Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 11

4 years ago

Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 11

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No, this wasn’t happening. She simply couldn’t believe her eyes. How was it even possible that one could get 578 out of 600? How was it possible that Lubesha could get all straight A’s? Hadn’t Principal Zimba assured her that the boy would fail? What was the meaning of all this?
“You done salivating over Lubesha’s results?” Donald mocked her with a wink.
Salivating? Like really?
If she didn’t love him to bits, Juliet would have gorged his eyes out right there and then for making a ridicule of her misery.
Without uttering any words as she was stunned beyond words, Juliet handed the slip back to Donald who handed it to Lubesha.
Lubesha’s heart rate shot to the brim as he glanced at the slip and oh boy did he jump and scream for joy when he saw how well he had done.
“I made it, uncle. I’ve passed!”
“Not just passing…you’ve murdered them exams, boy!”
Donald scooped Lubesha into his arms and spun him round as they laughed. All Juliet could do was roll her eyes and feel her pimples itch as they always did when she was beyond infuriated.
Alice jumped for joy after seeing the slip and hugged Lubesha. “Am so proud to call you my cousin! This is amazing, my God,” She broke the hug and covered her mouth in absolute awe. “I bet you’re the highest in the country.”
“Oh please..don’t exaggerate,” said Amos grimly. “He’s passed..yay…shall we go back to the hotel and have some real fun cause am bored to death here.”
“Jealously will kill you one of these days,” said Alice. “I can’t wait to see how many 9s you scored this time around.”
“I failed the exam,” Amos announced while looking straight at his father. “So don’t nobody bother even going to collect them.”
Alice laughed. “Oh my God! No offence but such kind of dullness needs deliverance. If you continue failing like that, you’ll be in grade 9 for eternity, right Dad?” she so wanted him to repeat again.

Donald who was euphoric and didn’t want his mood getting ruined simply said, “Not now.. Let’s go back to the hotel and celebrate Lubesha’s triumph.” He looked around. “Where’s your mother?”
“She’s stormed off to the car looking like she’s gonna burst any second from now..she’s vexed, Dad,” Alice giggled.
Back at the hotel, Donald put on a nice swim short and said to Juliet who lay on the bed looking like she was bereaved, “Shall we go join the kids by the pool, hun?”
“You go ahead, I’ll join you.”
“Alright..but don’t come complaining if you find me swimming with some hot chick clad in only a bikini.”

“Complain?” Juliet chuckled in disbelief. “I’ll show her why am called Juliet!”

Donald chuckled and kissed her on the lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she wrapped her hands round his neck. “Why don’t we just lay in bed all afternoon and make a baby?”
“Haha, are you praying the baby will be as intelligent as Lubesha?”
She pushed him off her with so much violence. “You’re an idiot!”
Donald went to join the kids while laughing.
Once she was alone, Juliet sat up in bed and grabbed her phone to call Principal Zimba. She was so angry that if she had blood pressure issues, she’d be in the ICU by now.
Agnes Zimba was in the kitchen making dough in preparation to bake cupcakes when her phone rang. She said to her teenage daughter, “Kindly pass me my phone, sweetie.”

“Alright,” the daughter got the phone. “Someone saved as Madam Delusional is calling.”
Principal Zimba almost laughed before picking up.

“You b---h!” Juliet yelled into the phone. “You’re nothing but a goddamn con artist! You’ll pay for double crossing me.”

“Who’s this and what mental asylum did you just escape from?”
Juliet couldn’t believe her ears. “So now you’ll deny knowing me you wanna be reformed b---h?”

“Ma’am, I don’t know who you’re and will not condone you calling me names. The next time you call me, I’ll invlove the police.”
“Agnes, you’ve messed with the wrong person here. You can’t just squander my K5, 000 and go Scot free!”
“What are you talking about? My God,” Agnes sighed. “I can’t believe we have such lunatics on the loose, are we safe?” with that, she hang up.
“Did she just hang up on me? That b---h! That b---h! That biiiiiiiitch!!!” Juliet threw her phone against the wall in anger and it shut to pieces.

She threw some things around the room and slumped to the floor and wept. Why did her plans seem to flop all the time? She wept for a good 10 minutes such that when she looked in the mirror, her face was smeared with mascara. She looked so horrific that she almost screamed when she saw her reflection.

“God, is that really me in the mirror?”
Juliet went into the shower and showered. She came out and applied heavy make up. She wore a pink floral sundress, a pink straw hat and slipped fancy bed slippers onto her feet.
Provocatively, she walked to the pool area where she sat under a huge umbrella.
Donald who had been playing a ball game in the pool with Amos, Alice, Lubesha and some random kids came to join her after he’d spotted her. Water was dripping all over his body and once again Juliet asked herself what she had done to deserve such a good looking and kind hearted man. Not that she was okay with him being kind hearted though.
“Hey..you look amazing. But I thought you’d come down in a swimsuit and join us. It’s really hot you know..”
“That’s why am sipping on iced tea, Donald. And this joke of yours is really getting old. You know I can’t swim to save my life!”
“Did I tell you how hot you look when you are angry?”

“Please…don’t flirt.”
He trailed kisses down her neck and she giggled. “Behave, Donald, we are in public!”
Later in the evening, Donald and Juliet were seated at a quite spot having a candlelit dinner.

“The last time you were this romantic with me,” said Juliet sweetly as she stared into Donald’s eyes. “I ended up conceiving Amos.”

Donald laughed, a hearty laugh. “You’ve been talking about conceiving since morning..be careful what you wish for ka.”
“Oh please..Amos and Alice are enough children for us.”

They ate and talked about old times and laughed. They had finished eating and were sipping on wine when Donald said, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something, honey.”
“When am in such a mood, any question is welcome.”

“Nice..um,” Donald took his time as he leaned back in his seat. “Why do you hate Lubesha so much?”
Juliet was on the verge of pouring the wine atop Donald’s head but kept calm. “Like seriously, you just decide to ruin this perfect dinner by mentioning that boy’s name? Besides, haven’t you asked me this exact same question like a million times already?”
“And for those million times, as you put it, you’ve not given me any logical answer.”
“That’s because there’s no logical answer, Donald.” she slammed her hands on the table and Donald held them. “Calm down.”

Juliet breathed in out and out, and emptied her wineglass. “I hated Janet because I believed I was supposed to be my parents only child and then she came along and snatched their love away from me.”
“That’s delusional.”
“Easy for you to say cause you aren’t me. I tried to love her but the harder I tried, the more I hated my late sister. I just despised everything about her just as much as I despise that son of hers. I am me, Donald Musongo, and nothing you say nor do will change how I feel about Lubesha. Happy now?”

“Wow..” Donald rubbed his temples. “Such hatred is beyond me. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Well I know what to say,” she sprung to her feet and her voice cracked with emotion. Tears were soon streaming down her face. “Let this be the last time you ask me about Lubesha, please. And I quit, Donald. You can do with him as you wish but please just leave me out..” she began walking out on him but stood though she didn’t turn. “And you just ruined a perfect night. Thank you very much!” she buried her face in her hands and dashed off, crying.
“Women never cease to amaze me,” muttered Donald, picking his wine glass for a sip. “I wonder what I said that got her so emotional.”

In actual sense, nothing Donald had said was what brought forth Juliet’s tears.
In her room, Juliet buried her head under a pillow and wept. She couldn’t believe Principal Zimba was capable of swindling her in such a manner. What was she going to do about Lubesha now?

Christmas day came and Donald chose that exact day to take his family to see the Victoria Falls.

“It’s simply breathtakingly beautiful,” marvelled Alice. “It deserves all the praise it gets!”

“I can’t believe I’m seeing one of the seven wonders of the world,” mused Lubesha who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the falls.

Amos was amazed too but played cool while Juliet and Donald weren’t seeing the Falls for the first time so they weren’t as excited as the kids were.
While crossing the bridge, water lapping from the falls showered them with what seemed actual showers. Some people were under umbrellas while others wore raincoats, like the Musongos and Lubesha.

“How is this even possible?” wondered Alice who held on tight to her father’s hand for dear life cause the bridge didn’t seem reliable whatsoever and all she wanted was them to cross as quickly as possible but Donald ordered they stop and take a few pics.
They finally crossed and let go of each other’s hands.

Donald was saying, “From here, we are going to crocodile farm.”
“Geez,” Alice was already getting the chills while Lubesha was excited as he really wanted to take pics of them crocodiles and snakes. Sylvester had told him so much about the Zambezi River, The Falls, Crocodile Farm etc and so him seeing all this was beyond thrilling.

Amos was saying something about being hungry when a random girl bumped into Lubesha.

“Am so sorry,” she hurriedly apologized.
“Tracy!” called a voice in front, amidst the crowd.

“Am coming, Dad!” called girl before dashing off.

Lubesha found himself holding a unique bracelet which had obviously slipped off her hand which he had held for balance when she had run into him.

He studied the bracelet and admired the initials written on it in fancy block italics.
T.F

At least he’d figured T stood for Tracy but F?
I’ll have to retain this bracelet to her, he thought as he caught up with his family though he didn’t know how he’d achieve his goal. He had faith nonetheless. New Year found the family in Livingstone and they celebrated it in style. For the first time in ages, Lubesha was really enjoying himself when once upon a time he’d thought he’d never laugh nor smile in his entire life. Not after what had happened to his parents.
Donald tagged him by the arm and pulled him aside, they lit a firecracker together.
The countdown was done in style too and at midnight on the dot, the whole country erupted, “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Several minutes later, Donald and Lubesha were seated on the grass.
Donald who was in an ecstatic mood was saying, “This is a new year, my boy, and I want you to continue making me proud. I want you to-

”
“You know it’s Amos you’re supposed to be having this conversation with, right?” interrupted Juliet who stood behind them.
Donald didn’t bother glancing up. “Tell him to behave more like my son and then I can consider having a proper conversation with him. And also tell him I spoke to Mr. Sinkala and was informed Amos has failed the exam though this time around he did pass in two subjects.. We’re slowly getting there, he’s repeating, again.”
“You’re wicked,” mumbled Juliet before angrily walking away.
A day later, the family was packing in preparation to go back home when Juliet who had bought a new phone and inserted her old sim into it snuck to a quiet spot to go give Principal Zimba a phone call. This was a new year and people were in the festive mood so maybe Agnes Zimba would reconsider and decide to do business with her again, Juliet hoped.

She called the Principal who picked up after a number of rings.
“I can’t believe you’re still calling me.”
“I’ll top up on our agreed money, Agnes. But please just help me get Lubesha thrown out of that school.”
“I thought I told you the last time you called me that I don’t know you and neither do I have an ounce of a clue as to what you’re talking about.”
Juliet was desperate but this was beyond insulting. “Oh come on b---h, don’t tell me you’ve suddenly developed amnesia! Kindly fulfil your end of the bargain before I expose you!

Juliet’s jaw dropped in awe when she heard Agnes confidently retort, “And risk exposing yourself in the process? I know you’re smarter than that.. Have a good day, stranger.”