Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Chapter 49 Misfortune loomed on

Upon catching sight of her mother, Kate ran in the whistling wind and hugged her mother. The hug seemed to be eternal as Mrs. Fanny pecked her on the chin, and they swirled to behold the fire fighters splash water on the fire which made huge crackling and popping noise.

“Did any harm come on you?” Ken asked.

And Kate got noticed of him, “No,” Kate whispered, flinching slightly as the fire roared at one of the fire fighters who kept splashing water fervently into the flame.

“How did it happen?” Mrs. Fanny asked.

Kate was fast asleep, unaware of the evil that lurked; she left her ghetto blaster on and blazing sonorously in her studio. The master minder had initiated the fire in the kitchen, few inches from the gas pipe. After so long a flame the fume choked her and woke her up. As she made to the sitting room, to behold the cloud of tar smoke and fire snapping through, she reached for her phone, confusedly and fidgety. The roaring fire fazed her so badly that she became indecisive about what action to take. It was by chance that she dialed the fire fighters and afterwards her mother.

“You didn’t pick your call and you came very late,” Kate nagged and pouted her lips in fury, staring at the pearl that filled her neck.

“Sorry, heaven’s lollipop, I never knew my phone was ringing. We were stuck in the traffic on our way from jail,” she retorted, stole a glance at Ken who rolled his eye in appreciation for the lies.

“Why we?” Kate asked, and contemplated on the looks on their faces.

“Yes we,” replied Mrs. Fanny struggling to keep a mean face as she said, “Ken needed to come with me to see if he could help reduce the jail term of your father.”

Kate winked and turned to behold the last straw of the fire which the fire fighters quenched uneasily and heavy smug of smoke ravaged their house.

“The attacker wants you to lose everything,” the ring leader of the fire fighters, a stubby baby –face man said to Mrs. Fanny.

She snorted as her face gathered a sorry look. ”Haven’t we lost everything already. We have lost everything from time immemorial; from the leak of my daughter’s sex tape to my husband being jailed.” A tear trickled her cheeks.

“Oh, no, no,” said Ken, patting her on the shoulder. “Everything is going to be fine. I am here now.”

“The master minder broke through the kitchen and lit fire inches away from the gas pipe. He wanted to raise down this house.” The fire fighter said, and gave a pitiable look. “We will be on our way now. You should let the police get involved in this. It is not ordinary.” He shook hands with Ken, robbed Mrs. Fanny on the shoulder and went to his crew.

Kate went cold and gaped at their house in cloud of smoke; she was wondering what would have happened to her had the fire gutted the gas pipe. She had escaped death and she appreciated her life for the first time; the cloud over her head, the whistling wind that sped into her ears and everything around her

“You both can’t live here now until it is fixed,” Ken said, casting a gaze at Mrs. Fanny and avoided Kate’s stare. “You can stay in my house.”

“Yes we will,” Mrs. Fanny resounded boldly.

“No I won’t,” Kate protested, “you can stay in his house but I can’t. I don’t know him. I rather stay with my friend.” She rolled her eyes and scowled her face.

“Keep shut, burnt candy,” barked Mrs. Fanny. “What else do you want to know about Ken, color of his kidney or beauty of his intestine? This is the lawyer that stood for you and your father in court.”

“I know all of that CV, mom. But I will be much comfortable in my friend’s house.”

“Which of your friends?” she asked and scowled out of control.

“My girlfriend, you don’t know her,” said Kate.

“You would do no such thing baby K. these are hard times. We need to be together,” she raised her voice.

And Kate’s countenance became testy; she shot an enraged stare at them and walked away.

“Come back here, Kate. Where the hell are you off to?”

As Kate walked away, she felt brutalized in her sub consciousness about what her father told her some hours ago; earlier Mr. Fanny had phoned her from jail, complaining about her mother seeing a man because of the strange delicate beautiful pearl he saw on her neck when she came to see him in jail. The moment she saw her mother with Ken, and the pearl that filled her neck her instinct told her Ken was the man; the lust stood hugely in their eyes and Ken’s heady perfume hung massively over her mother

Mom is cheating! I wish dad never went to jail! Our center is tearing apart!” she said in her head, and walked into the horizon.

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Tony was smoking heavily with his boss and other of his cronies. They rolled their tongues into the cocaine and licked of it before they shook their heads in conformity to originality of the cocaine and then sealed it in the carton

At once his boss’s phone buzzed and he picked up, “OK you did a nice job. I will pay you guys the balance later,” he answered the call briefly and hung yup.

“The consignment is good to go, boss,” Tony said, licking his fingers of the cocaine on them.

“Good. Nice supply is our target this week. No pay, no supply,” he warned, pointing his cigar across them. “Work like a lion, always watch your back for cops. No permanent friends but permanent enemies. I wish you gold mine! He wished them and they dispersed.

Kate retired to Tony’s house after perching at the bar to drink alcohol. She had a heavy head yet she could study her environment and keep calm within herself. When she got to Tony’s house, it was locked and she decided to hang around. Her gaze was suddenly caught by a piece of paper stuck into the edge of the front door, and she went for it. Anxiously she opened the paper and saw it was a written note for Tony. After she had read it, her face scowled and her eyes held fire as she couldn’t believe the content of the note;

“ Heh, man T, do you have more sex tape?

Been calling you and you are not picking

Reply me soon!”

Misfortune loomed on…