Chapter Eighty-Six – Friends vs Family

Speaking of peace, there was one young man who was experiencing a lack of that. No, I don’t mean Boateng. He didn’t have peace either. I’m actually referring to Kwame. Our poor man of God. His human nature had betrayed him and now he was beside himself. He was at a loss as to what to do. If word got out about his sexual indiscretion, surely the church members would have a field day vilifying him. Never mind that they themselves had done worse. They would say, “we knew it. What did we say when he got here? Once a bad boy, always a bad boy”. But that’s the thing; Kwame didn’t want to be a ‘bad boy’ anymore.

I have never understood judgmental Christians. They expect someone to become perfect overnight when they themselves might have been Christian longer and are still very much imperfect.

The naysayers weren’t the only people Kwame was concerned about. What of his flock? He was a shepherd now and he had worked really hard to build his Bible Study. If now they found out about what he did, who would want to listen to him anymore? The ones already holding their stones would leave and the ones trying to pick up their cross would feel discouraged. If Kwame, who they looked to, could fall, then who were they to think they stood a chance.

It was such a challenge for him to grapple with all this. There was also the shame he felt. He had promised himself he would never do it again and yet he had done it without even thinking. Worse still, he could have prevented it. There were so many other things he could have done that he didn’t think of at the time. Never mind that he had actually done his best to avoid her. Maybe he should have been rude. That might have done the trick. He should have accepted the rumors about Stephanie and called her a whore to her face. Surely, Pastor Dave would hear about it. What would he do then? He would definitely strip Kwame of his responsibility and look at him with a disappointed face.

This was all too much for him. It would be great to talk about this with someone but if he was being honest, there was no one he could talk about this with. Boateng and Carl would laugh in his face if he told them that he ashamed of having sex. He felt ridiculous just thinking about it. They did not share the same convictions with him. He couldn’t talk to his boys in church about it because if there was one thing he’d learned, men gossip just as much if not more than women – especially where church was concerned. That left Pastor Dave but he was exactly the person that should never know about it.

There was only one solution. He would have to keep this to himself and try to get over it somehow.

Funny thing though is, even though just two people were present for the act, information always gets out somehow. Always.

*

Lara was growing increasingly frustrated with Mara. It seemed the darned girl could not do anything right when it came to business. She was just not cut out for it. They were still recovering from the stunt she pulled and now Lara was going over the accounts, realizing that her calculations were all wrong.

Not only that, they were out of stock on some bestsellers and Mara was taking forever to restock despite the constant reminders. The gap in the market had opened the way for a competitor. The competitor being an older lady who opened a hair provision shop downstairs. At least with her, customers didn’t have to worry about getting told “sorry, it is finished.”

They needed to find a way to make themselves better and to find a way to do that fast. Lara had tried to talk to Mara about perhaps expanding the business to include other products and enhancing their business somehow to maintain their control over things. Mara was unfortunately not as co-operative. She was still salty about their previous disagreements and she also felt that Lara was taking things a little too seriously. It was always meant to be a small side hustle that brought some money in but now Lara was treating the whole thing like a business conglomerate worth millions. She was sucking the life out of things.

With a sigh, Lara packed her purse. Her father had asked her to come home for Sunday lunch. This was her third one. Ever since her stellar performance at the dinner with the minister, her parents had been making more of an effort.

Yes, she knew that the main reason was to create an appearance of a strong family but it felt very nice to eat with her parents and siblings like a normal family.

The entire car ride, she was absorbed with thoughts about the business. The last conversation she’d had with Mara she said, and I quote “doing this business thing with you is not fun anymore”. It what world was business meant to be fun. It was business. It was meant to make money. In Lara’s case, it was her chance to change her parents’ perception of her. She needed it to work. Otherwise, it would be one more thing she wasn’t doing right.

They chose to have Sunday lunch on the porch, gentle wind blowing the palm fronds. The sun was the perfect amount of warm and if you were to glance into the compound, you would think this was a perfect loving family. A father who loved, knew and cared for his children and a mother who’s greatest joy was seeing her girls grow up to be able to wear the same clothes and shoes as her.

The truth was, Mrs. Johnson didn’t even know her daughters’ shoe sizes. Yes, she’d buy them stuff from time to time to send over to Ghana but she didn’t know those details off head. She couldn’t rattle them like most mothers. Indeed, Mr. Johnson cared for his children. Moreso in the way of paying their fees and covering their expenses but that’s as far as his paternal care went. But Lara was starting to think there was hope of changing all that. Her parents were now permanenmt in Ghana. They were organizing regular meetings and they were proud of her business.

Mr. Johnson set down his fork, looking at his youngest daughter. “So, how is school?”. Lara swallowed the food in her mouth before speaking, “school is very good. Thank you”.

“And your business?”

Lara was about to offer another generic response when she saw a chance to really bond with her father. This was her opportunity to let him into her world and to see that she was really a businesswoman.

Lara shared her frustrations with her father as he nodded and listened quietly. That had to be the longest he had ever listened to anything so personal to her. His silence motivated her to tell him everything. From the competitor, to the failure to restock and the free goods fiasco. When she was done, he decided to offer his two cents.

“I am glad you’re going through this. It will teach you important lessons about business. Do you know what I think you should do? You have to cut this Mara girl out of the business. She’s clearly an albatross. What exactly her contribution at this present time if not just collapsing your business? Find a way to remove her.”

Lara was not expecting him to say that. “But the business was her idea.”

Mr. Johnson sighed and adjusted his seat. This was a teachable moment for his young naïve daughter. “Business is business, Lara. It doesn’t matter whose idea it was. What matters is that you’re a part of it now and your money is involved. The world of business is very cutthroat. I myself have had to cut friends out or make tough calls to make sure that my business succeeded above everything else. Remove this girl and see how well you will do. I can see you’re like me. You have what it takes to succeed.”

Lara didn’t like a thing about this advice but hearing him say they were similar was music to her ears. Maybe he was right. Cutting Mara out wasn’t such a bad idea. Besides their friendship didn’t have to end just because she kicked her out. Did it?