• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Pandora’s box

Pandora’s box

I’ve never believed in the tall, dark and handsome cliché. I just want me a good man ok. I am wife material 100 yards so I don’t want to give all my worth and value to just any man. He has to be deserving of me.

When Dale and I met it was like a match made in heaven. He was the absolute love of my life but there was a problem. His family is the bourgeoisie/very out there in the public type while I come from a modest and very humble background and I have the most amazing set of humans as my parents.

I remember the first time Dale and I visited my parents together. He didn’t want us to leave because he was enjoying himself. He told me that he could almost touch the love in my family. I wasn’t surprised when he started visiting them without me.

Dale’s parents were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary and I was invited. This would be an opportunity to meet his family and I was excited but I noticed that he didn’t share in my excitement.

Dale’s family house was an eye-popper. The opulence, grandeur and lavish display of wealth were out of this world. His mom and siblings were somewhat friendly but his dad was a nightmare.

For a man his age and class, he was very uncouth. He spoke to people in the most demeaning manner. I tried hard to keep a straight face and soak in all his rudeness. I had to find a way to survive the weekend or cut my stay short.

The worst part was that I haven’t seen much of Dale since we arrived because he was with his dad most of the time. I knew his dad was deliberately keeping him away from me and Dale couldn’t stand up to him. It was almost as if he was afraid of his father.

Then walks in Ann (Dale’s older sister). She came with her eight year old son Derick. Dale had told me that she kept the identity of her baby daddy a secret and every effort to get her to talk about him always met with a brick wall.

“God please let her be nice”, I whispered to myself. And Yes! She was different from the rest of the family. She tried her best to make me comfortable. She was a very sweet person.

So on the morning of the anniversary, close knit family members and friends gathered at the garden for prayers that would precede the party. Dale’s father (by the way his name is Princewil), was in his shitty elements as usual, cussing out and making jest of everyone. He had a degrading name for everyone… from the officiating Bishop to the domestic staff, he had no regards for anyone. I didn’t understand why nobody could stand up to him, not even his wife and children. He seemed to wield so much power over them.

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I guess I spoke too soon because while he was running down his niece for having a child out of wedlock we suddenly heard someone ask him to keep quiet. There was pin drop silence as we all turned to see Ann walking towards her father as she continued to shout at him to shut the gutter he calls a mouth.

He was shocked. He looked like he was about to pass out. Nobody has ever spoken to him in that manner and here was his daughter standing up to him in front of everyone.

Ann took to the stage as she kept her eyes on her father who was now giving her signs to stop what she was doing. It was funny how no one made any attempt to get her off the stage. Ann looked around at the small crowd and asked them to raise their hands if her father has ever said something nice to them. Wow! Not one hand went up.

She looked at him straight in the eyes and called him a pig. Everyone gasped as they watched the almighty Princewill wipe sweat from his bald head.

Ann began to recall how her father started raping her when she was only 13years old. She got pregnant twice before she turned 22 and Derick was the result of the third pregnancy which she refused to terminate yet he had the guts to talk to someone about having a child outside wedlock. Ann expressed disappointed in her mother who knew about this but continued to cover up for her husband.

Even the Bishop was aware of this too but chose to act ignorant because of her dad’s contributions to his ministry.

Here was a despicable man. Full of rot and filth. A man who should lock himself up and bury his head in shame instead he walks and talks as if the world is his to control. There was murmuring around the garden. People were already gathering in groups to talk, some were even recording with their phones but Ann could not be bothered. Princewill sat there, his head bowed in shame. He was speechless for the first time since I walked into that house.

I expected someone to get up and say something to douse the tension in the atmosphere but nobody did not even Dale.

Then I watched as the family driver who was the longest serving domestic staff of the Princewill house hold walk up to take the stage beside Ann.

Drivers have a way of knowing a lot about their bosses and they always find a way to cover up for them. Maybe that’s what he wanted to do. I couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say but I noticed the color drain from Princewil’s face when he saw his driver.

The driver told us how Princewil bullied him into having sex with him in exchange for a lot of money. The money he received from his boss was very useful but he was tired because the act was affecting his health. There was more gasps as he opened up one more can of worms to reveal that Mr Princewil was also having sex with Dale. I looked at Dale for answers. I wanted him to deny it but he didn’t.

This was indeed a messed up situation. I couldn’t bring myself to sit back and find out what will happen next so I grabbed my things and left. I already heard enough as it was.

I love Dale, I really love him but I feel betrayed, disappointed, angry and confused. It turns out my Mr Perfect was not so perfect after all and his family is messed up.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around all the things I heard at the Princewil home. It’s a lot to take in. My would be father in-law sleeps with my fiance. He sleeps with his driver. He also sleeps with his daughter and he is the father of his grandson. Who else could he be sleeping with?

This is so messed up.