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Ken And Abel

  Mambo Banda II

  Copyright 2015 Mambo Banda II

  Ken and Abel

  A subdued breeze calmly awakens the surrounding landscape to animate the surrounding vegetation to a sedated rhythm. The dancing plants are an overture of a grander view that flirts with all the senses to create a natural scene that beautifully illustrates nature’s majesty. The sun hovers directly above the small lake and paints it with an assortment of radiant colors that move with the rippling waves off the water. The air is pure and refreshingly clean; each breath is unique, providing a different but barely noticeable aroma from the surroundings. The place is quiet and is only disturbed by a few people walking up and down opposite the lake. As the vegetation gets closer to the shore, it gets lighter and thinner until it blends into the bordering park. Directly in front of the body of water is a man made path that stretches along the shore line of the lake, it is a concrete path with huge square tiles snaking into the horizon. Further away from the path is a park; there are seating benches littered through it, but the ones overlooking the lake are the most popular, however, today they are empty, only a few people are making use of them. One particular individual seated on one of the benches stands out.

  The man seated on the bench looks to be in his late thirties, he is donned in very smart classical attire. His feet rest comfortably in a pair of brown leather slip on shoes that are barley ankle length, his lower body is in a white double threaded wool trouser that’s kept in place with a black tarnished leather belt. While his upper body is draped in multiple layers starting with a white plain shirt that’s beneath a stylish thick brown blazer with a black neck, the final touch on his outfit is a black bowtie. He takes up the whole bench as he relaxes with both arms stretched out on either side of the bench, while his right leg rests on top of his left knee as he seats quietly taking in the view.

  After the man has taken in the view he decides to make his way to his appointment, he gets up slowly and gently brushes his blazer and proceeds to a path further into the park. After following the path for several minutes he finds his way to the end of the greenery, revealing several buildings in the vicinity, he makes his way to a church. The church is simplistic in design; it is rectangular, is painted in a very light yellow cream color and has a bronze crucifix above the pyramid shaped entrance canopy to let everyone know this is a place of God. He briskly makes it up the stone steps and in to the church which he finds mostly empty, he consults the first person he meets and is directed in to a congregation hall, there he finds the preacher. He casually makes his way to the preacher who has his back turned as he practices sermons loudly in the empty hall. ‘Good afternoon reverend Peece, sorry I am late, but I got side tracked on the way here, you are situated in a beautiful location.’ The man grabs the reverends attention; the reverend caught unaware turns around and stares at the man before smiling, he reaches out and greets him.

  ‘Welcome Solomon, no worries, my whole day is free.’ They lock hands and shake before the reverend asks for a few minutes to finish rehearsing. Solomon makes his way to a bench and seats while he watches Peece preach to an empty room. Once Peece is finished he makes his way to Solomon. ‘I am done, we can make our way to my office, I gather you are in no rush?’

  ‘No, I have the whole day to myself; we can have the meeting without any obstructions.’ Peece starts off for his office, Solomon follows behind. They make it to a generously decorated room with a very minimalistic design; there is a huge desk in one corner of the room next to window overlooking the park from a distance. Solomon scans the room for a place to seat but all he see’s is a couch opposite the desk; he waits for Peece to direct him.

  ‘Come now Solomon, please have a seat on the couch, there’s no need to stand.’ Solomon treks across the room and makes it to the couch and plants himself in it. He slowly sinks in to the unusually soft chair slowly as the cushions adjust to his body mass, he shakes his body a little to get more comfortable, he is impressed by the uncanny comfort of the chair. Peece coughs to catch his attention; ‘Sorry for the informal setting, I find people talk more when they are comfortable and relaxed. I had the couch handmade; the old man that made it said there was no other couch like it. I cannot backup his claim but it is the most comfortable couch I’ve ever owned, what do you think?’

  ‘It is superbly comfortable even though it doesn’t look it, my complements to its maker.’ Solomon leans back in the chair and gets comfortable as he waits for the meeting to begin.

  Peece stretch’s out his hands in a welcoming gesture and smiles at Solomon, but Solomon is confused. ‘Speak my brother what brings you hear to my humble dwelling, the floor is now yours, please say what is on your mind.’

  Solomon takes a moment to think, he chooses his words carefully before replying. ‘There is a lot on my mind but before I continue I must first ask a question. I am under the assumption that everything I say will be between you and me, is that correct?’

  ‘Correct, everything we talk about here is confidential; this is a confession after all.’ Peece holds his chin and glares at Solomon to intensify his point.

  The response calms Solomon’s nerves; the tenseness in his body starts to go away as he relaxes and starts to compile his thoughts. Peece waits patiently while leaning forward on the desk with his elbows on the table. Then Solomon begins his story; his memories flow vibrantly through his mind and the first thing he says is something that nearly knocks Peece of his chair. Solomon noticing the disbelief on Peece’s face reaches into his pocket and pulls out some pictures and some plastic cards. He gets up and makes his way to the desk and places the items on the smooth brown wooden surface and makes his way back to the couch and continues his story. ‘So you see reverend, I have an identical twin brother and Solomon is a false persona we both use as a conduit to different classes in society.’ Peece’s obvious skepticism does not stop Solomon from continuing his confession; with every word Solomon’s memories pour thicker, allowing him to tell his tale with more confidence.

  Solomon recounts a time long ago when he was a little boy, when he was known as Kenneth (shortened to Ken), he stands next to his brother under a grey gloomy sky with the brown-maroon ground wet from an earlier light rain shower beneath their feet. You cannot tell the two apart as they talk amongst themselves in their navy blue school uniforms while waiting to be picked up. They are eight years old; they are not alone, other school children congregate in the same area while they wait or socialize before going home or attending extra lessons. Abel the younger of the two by eight minutes is the quiet one, Ken rumbles on about his day in class and how he got on the teachers nerves and learned something new. Ken talks for several consecutive minutes at a time before Abel can get a word in and when he does he doesn’t say much. A hulking cargo truck growls around a corner and up the road and grunts its way to the school grounds. Ken noticing the truck stops talking and jumps up and down in excitement, they both run to the truck ecstatically and both jump into the front passenger seat. Their father looks at them waiting for them to greet him as he seats idle in driver’s seat of the truck, Ken greets him and Abel does the same. He then puts his hand on the gear stick and puts the metallic behemoth into gear and feeds it gas, the truck immediately jumps to life. Their father fits the truck nicely; he is also huge and somewhat terrifying to look at, he is very rugged and he never seems to smile. The brothers continue to talk amongst themselves; their father listens quietly at the stories, he finds them strangely amusing since he never got the chance to go to school, it never bothered him since he never got the point, but it is important for his children to be educated, he wants them to live a less laborious life.

  Once they get home they spend a few hours with their father before he heads
out to work. They never knew their mother, according to their father she run away with some younger man, hearing this always infuriated Ken, he vowed such a thing would never happen to him, but this didn’t stop him from worshiping his father. When they sit for supper Ken always bombards his father with questions about his job and his father always humors him with grand stories of his adventures. Abel also loves listening to the stories but he is less enthusiastic about it.

  Ken always tries his best to entertain his brother when things get boring; often they play imaginary roles of what they want to be in life when they