A Prayer And A Dollar – Episode 25

#25

For the first time in a very long time he was visited by his father, he had grown up admiring the man because he sacrificed so much just so his children could have the best in life. He slowly got out of bed, of late he was not so interested in going for work; he represented a busy office but he also knew he could work from anywhere in the world and things would still be moving.

It was his wife Denise that had told him that his father was waiting downstairs, she seemed to have regained her old self because she was no longer mopping around and knowing her, he knew she was either planning something or had done it already.

He walked down the stairs and his eyes met with his father’s, piercing through him. He was afraid of that look, that look that left him feeling like a child and he instantly knew that this wasn’t a friendly visit. ‘Good morning father.’ He said

‘You have an entire province looking up to you and all you can do is sleep at this hour?’ he barked looking at the wall clock not minding that the house helps were in presence

‘Father I can work from anywhere in the world and things’ He didn’t allow him to finish his sentence.

‘We voted you into that office with full knowledge that you will be a good leader. We put you into that office to represent us and go out there when you have to.’ ‘You just said when I have to.’ He defended

‘We put you into that office, we can as well remove you!’

There was silence, none of them saying a word to each other. The room getting too small for father and son; Denise watched all this from the corner of her eye with pleasure, no one could put Josphat in his place like his father did.

‘I don’t think you came here to tell me how to do my job.’

‘To the study now.’ The old man commanded walking to where the study was as if the house was his

Josphat banged the door behind him

‘You don’t have to treat me like a child.’ He said

His father turned to face him and punched him on the chest, causing Josphat to flinch like a child.

‘I will do that and more if you choose not to respect me, I am your father young man.’

‘I am not a little boy anymore and so you will not treat me as such.’ He said standing eye to eye with the old man

‘I don’t know where I went wrong with you, I put in my two hundred percent just to make sure you are better than the man I was; the man I am trying not to be! I thought you were stronger than your little brother but no; I was wrong.’ He said putting his hands in his pocket as if looking back at his life

‘I have no idea what is wrong with you, but I don’t appreciate you coming into my house and treating me like you did when I was under your roof. Yes you raised us by an iron fist but things have got to change, I am not a child.’

His father shook his head vigorously

‘You are not a child but will always be my child, that is something you cannot run away from. For as long as you still have my blood running through your veins I will have a say in your life.’

‘What do you want from me?’ Josphat asked rudely

‘Seems you managed to become exactly what I didn’t want you to be.’ His father said before chuckling

‘I won’t waste any more time here but I want you to know that I am very

disappointed in you, I am disappointed that you want to get Xavier from his

mother.’

‘Xavier?’

‘Lord you don’t even know his name, do you?’ he asked with a mixture of disappointment and defeat

‘I might not know his name now but that doesn’t change the little fact that he is my son.’ He said unapologetically

‘I am ashamed to be called your father because that is not how I raised you.’ Josphat clapped his hands in mockery shocking the old man. He turned to look at his son.

‘What’s the meaning of this?’

‘You know what father; that is a beautiful show you just put up.’ He said pointing a finger at him then continued to clap

‘Meaning?’

‘You coming in here and pretending like you are a good person, like you genuinely care about that little brat. All for what? Tell me what’s in it for you.’ He said now settling into his chair

‘You know what makes you different from your little brother? He took after your mother’s heart and my maturity. But you.’ He paused to study his son’s face ‘You took after my cold heart and as for maturity, it seems power got the best out of you. I feel sorry for you Josphat, because when all this is over you will have no one to stand by your side. We all know that Denise is only here as long as the money is flowing, once it stops, she will find her way out of your life.’

‘What is your point exactly?’

‘This child is an opportunity for you to find yourself, to find that part of yourself that is capable of loving but no; once again you want to use this as a political rally. That is the problem with you damn politicians, you think everything is political.’ He said as he cursed under his breath

‘I will not allow Khan to be happy with Miso and that child whilst I have no taste of happiness.’

‘So it’s about jealousy after all? Don’t you have it all? Money? Cars? Power? The devil for a wife? Can’t your brother have that one thing that he never did whilst growing up? A family? Love?’ he asked

He took one last look at him when he didn’t say anything.

‘I will make sure Miso never hands you her child but we want to be part of his life and I am sure Khan can be a better father to him than you.’ He said and walked out He met Denise on his way out, there was a time he thought she was the best for his son. She came from a very good background, well learned and her parents had good Christian values. He thought she would be a positive influence in his son’s life but he had been wrong and now more that ever he wanted to make this right with Khan.

He got into his car and sighed, he was going to drive to his work place and talk to him.

#A_PRAYER_AND_A_DOLLAR

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