ESTHER

Chapter 17 of the book-“NON-CONTRADICTORY CONTRADICTIONS”

XVII Esther

5  On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. 2 When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the sceptre.

3 Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.”

4 “If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.”

5 “Bring Haman at once,” the king said, “so that we may do what Esther asks.”

So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. 6 As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”

7 Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: 8 If the king regards me with favour and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfil my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

Esther: Chapter 5:1-8 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

In this chapter we continue the story from chapter 11-1 Kings-where we left Tambudzai in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa where she was expecting to give birth to a baby boy. We also know that after her “strange dream” she had resolved to call the baby, Nelson in honour of Nelson Mandela.

1

To everybody’s relief, despite all the problems that Tambudzai had experienced during her pregnancy, the actual birth of the baby went smoothly without any complications whatsoever. Her husband, Jabulani was present in the delivery room during the process.

A little later, Jabulani watched mother and child as the baby was being fed from the breast. It was a pleasant sight.

“He is a big boy,” Jabulani said proudly. “He is going to run this country one day.”

Tambudzai was amazed that Jabulani should say this. She told him about her strange dream in which she had dreamt “re-living” Nelson Mandela’s triumphant release from prison. Jabulani agreed to name the baby, Nelson as he was also a great admirer of Mandela, as were, of course, a lot of people in the world.

2

Tambudzai’s mother, Chipo came to the hospital later on that day. She was accompanied by her husband, Richard Rawlings.

When Chipo held her grandson in her arms she was filled with great emotion. She felt her eyes water as she thought back to the time she had given birth to her own children. First, had been the difficult birth of Tambudzai’s brother, Nhamo. Chipo had only been twelve years old at the time that she had given birth to her first child. She remembered the pain she had experienced and how close to death she had come because she had been too young to be a mother. Now she was a grandmother at the age of forty but filled with tears of joy.

Tambudzai watched her mother closely but was not concerned because she knew that the tears that dropped from her mother’s eyes were tears of joy. She, of course, knew how her mother and both her brother and herself had struggled in the early days of her childhood. But Tambudzai also remembered that her mother had managed to give the best care she could to her two children under very difficult circumstances. She hoped that she was going to be as good a mother to Nelson as her mother had been to her.

3

Chipo and Richard managed to stay with Tambudzai and Jabulani in Johannesburg for a period of three weeks before they had to go back to London. It had been one of the happiest periods in Chipo’s now joy-filled life. Chipo was determined to come back and visit the young family as soon as she could because she knew the importance of being close to one’s loved ones.

On the day that the Rawlings were to leave for London, it started to rain quite heavily early in the morning. Jabulani called the South African Airways office to make sure that the London flight for that evening had not been cancelled. Jabulani could have been forgiven for being concerned because thunderstorms had built up just before they were about to leave for the airport. The airline, however, assured him that the London flight was expected to take-off on time despite the bad weather.

Tambudzai decided to join her husband, Jabulani on the ride to the airport as she wanted to continue seeing her mother up to the very last moment. They left the baby home with the maid and drove through the rain towards the airport.

The rain continued to pour down quite heavily and it was now affecting visibility. Tambudzai prayed silently, asking that they be delivered to the airport and back home to Sandton safely. Just as she was thinking and praying for their safety, she suddenly found herself screaming as their car was hit by a truck coming from an opposite direction. The car was hit directly on the driver’s side and rolled over twice before coming to a rest with its wheels up in the air.

Tambudzai felt blood all over her face as she struggled to get out the car. She had been sitting at the back with her mother as Richard sat in front with Jabulani who was driving. Tambudzai could see that her mother was also trying to struggle out of the car and so was her step-father, Richard. The only person who seemed not to be moving was Jabulani.

Finally, Tambudzai managed to crawl out of the wreckage. She turned back to see if the others were managing to free themselves. This is when she saw that Jabulani’s neck was turned at an abnormal angle, suggesting that it could have been broken. She also noticed that Jabulani’s eyes were wide open but they seemed to be staring unseeing into empty space. She knew straight away that she had lost a husband and the father of her young baby.

She rolled towards the car and let out a loud scream as the true realisation of what had just befallen them came to her in full force. Jabulani was dead!

The next chapter-Job- will be published not later than Sunday, 1 May, 2011

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NEHEMIAH

Chapter 16 of the book-“NON-CONTRADICTORY CONTRADICTIONS”

XVI. Nehemiah

9 7 “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. 8 You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.

9 “You saw the suffering of our forefathers in Egypt; you heard their cry at the Red Sea. 10 You sent miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. 11 You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. 12 By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.

13 “You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. 14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. 15 In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.

16 “But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands. 17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, 18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.

Nehemiah: Chapter 9:7-18 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

In this chapter we continue the story from chapter 10-2 Samuel-where we left Sipho Dlamini contemplating a decision he had just made about doing something to satisfy his lust for the teenager, Nokutula who also happened to be the farm manager’s sister.

1

Sipho Dhlamini had hardly slept at all that night. He kept on seeing those “bouncing breasts” and thinking how he was going to enjoy fondling them at long last. He “made love to Nokutula several times that night.” This was, of course, all in his obsessed mind. He could have done what he had been doing the previous three days, that is, make love to his wife whilst imagining “doing it” with Nokutula. But tonight he did not want to do that. He wanted to conserve all his strength as he was determined to ambush Nokutula during her jogging run in the morning.

Morning came at last and Sipho quickly got out of bed. He mumbled something about “work” and “early” to his wife but if she heard him at all, she did not show any acknowledgement. In effect, she was really still soundly fast asleep. This was not wholly unusual, Sipho leaving the house so early in the morning. Farm work sometimes demanded that one wakes up in the early hours of the morning to attend to one thing or the other.

The sun had not come up but it was beginning to get clear with darkness disappearing by each passing second. Sipho wanted to make sure that he would be well ahead of Nokutula so that he could choose a perfect spot along the jogging route to way-lay her.

2

Because it was still very quiet that early in the morning, he heard her coming when she was still a long way off. His heart began to beat extremely fast and he started experiencing shortness of breath. “This was it,” he thought to himself. This was one experience he was going to enjoy tremendously.

Nokutula saw him standing in the middle of the path at a distance of about 40 or so metres away. He was so confident of himself that he had not made any attempt to hide amongst the trees. Although he was still a bit too far away to clearly make out his features, Nokutula knew who it was because she had noticed the way Sipho Dlamini had been looking at her these past few days. There had been no mistaking what his intentions could turn out to be.

She did not break her stride as she was prepared for this encounter. As she came near him and muffled a “Saubona” greeting whilst trying to side-step around him on the narrow path, Sipho grabbed her by the hand. She did not scream out or attempt to pull away her hand and Sipho thought that his friend Peter had been right after all. This girl was ready for action!

As he tried to pull her close to him, already drooling with anticipation, he found himself violently tripped to the ground. He had not seen that coming but somehow this girl had found a way of wrestling him to the ground. What he had not known was that Nokutula was actually a judo expert. She stood over him as he lay on the ground not knowing what was to come next. Unbelievably, she started taking off her track suit top, exposing a bra that was holding “those massive breasts” in place.

“Let’s do this properly, Mr. Dlamini. Take off your pants, I want this as much as you do,” she whispered.

Sipho could not believe his luck. He quickly took off his pants and shirt and in no time at all, he was just in his boxers. Nokutula pretended to come towards him but in one swift motion kicked him hard in the groin and Sipho doubled over in pain. Before he could recover, this mad girl was holding his hands behind his back and tying them up with a rope that came from one of her trouser pockets. He tried to struggle but she knew what she was doing. She forced him down onto the ground, face down and tied one leg to the rope around his hands behind his back.

“Now Mr Dlamini, don’t go anywhere because I am going to call my brother and your wife so that they can figure out what you are doing naked, lying around on the ground in this lovely orchard,” Nokutula said. She ran off leaving him struggling in an effort to free himself.

The next chapter-Esther- will be published not later than Sunday, 17 April, 2011

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EZRA

XV. Ezra

9 5Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God 6 and prayed:

“O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.

8 But now, for a brief moment, the LORD our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. 9 Though we are slaves, our God has not deserted us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem. 

Ezra: Chapter 9:5-9 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

In this chapter we continue the story from chapter 9-1 Samuel-where we left Mrs. Martha Matombo being raped by David, whom she had regarded as her future son-in-law.

1

When David had “finished with her”, Martha continued to lie down on the carpet, still sobbing and in great disbelief that she had actually been a victim of rape committed by somebody she had trusted completely as a future son-in-law. After a period of almost an hour, she got up and went to the bathroom to clean herself up. She scrubbed herself so hard and for such a long time as if such action would undo the horrible act she had been forced to be part of.

The thought of contacting the police did not occur to her at all. All she was thinking of was what she was going to say to her daughter, Elizabeth. What was she going to say to her? She had no choice, really, but to tell her daughter that her fiancé had raped her. What was Martha going to say to the people at the church? The shame of it! Would some people, knowing their close relationship at the church choir, think that she had somehow encouraged him and eventually led him to act in the way he did?

She thought about her predicament for a long time and finally decided that she was not going to say anything to anybody. She could not bear the thought of people knowing that David had raped her. By extension, she decided she was not going to say anything about this to her daughter. Although Elizabeth deserved to be aware of something as grave as this involving somebody she had been going out with, Martha resolved that she would not tell her daughter.

2

Elizabeth came home from work that evening before her father did. Despite her resolve, Martha started sobbing the moment she saw her daughter.

“What is the matter, Mama? Why are you crying?” Elizabeth asked her mother. Martha kept on sobbing without saying anything. Elizabeth, on her part, without knowing what was wrong with her mother, also started crying. So mother and daughter hugged each other, both sobbing but the daughter doing so without knowing why her mother had started crying.

At last, Martha stopped sobbing. “It was David...David”, she sobbed. “David! What about David? What has happened to David? I did not manage to speak to him today. Has something happened to him? Is he hurt?” panicked Elizabeth.

“No, no. He is alright,” Martha said. “He came to see me this morning and said he was breaking off the engagement. He said he has been seeing some other girl and he wants to marry this other girl. He could not bring himself to tell you and came to me. I am sorry, Liz but he was adamant that he no longer wants to see you,” Martha finished.

Elizabeth looked at her mother in disbelief. “Why would he do such a thing? What other girl? We have been seeing each other almost on a daily basis. What other girl, Mother? Why didn’t he come to tell me himself?”

“I don’t know, my dear but this is what he said to me this morning,” Martha lied to her daughter.

“I am going to call him now, Mother. How dare he break off the engagement in this manner? Why come to talk to my mother? Is there something you are not telling me, Mother? Is David ill? Is he sick? Yes, that’s it, isn’t it Mother? David is sick. Is he HIV positive? Is that what he actually said to you, Mother?” Elizabeth rambled on and on.

“No, no, don’t call him. He was adamant about that. It’s probably best this way, my dear. You will get over him.”

This was all a bit too much for Elizabeth and she rushed out of the room and ran to her own bedroom where she locked herself in.

3

Martha sat alone in the lounge, thinking. Now why had she made up all these lies? What if David was still determined to continue seeing Liz? No that was unthinkable. Not after what he had done that morning. In fact, Martha was going to ensure that David did not come anywhere near her daughter again. She was also going to make sure that David did not come to church as well. Yes, that was what was going to happen after she, Martha, had talked to him and demanded all these things. He would be grateful that she had not decided to report him to the police. He would do whatever she wanted? Yes, she was going to call him now.

When Martha got through to David, she was shocked to hear him pretending that nothing had happened that morning. In fact, he had the gall to talk about the wedding arrangements. The “stupid, foolish man” was pretending that he had not come to the house where he committed a despicable act. He was now actually asking to talk to Elizabeth! Martha was beside herself with fury.

“David, how can you pretend that you did not come to this house this morning? I want you to do what I am telling you to do or I will go to the police,” Martha shouted into the phone. On the other end, David sounded quite calm and said, “I don’t know what you are talking about Mother. Did somebody do these terrible things to you? You really should have reported the matter to the police if it actually happened. You say it happened in the morning. Even if it actually happened, which I doubt, the police will wonder why you are only reporting the matter now. Are you okay, Mother? Is Elizabeth there? Let me speak to her. Does she know about all this you are telling me?”

Martha was apoplectic with rage. Who did this man think he was? He cannot get away with this? But what really was she going to do about it? If David continued to pretend that nothing had happened that morning, then what could she actually do? People will think she is the one who is mad, especially after making up the crazy story she had told her daughter. David could prove that there was no other girl and wonder what had gone into Martha’s head for her to come up with such a story?

Honestly, what would she do about it? What could she do?

The next chapter-Nehemiah- will be published not later than Sunday, 3 April, 2011

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2 CHRONICLES

Chapter 14 of the book-“NON-CONTRADICTORY CONTRADICTIONS”

XIV. 2 Chronicles

6 Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 2 I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

3While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. 4

Then he said:

“Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David. For he said, 5 ‘Since the day I brought my people out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, nor have I chosen anyone to be the leader over my people Israel. 6 But now I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there, and I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’

 

2 Chronicles: Chapter 6:1-6 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

In this chapter we continue the story from chapter 8-Ruth-where we left our main character, Elizabeth watching her “grandmother” who was not her biological grandmother, die in hospital.

1

After the death of her grandmother, Elizabeth knew she now had to make a final decision on what she was going to do with her new-found-knowledge on her real parents who were both alive but languishing in jail. She resolved that she would go and see them both, then make a final decision on whether she was going to have any sort of relationship with either her mother or father or both.

Having decided to see these “two strangers” who had brought her into the world under such shameful circumstances, she wasted no more time and quickly contacted the prison authorities at the two prisons to make the necessary arrangements. She thought it would be a good idea to see the father first as she assumed he might be the stronger of the two and she did not the first encounter to be tearful one. She thought the mother was most likely to cry at some stage during the visit and for that reason she decided she would see the man first.

There were no complications at all with her request to visit both her parents and the very next Saturday, she found herself at the men’s prison waiting with other people to be escorted to the visiting area. She did not know what she was going to say to this man who was her father. After having gone through most of your life thinking that your parents had “long gone to be with the LORD”, it was quite discontenting to then suddenly find out that “not only were both parents alive, but they also happened to be murderers serving life sentences in jail”. But she needed to see them for her own peace of mind. What sort of people were they? Did they regret what they had done? Did they regret having brought a child into this world? What sort of people were they?

When the father was brought to the booth in which she had been waiting to see him, she was surprised to see “a normal healthy man” before her. Perhaps because of what she had seen on television, she had imagined certain characteristics that befit a murderer. After a casual greeting to each other, they sat silent for a long time, just looking at each other. Then without warning, the thing that Elizabeth had dreaded would happen on meeting her mother, happened here with the father. The man just started weeping and saying, “Please forgive me. Please forgive me. Please forgive me”, over and over again. It was quite painful to watch and Elizabeth herself was now coming close to losing her composure although she had been determined not to let herself cry in front of these people.

When he finally managed to get hold of himself, they agreed that it was best for Elizabeth to stay away from both parents and not have any sort of relationship with either one as they were unlikely to be released from prison for the rest of their lives. As Elizabeth left the prison she wondered whether she should still go and see her mother at the women’s prison the following weekend.

2

By the time the following weekend arrived, Elizabeth had fortified herself enough in her mind to be able to go through with what she thought was going to be a nasty experience with her mother. Surprisingly for Elizabeth, the mother turned out to be quite strong emotionally. She did seem to have been pleased to see Elizabeth but she was quite calm about it. She did not shed a tear and there was Elizabeth thinking that the mother would be the one to fall into hysterics.

Although the visit went very well, her mother agreed with what the father had suggested that there be no further contact with their daughter as no fruitful relationship could now arise under the circumstances.

Elizabeth left the prison and was certain that, in her mind, “both her parents were going to die again”. She was going to go back to what she had always thought, which was that her parents had long been dead, having been both killed in a car accident. It was best this way.

She had inherited a large estate from Grandma Johnson, and she was now a very wealthy young woman. She was, however, determined to continue with her studies and she enrolled for a post graduate course in Business Studies at the local college. She had obtained an undergraduate Economics degree in the previous year.

3

During the second week after starting her classes, she met a very attractive young man who was also a post graduate student. This young man was studying Accountancy and it was in one of the accounting courses that they met. They soon started dating and Elizabeth was gratified to find out that the young man, whose name was David, came from a very wealthy family. One of the things that had been worrying Elizabeth of late, was that she could end up meeting and falling in love with someone who would turn out to be interested only in her money. This did not look like it was going to be a problem with David as he came from a very rich family.

The two years required for completion of the Business Studies course went very quickly and Elizabeth was happy to have acquired a Masters degree in Business Studies. David also left the college and joined a firm of Chartered Accountants where he was to do his articles. His romance with Elizabeth was quite serious and they had been going out for a period of almost two years. David thought it was now time to propose marriage and this is what he did.

To David’s surprise though, Elizabeth did not say “Yes” right away. She needed time to think about it. What was there to think about, David wondered? Did they not both love each other? He knew he loved her and wanted to marry her. He had also assumed those were the very same feelings that Elizabeth shared. They were already lovers and nothing had prepared David for this hesitation from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had her reasons for hesitating to agree to marriage. A secret of hers was bothering her. She was bothered by the fact that she had not told David about the “true circumstances” of her birth. She had not told David that her biological parents were murderers who were still alive and in jail. These things bothered her. Up to now, she had thought that she had come to terms with the idea that “her parents had died in a car accident soon after she had been born”. This is what she had told David.

But now that David had proposed marriage, it bothered her that she had not shared her secret with him. What was she going to do? In the end she resolved to tell David the whole story because she knew that she would not be at peace if she did not share the entire sordid details.

She chose her moment and words carefully but she was surprised at how calm David was when she finished telling him the story. In fact, David was relieved to find out that her hesitation had had nothing to do with her feelings towards him. He was quite happy to now know what had caused the hesitation and he was quite understanding about it.

It was only when David told the story to her mother that something of concern crept back into his relationship with Elizabeth. David’s mother said she also had something to tell him. She had not withheld this information from David because it had never seemed to be relevant to him in any way. But now it seemed it was now very relevant.

David’s mother had a first cousin who was serving a life sentence for murder. She and her lover had been convicted of killing two people, one of whom was David’s mother’s cousin’s husband. What David’s mother did not know was that her cousin had given birth to a baby girl when she was already in prison. And from what David had now told her, Elizabeth was the daughter of David’s mother’s cousin. David’s mother had refused to recognise her relationship with her cousin after the horrible events of more than twenty years ago.

David was quite shocked to hear this. Of course, her mother was right that the issue of her cousin had all along been an irrelevant story to David’s upbringing. If David had not met and fallen in love with Elizabeth, the issue might not have come up at all.

What was David going to do about this story that her mother had just told her? Of course, he had to tell Elizabeth. Was this going to affect their relationship in any way? He did not think so but the sooner Elizabeth knew about this the better. In fact, David soon realised that it meant that he was actually related to Elizabeth.

The next chapter-Ezra- will be published not later than Sunday, 20 March, 2011

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1 CHRONICLES

Chapter 13 of the book-“NON-CONTRADICTORY CONTRADICTIONS”

XIII. 1 Chronicles

16 23 Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.

24 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples.

25 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

27 Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place.

28 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, 29 ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendour of his holiness.

30 Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”

32 Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

33 Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.

34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

1 Chronicles: Chapter 16:23-34 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

In this chapter we continue the story from chapter 7-Judges-where we left our main character, Peter, listening to his uncle who had brought a “ground-shattering-story” about the health of the country’s President. The President was, supposedly, dying from a rare STD (sexually transmitted disease) and Peter’s uncle wanted Peter to consider publishing the rumours on his blog-“The Gossip Column”.

1

Peter was in a dilemma. After listening to his uncle, and knowing what his uncle wanted him to do, he, himself, did not know what he should do. Clearly, this was an explosive story and it had the potential to make him famous. But he could also end up in deep trouble for spreading rumours that he could not substantiate. It was also possible that his uncle, despite his urgings, could end up in trouble as well. His opposition to the present Government was well-known and it would not take rocket science to surmise that he had something to do with the story. What was Peter going to do?

Peter decided to take a long walk, and ponder his tribulations. He had read somewhere, and it had worked for him in the past, that long walks can assist in energising the creative part of the brain and one could find solutions to problems during or after a really long walk. He walked for more than 10 kilometres but when he finally returned home, he still had not found a way out of his dilemma. To publish or not to publish, was the question.

On going to bed that night, he could not fall asleep. Normally, he slept quite easily but tonight his body and mind decided to rebel. He eventually fell asleep at dawn, but for just a short while, as he soon awoke drenched in sweat caused by a nasty nightmare. In the short time that he was asleep, he dreamt that he was back in jail. And this jail in his nightmare was like the overcrowded prison in which he had been first incarcerated. His uncle had really put him in a fix this time.

2

After taking a long, cold shower, Peter decided that he would seek out his uncle and just tell him that he was not going to publish the story. The risk was just too great!

He found his uncle reading a South African newspaper that had been delivered to the house that morning.

“Morning, Peter,” his uncle greeted him, “Looks like you were too late with publishing your story. Just come and look at this. The story I told you about the “Big Man” has made the front page of this paper.”

Peter hurried to his uncle’s side and sure enough, there it was in black and white. The paper alleged that it had it on good authority that “the President of Peter’s country was dying from a rare disease associated with his much publicised ‘huge sexual appetite’.” Peter just about managed to hide his relief and the thought that he would now not have to publish this story. The story was already out and, therefore, had lost its value to Peter’s “Gossip Column.” Boy was he glad that his problem had resolved itself in this way?

“Well, uncle, this is just too bad. This story was going to make me famous”, Peter pretended disappointment.

“Yes, you are right Peter but I still think I might find a way of using this whole fiasco to bring down this despicable Government,” Peter’s uncle mused. Peter, on his part, was just elated that he did not have to use the story anymore.

3

It was, therefore, with much surprise that Peter received an invitation to a Hotel meeting with a representative from the South African newspaper that had published the story about the “Big Man’s” sickness. The invitation, which had also come via his well-connected uncle, had not shed any light as to the purpose of the meeting. Peter’s uncle also did not have much to say, except that Peter needed to be “nice” to such influential people.

At the meeting Peter, was pleasantly surprised that the South African paper was offering a substantial amount of money to take over his blog, “The Gossip Column.” The offer also included an invitation for Peter to continue writing on the Blog on a contract basis but now with his base moving to Johannesburg.

Peter wanted to know why the paper was prepared to pay such a large amount of money for his Blog. The paper’s representative explained that the newspaper had decided to find a channel for news that could not be quickly or easily substantiated and Peter’s “Gossip Column” seemed to fit in quite nicely with what they wanted to do.

The offer was so attractive that Peter had no choice but to accept. It was agreed that the paper 

would fly him to Johannesburg in the following week to finalise details of the acquisition.

The next chapter-2 Chronicles- will be published not later than Sunday, 6 March, 2011

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2 KINGS

Chapter 12 of the book-“NON-CONTRADICTORY CONTRADICTIONS”

XII. 2 Kings

4 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a little oil.”

3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.” 2 Kings: Chapter 4:1-7 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

In this chapter we continue the story from chapter 6-Joshua-where we left our main character, Dwayne Smith, feeling very happy because he had been given a “second chance” through securing a job at the Lord Westbury Restaurant, situated in Clapham, London, England.

1

Dwayne was happy. He considered himself extremely lucky to be where he was right now. He had been working at the Lord Westbury for the past eighteen months. The job was great because of a whole lot of factors. The Boss, Mr. Rawlings, was a great guy and so was Sam, the Head Waiter, his immediate supervisor. Most of the patrons were very generous with their tips and there were actually some weeks when Dwayne made more in tips than he was paid in wages. Extra-ordinary!

Today, Monday, was his day off. He was reflecting on these aspects about his job whilst sitting in one of the seats in an “under-ground train”, commonly referred to as the “Tube”. He was on his way to Shepherd’s Bush where he wanted to look for a suit at the flea market. His thoughts kept on coming back to his job and all the wonderful things associated with it. During the last three weeks, there had been one particular couple who came to the restaurant twice a week and who were now insisting on being served by Dwayne at all times. Dwayne did not know why this couple always insisted that he “waits” at their table. Dwayne considered himself no better than any other waiter at the restaurant. In fact, some of the waiters were much more experienced than he was and Dwayne thought that these more experienced waiters probably performed better than he did.

For some reason, however, this one couple seemed to just prefer to be served by Dwayne. Prefer was probably not the right word, this couple actually insisted on it. Dwayne himself was a bit embarrassed by this state of affairs, especially the fact that the couple would also tip him quite heavily. Dwayne suspected that the woman was the one who insisted on having him at their table. She was much younger than her husband. At a guess, Dwayne thought she could be in her early thirties whilst the husband was clearly past sixty. It was an odd couple in that respect. Just the other day, this couple had given Dwayne a tip which was more than fifty percent of the total cost of their dinner.

Strangely enough, the other waiters did not seem to be jealous at all. They actually seemed to be quite happy for Dwayne.

2

When Dwayne disembarked at Shepherd’s Bush, he headed straight for the flea market. He knew exactly the shopping stall he was going to check out because he had visited the place the week before. His intention was to quickly pick up the suit that he wanted and then go on to Piccadilly Circus to watch a movie before going back home.

When he arrived at the stall from which he was to buy the suit, he was surprised to see “the generous lady” from the restaurant standing nearby, talking to an old lady who owned the stall adjacent to the one Dwayne was going to.

“Why, isn’t this my favourite waiter in the whole of London town? Hello, Dwayne,” she quickly said when she saw him.

“Hi, Mrs. Harper. Fancy seeing you here! Really, what are you doing here, Mrs. Harper?” Dwayne responded.

“Probably the same thing that you are doing here, shopping,” she said. “Oh, come now, Mrs. Harper. You don’t expect me to believe that you do your shopping from Shepherd’s Bush? The last time I heard, Harrods was still in full operation,” Dwayne said jokingly.

“Of course, I don’t buy clothes from this place but you will be surprised at some of the treasures you can find from a place like this. The other day, at the Liverpool Street Flea Market, I found a Chinese vase which I am sure must be five hundred years old,” said Mrs. Harper. “And Dwayne, before you run away, I want to “propose to you”, well not propose but I do have an offer I want you to consider. Get whatever you want to get and walk with me back to the car,” continued Mrs. Harper.

3

As he selected the suit that he wanted, Dwayne was at a loss as to what Mrs. Harper might want from him. What on earth could they talk about? He quickly paid for his purchase and indicated to Mrs. Harper that he was ready whenever she was finished.

She led the way to her Rolls Royce, where her driver was waiting. When they reached the car, she got right to the point. “Ricky here is retiring at the end of the month, and we have not had any luck in finding a replacement,” she said.

Dwayne breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself, ‘This is all she wanted. She wants to know if I know a driver who might be looking for work.’ Dwayne then quickly said, “Well, Mrs. Harper, unfortunately I don’t know anybody to recommend and I am also surprised that you have not been able to find somebody soon enough. I would have thought a lot of drivers would kill to get a job like this.”

“Well, what about you Dwayne. Don’t you want to take the job?”

“Oh no! No! Mrs. Harper. Not me, I have a job and besides I do not think that I would be a good driver. For one thing, I hardly know the City of London.”

“Oh, Dwayne, who needs to know London when there is GPS? Think about the offer seriously before you turn it down,” said Mrs. Harper.

Dwayne did not think he had to give the offer any serious consideration. Even if he was interested in the job, he would not take it because he owed that much to Mr. Rawlings, the restaurant owner. He felt he owed his life to Mr. Rawlings who had given him a “second chance.” How would it appear if he were to go to him to say he was leaving after being with the restaurant for only eighteen months? No, there was nothing to consider.

But Dwayne did not want to seem to be “ungrateful” for the kind offer and he promised to think about it and advise the next day if she could give him her phone number. Of course, he had no intention of taking the job but it seemed to be the right thing to say. Mrs. Harper drove off with “her-soon-to-retire-driver,” leaving Dwayne to stand starring at the big departing Rolls.

4

When Dwayne arrived at work the next morning, he was advised that Mr. Rawlings wanted to see him. His first thought on hearing this, was, what had he done wrong? He had been extra-careful to please and perform beyond the call of duty. Why does Mr. Rawlings want to see him? Hopefully, it will be for something nice. Dwayne was sure that he had not done anything wrong.

Dwayne went up the stairs to Mr. Rawlings’ office. There was an elevator which went to his floor but all the workers at the restaurant used the stairs when going to see Mr. Rawlings. It was as if there was an unwritten rule which stated that the elevator was exclusively for the Boss’s use. Dwayne was certain nobody at the restaurant wanted the Boss to wait for the lift if ever he wanted to use it.

Mr. Rawlings was his usual exuberant self when he saw Dwayne, “Come in. Come in Dwayne and take a sit. It seems Mrs. Harper has taken a liking to you. I think you should take the job. Of course, it’s up to you but I think it would be a good move for you as long as she keeps her hands off you, ha..ha.ha..”, Rawlings laughed.

Dwayne was speechless. He remained standing having been rendered both speechless and motionless. “Yes, I know about Mrs. Harper’s job offer. In fact, I recommended you, myself. Take the job Dwayne. You see, James Harper is actually my partner. He just doesn’t want the staff to know that he owns a piece of the restaurant because he wants to find out for himself how ordinary customers are treated by the staff,” continued Rawlings.

“Dwayne, all you need to worry about is that she remains a good girl and does not molest you..ha..ha..ha. She does have a reputation, you know!”

The next chapter-1 Chronicles- will be published not later than Monday, 21 February, 2011

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