NUMBERS

Chapter 4 of the book-"NON-CONTRADICTORY CONTRADICTIONS"

IV. Numbers

1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this.

3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

 4 At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them came out. 5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6 he said, “Listen to my words: When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. 7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

9 The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them. 10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam-leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” 13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, please heal her!” 14 The LORD replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back. Numbers: Chapter 12:1-15 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

1

It was the biggest farm in Swaziland. It employed more than three hundred people. Robert Lara was proud to be associated with this farm. Robert was the farm manager, a job he enjoyed immensely. On this particular day, he was admiring his apple crop. The apples were not quite ripe but it would not be long before farm workers would start picking up the apples and preparing the fruit for export.

He was standing beside his motor-bike at the far end of the farm. In order to make a good and proper inspection of the large farm, one needed a mechanised vehicle to move around it. A motor-bike was ideal as you could access most of the farming area through the numerous paths that ran across the fields. Who was it who had said, ‘Choose the job you love and you will never work one day in your life’ or something like that? Robert could not remember who had said those words but he was in total agreement with the quote. To him, his farm manager’s job was not “work.” He had always loved nature, being outdoors and he felt a “little guilty” being paid for what he loved doing and did not seem to be “work.”

Robert had been born in a small village about 150 miles from Kingston, the capital city of Jamaica. It was a farming area, largely involved with sugar-cane although some other crops were grown. He had ended up working and living in Swaziland “by accident really.” After graduating from the University of the West Indies, he was persuaded by his uncle to go to South Africa to pursue a post-graduate course at the University of Cape Town. His uncle was a cricket coach, working for one of the cricket clubs in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

On graduating from the University of Cape Town, rather than go back home to Jamaica, he had joined a large agro-industrial conglomerate in the Western Cape. The company had extensive agricultural investments around Southern Africa. This is the same company that owned the vast apple farm in Swaziland. Robert was asked to go and run the Swazi farm after he had been with the company for only eighteen months.

He had fallen in love with Swaziland the moment he sat foot in the country. No wonder that within two years of his stay in the country, he had found himself marrying a lovely Swazi girl. He thought of his beautiful wife and the fact that the three of them were going to fly to Jamaica the following week. “The three of them”, because he and his wife had been blessed with the arrival of a baby son ten months ago. His wife had been to Jamaica but the baby boy would be going to Robert’s home country for the first time.

Robert would have liked to closely supervise, the harvesting, packaging and export of this ripening apple crop but his superiors insisted he should take leave now as he had barely gone on leave in the past two years. He was not worried too much though, because he knew the farm would be in good hands. He had three very capable supervisors working under him and he was going to leave one of them in charge as Acting Farm Manager. He knew this job was going to fall on Themba Khumalo as he had proved to be the most capable of the three subordinates. The other two supervisors were Peter Dlamini and Sipho Dlamini. The two Dlaminis, although sharing the same surname, were not related, a common occurrence in Swaziland. Themba was the youngest of the three but the most capable. Robert resolved that it should be Themba’s responsibility to run the farm in his absence.

2

As the man in charge, Themba made the decision to start harvesting the apple crop after John had been gone for two weeks. He held a meeting with Peter and Sipho, the other two supervisors, and informed them of his decision. The meeting was held on a Friday and Themba instructed Peter and Sipho to start the harvesting process on the following Monday. Themba had considered the possibility that Peter and Sipho might resent the fact that he had been left in charge during Robert’s absence but he had also convinced himself that they were professional men who would cooperate with him despite any adverse feelings that they might have. Themba’s suspicion had been more than confirmed by some of the developments of the preceding two weeks. They were small things but he had noticed that whenever he gave an instruction to Peter or Sipho, neither would respond quickly. They would engage in such childish manoeuvres as deliberately arriving late at meetings called by Themba. They would not be so late as to affect the occurrence of the meetings but they made an effort to show that they did not accord Themba the same respect that they showed to Robert. These “little childish” actions by the two Dlaminis did not bother Themba as long as the work was being carried out.

3

Monday morning, Themba woke up much earlier than usual. He intended to make a quick inspection of the crop to assure himself that he had taken the right decision about starting the harvest on that day.

What he saw, as he took a quick tour of the farm on his motor-bike, satisfied him and he was convinced that he had made the right decision. The crop was ready for harvest. He rode back to his farm house and prepared a leisurely breakfast, thinking of the long day ahead. Once the harvesting process starts, everybody would be very busy. The picked crop would invariably have different grades and would be packed in boxes according to the various grades. Almost everything harvested was for export. The farm did not sell any apples locally, that is, there were no sales in Swaziland apart from a few boxes that were sold to people who visited the farm during the harvesting period. Traditionally, the Swazi Royal Family would also be given a reasonable quantity of the best crop of any harvest.

Themba was certain that by mid-morning, Peter and Sipho would have set all the planned processes for that day in motion. He went to the main office block where he started working on the mail and other paper work. There was a lot of paper work to be done and lunch time came and passed without Themba realising what time it was. At about 14:15 hours he decided to take a break and also find Peter and Sipho to find out how the big day had progressed so far. As Themba walked towards the staff canteen, he saw Peter and Sipho leaving the place together, obviously having sat together at lunch.

“Afternoon Gentlemen! How is it going so far?” Themba asked.

“How is what going?” was the response from Sipho.

“Why, the picking of the fruit and preparation of the grading sheds, of course,” replied Themba, surprised that his initial inquiry could have been mistaken for anything else other than what it was.

Sipho approached Themba and said, “You see Themba, this is what Peter and I have been discussing over lunch. We do not think the harvesting process should be started at this stage. We were actually coming to talk to you about it.”

Themba was immediately alarmed, “Why? Have you noticed something wrong? What is it? What’s wrong? We discussed the start date in the Friday meeting and I also made a quick inspection of the crop this morning. The crop is ready, what is this about not wanting to start today?”

They walked back to Themba’s office to discuss the issue further.

“Gentlemen, would you like to tell me what has changed since last Friday. If anything the crop is riper than it was on Friday,” said Themba.

“Well it’s not ready and we think we should wait another week before starting the harvest,” Sipho said. Themba thought he realised what was going on. These guys were just doing this to show him that they can also make decisions. They were feeling that they were also in charge. No doubt Sipho, or Peter for that matter, would have preferred to have been Acting Manager. But Themba felt that not only was his decision correct, but he was also the man in charge and the one to take the blame if operations did not go smoothly. Regardless of this, Themba decided to yield to the “bloated” egos of the two Dlaminis and wait another week. Maybe they would feel better after this and life on the farm could get back to normal.

4

A week later, when Themba was almost regretting that he had agreed to delay the start of the harvest by seven days, he saw through his office window, Sipho and Peter standing about a hundred yards away, seemingly engaged in some animated discussion. If they were coming to see him with some more delaying tactics, he had better be fully prepared for them, Themba thought to himself. Indeed Peter and Sipho were coming over to see him. As soon as Themba heard their mumbled “good mornings” and saw the look on their faces, he realised that he was going to have a bad day. His colleagues were wearing what Themba called “their fighting faces.” As usual, it was Sipho who attacked first.

“Themba, Peter and I have gone around the farm and we think the harvest should be delayed by, at least, another week.”

Themba was speechless! What were these guys playing at? In his opinion, they should not have postponed the harvest by a week as they had already done in the first place. Themba felt himself becoming “hot.” There was no way he was going to continue taking such nonsense. If they did not start picking the crop immediately, they were going to put that year’s harvest at tremendous risk. The work had to begin immediately.

“Gentlemen, I don’t know what this is all about but you are both up to no good. I am certain you know that the harvest should have started by now but for some reason you seem intent on sabotaging the work. I want you to start the harvest today without fail. Now if you will excuse me, I have a lot of other work to do.”

After Sipho and Peter had left, Themba started pacing around the small office, thinking. It was obvious that this was clear sabotage. These guys wanted him to fail. Well it was not going to happen. The fruit was going to be picked even if he had to carry out the work single-handedly!

Around mid-morning, Themba went out to the fields to see if something was going on. There was no activity resembling the harvesting that should have been going on. He sought out some of the farm workers to find out what sort of instructions they had been given. One old man told him that the workers had been told not to start picking the crop despite the fact that everyone could see that it was ready. When Themba asked who had given the “hold” instruction, he was told it was both Sipho and Peter. They would always be together when they talked to the workers.

Themba knew it was time to take some drastic steps. He could not appeal to Robert who was having his vacation in Jamaica. He also thought it would not be right to disturb Robert at that stage. But what was he going to do? There was no work going on at the farm at a very crucial time. He went back to his office and tried to look at his options. After failing to come up with something concrete, he finally settled on calling Robert in Jamaica. The call went through without any problems. It was just after 11.00 a.m. in Swaziland, which meant that it was about 4 a.m. in Jamaica.

Robert, of course, knew that something was wrong when he heard Themba’s voice. Robert agreed that there was no time to waste and there was need for some drastic action. He instructed Themba to call the regional Chief Operating Officer (COO) in Cape Town and apprise him of the developing situation. He, Robert, was also going to try to get hold of the Cape Town office and ensure that something was going to be done.

To Themba’s surprise, the COO from regional head office in Cape Town did not seem to be unduly alarmed. He seemed to understand what was going on and he assured Themba that he was going to fly to Swaziland on the company jet that afternoon. The COO’s private assistant would advise Themba later on during the day, the time that the plane would arrive at Matsapa airport where Themba should meet the jet when it arrives.

5

Some Dlaminis in Swaziland are genuinely members of the Royal Family in one form or the other. There are, however, a lot of Swazis with the name Dlamini but who do not have a connection with the Royal Family or cannot easily trace their link to the Royal Family. Peter and Sipho Dlamini belonged to the second group but they wanted people to consider them as being “of royal stock.” As indicated earlier, the two were not even related to each other.

This desire and belief, of somehow being part of the extended Royal Family, led Peter and Sipho to look down upon lesser beings like their supervisor colleague Themba Khumalo. It was one of the reasons why they thought that Themba should not have been left in charge at the farm.

When Peter and Sipho saw Themba driving out of the farm that Monday afternoon, they correctly assumed he was going to meet somebody from Head Office who was going to help him sort out his problem at the farm. The two Dlaminis had anticipated this when they planned their revolt against Themba. They had their story ready and were sure that they were going to crucify Themba at long last. Their plan was simple. They were going to tell whoever was coming from Head Office that Themba had refused to start the harvest “despite the fact that his colleagues, Peter and Sipho, being ‘well experienced and knowledgeable farm workers,’ had advised him that the crop was ready for harvest. They would say that they think he was only doing this to discredit his colleagues and “engineer” their expulsion from the farm. The boss from Head Office was sure to believe the Dlaminis’ story against whatever that “upstart” Themba was going to say to defend himself.

When Themba drove back to the farm after picking up the COO from Matsapa airport, a meeting of the three farm supervisors with the COO was quickly convened. The COO had, of course, been given a briefing by Themba on their drive from the airport. He was now ready to hear Peter and Sipho’s side of the story. As they had planned, Peter and Sipho placed the blame on the unfortunate developments at Themba’s feet.

Themba on the other hand, proved why he had been left in charge at the farm in the first place. He took out his cell phone and started playing back the discussions of his meeting with his colleagues, at which both Peter and Sipho had argued that the crop was not ready for harvest. As the recording played out, Themba actually felt sorry for his two colleagues, who for some inexplicable reason, had decided to “hang themselves.”

The faces of the two Dlaminis clearly showed that they fully understood that their days at the farm were over.

The next chapter-Deuteronomy- will be published not later than Thursday, 9 December 2010.

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LEVITICUS

In this post we look at chapter three-styled “Leviticus”.

III. Leviticus

18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD. Leviticus: Chapter 19:18 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

1

One of John Hollywood’s greatest regrets in life has always been the frustration that comes from not being able to “rationalise” some human actions. People sometimes do things that are just not logical, things that defy “reasonable” explanation. John would dearly love to penetrate those minds and understand why these people take certain actions. This was, of course, not possible, hence John’s frustration.

He was sitting on the veranda with a book in his hand thinking about how irrational human beings could be sometimes. Although James Clavell was one of his favourite authors, John was finding it difficult to concentrate on the book. He was sitting, facing his neighbour’s house where a young couple had just moved in with their baby son who was probably about two years old. The couple had moved in three days ago. John was thinking about what had happened the day before, when he and his wife, Sarah had gone over to the new neighbours to welcome them to the quiet suburb. The reaction of the couple when John and Sarah knocked on the neighbour’s front door and introduced themselves was quite shocking, to say the least. Right now, John was asking himself the question he had been examining in his head ever since that unpleasant encounter yesterday. Were his new neighbours “mental cases?”

The previous day, Sarah had made an effort to bake some of her special muffins. She and John thought it would be a good idea for both of them to go next door and welcome the new couple by offering them the freshly-baked muffins and also inviting them to come over to the Hollywood place for tea anytime that afternoon. This was common practice in the suburb, at least around the area where John lived. When John and Sarah had bought their house they were given a warm welcome to the neighbourhood by the family that used to stay where the new couple had just moved in. John believed that this tradition was a great idea. He remembered how he and Sarah had been grateful for that simple gesture and it was something that they were determined to practise if ever a chance arose for them to accord the same sort of hospitality to future new-comers.

When John knocked at the neighbour’s door, it was opened by the man of the house. Behind him was his wife, with the small boy tugging at her skirts.

“Hello, my name is John Hollywood and this is my wife, Sarah. We live next door,” John started the introduction. Instead of making some form of positive response, the man said, “What do you want?”

The Hollywoods were taken aback by this and John stuttered, “Well, eh we thought we could welcome you to the neighbourhood. Sarah has just baked these muffins which we would like you to have and perhaps you could come over to our house for tea sometime.”

“Look John, where I come from people mind their own business, so buzz off!”  the man said and he banged the door close, right in John’s face. John and Sarah were speechless. They silently, slowly walked back to their house.

In accordance with their new neighbours’ wish, John and Sarah left them alone after that nasty incident. Of course, there was nothing that the Hollywoods could do if the newcomers did not want to be “neighbourly.”

2

Two weeks after this incident, there was heavy rain in the area. The suburb in which John and Sarah lived was located about 20 miles from the city centre. In between the suburb and the city, there was a large “woody” area which gave one the impression of driving to the country side if one drove along the road to this lovely suburb.

John was driving home in the evening after a late day at the office. It had started raining while he was still at the office and the rain seemed to be intensifying as John drove through the wooded area. Visibility was becoming quite poor and he was glad that he was not on a long journey. On a sharp curve along the road, just as John was about to leave the wooded area, he noticed that a car had left the road and stopped in the ditch beside the road. Through the heavy rain, John could see that the driver had come out of the car to wave down traffic so that he could get some assistance. Because of the fear of hi-jacking, most motorists would not stop along such a secluded area, especially after sunset. For some reason, however, John decided to stop and pick up this poor fellow.

When he stopped, the man who had flagged him down came over to John’s car. He was completely drenched with rain and also covered with mud, suggesting that he might have made an effort to get his car out of the ditch without success. The man started to say something when John opened the car window but he stopped without finishing his sentence. He had recognised John. This was John’s new neighbour who had somehow got himself into trouble.

“Get in the car before I also get wet,” John said to his “unfriendly neighbour.” The man hesitated but he got into the car.

“Thank you very much. You will not believe the number of cars that have driven past without stopping,” the man said. John smiled and said, “I believe you, people around here ‘do mind their own business’ sometimes.” The guy managed to show his embarrassment and actually said, “Look, I am sorry about the other day. You guys caught us on a bad day.”

“Forget it,” John said. “What happened here?”

“Well I think I was driving too fast and I failed to negotiate the corner and ended up in the ditch. I guess I am still trying to get familiar with the place. By the way, my name is Paul, Paul Johnson. I remember yours is John although I don’t remember your surname.”

“My surname is one of the easiest names to remember. It’s Hollywood,” John said.

Paul indicated that he had actually been there with his car in the ditch for the past two hours. Cars that came by were not stopping. To make matters worse, his mobile phone had run out of power, the battery had lost all power before the accident. After Paul had made sure that his car was locked and rushed back to John’s car, they drove away towards home. Paul was going to make arrangements to have the car towed away from the accident scene.

3

On the Saturday following the day of the accident, Paul called John early in the morning and indicted that he and his wife, Mary would take the Hollywoods’ offer of afternoon tea that day if the Hollywoods were available and did not mind. John told Paul that he and Sarah would be more than delighted to have them for tea that afternoon. Tea-time was set for 16:00 hours.

During tea, discussion moved to what the couples were planning to do over the forthcoming holiday weekend. Paul indicated that he and Mary owned a holiday cottage in the Eastern Highlands and it would be a lovely place to go to during that time of the year. The Eastern Highlands were famous for their pleasant cool climate during the time when most of the country would be very hot at that of the year.

“Mary and I would love you to join us at the cottage for the weekend,” Paul said. “If anyone is up to it, there will be a chance to do some trout fishing at a dam near the cottage,” continued Paul. John and Sarah had not made any definite plans for the special weekend and they gladly agreed to take the trip to the Eastern Highlands.

It was agreed that the two couples and the little boy would use one vehicle for the trip to the holiday cottage. They settled on John’s Toyota Land Cruiser as it was ideally suited for some of the rough terrain found in areas around the cottage.

The drive to the cottage was uneventful. The two men were sitting in front with John driving. Sarah and Mary were sharing the back seat with the little boy who everybody called Junior because he shared the same name with his father. The cottage was located on a small hill and there was a small stream that ran through the grounds of the cottage at the bottom of the hill. When they entered the place, Mary asked Sarah to choose the bedroom that she and John would prefer from the three bedrooms available. Sarah thought she should test this new friendship by choosing what was obviously the best room of the three. If she was expecting some unpleasant reaction from Mary and Paul, she did not get any. Mary just said, “Splendid! Paul will get your bag from the car and bring it to this room.”

The weekend turned out to be one of the best holidays John and Sarah had ever enjoyed. Although, John had visited the Eastern Highlands before, it had always been during business conferences and for some reason, it had been winter the previous two times he had been there. Apart from not having had enough time for recreation, John remembered that it had also been bitterly cold. This weekend with Paul and Mary had been entirely different. The weather was perfect and they had all the time to fish for trout at the nearby dam into which the cottage stream flowed. They were also able to take early morning and evening walks in the woods amongst the lovely hills. It had been a pleasant weekend.

4

About a week following the lovely holiday in the Eastern Highlands, John and Sarah drove into the street leading to their house and were immediately confronted with a scene that resembled action from a Hollywood movie. John and Sarah could not believe what they were seeing. There were blue lights, red lights and orange lights everywhere. Police cars, ambulances and fire engines. Their house was on fire!

From the looks of it, the fire must have started in one of the rooms on the ground floor. The firemen were doing their best in trying to extinguish it but the fire was still burning violently.  The lower floor seemed to have been completely destroyed and it looked like the bedrooms on the upper floor were going to suffer the same fate as the fire was now raging violently on this top floor. Sarah, who like John, had been shocked into silence, began to sob. John was trying to comfort her but he also found himself choking with emotion.

How did this happen? How did the fire start? From what he could see, the damage was going to be extensive. The insurance company would, of course, provide funds for repairs and replacement of certain items but there were some items that were never going to be replaced. Some of his precious, rare books which were in the library downstairs could not be replaced. Apart from the books, there were also some household items with great sentimental value. These items had been lost forever.

It looked like the entire neighbourhood had come to witness the tragedy. There were scores of on-lookers. Somebody came over to were John and Sarah where standing watching their precious treasures go up in flames. It was Paul, their new neighbour. He was saying something but it took time for what he was saying to register in John’s mind. He was expressing his sorrow at John and Sarah’s loss and imploring them to come to his house when they had finished with the fire department and the police. He even said, “Our house is at your disposal. We have plenty of room. You can stay with us for as long as you wish.”  

The next chapter-Numbers- will be published not later than Monday, 6 December 2010.

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EXODUS

In this post we look at the second chapter-styled “Exodus”.

II. Exodus

13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. Exodus: Chapter 20:13-15 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

1

“How was it possible to experience such levels of ecstasy?” Jane thought.

It was almost too much to bear. She had not known that anyone could derive so much pleasure from one sexual encounter. It was like a continuous flow, beginning from the moment of the first touch. He was kissing and touching her everywhere. Each successive contact had an incremental pleasurable effect. It was almost unbearable!

In a lot of sexual encounters, one partner might wish to be kissed or touched on a certain part of his or her anatomy and would direct their partner towards the desired spot. Jane did not have to do this with him. His every touch and kiss was going to the exact desired spot without any prompting from her. A kiss, a touch of the breasts, all exactly as she would have desired. The touch always on the correct spot and the right amount of pressure. She was going crazy!

 Now, the caresses were emphasizing the lower part of her body. She was not sure she could take any more of this. How was it possible that the pleasure was increasing with each successive contact. It was truly incremental and it was driving her crazy. The scream that then came out of her could have genuinely been mistaken as emanating from somebody experiencing extreme pain but it was just a testament to her level of pleasure.

2

They were so much alike. Without looking closely, it was difficult to tell them apart. But they were not twins. They were brothers, but they were not twins. Jane watched them as they sipped their beers whilst all three were sitting on the balcony. She was married to the elder brother, Thomas. The younger brother’s name was Anthony but of course, everybody called him Toni. They were at Thomas and Jane’s place which was located in a very posh apartment building in the city. Toni was visiting. As she looked at them, Jane wondered why she had married the elder brother Thomas. She had really been “Toni’s girl” at first, but for some reason she had ended up marrying Tom.

It was such a lovely evening with the sun having just set. There was still a hint of an orange glow still lingering on the balcony. Jane realised that she knew why she had married Tom instead of Toni. She had initially gone out with Toni. At the time, Toni had been waiting for his final discharge papers after leaving the Army.

They had first met in the department store in which she had been working as a shop assistant. He had been looking for a birthday present for his mother and Jane had helped him choose a floral blouse. During that brief encounter, there had been a spark between them which both seemed to have been aware of. The following day, Toni had gone back to the shop pretending to have come to buy another item. This ruse would have been easier if Jane had been working in a section of the store selling men’s goods. Her work area was however, exclusively for female goods. Toni went through the motions of looking for another item for his mother but he had the feeling Jane knew he had come back to the store because of her. When he finally asked to meet her after work so that he could buy her some coffee at a nearby cafe, she agreed without too much hesitation.

Jane and Toni had gone out together a few more times when she finally met his brother Thomas. She and Toni were leaving a movie theatre when it started to rain. Because of the rain, there were now a lot of people looking for taxis outside the theatre. A large black Mercedes, which was clearly not a taxi, pulled off the road and stopped near them. The driver came out of the car briefly and shouted, waving to Toni, asking him to get into the car. Toni saw that it was his brother Tom and he pulled Jane and shoved her towards the car. They got into the car with Toni sitting in front with his brother. Jane had the luxurious back seat to herself. She immediately observed that the two brothers were very much alike. In the short period that she and Toni had been dating, he had never mentioned that he had a twin brother. The only close relative he would constantly talk about was his mother.

When they arrived at her flat, she invited both men in for a cup of coffee. Thomas tried to turn down the invitation but both Toni and Jane managed to persuade him to go in for the “promised cup of coffee.”

“You didn’t tell me that you had a twin brother,” said Jane to Toni.

Thomas and Toni laughed at this at the same time. This usually happened a lot of times whenever they both met some people for the first time. They looked so much alike that people assumed they were twins.

“Actually we are not twins but as I said in the car, he is my ‘rich’ elder brother,” Toni said. “Tom is a stockbroker. He owns his own firm which seems to have a knack of making a lot of money on the stock exchange,” continued Toni.

She ended up cooking dinner for them and the two brothers left together after that. After they had gone, Jane was already saying to herself, “Why didn’t I meet the rich brother first?” Tom was also single and seemed to be just as charming as ‘poor’ Toni. Of course, Tom probably had a “bevy of girls” all waiting for him to choose a bride. On their next date, Jane never seemed to stop asking Toni questions about Tom. Toni realised, as happened in some cases in the past, his girl was now interested in his rich brother. He should have ignored Tom that other day when the big Mercedes pulled over to offer them a lift, he thought. Now he was probably going to lose this girl to his brother.

Just as Toni suspected, Jane started making excuses when he suggested they go out. She would plead that she would be doing one thing or the other. It was, therefore, not surprising to him when he finally saw Jane and Tom together one night leaving one of the most expensive restaurants in town. When he confronted her about this the next day, she rightly pointed out that she could go out with whoever she wanted. After all she and Toni were not engaged, they had just been going out for a “brief period of time.” Toni did not let this bother him too much. He even agreed to be best man when his brother told him he was going to marry Jane.

Tom and Jane had a big wedding.

Jane did not go back to her job at the department store after the honeymoon. Toni also did not see much of the couple after that.

Jane was not happy in her new marital life. She had everything that money could buy but she was not happy. She lived with Tom in a large apartment in one of the most sought after locations of the city. She was, however, not at all happy. Her problems related to the “activities in the bedroom” or more accurately, “the lack of activity” in the bedroom. Tom was impotent in bed. She had found out this during the honeymoon when all Tom wanted to do in the bedroom was “use his tongue and fingers.” This is okay for “foreplay” or if one is masturbating, Jane thought, but she did not want to go through life without never again experiencing the real thing. She was not a virgin after all and she knew she missed the thrills of “real love-making.”

They did not discuss Tom’s problem in their marriage. Jane tried to pretend that she was happy. For God’s sake, she had everything! She did not want for anything. Tom was a very generous person. But, he could not give her everything in the bedroom. So when Toni started visiting them, after having stayed away for a period of almost a year after Jane and Tom had got married, she began to have “some ideas.”

“What was the chance that both brothers could be impotent?” she asked herself. She strongly doubted that Toni could be afflicted by the same problem that had affected his brother. She started encouraging Toni to visit more often.

3

Now she was thinking about all this as they sat having drinks at the balcony. Tom also seemed to enjoy his brother’s company. They had never talked about the fact that Tom had “snatched” Jane from Toni. If Tom felt any guilt about that, he did not show it. Jane wondered if perhaps Tom secretly hoped that his wife would start an affair with his brother. Jane knew that this thought was not far-fetched. In other similar situations to the one she was in, she had heard that some brothers had “shared” a wife in an effort to procreate. The husband would look the other way hoping his brother would “give his wife a baby.” After all, this would still be happening in the family! Maybe Tom was like that, Jane thought. On the other hand, she knew that she was perhaps trying to justify an “unjustifiable” action that she was about to take for selfish reasons.

Tom was going away to a business conference that was going to take place at one of the tourist-resort places of the country. He was leaving the next day. Jane decided to test her theory.

“Toni, you know that your brother is going away for a week from tomorrow? Why don’t you come and visit me during the week? Maybe take me out to a movie or something,” said Jane.

This was said in full hearing of Thomas and Toni wondered what his brother’s reaction would be, knowing Toni’s past brief liaison with his wife. To Toni’s surprise, Tom quickly said, “Yes Toni, why don’t you do that? Keep her company whilst I am away as much as you can.”

Maybe my theory is correct after all, thought Jane as she looked at Toni with a smile. Toni seemed to be the only one who had been taken aback by this suggestion. He, however, said, also with a smile, “Of course, I would love to. That is if you trust me to be alone with your lovely wife?”

“Why shouldn’t I trust you? You are my brother. Who else could I trust to look after my wife when I am away?” said Tom.

4

Toni did not visit Jane immediately after Tom’s departure. Although Tom and Jane seemed to fully trust him, he did not trust himself. He knew that if he found himself alone with Jane, especially if it was at the apartment, he might not be able to keep his hands off her. So he did not contact her for the first two days. On the third day, however, Jane called him.

“Hey stranger, I thought you promised your brother you would look after me? Why are you not paying me a visit? Afraid I am going to rape you?” she joked. He promised to pick her up that evening so that they could go to the movies.

At exactly 18:30 hours, he was dropped off by a taxi at Jane’s apartment building. They were, of course, going to use her car to drive to the movie theatre. She was ready, waiting for him. She looked wonderful in a black evening dress. He felt awkward beside her in his blue jeans.

“You look really , really wonderful Jane. I thought we were just going to the movies. You are dressed to kill,” he complemented her.

“Thanks Toni, I thought you might want to take me for dinner after the movie and of course, I had to dress accordingly,” she said.

He took the car key from her as they rode the elevator down to the underground parking of the building. Her car was a bright red BMW Seven Series. Toni drove it carefully away from its parking space, already enjoying the feel of the powerful engine. They drove silently towards the movie theatre, each in his and her thoughts.

Toni was thinking of his brother Tom. He had always lived in Tom’s shadow. People would only notice him if they were mistaking him for Tom. If he was honest, he would say he really did not like his brother. He was jealous of him. Tom was always the successful one when they were growing up. He would get excellent grades at school whilst Toni barely managed to get by. Tom would date all the beautiful girls whilst Toni only seemed to be getting the ones Tom had rejected. No, he did not really like his brother. Now in their adult lives, Tom had found what seemed to be an easy way of making money. The only decent job that Toni could get was in the Army. Now he had left the Army and was back at the place he had grown up, staying with his mother. Their father had long been dead. In fact, Toni could hardly remember him because he had died when Toni was 5 years old.

The movie was average, boring really. Maybe it was because he was not concentrating. Jane sitting next to him in the semi-darkness of the theatre, really unnerved him. The smell of her perfume was intoxicating. The feel of her touch was electric. God help him, he was not going to be responsible for his actions. Even now, he could see what was going to happen. They would go to dinner after the movie and they would play with their food as they waited for the dinner to finish so that they could go back to the apartment to “attack” each other.

This is precisely what happened. They did not have to say anything to each other. The moment they were in the apartment, she was in his arms. They did not even make it to the bedroom, making love there on the carpet in front of the entrance door. “This is what I have been missing,” Jane thought as she lay down panting after the act.

Now that they had started, she was not going to let him go. In fact she wanted his baby. To hell with what Tom might say or do. At this moment, she was prepared to leave all the luxury associated with being Tom’s wife and run away with Toni.

Toni, despite his anxieties, had also enjoyed the encounter. He did not go home to his mother that night, nor did he go back the following day. He was putting on Tom’s clothes when he needed a change of clothes. Jane was having the “honeymoon she had not actually had with Tom.” They did not leave the apartment after coming back from the movies and dinner that first night. They virtually stayed in bed for four days, getting up to nibble a snack and take the occasional shower.

5

Tom was due back on their fourth day together. They expected him sometime in the evening so they decided to stay in bed the whole morning, enjoying their last moments together. Toni would then leave in the afternoon and Jane would go to pick up Tom from the airport in the evening.

Things did not turn out that way though because Tom surprised them by coming back in the morning. One moment they were enjoying each other in bed and the next thing they knew, the bedroom door was opened and Tom was standing there watching them in disbelief. The two lovers were frozen, also just staring back at Tom.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tom went out of the room, closing the door with a bang behind him. The two lovers were energised, jumping out of bed. Before either of them could get out of the room, however, Tom was back, brandishing a big kitchen knife, shouting that he was going to kill somebody. Toni tried to dash out of the room but his brother managed to grab him with one hand. Toni tried to fight him off and in the struggle that ensued, the knife fell out of Tom’s other hand and dropped to the floor. This did not deter Tom, however, as he now grabbed Toni around the neck with both hands. Although Toni, the “Army man”, was the one who was supposed to be good at hand to hand combat, he felt powerless against the attack from his angry brother. Tom was squeezing with all his strength and he seemed to be possessed with superhuman strength as the breath was slowly being squeezed out of Toni’s body. Toni knew that in the next few seconds his brother was going to strangle him to death. Suddenly, Tom’s grip loosened around his neck and he, Tom, was the one acquiring the face of a dying man. As he fell to the ground, Toni could see the big kitchen knife which had fallen to the floor was now sticking out of Tom’s back. Jane had rushed to his rescue, managing to stab her husband with all her strength.

Toni and Jane seemed to be once again frozen in one place as they watched blood gushing out of Tom’s body on the floor. Tom lost so much blood that within a few minutes, he was dead.

“You have killed him,” Toni said to Jane. Jane looked at him as if he was mad.

“Is that all the gratitude I am going to get from you. Tom was about to kill you if I had not stabbed him and all you can say is that ‘I have killed him.’ Of course I have killed him! He was going to kill you! Maybe kill me as well after killing you!” she shouted.

“Okay, okay. Thanks for saving my life but now we have a problem.”

“I am glad you are now saying ‘we’ because at one stage there I thought you were going to make this my problem,” she said.

“Okay, calm down. We have to figure out how we are going to get out of this,” he said.

6

This tragedy happened on a Saturday. The only people who could be expected to make an effort to look for Tom were the wife, Jane herself , the brother Toni, the mother and people from his stock-broking firm. Jane and Toni, of course, knew what had happened to Tom. Toni was sure he could keep his mother quiet with made up stories about Tom. The office presented a bit of a problem. Tom was obviously expected to show up at the office on Monday. Toni and Jane decided they would come up with a plan to deal with the office after they had taken care of Tom’s body.

Toni took the key to Jane’s BMW and drove downtown in search of a rope and a couple of sacks. He had decided that they were going to dump Tom’s body in the dam that was located about 50 miles from the city. The dam was a hive of activity during the day as people enjoyed water sports and some fishing. He, however, knew that it was always very quiet at night. Although some people, like Tom and Jane, maintained cottages around the dam, hardly anybody spent their nights there, probably because the dam was in close proximity to the city. This time of the year was also favourable to what Toni was thinking of doing because winter was approaching and people would be unlikely to be interested in the activities that normally took place at the dam. Tom kept a small speed boat at the dam cottage and Toni intended to use this boat to go to the middle of the dam and dump Tom’s body. This was why he needed the rope and the sacks. He was going to place some rocks in one sack and the body in the other sack. The sack with the rocks would assist in keeping the body submerged once it was thrown over-board. The rope was to be used to tie the two sacks together.

When night came, taking the body down to the BMW in the basement parking lot, proved to be a challenge. Toni finally managed, with the help of Jane. Fortunately, they were not seen by anyone as they struggled with the sack containing the body when they were loading it into the boot of the car. Toni was going to find rocks when he got to the dam.

Their “body dumping operation” went on without incident and they returned to the apartment around mid-night. They had the whole day Sunday to make their plans about how Tom’s “disappearance” was going to be explained. They agreed that Toni would call the office on Monday pretending to be Tom. He would say he had caught a bad cold, which would also help to explain why his voice might be sounding a bit different from Tom’s normal voice. He would also tell the office that he was going to take some time off work, not because of the cold, but because he wanted to spend time with his mother who had fallen ill. This should take care of the office for some days but what “permanent” plan were they going to come up with to explain Tom’s continued absence “from everything?”

7

Late on Sunday afternoon, they came up with a plan. They were going to create an illusion that Tom was still alive. Starting immediately, Toni would try to disguise himself as Tom. This was not going to present much difficulty as they had already enjoyed an unusually close resemblance to each other. The plan was that Toni would start putting on Tom’s clothes. He would also drive around in Tom’s Mercedes, making every effort to be seen by people who knew Tom but making sure he did not get close enough to these people to talk to them. In the middle of the week he would call the office pretending that he still had a cold and indicating he might stay away longer than he had envisaged. He would direct that contact be made with him via email and he would respond to anything urgent whenever he could. The call was going to be made around lunchtime on Wednesday when he was more likely to just talk to the main reception desk. The receptionist was ideal for this because she was going to be only anxious to take down the correct instructions and pass them on to senior personnel. She was unlikely to raise any awkward questions, a development that was likely to occur if he were to talk to the people Tom worked with closely.

Towards the end of the week, preferably late Friday night, Toni and Jane would “arrange that Tom has a fatal car accident.” On that day, Toni would make sure that the car is seen around town with him driving but not talking to anybody. Late that night Toni was to push the car over the cliff along the notorious mountain road. He would make sure the car bursts into flames when it goes over the cliff. They would make sure it burns thoroughly by drenching the inside of the car with petrol first. On pushing the car over the cliff, Toni would throw a flaming rag into the car just before it tipped over. This would ensure it would catch fire even before it hits the ground. The day following the “accident” Jane would report Tom as missing, in the hope that it would be assumed that he had been consumed by fire when his car went over the cliff.

Although Jane was happy with this plan, she was uncomfortable with the absence of a body in the car. The plan relied heavily on the car being thoroughly burnt out, turning most things to ashes. Jane was concerned that the police forensic experts might be able to determine that there had been no one inside the car when it went over. They debated this issue at length until Jane suggested that they might be better off placing a body in the car and hope that the body burns beyond recognition. A pity that they could not possibly go back to the dam to fish out Tom’s body for purposes of placing it into the car.

Finally, it was decided that Toni would get a body by “committing another murder.” On the appointed day, Toni would kill one of the homeless people who could always be picked up from shop fronts at night in the poor section of the city. Toni was to lure one of the “hobos” with food, then strangle him in the car before going on to push the car over the cliff. The more they discussed this idea the more they liked it. The entire plan for the ensuing week was, therefore, complete.

8

As it happened, they managed to execute the plan with such easy that they began to think that they had over-looked something. The police were even quite sympathetic when it was assumed that Jane’s husband was the one who had been completely burnt out in his car Friday night. The only miscalculation that they could think of happened on the Monday following the “accident.” The detective who had been tasked with clearing up issues relating to the accident, visited the apartment Monday morning. Toni did not hear the door bell when it was rung and Jane just got up, putting on a robe and went to open the door. She had no reason to deny the policeman entry and she was sure he was going to leave quickly after clarifying what he was terming “just a few items for his final report.” But, just as the policeman was about to leave the apartment, Toni, who had not realised that someone else other than Jane was in the apartment, walked out of the bedroom completely naked. The policeman was shocked speechless. “This one did not take much time to assume his late brother’s ‘position’,” thought the policeman as he silently went out of the building.

The detective who had talked to Jane could tell that something momentous was afoot the moment he walked into the police station. All his colleagues seemed to be talking at the same time. When he finally managed to get one of them to explain what was going on, the little incident of the “naked brother and the grieving widow” suddenly made sense. Apparently, a body had been found floating in a nearby dam. Although, the body was decomposing badly, it did not need a pathologist to determine that the body belonged to one Thomas Harrison. The police actually found a passport in the inside pocket of Tom’s jacket. Not only that, the wedding finger still had a ring with the inscription, ‘Tom & Jane’ on it. Whoever had killed Tom had not counted on the body being found. Apparently something had cut or chewed out the rope that had been tying the body down to the bottom of the dam.

The detective knew it was time to go back and have a chat with the “grieving widow and her loving naked brother-in-law.”

The next chapter-Leviticus- will be published not later than Monday, 29 November 2010.

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GENESIS

Chapter 1 of the book-“NON-CONTRADICTORY CONTRADICTIONS”

I. Genesis

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate it.” 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis: Chapter 3:1-19 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

1

The smell was almost unbearable. Today he could use the words “almost unbearable,” something that he could not have done on the first day. This was now the third day and somehow, he was beginning to get used to the smell. He had no choice really, because he was in a filthy jail cell.

He was in a section of the prison which had originally been reserved for the most dangerous,  troublesome and uncooperative inmates. It had been the solitary confinement section. Now, however, the section had lost its solitary confinement status due to overcrowding in the prison complex. The cell he was in, had been intended to accommodate just one person but with his incarceration three days ago, the crowded cell which had been holding six people, now had seven. Seven people were packed in a cell meant to hold only one person.

The seven prisoners had to eat whatever little food they were given in that little cell. They also had to relieve themselves in one corner of the cell where there was a hole that served as the toilet. On the first day, he could barely watch as one after the other, his fellow inmates would squat at this hole and empty their bowels. Then, he could not imagine himself doing the same thing. But now, on the third day, after having avoided squatting at the hole for three days, he knew the inevitable was going to happen. Any moment now, he would have no choice but to squat at that filthy hole and provide himself with some much needed relief.

He had long suspected that jail conditions in this small African country were bad, but this far exceeded what he had imagined. He felt sure he was going to contract some terrible disease and probably die from it. Under conditions like this, any jail sentence was a death sentence.

Why had his life come to this? He had been a respected banker, his career heading for great heights. But look at him now, locked up with six criminals. He was not a criminal, not really, well, not in the same way that these other guys were criminals. He had not meant to do it. What man could have said “no” to a girl like that? It had not seemed to be anything illegal at first, but as time went on, he should have refused to go along with it. It was stealing. He knew he was stealing but he still did it. All because he could not face the thought of losing this girl, or perhaps, the lure of easy money also had a great deal to do with it.

Putting all these thoughts aside. He went to the corner. Despite having not relieved himself for about three days, his extreme anxiety caused nothing to come out when he squatted over the hole. He was in pain. He greatly felt the need to empty his bowels, but nothing was coming out. He looked around the cell assuming that his fellow inmates would be staring at him. Strangely enough, no one in the cell seemed to take any notice of what he was doing or about to do. They all seemed to be cocooned in their own little worlds. They were really like zombies, unaware of any activities taking place around them. To his relief, there was a loud noise beneath him as he broke wind. Everything poured out in a rush soon afterwards as his bowels emptied. Still, nobody seemed to take any notice of him.

2

Peter had been gainfully employed by one of the upcoming, small but highly innovative banks in the former communist country. He was branch manager of one of the bank’s outlets located in a new affluent suburb of the city. He had been running the branch for slightly over a year when Head Office sent him a graduate trainee who was being groomed for a managerial post within the organisation. This is when his quiet comfortable life was turned upside down.

The graduate trainee was a young woman of twenty five named Victoria, whom the bank thought showed some promise. Peter, of course, was expected to give her all the support she needed to progress in her banking career. The moment he laid eyes on Victoria he had a strange feeling that things at his branch were never going to be the same again. Victoria was the most beautiful, most attractive woman he had ever seen. It was obvious that he was not alone and shared this opinion with countless others. The few male officers at the branch could be observed struggling to hide their naked desires whenever she walked past. The female clerks were also affected but in a way that said, “Why did you have to be transferred to this branch? You are grabbing all the masculine attention and there is none left for us.”

Victoria worked closely with Peter’s “second-in-command,” popularly referred to as the “2-i-c.” This was the branch’s assistant manager who was an elderly woman approaching retirement. Her name was Mrs. Joana Maphureng. Peter had sometimes wondered why the bank had employed someone who seemed to be close to retirement but the answer he always got when the issue came up, was that Mrs. Maphureng had been quite useful in assisting the bank expand its retail branch network. Peter himself suspected that his “2-i-c” was there because of her close relationship to the Chief Executive Officer of the bank. To be fair, she was a good administrator with genuine extensive banking experience.

After Victoria had been at the bank for three months, the assistant manager was allowed to go on leave for a period of six weeks and, during Mrs. Maphureng’s absence, Victoria was given the opportunity to act in her capacity. Peter, who had been struggling to gather enough courage to ask Victoria to go out on a date, had his problem solved by Victoria because she was the one who suggested they go to have a drink at a nearby cafe, after work on the first Friday of her first week as acting “2-i-c”.

The evening did not just end with “the cafe drinks”. During the drinks, the issue of dinner came up and they agreed to go to a restaurant where they would have dinner and “see what happens afterwards.” The “see what happens afterwards” was really in Peter’s mind as it had not been specifically discussed. Well, he could not see too much of a problem as they were “both single and out on a date on a Friday night.”

Just as Peter desired, that first evening together was the start of a steamy love affair. After this first evening, they were now spending all their evenings together. Victoria had a brother who worked at the only casino in town. Although Peter was not a gambler, he found himself spending some time at this casino with Victoria. The two lovers would not gamble heavily. They just enjoyed “throwing away” a few dollars at the slot machines.

One Saturday night, however, Victoria suggested they try their luck at the poker table which was being manned by her brother, whose name was, not surprisingly, Victor. Between them, they actually won about two thousand dollars and Peter was amazed at how easy it had seemed. On their way home, Victoria intimated that the winnings had something to do with her brother, Victor. She seemed to imply that Victor had a way of “dealing them a good hand” which ensured that they came out with some money. Peter did not really give the incident much thought but what happened the following weekend made him question Victoria more closely about what exactly was “going on” with her brother.

Their second night at the poker table, they won $10 000. Peter was astounded! Victoria explained that Victor and some of his colleagues who worked at other tables in the casino, had a way of making sure that certain patrons went away with big winnings. She also said that if Peter wanted to make real big money, he should give her $30 000 the following week and she would give it to her brother who would hand it to his colleagues who would, in turn, “assist in making sure the funds are trebled” in one night. Peter believed her but pointed out that he did not have $30 000. This is when she suggested that they could “borrow” the money from the bank on a Friday and “repay” (return it to the vault) on the following Monday after having used it to create more money. Peter was not quite happy with what Victoria was suggesting they do but she managed to convince him that there was absolutely no risk as “multiplying” the money at the casino would be a sure thing.

Against his better judgement, Peter allowed himself to be persuaded to take out the $30 000 on the very next Friday. Taking out the money was easy because he and Victoria were the two vault custodians. Victoria was going to give the money to her brother before he went to work the next day, Saturday.

Saturday night, Peter and Victoria went to the casino but did not gamble at the poker table or any other table. They were happy to spend time “having fun” at the slot machines. They lost some money at the machines but did not mind this as they knew that the very next day they would have a lot of money. Sure enough, at around midday on Sunday, Victoria and Peter met with Victoria’s brother at his apartment and they were shown “a cool $100 000” parcel.

“Just like that. Amazing !” Peter said to Victoria.

“Yes, just like that,” agreed Victoria.

The profit element of the money, that is $70 000, was going to be shared between Peter and Victor on a 50/50 percentage basis. Peter and Victoria, therefore, walked away with $65 000, which included their initial investment of $30 000. The “seed money” of $30 000 was, of course, going to be returned to the bank. The two lovers were going to spend their profit of $35 000 in whatever manner they would choose.

3

Peter could not go over the ease with which they had “turned $30 000 into $100 000.” He started wondering whether they could do it again and make some more money. Before he could raise the issue with Victoria, the assistant manager, Mrs. Maphureng came back from leave. Peter’s thoughts had been gravitating towards “borrowing” a large amount of money from the bank’s vault again. This “borrowing” route now seemed unlikely with Mrs. Maphureng’s return. Getting the $30 000 which Victor had “multiplied” to $100 000 had been easy because Peter and Victoria had been the two vault custodians. The assistant manager’s return made things difficult because Mrs. Maphureng resumed her duties as co-custodian.

As if Victoria had been reading his thoughts, she surprisingly, indicated that it should still be possible for Peter to “borrow” money from the bank despite Mrs. Maphureng’s return. Peter did not see how the “borrowing” could be done without Mrs. Maphureng’s cooperation and there was no way he was going to ask his assistant manager to cooperate in “stealing money” from the bank. Victoria, however, insisted it could be easier than Peter thought. She told Peter to observe how Mrs. Maphureng set the opening combination for her dial on the “double dial” vault door. Victoria pointed out that when two custodians worked together for a long time, they developed a certain level of trust between them and they start to make short cuts, thus compromising the objective of the institution of dual control. After some time of working together, tasks that operational procedures say should be confirmed independently by each custodian, begin to be done by one person with the other custodian just countersigning as if he or she had carried out the check independently. This lax attitude can also manifest itself at the time of opening the vault door. In the proper procedure, the person who is working on his or her dial should perform the duty in such a way as to ensure that the colleague does not see the combination numbers. As time goes on, however, one or both custodians stop to think of their partners as potential threats and will become careless and stop ensuring that their colleague does not see their combination numbers.

Although Peter had expressed a lot of scepticism when Victoria was explaining her “mutual trust theory,” he began to think that there might be something to it. He found himself looking carefully at Mrs. Maphureng as she applied her combination to her dial. Sure enough on all the occasions he had observed so far, the elderly lady did not seem to be taking all the precautions. She would just get to the door and “twirl away” without a care in the world. Peter began to think that it might be possible to memorise all the combination numbers as Mrs. Maphureng worked on her dial. He devised a plan. He was not going to try to memorise all the numbers in one day. He would do it over a three day period. The combination set was composed of six numbers and he was going to take note of the first two numbers on day one, the second two numbers on day two and the last numbers on the third day.

Peter was surprised at how easy it had been to get Mrs. Maphureng’s combination. He realised he could have taken note of all the numbers on the first day if he had wanted to. He had, however, stuck to his plan and obtained all the numbers over the planned three day period.

One Friday, Peter and Victoria remained at the bank doing some paper work after the vault door had been locked up for the weekend. After half an hour of pretending to work at his desk, Peter called Victoria over to the vault door and with a smile worked on Mrs. Maphureng’s dial, then his own and swung the door open. They decided to “borrow” $500 000 as they did not intend to do this again. With $500 000 invested, Victor would hopefully make so much money none of them would have to do something like this again.

Victor and his colleagues would work with the money on both Friday and Saturday nights and see how much they would raise. Victoria was convinced they could end up with more than $2 million after “two day’s work”, which would enable them to put back in the bank the $500 000 and still remain with over $1 million.

“Imagine raising a million dollars just like that,” Peter thought greedily.

On the other hand, “borrowing” $500 000 from the bank made him uncomfortable. Who wouldn’t be uncomfortable? It was a lot of money after all. He kept on telling himself, however, that the risk was negligible. He convinced himself of this although he did not know exactly how Victoria’s brother and his friends would manage to multiply the money. There were other questions he should also have asked himself. If it was so easy, why were these guys still working at the casino? For that matter, did Victoria really need this job at the bank when she had a brother who could “create” money? But he did not ask himself all these questions.

Victoria and Peter took the money to Victor later that evening before he started his shift at the casino. After handing over the money, they went to a restaurant for dinner. Peter did not have an appetite. He kept on thinking that he had just handed over $500 000 of the bank’s money without solid guarantees that he would get it back. Victoria assured him that all would be well by Sunday morning as they would have not only the bank’s money back, but huge profits as well.

As before, midday Sunday, they went to see Victor. They took with them two cases as they intended to put the $500 000 to be returned to the bank in one case and the rest of the money in the other. Peter was relieved to find out that Victor actually had the money together with a handsome profit of $1 300 000. So Victor handed over $1 150 000, the “investment amount” of $500 000 and the 50% profit share amounting to $650 000. As planned, they placed the bundles that made up the $500 000 into one case and the $650 000 in the other case. On their way to Peter’s apartment, they stopped at the main railway station where they rented a locker into which they placed the case with the $650 000 less $10 000 which Peter said they could enjoy during the week. Victoria indicated that she was happy to have Peter keep the key to the locker. She trusted him, she said.

Victoria did not accompany Peter to his apartment this time. She asked to be dropped off at her own place as she was expecting some family members to visit her later that day. Before Peter reached his own apartment, he decided to stop at a service station to fill up the car with fuel. When it was time to pay the fuel attendant, he decided to pull out one bill from the $10 000 he had pocketed from the money that he had just collected from Victor. When he gave the money, which was a $100 bill, to the attendant, the young man looked carefully at the bill and then at Peter. Then he said, “Sir, this money is fake.” Peter said that was not possible and he took back the bill to look at it closely. When he examined the bill closely he wondered why he had not noticed that the money was counterfeit. It was clearly a forgery.

“Look, I got this money from the bank on Friday and it looks like they actually gave me forgeries,” Peter said to the fuel attendant who looked at him with a look that said, “Oh yeah! I don’t believe you. You were trying to pull a fast one on me.” Peter then quickly pulled out his wallet and selected smaller bills which were more than enough to pay for the fuel. “Keep the change,” he said. The young man put away the money after having examined it very carefully to make sure it was genuine.

When Peter got to his apartment, he took out the $10 000 from the casino money and examined it. Sure enough the rest of it was fake money. The entire $10 000 was made up of fake money. His heart began to pound fast. He pulled the case with the $500 000 towards him and opened it. He examined the money and to his horror, the money was counterfeit. Peter was now in a state of panic. This could not be happening. He took out his mobile phone and called Victoria’s number. There was no answer from Victoria. Her phone was ringing but there was no answer. Peter decided to drive out to her place.

When he arrived at the apartment, he discovered that she was not there. She had indicated that she was expecting some family members to visit her but now she was not home. Well, maybe she discovered she did not have something for the kitchen and decided to go to the shops. But why was she not answering her phone? He had to talk to her. This was a nightmare!

He decided to go back to the railway station to collect the other case and check the rest of the casino money. He collected the case and drove back to his apartment. His worst fears were confirmed when he opened the case and examined the money. Unbelievably, it was all fake money.

The full import of what was happening began to sink in. He, Peter, had been taken for a ride. This was a con of major proportions. Where was Victoria? Was she somehow involved in this scam? No, that could not be. Not Victoria. He would try her apartment again. He drove all the way back to her apartment but she was not there. Well, she was sure to be at the office the following day. But what was he going to do about replacing the bank’s money? He decided that he would still take the fake money, the $500 000 in one case and make sure it was placed in the vault in such a way that it would not be given to the cashiers to pay out to customers. He would, then, have to come up with a plan to replace the fake money with genuine notes.

4

On getting to the office the next day, he soon realised something was extremely wrong. He had arrived very early so that he could quickly put away the money in the vault before the staff arrived. Today, however, Victoria, who would normally arrive before him on these Mondays, was not there. He began to think that she had run away. But no, she could not run away. She had a job at the bank, or did she? He was relieved to hear somebody arrive and to see that it was Victoria. He wanted desperately to ask her where she had been the day before when he had wanted to tell her about the fake money. Her greeting told him straight away that he was going to be in for a tough time. Although nobody was around, she was calling him “Sir” and pretending that they did not have a close intimate relationship. She was acting as if nothing had happened between them. He was shocked. Is this how this is going to play out? Victoria pretending that nothing had been going on while he is left holding the can. No wonder why she had “trusted” him to keep the key to the safe deposit locker with the “$640 000.” He now knew he was in deep trouble. This was now going to be just his baby, so it seemed, despite the fact that they had been in it together.

The whole day, he could hardly concentrate on his job, all the time trying to figure out how he was going to get out of his predicament. He was now sure that if he were to go and talk to Victoria’s brother, he would also pretend that nothing had gone on between them. When they closed the bank for the day, Peter rushed to Victor’s place. He found him getting ready to go to the casino but of course, he pretended that he had never seen Peter in his life before. Victor actually got angry and told Peter he was mad and should go away before he called the police. Peter was truly troubled. Why was this happening to him?

Peter went back to his place, still wrestling with trying to find a solution to his problem. After a considerable length of time he decided to take $50 000 of the fake money (part of the $650 000 “profit”) to the casino in the faint hope of somehow gambling his way out of his problems. In his panic he thought he could use the fake money to place some bets and hope that he wins enough money to replace the bank’s $500 000 or at least a significant portion of it. The fact that he could be caught at the casino trying to use fake money and get into further trouble did not seem to occur to him.

At the casino, the moment he tried to buy some gambling chips with the fake money, he was arrested by security personnel. Casinos are very alert to people who might want to pass counterfeit notes. The security guys searched him and found that he actually had $50 000 of fake money on him. The casino called the police and two detectives took him away. Although, the police did not have a search warrant, Peter did not object when they decided to go with him to his apartment first before taking him to the police station. Of course, at the apartment they found the rest of the fake money and Peter knew he was in real deep, deep trouble.

The next chapter-Exodus- will be published not later than Friday, 19 November 2010.

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