The Big 5

1

It had been a long day for investigative journalist Thabang Lesepa. He had been trying to get leads on his case but to no avail. He thought that everyone was either very loyal to the Molefe family or too afraid to speak about them. He brushed the thoughts off and proceeded to get of the taxi and paid, the elderly taxi driver seemed to take his time counting his change and Thabang told him to hurry up. He forcefully took his change and walked wearily. He approached the gate to his house and slowly opened it and shut it. He continued into the yard and labored towards his rented two and a half. He unlocked and went straight into the bathroom to relieve himself. How liberating he felt after holding in his urine for the better part of half an hour as the taxi labored through traffic. He washed his hands and walked into his sitting room and felt a hard blow c***k against the back of his head as he collapsed to the ground.

Rethabile “Rita” Molefe who is the 3rd born Child of the Molefe and only daughter continued to sip her glass of red wine whilst also enjoying the finely cooked Norwegian salmon. She had to get the Chef to come to prepare this particular dish for her family on one of their dinner nights she thought. Her boyfriend Dwayne sat across her eating burger and chips. She had first found it cute that he never tried anything different when they went out to eat but after 2 years of dating it annoyed her. It annoyed her even more than at a high-end restaurant like this he still had a burger and chips instead of expanding his pallet. “I’m sorry we didn’t order any Champaign,” she said to the waiter before Dwayne shot up and said he wanted to surprise her. Rita was very shocked because why would he order champagne let alone afford it. She tried not to be surprised by all this but her facial expression gave it away. As the waiter came over the second time with glasses Dwayne stood up and bent over as if he was tying his shoes, this infuriated Rita but before she could say anything he was on his knees with a ring in his hand, he was proposing to her. Rita was

suddenly overcome with lots of emotion as her eyes filled up with tears, as she went from shocked to happy. She nodded her head and mouthed the word, yes and they kissed to cheers from people in the restaurant.

The sound and impact of the plane's tires hitting the runway woke up Johnny Molefe, the last born child of the Molefe family. His headache, body limbs painful from a combination of the series of connecting flights from Bucharest to Gaborone as well as competing in the 91kg boxing tournament. He looked around and everyone was starting to fetch their belongings. He stood up and began collecting his things whilst also preparing himself for the tedious airport process. It took around 45 minutes to clear his luggage and when he walked out into the waiting area Ludo his long-term girlfriend jumped and kissed him. “Did you lose?” she asked “Nah” he responded before showing her his newly won gold medal. Prince, his immediate older brother, came forward and hugged him too. They exchanged greetings. On the ride home Johnny, Prince, and Ludo spoke about Johnny’s newly won gold medal and praised him for how he managed to balance boxing and school at the same time. After dropping Ludo at her parents’ house the Molefe brothers arrived at the Molefe mansion in Phakalane. The brothers walked into the mansion and were greeted by the aroma of dumplings and chicken stew. Katlego Molefe was happy to see her son back home but she wasn’t too pleased about the black eye. She never approved of her baby boy boxing but he managed to hold his own in the ring. “Everyone else is out but they should be back soon,” she said.

Thabang woke up with what seemed to be a terrible headache. He looked around and tried to recall what happened. He looked around and saw the figure of a man laughing; he couldn’t make out who was the man. The man then spoke “sleeping beauty awakens” then stepped outside leaving Thabang. Thabang tried to get up and realized he was tired to a chair and then he heard the voice

of the man talking outside. The talking stopped and a very huge man walked in and turned on the lights. This huge man pulled a chair and sat close to Thabang staring straight into his eyes. This stare down lasted for 2 minutes but for Thabang it felt like an eternity. Then the sound of a car pulling up was heard and the huge man stepped out, he turned off the lights as he left. A few seconds later the man he saw when he first woke up walked back in with two other men. The man turned on the lights and walked out. Thabang looked at both men and realized that he was looking at Godfrey “Rrarona” Molefe, head of the Molefe crime family, and Sean Molefe his firstborn son. Sean pulled a chair for his father who then sat down. Mr. Molefe and his son sat in silence before Sean walked over to Thabang and whispered “I’m going to take off this gag, and you will tell us where the files are, after that we’ll be outta your hair okay?” As soon as Sean pulled his head back and started to untie the gag Thabang lunged his head into Sean’s nose drawing blood, to which Sean cussed and responded with two punches to Thabang's head and body, the power at which Sean hit was enough to cause the chair he was bound to, to fall over resulting in Thabang hitting his head hard on the floor. Sean was going in for a third punch before he caught his father’s disapproving glare. He restrained himself, pulled the chair and Thabang up, and walked out. As Thabang once again regained consciousness he saw Mr. Molefe stand up and walk to the door and he could be heard telling someone “make him talk and make it messy”. After that, the sound of a car speeding off was heard, and then the huge man walked in smiling. Thabang watched helplessly as the huge man started playing loud music and also began to undress.

Johnny's sleep was disturbed by the sound of his father's car driving in. He heard the voices of his father and Sean growing louder and louder, he turned to his phone in the charger to check the time, it read 00:30 hrs. He went back to sleep

The next morning Johnny woke up. Once again he checked for the time on his phone. It read 10:15hrs. He got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. He came downstairs and hugged his parents before joining them for breakfast. He was having cereal. “I hope everyone will be able to make it for lunch,” said Katlego, “I will only be heading out in

the evening” replied Johnny. Prince just nodded his head. Suddenly the atmosphere grew silent as everyone shifted their attention to Mr. Molefe and it seemed like he was milking the silence but in reality, he was swallowing the mouthful of porridge he had before he finally swallowed and said “I will be working from home today honey”. Johnny visibly rolled his eyes as his father made this statement.