The Big 5

12

Derrick was stunned by the beauty of Victoria Falls. He took a moment to try to take in the view that was in front of him however he was soon interrupted by the sound of a car approaching. It was the famous Jeep of Mr. Jimbo. Who stepped out and said “ magnificent aren’t they” “ yeah the water is beautiful'' replied Derrick. ``All right let's skip the small talk Mr. Khosa why are you here,” said Mr. Jimbo.'' Well, my family is looking to expand its business. And we wanted your protection on the streets once our new product hits our shores. As you know your family has a reputation for being the most relentless killers on the street ``'' no Derrick we are the most vengeful not relentless vengeful.” “ well we have obtained the rights to exclusively distribute the highest quality of cocaine and h****n and we would like to share the potential profits with our friends'' said Derrick. “ friends you say. If that were the case us being friends you would have I don’t know presented this while everyone was present instead of coming to lick my boot. How I see it there’s a mismatch somewhere and I feel like you want me to be in your corner when one of the other families object to this. Last I heard I know the Khosas don’t fear anybody and I have a feeling that you guys are meeting with every head individually because you want this deal as bad as possible and you’ll take anyone that stands in your way out. Let me finish. Present this when all the other heads are there and I assure you will have my protection on the streets, no one will touch your dealers but this only stands when all the other 4 heads have heard what you want to propose. Now if you don’t mind I promised to take my daughter bungee jumping” as he left.

Derrick arrived back home exhausted after his trip to and back to Zambia. He walked into the house and found his brothers and Ray waiting for him. He went into the kitchen and took a beer from the fridge and set it down. “ I’ll start Ray and I went to meet Mr. Dambe and he basically gave us his blessing,” said Gerry. “ f*****g A!” yelled Patrick. “ My meeting with Harold was also a success, well sort of” as he shook his head before continuing “  Harold read through our bullshit and said he will only be on board if we get the Molefe family to agree”. Gerry then stood up and kicked over the coffee table yelling “ s**t s**t s**t s**t s**t” before Francis managed to calm him down and said “ well we have everyone in the bag at this point but the Molefes. See that family’s claim to fame is to be the go-to people when you have a problem and see your problem” he said pointing to Ray “ is funding, maybe he would not fund us after our recent stunts but he could fund Ray”. “ I like this idea, Francis,” said Patrick . “ so I’m going to Mr. Molefe to ask for money,” said Ray. The gentlemen then got up and left for the club to go party, whilst Ray took a flight out to Gaborone.

Ray arrived early in the morning but spent his day meeting with a few dealers. The meetings with the dealers plus the heat in Gaborone took its toll on him and the moment he went back into his motel room he passed out. When he woke up the time was 21;30. He took a quick shower put on his best cologne and suit and took a cab to the Molefe family offices. Mr. Molefe was working in his office late at night with Tom and Sean in the offices near him. Tom got up, shut down his computer, and passed Sean’s office by saying “ it’s time to go tough guy” and then went into his father’s office and said, “ let’s go pops it’s late”. As he stood by his father’s desk Ray walked in and stood by the door. Sean packed up his stuff and walked to his father’s office. He walked past Ray and said “ you can come in” and he walked in with Ray behind him. Tom and his father turned around and observed Ray. “ you’re dressed sharply for someone who has a request for Rrarona, next time try to be here during working hours you almost missed us” said Sean.  Mr. Molefe remained seated whilst Tom and Sean sat at their father’s desk whilst Ray was standing. “ you're welcome to have a seat by the sofa sir” said Tom who was taking out his notepad to take notes of the meeting that was about to happen. “ Good evening gentlemen of the Molefe family. My name is Ray Haines and I'm a drug dealer even though I don’t sell in the streets anymore. I have been selling m*******a and methamphetamine for a while and I want to expand into the cocaine and h****n market. As a result of my efforts I have acquired the rights to distribute in my area however, I need funding to get this started. The gentleman I came here for a loan of $15 million.” Said Ray, the room was quiet and Tom asked “ you said 15 million dollars, not pula” “ yes sir” replied Ray. The room went quiet again and the Molefe sons seemed quiet waiting for their father’s response before Ray continued by saying “ I have the rights to have my guys sell in Khatombelaclubs, the Dames handling the shipping into the countries of interest and protection of the Jimbo family on the street. We could be looking at making at least $10 million from each product each” Mr. Molefe looked over at Tom and then looked over at Sean before he said “ when you mentioned the other families you forgot to mention your employers the Xhosas. You also forgot to mention they sent you here ``'' oh no sir I am here on my own accord, and my relationship with the Khosas well I sell for them exclusively” replied Ray. “ So that means you work for them?” asked Tom. “ you came here to ask for a loan. Well, you should know that we work differently, you go to banks for a loan but we want loyalty. See we help you out and when the time comes you help us out, sure money makes the transaction easier but we want loyalty, we want you to remember us when the time comes”. Sean started to look around and was about to say something when he was cut off by his father “ well Mr. Haines I’m sorry to inform you but I can't give them $15 million. See my problem with drugs is not the users, it's the fact that you guys willingly sell them to children. Already as we speak there's a drug problem amongst schools and the government along with parents have made the fight public, now you want to add petrol to that flame by adding new drugs in the street that will eventually make their way to school children. Another reason I'm going to reject your proposal is the fact that Gerry Khosa didn’t come to himself, instead, he sent his drug dealer to come to do his bidding. If Gerry were here maybe I would have agreed with some conditions but he didn’t have the balls so tell your boss it’s a big no from me.” “ you're free to go” said Sean and Ray got up to leave but before he was out of the door Sean blurted “ I don’t know pops why don’t we go for it. We could make some real money here” “ I thought you were excused sir” said Tom. Ray finally left as smiling as he waited for his cab. Mr. Molefe stood up and said “  how many times have I been told to never take opposing sides against the family, huh how many” as he got closer to Sean and continued “ families have disagreements all the time but in private Sean. Private” he yelled as he was lightly shoving Sean before he added “ I have always said united we stand divided we fall. Look, drug dealers are different from the normal people we deal with; they might decide to take Tom and I out thinking you would be willing to negotiate with them”.  Sean couldn’t hide the fact that he was sad and started crying and said “ pops I’m sorry” before he hugged his father who hugged him back. Tom always found that whenever his father corrected Sean there was an embrace and it made him want to cry also.

Johnny had been waiting at the airport for over an hour with Rita and Dwayne’s' flight had been delayed. When they finally did come through the doors Rita was happy to see her brother to the point she jumped on him and hugged him, Dwayne on the other hand was mad about something and nonchalant towards Johnny. All 3 of them walked to the car and the atmosphere was a bit tense. The drive home was also awkward with Johnny attempting to make conversation with everyone but only Rita was participating, Dwayne remained quiet. This behavior made Johnny a bit uneasy and it also made him angry. Part of him wanted to ask him what was the problem, the other half wanted to preserve the little peace that was there, he opted for peace. They arrived at the house and then Dwayne started to yell “ I asked you house sit not finish the food!” “I don’t know what you mean. The only thing that I finished was Bran flakes everything else is still here” replied Johnny “ are you getting smart with me boy” retorted an angry Dwayne. Johnny kept quiet and Dwayne came close to Johnny's face. Johnny stood his ground and was ready for the first punch to be thrown before Rita said “let’s all calm down okay, please, I’ll even make brownies” “ there's no need sis you’ve had a long flight I think you need to rest plus it's late and I need to get home” said Johnny “ nonsense you can spend the night, I'll call mom and let her know” said Rita. Johnny then went into his room. Rita looked at Dwayne and she then proceeded to lock herself in her bedroom. Johnny woke up to the aroma of chocolate brownies, he put on his shorts and a vest and went to wash his face. On his way to the kitchen, he noticed the sitting room had blankets from the spare room and wondered if Dwayne had spent the night on the couch. He ignored it and said good morning to Dwayne and Rita. They had breakfast without Dwayne once again saying anything. “ You know if you wanted to make me overweight all you had to do was ask because you know I can't resist your brownies,” said Johnny. They finished breakfast and Johnny went into the shower, he finished and then proceeded to get dressed. As he was getting dressed Dwayne barged in and this made Johnny jump. “ I wanted to apologize for yesterday,” said Dwayne, “ apology accepted,” replied a cold Johnny. “ not to be disrespectful but I don’t know what happened in Bali and it's probably none of my business but please never take your anger out on me,” said Johnny. Dwayne just looked at him and left. Johnny said goodbye to Rita and left.