Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 36

Episode 4 years ago

Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 36

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~2 MONTHS LATER~
She was home alone, on maternity leave and was bored to death. Her baby was due in a month’s time. Alice decided to make herself busy by doing some laundry so she picked curtains as the first stuff she wanted to wash that day. She knew Frank would chastise her once he was back from the mall where he’d gone to grab some groceries but her sitting down doing nothing left her on the verge of losing her senses so she cared less about his scolding.
Alice climbed on a couch and took out one beautiful curtain, a gift from her mother in-law.

Now she had to take out the one on the other side of her living room. She grabbed a stool and propped it against the wall. Taking a deep breath, she climbed on the stool and raised her hands to unhook the curtain. She was at it when the stool toppled, shaking her side to side and with an ear splitting scream, Alice fell sideways. She landed on the floor with a loud thud. The explosive pain came instantaneously.

Alice’s waist was on fire so she held it and tried to stand but the pain was too intense, preventing her from moving. Hoping the pain would subsidise soon, she held on to her waist and took deep slow breaths.
And then the blood caught her attention. In a bid to move, she crawled a couple of inches towards the nearest couch and that’s when she noticed the trail of blood that she was leaving.
“Oh my God,” she winced. “This can’t be good.”

Closing her eyes and praying with every fibre of her being it wasn’t what she was thinking, Alice unwrapped her wrapper from her white skirt. When she opened her eyes, she screamed once more. She was sitting in a pool of blood.
“Not my baby, no, no, no,” she was frantic and on the brink of going hysterical. “Please be safe, baby, please.”
Fighting the pain with the sole aid of all the strength she could muster, Alice crawled her way towards the table where her phone was. She reached the table after what seemed an eternity and dialled Frank’s line.
“Please pick up,” she muttered as his phone rang.
The first call unfortunately went unanswered. As if to add icing to the cake, the profuse bleeding wasn’t getting any less nor was the pain.
Taking more deep breaths, she dialled his line again and this time he picked up.
“Miss me already?”
“Help..I need help, Frank. Something terrible has happened..I..I..think am losing the baby.”
“The baby’s due in a month,” said a confused Frank on the other end of the line. “What do you mean you’re losing it?”
“Just get home asap..please..” She ran out of credit and the got call cut as a result.
Frank called her back but she didn’t pick up. She was in too much pain to talk on the phone anymore so she hoped and prayed Frank was on his way back home.
Frank got home 15 minutes later only to find Alice laying in a pool of her own blood on the carpet.

“Jesus Christ!” exclaimed an astonished Frank who threw his shopping bags on the floor and rushed to Alice’s aid. “What happened, honey?”
“I fell..”
“Hold on tight..hang in there,” he scooped her into his arms and rushed outside. Neither him nor Alice had a car so he started rushing towards the taxi rank when a Corolla abruptly stopped beside them.
The driver stuck his head out. “Looks like she needs immediate medical attention, hop in please.”
Once they were en-route to the hospital, Frank took his phone out and dialled Donald’s line.


☆☆☆
“What have you been telling him?” asked a surprised Juliet as Donald Jr. dashed out of the house after pecking his mother’s cheek and thanking her for bringing him chocolate.
Donald Senior was seated opposite Juliet, he was busy pressing his phone. He shrugged. “Let’s just say I’ve been rectifying my mistakes…You’re his mother after all and I’ve wronged you immensely,” he then placed the phone aside. “Your words two months back made me realise that and since then I’ve been instilling good morals and manners in our kasuli (last born child).”
“I’m proud of you, Donald. And thanks.”
“Anytime..” he bid his time as he was about to tell her something that had been on his mind for the past few days when his phone rang.
“It’s Frank,” he thought aloud and picked the call. “Hello, son in-law.”
“Father, you have to rush to the hospital asap. Apparently Alice fell from a stool and now she’s bleeding non-stop and is in so much pain. I’m scared for both her and the baby, father.”

Frank’s worry could be deciphered over the phone.
“Calm down,” Donald fought to stay calm. “What hospital?”
Frank told him the name. “Hurry up, father..please.”
“I’m on my way.”

Donald grabbed his car keys as soon as the call cut.
“What’s wrong?” Juliet asked him.
“It’s Alice..I’ll explain on the way. Let’s go, Juliet.”
They locked the house and left Donald Jr. at their neighbour’s.

Alice was being rushed to the operating room when they arrived. The blood on the stretcher she lay on was nauseating.
Frank who was covered in blood was being stopped from following the team of nurses and doctors to the O.R by a male nurse.
“She’s my wife,” he desperately told the nurse.

Alice saw her father and mother rushing towards the stretcher thus she instructed the doctors and nurses to stop wheeling her.
“Are you insane? You’re losing a lot of blood, ma’am.”
“Just a minute,” said Alice in a low tone, she was too weak. “Please..am on my deathbed here.”
“Don’t say that!” scolded an elderly female nurse.
“Alice!” Donald and Juliet grabbed her hand in unison.
“You’ll be fine,” Juliet assured her daughter.
“No I won’t,” Alice quietly mumbled. “There’s a secret I’d like you to know..I’ve..been keeping it from all of you for so many years now.”
“You’ll tell us after being operated on,” said a concerned Donald. “Your husband, mother and I will be praying for you.”
“I lied against Lubesha!” she blurted the truth out. “Him and I have never had sex and you catching us almost doing it was all my doing.. I framed him, Dad and Mum because I was too ashamed to admit I was crushing on my own cousin. Frank,” she reached for her husband’s hand with much effort. “You’re the love of my life and if I’ve wronged you in any way I ask that you forgive me. Please take care of my baby, all of you… and Mum, Dad, apologise to Lubesha on my behalf. I love you all.”
“Stop speaking like you’re dying,” Frank scolded her. “You’ll be operated on and you, our baby and I will go home together.”
Alice glanced at all the familiar faces and tears of sorrow streamed down her face.
“Okay enough of the melodrama,” said the doctor urgently. “We’ll do our best to save both mother and daughter.”
Alice’s family nodded and watched as she was wheeled into the O.R.


☆☆☆
“You sure this is a good idea?” Lubesha’s palms were sweaty, he was meeting Tracy’s father for the first time after all so that explained the pulsation he was going through.

“Just relax,” Tracy held his hand. “He doesn’t bite, you know.”
They were leaving Lubesha’s car, coming from Tracy’s new workplace where she’d been working for a few days.
It had been two months since their reunion and Lubesha still recalled how awkward his first conversation with his son had been.
“So, you’re my Dad,” the 13-year-old boy had said as his mother, father and him went to his father’s apartment.
Lubesha was behind the wheel so he gave Tracy a glance and sighed. “Yes.”
“Where have you been all these years, huh?”
“You don’t have to answer that,” intervened Tracy who scolded her son and asked him to behave.
Junior looked out the window. “I can only imagine what will become of that poor woman he refused to marry.”
Both Tracy and Lubesha heard him but decided to keep quiet.
Tracy on the other hand couldn’t help feel guilty and selfish for what she’d just done. Laura had told her Lubesha didn’t love Sandra seeing as they’d only been dating for a few months.
“How do you know that?” Tracy had inquired a few moments before going to stage drama at Lubesha’s wedding.
“I just know,” Laura had nonchalantly replied. “Besides, rumour has it she’s pregnant. I can bet you K1000 she fell pregnant to trap Lubesha into marrying her.”
Unbeknownst to Tracy, Laura and Sandra had been friends for four years a couple of years ago until their friendship ended over a guy who ended up with neither of them so they knew each other well and Laura knew Lubesha would have to be crazy first for him to fall in love with a woman as despicable and shallow as Sandra was.
For the next two months, Lubesha Senior and Junior were slowly studying one another while Tracy watched with delight. Finally her life was falling into place and now she decided to introduce the love of her life to her father.
“Just be yourself,” she reminded Lubesha as they approached the porch.
Lubesha’s phone which was in the b----t pocket of the black jacket he was wearing chose that exact moment to ring, startling him.
“It’s just your phone,” Tracy chuckled, beckoning him to pick the call.
“It’s my uncle,” he informed her and slid the answer icon.
“Where are you?”
“At Tracy’s..Is everything okay, uncle?”
“Alice is being operated on as we speak and being a doctor, I can tell her condition is terrible..come to the hospital as soon as you can.”

Lubesha asked the name of the hospital and he turned on the spot, heading back to where his car was packed.
“What’s going on?” asked Tracy, running after him.
“I’ll tell you later, I gotta go!”
He got into his car and left Tracy standing on her spot like the statue of Liberty.
Upon arrival, Donald explained all that had transpired to Lubesha who couldn’t believe Alice had finally confessed. To think that he’d even forgotten she’d framed him. Too many years had passed and so much had happened, he had no time recalling such a trivial thing.
“I am so sorry for doubting you..I should have believed you when you said you were innocent.”
“It’s fine, uncle. You just did what every father would do.”
“No…I-”
“The doctor!” Frank exclaimed and rushed towards the doctor who’d just emerged from the theatre.
Juliet, Donald and Lubesha followed suit.
“How’s my baby and wife, Doc?”
“Your baby is fine but as for your wife, she lost a lot of blood,” he went ahead and gave them the cliche of him and his team trying their best.
“Just freaking tell me how she’s doing!” Frank snapped.
The doctor took a breath, in and out. “I am so sorry..we lost her. Your wife is no more…”