The Family Holocaust

Wilson slept that night and slept deeply, as deeply, almost as a new born baby. He had neither had sedatives nor sleeping pills, exhaustion was the only drug he needed.

Coming awake the next morning was a long slow climb from the depths of a bottomless pit.

The previous night he had spent balancing his accounts and looking at the money that Mr Mak had stolen get back into his account. He had received a call from Freddy confirming that Mak had been arrested.

“Dad! Dad!’, cried Kimberly.

“Yes baby’, Wilson replied with a sleepy voice.

“Should I wear the black dress or the blue one?’, she asked. Wilson rose from the bed to look at the two dresses that Kimberly was holding.

“U-hmm the blue one will be alright baby.” Kimberly walked over to where he was, stood behind him holding the blue dress up her neck. “U-hmm dad I do not think blue is right’, she spoke.

“Then wear the black one.”

“Yes!’, she exclaimed.

It was the day of the launching of the biggest application Wilson had ever developed. He had decided to take his children to witness the launch and see how things are done.

“Kim!’, he shouted.

“Yes dad’, she replied. “Where is Nicole and is everybody done?’, he asked.

“Nicole is still looking for something to wear’, she replied.

“Go and help your sister hey! and tell the boys that they should try and be quick.” Kimberly ran out of the room.

“Stop running inside the house you will hurt yourself!’, he cried. Going on with his children like that, his cell phone rang and he was quick to answer it.

“Hello’, He answered immediately.

“Hey!’, the voice exclaimed, “how are you.?”

“I’m good, who is it?’, he asked.

“It’s Angeline.”

He exclaimed, “You! you sure know how to disappear aye.”

“No not at all’, she chuckled.

“How are you though.?”

“I’m good, big day for you today huh.”

“Yes big day, I hope I see you there right.?” She remained silent for a minute. “Hello, Angeline are you still there.?”

“Yes I’m here’, she eventually spoke. “You are coming right’, he asked.

“Unfortunately I cannot Wilson, I’m going back today’, she said on a sad note.

“What?!, come on you have got to come, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be aware of any of this.”

“I know but I cannot my plane has already been booked.”

“Okay, it’s okay but I owe you though’, he said.

“Bloody yes you do owe me big time my friend!” They both laughed for a while.

“Maybe I will come that side when all this nonsense is over for a vacation’, he said.

“Really?’, she asked excitedly.

“Yes and I promise I will come.”

“Okay, I will see you then when you do come and I wish you good luck today.” She cut the line. “There she goes again’, he said to himself.

“Who? mom?’, asked Mikel who was standing at the door.

“Hey there, you look nice in those clothes…...a true gentleman’, he said. Mikel smiled to the compliment of his father. “Well, I tried.”

“Yea is Noah done?’, Wilson asked. Mikel scratched his head, “Yes he is.”

“Great, then we are good to go.?”

“Yes I think so’, answered Mikel. “Good how do Look?’, asked Wilson standing form his stool.

“Like a true gentleman dad’, he replied.

“Thank you son, let’s go.”

Three hours later, they had already arrived at the venue. Wilson looked unhappy. The children looked unhappy. Wilson was bending over the stand that held the stage and the billboard listening to the soft music that was playing when a voice emerged from his behind.

“Well, well, well I see you came with the whole family.” Nina again, he thought drearily. And it was like he thought, she was wearing a white silk dress and the smile that made his heart stop beating for a moment. “Mom!’, Noah cried rushing into her arms.

“He-e-y son’, she said on a high-up note.

“Noah come back here!’, said Wilson. Noah walked slowly away from his mother.

“So the rest of you aren’t going to greet me?’, she asked out of curiosity. The kids remained silent. “Nina’, called Wilson, “I think you are wanted over there.”

“O-ooh work is calling…see you soon’, she said walking away.

“Dad I’m feeling tired’, Nicole whined. “Sorry baby, you want to sleep.?”

“No I’m just feeling tired and lazy’, responded Nicole.

“Okay, it will all be over soon dear and we can go home and rest okay’, he said patting her on her head. A voice again suddenly emerged from their behind, “Mr Wilson the event is going to start soon, can you please come and take your seats.”

“Thank you, we are coming’, he said smiling back to the lady.

“Okay sir.”

Wilson and his children walked into the big room and sat. On the front as they sat down, it was an exquisite decoration. Wilson exclaimed when he saw that the master of ceremony was the MP. He chuckled.

“Okay now everybody settle down we are about to start our event’, she began. The speakers were so loud that people couldn’t hear each other that much of they wished to talk. Everybody in the room swiftly moved and sat down on their respective seats.

“Greetings to you all. We are all gathered here to witness the launch one of the best application that this company has ever developed. This is only a thirty minutes’ function so please do not worry about the time it will all be over before you know it. We are all here for this amazing application right?’, she asked laughingly. There was an applause and a laughing breakout among the crowd.

“Dad I’m bored! why did you bring us here this is no longer our company!’, shouted Mikel with dry humour.

“Son! Just keep quiet and see what happens!’, cried Wilson breathing heavily.

“Dad! Why do you look so nervous?!’, asked Kimberly.

“I do not look nervous now keep quiet and let’s listen.”

There was an awkward murmuring among the VIP section and Wilson recognised it. He smiled.

“Okay ladies and gentleman before I bring up the lady who is responsible for this event and owner of this company, I want to encourage all of you to vote me as the next Mayor of this town’, she paused to hear the people’s response. The crowd cheered and whistled after a moment of silence like they were not sure.

“Okay so ladies and gentleman now can we all put our hands together and welcome our responsible lady for this day Mrs Nandile!”

There was loud clapping of hands, whistles and ululations as people welcomed Nina to the stage. “Thank you, thank you’, she said repeatedly walking over to the stage. Wilson smiled.

“You are smiling!!’, Noah said. “Yes I am.”

“I want to thank you all for attending this big success to our company and to all those who worked hard for it’, she said. Her eyes fixed on Wilson and paused she pause for am moment. They eyed each other for a while. “Mrs Nandile are you okay!’, shouted one of the businesspeople in the crowd.

“O-oh yes I’m okay…...Let me hear questions quickly from the sponsors and the cabinet before we launch the application’, she eventually spoke. There was a couple of hands already up within a minute form the sponsors, promoters and the cabinet.

“O-oh-oh’, she chuckled, “that’s a lot of hands for a start but let me just start with Mr Kulman’, she said.

A well-built dark man with white hair stood up. “Can you please explain to us what happened with you and your husband because we know him being the one doing what you are doing right now.”

“No I can not answer that question because it is inappropriate Mr kulman I’m sorry’, she said. The man sat down unsatisfied with the response to his question.

“Yes the lady with the red hair over there’, she pointed out.

“Okay thank you ma’am. Can you please explain to us or show us what this application is able to do that actually makes it different from the other ones?”

“Okay,’ she began, “what makes this application so unique from the other applications we have ever created is absolutely it’s features, icon and that makes it irresistible…...”

“Can you please show us a demo or something’, another person spoke.

“We have a demo obviously and we are going to play it shortly madam. Now as I was saying this application enables you to see the message that a person is typing before him or her sends it’, she stopped and gestured for another question.

“I have one!’, a male voice spoke from the crowd. It was Freddy, Wilson recognised the voice and his face awakened. Nina hesitated to pick him up like she knew what question he was going to ask but she picked him up because of pressure. “Yes sir what’s your question?’, she asked.

“Can you please play us the demo please’, said Freddy.

“I already said that I will play the demo shortly after we finish with the questions.”

“Well do we have anyone who still has a question?’, Freddy asked turning to the VIP section. Everyone remained silent and there seemed to be nobody who had a question. Freddy took his eyes back to Nina, “well can you play the demo now.?”

“Yes play it’, Kulman joined in. Nina froze, her eyes swerving from one side to another.

“Okay let’s play the demo’, she said eventually. She moved aside for the people to see the big screen that was on the stage. Everyone inside the room became silent like somebody had unexpectedly died on scene. “Dad does mom know what she is doing?’, asked Nicole.

“Yes she knows, why do you ask?’, Wilson answered with no attention.

“She looks like she doesn’t know what she is doing.”

The lights suddenly went off and the big screen television was the only thing left lighting the room. Wilson was fixing his eyes on the screen. Freddy was biting his tongue for some reason nobody knew why. There was a sentence which suddenly popped up on the screen which said, ‘LOGIN PASSWORD TO VIEW’.

Nina looked at the crowd shocked and she chuckled. “Yes!’, Wilson said silently.

“Dad I think mom needs help, I feel sorry for her now’, whined Mikel.

“Help from who?’, he asked with no feeling of mercy.

“From anyone who is willing’, Mikel said.

“Well I am not.”

//

It was now three minutes and the screen was still showing the ‘LOGIN PASSWORD TO VIEW’ sentence. The people remained silent still expecting to see something.

“Well, well, well it looks like you are stuck Nina’, Freddy said clapping his hands.

“Sir you need to sit down’, a security guard said gesturing. He moved from where he was sitting walking