Be Loved

Chapter 18

To my beloved daughter Tshegofatso

I wrote your name in big letter on the envelope, hoping that this will make you curious and grab this letter amongst the post your grandparents get. I don't know if you know me. But I'm your father. And we share a birthday. Today its your 10th birthday. I want to tell you that I love you and I miss you. Ask your grandparents to allow you to see me. Then I can introduce myself to you properly. I love you so much.

Love, your beloved father.

Pearl felt it was time to have a meeting with Molatlhegi regarding the parole application. She hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks, so the meeting was also a chance for her to catch-up with him. Molatlhegi is brought in by Warden Maluleke and leaves. Pearl notices that Molatlhegi looks happy

"Mo, you are glowing. You look so well" comments Pearl.

"I do? There are no mirrors in my prison cell, so I can't see the glow" laughs Molatlhegi.

"You could just thank me for the compliment. Men" comments an irritated Pearl. Molatlhegi still giggles to himself

"Ok, sorry Pearl. I've just missed you. It's been a while" says Molatlhegi, doing his best to make Pearl smile.

"True. Things have been crazy in the office, but I am here now"

"I see. What is in the agenda for today your worship" asks Molatlhegi

"You know I'm not a judge right? Anyway, it is about your case. Don't you think its time to officially ask for a probation court date?" says Pearl

"Are we ready?" replies Molatlhegi

"The question is, is Tshegofatso ready?" Pearl fires back

"I thought we spoke about this Pearl..." Molatlhegi starts to look irritated by where the conversation is going.

"Tshegofatso is the victim in this case Mo. If she says she wants you back, nothing that her grandparents could say would matter. Why wouldn't you want to do the guaranteed winning move? Don't you want to be free?" pleads a desperate Pearl.

"Pearl, you have to respect my decision. You will have to find another way. You are a good lawyer, you will make a way. Tshegofatso is off bounds! I don't want her to believe that I am using her for my freedom. The case is closed." Molatlhegi was making himself clear, using a stern tone.

"Why are you stubborn! You are preventing me from helping you Molatlhegi" says an angry Pearl.

"What happened to calling me Mo?" Molatlhegi tries to deflate the tension.

"Arg... your frustrate me. I want to help you but you are blocking me" explains Pearl.

"You can help me with getting to know Tshegofatso better. All the visits have been about me and I know nothing about her. Help me with that" asks Molatlhegi

"Didn't we have this conversation before? Didn't I already tell you that I don't know how anything about raising a teenager?" replies an upset Pearl

"Pearl, are we fighting?"

"I dunno. Maybe. Arg. You just frustrate me"

"Sorry Pearl"

"Why can't I be upset with you for long"

"Coz you have a crush on me"

"Wait what? No!"

"Hey, I'm joking. I'm just teasing you"

"Mxm. If you want to get to know her, just ask her questions. It's pretty straight forward. For a straightforward person, you like to complicate things" comments Pearl, trying to calm herself down.

Pearl helps Molatlhegi to think of things he can ask Tshegofatso. Once they were done, Molatlhegi apologises to her again and reassures her that he appreciates everything she has done for him.

While Tshegofatso is at school, her grandparents are conducting a search in her bedroom, looking for her diary. Since Tshegofatso has been hearing about her kidnapping, she has become cagey when explaining how the visits were. Her grandparents can tell that she was lying to them and they wanted to know what was going on. Ntate Phiri had to be convinced by his wife that finding Tshegofatso's diary was a good idea. Ntate Phiri finds the diary, in-between her clothes. He isn't sure, so he asks his wife,

"Is this the diary?"

"Eya. Give it here" asks Nkgono Tshidi. Ntate Phiri still feels uneasy about invading Tshegofatso's privacy. He didn't immediately give the diary over.

"Why don't we just ask Tshegofatso about what has been happening? If we open her diary and read it, we can't take back whatever we see" says Ntate Phiri. Nkgono Tshidi disagrees with him. She then takes the diary out of his hands.

"If you are not going to be man enough, I will do it. Kaboentle is not alive because of this man. I told you to get rid of him when Kaboentle brought him home the first time. You weren't man enough then, you are not being man enough now"

"Matshidiso, take those words back. You do not insult a man like that" demands Ntate Phiri. Nkgono Tshidi is not listening to him, as she reads Tshegofatso's diary.

"I'm expecting an apology from you," says Ntate Phiri. He realises that his wife is not paying attention to him. He walks over to her to try get her. attention.

"Keeya is being influenced by this man. She says she loves him. She wants to tell him when they meet again. Look at what she wrote in red here. She circled our names and says we were unreasonable and wrote liars" comments Nkgono Tshidi.

"Why does she think we are liars" asks Ntate Phiri.

"Isn't it obvious... He is telling her stories and she is believing him. We must put it to a stop" replies an angry Nkgono Tshidi.

"Well, we cannot stop her from seeing him. If she sees us as liars, and we block her, she will be convinced that we are bad people" explains Ntate Phiri.

"Then what do you say we do," asks Nkgono Tshidi

"Lets go see him and tell him what we think. I am sure after 16 years, he will still be scared of us"

They agree to see their plan through. Ntate Phiri puts Tshegofatso's diary back where he found it.