not hesitate.”

“Oh, you are staying with some kids? I’d love to see them.”

“You will, definitely.”

It was still too hot to start a journey back to Masvingo so they decided to find a place to rest for about two hours before departure. They opted for a fast foods outlet spacious enough for them to relax while feeding. James parked his car next to a white Honda Accord decoratively written T1 Grand Hotel, Marketing and Sales. He suddenly remembered he was supposed to stay in that hotel for the workshop scheduled for the following. When they entered into the food outlet, James began to look for the owner of the T1 Grand Hotel vehicle. He instructed Theresa to order some food whilst he went upstairs to secure a seat. Just as he got upstairs, he saw a formally dressed gentleman who appeared to be almost of his age and went straight to him since he was seated alone. Brad was easily identified by a logo on his cap, same as the one on the car.

“Hallo sir, I’m James Mavedzenge from Masvingo central police. I am...” He introduced himself.

“Oh, Inspector Mavedzenge” James was surprised he was known to the Manager. That was simple mathematics.  He enquired all that he wanted to know and they exchanged numbers.

“Thank you, Mr. Chibike, I left someone downstairs.”

“Oh, I was about to leave as well. There is a party going on at my place so I’m supposed to go with some stuff soon.” They both went downstairs and parted ways as Brad went out straight towards his car which he immediately started and shortly disappeared. Theresa saw them but Brad didn’t see her.

“Who was that?” Theresa asked.

“The owner of that car that we saw outside, manager of the hotel we’ll use for the workshop next week.”

“So you got what you wanted?”

“I always get what I want,”

“Oftentimes not always,”

“You don’t know that, I’m telling you,” James smiled.

“You are not invincible,” Theresa said, handing him a drink and a box.

“Come on, let’s go upstairs,”

“How do you know I like eggs?” James asked after opening his box.

“Artificial muscle, you are fanatic to the gym that’s simple,”

“You are funny, next time order raw ones,” they both laughed. The two went upstairs and discussed the way forward concerning their mission whilst they fed. After they rested enough, they got on their way back to Masvingo.

James and Theresa arrived in Masvingo around 5 o’clock in the evening, perfect time to be home. The next move was scheduled for the next day in the afternoon. Going to the court to ask for something that happened 20years ago seemed insane, it was like consulting ancestors. However, in worst cases the pair would take the advantage of their occupation. The whole night Theresa was trying to search the name Ryan Chiware on the internet; various social media platforms. On Facebook, the name produced more than 20results, none of which seemed closer to what she wanted. She saw another Google result where a page displayed the names of the people recruited by a certain mining company about 20years ago. She sent a text and the page link to James. James proposed that he would call someone from that mine the following day. Probably Mr. Chiware would still be working for that company that is if it was him. Could that be possible? With his character this man could never be that good at staying employed.

Monday morning, Theresa reported for work a bit earlier; quite unusual. She decided to use her car, something that she didn’t normally do considering the prevailing fuel challenges. She respected her job very well; only that this time she had something else to pay closer attention to. That very morning James called a friend, a policeman who worked close to the Renco mine and asked him to find out if Ryan Chiware existed. He confirmed that the man was there. This was some kind of a relief, to some extent.

In the afternoon the two went to the High Court. The records that they wanted were not easy to find, and anyone who didn’t want to bother themselves would quickly dismiss claiming they no longer have them. They enquired at the reception and were directed to the records department. James was not for the idea of disclosing that they were members of the police force. It was always the last option. When they got in the department, a very slim and light lady gave them a warm welcome, with a smile and a stare that went direct on James’ chest. She looked quite formal in her black suit, the skirt of which went just above the knees. Her hair was done well and she had a silver scrunch on top.

“Excuse me ma’am but, I’m enquiring if I can get the records of a court case that happened on the 1st of March 1998.” James enquired.

“Oh, that’s long back, I guess I wasn’t born yet.” She laughed whilst checking in her computer. James cackled as well. “Umm but before I check, may I know the reason behind all this.”

“We are trying to locate where we can find...” James was about to stagger in explaining when Theresa moved forward and interrupted, “Okay we are from the central police; there is a case that we are investigating.” As she showed her work ID The lady looked at them both and nodded, “Oh okay just a minute, so any details..?”

“It was a divorce case, and one of the parties being Ryan Chiware.” James replied.

The lady checked for several minutes from one computer to another and finally came with sad news that the records they had were from 2000. This was another atomic bomb. They all looked at each other in despair.

“You may leave your contacts; there are files for years preceding the ones in our computer records. Unfortunately the hard copies are kept at the national archives, I will have to visit those and update you.” The lady suggested with her tone full of doubt. Theresa just walked out in silence, she was pissed off. The lady asked for James’ contacts and he gave her, just in case something comes up, but there seemed to be no hope. He followed Theresa outside and found her leaning on the car, with her head hidden between her hands and against the bonnet.

“Theresa, don’t worry, we are going to Renco. A friend said there is a Ryan Chiware there. We are not giving up.” Theresa shook her head and got into the car in silence. Going to the mine was not really a good idea. They could just talk to him over the phone and confirm if it was him.

“What are you thinking?” James asked Theresa just to initiate a conversation.

“I’m thinking just what you are thinking,”

“Ha-ha as if you know what I’m thinking,”

“Yes I do, we should tell your friend what we want from Ryan Chiware, and he does the enquiry for us. So that we see what we should do next, we may save a lot of things.”

“I guess you are right.” James nodded. He agreed to do this the next day since he had something work related, to tackle that afternoon. They reached their workplace and parted ways as James proceeded upstairs.

End of Chapter 4