Moses came from a dysfunctional family but also very wealthy as they owned the only garage in the village. Him and his four brothers were trained to fix cars and never went to formal school because their father saw no use. Here he was making tonnes of money without an education, so his sons need not waste time and follow in his footsteps. Secretly he wished to go to school like all his friends and learn how to read and write. Besides, all the girls in the village liked a boy who talked education, who could hold an intelligent conversation, spoke fluent English and definitely not smelt of grease and had smelly armpits from working all day in the sun. He used to fantasize entering a classroom and having classmates and teachers. The only girlfriends he only ever had liked him for his money, so they combined him with an educated fellow who actually had a future. Moses resented his father for denying him education.
His parents got divorced and he had to stay with his grandmother as his mother did not have a house to live in. His father had hired a top notch lawyer and restrained all finances in the settlement toward his mother, not even child support. Back then women’s rights were not considered as much. At fifteen, he and his brothers had to find jobs in the village.
No one would hire them because they had no education. So they worked for their father only on the condition that they would come to live with him. He never saw his mother again; her beautiful soft brown eyes and soft touch which always seemed reassuring. He loved his mother. She was the rock in his life and was the only one who seemed to understand him; the one who could sense that he had a hole in his heart that yearned for something more in his life; a fulfilment. He resented his father even more. Especially when he observed the young women he changed every month from time to time to just use them like he used his mother.
He abused her and called her belittling names the whole time they were married. He could remember vividly how his father kicked them out of their home calling them bastards from another man. He did not understand but Moses understood that the only reason why he so welcomingly accepted him and his brothers was that there was no one to run his garage. He wanted to be with his mother but he was too young to think for himself. His mother had forced them to go to their father because she had nothing to give them. Nna monna, nna thaga: be a man, be strong; he would always chant those words to himself. They got him through.
He heard of his mother’s passing two years later. At first it was a rumour but it was verified by the police who took the news to his father as her name was his. Moses’ father couldn’t care less. He organized an immediate cheap burial, not even consulting her mother and that was it. He now hated his father. Someone that ruthless deserved to die. And he did, eventually. He died a poor miserable wretch with nothing to his name except his name. Moses’ father being uneducated was cheated out of his garage by a white man who needed the space for his farm. He was offered one hundred pounds. Back then it was a lot of money. But the money got finished, all of it. The fountain went dry and he had to support five uneducated children; life was once again difficult. Being an old man he was too old to get a job and in this kind of season, the only job you could get was with an education. The pompous old man’s days were over. His son’s became bush mechanics being the only thing they knew but it was not enough. The end.
Moses grew a tough outer coat and became the most notorious womanizer after his father bade hello to the other side called the after life. He had a pot belly, a bald head and a nasty attitude. His tall disproportional figure made every one move to create way for him to pass. He was notorious. He had become exactly what he was afraid of, his father’s son, except he did not notice it. People were shocked from the uniting and nuptials of him and Keddie, Katlego’s mother who was a decent good looking woman with a beauty spot right under her left eye. Katlego seemed to be taking after her mother’s good looks as people had observed.
Now her mother lived in town. Not even her own daughter knew what she was doing or what her job was. She just came once a year to see how Moses and her daughter were doing and that was it.
but whatever there are some quick small things I wanted to point out on your piece
