Ken And Abel Read online

are adults. Ken is always the optimistic one; Abel normally plays the cynic, Ken always assumes Abel has never gotten over the fact their mother abandoned them. Ken believing Abel is his responsibility always does his best to protect Abel from negativity and abandonment especially when it comes to their fathers vices. Their father is a good man but like all men he has his own demons; which are mainly alcohol and women, he personally doesn’t have a moral perspective on life, his principles are simple, if you can get away with it then it is perfectly fine. Ken always studies his father’s actions and behavior, but he never tells Abel about any of it fearing his brother will become even more cynical. As they get older, Ken hears many rumors about their father; he is notorious but fiercely respected amongst his peers, though they are only rumors.

  One late evening after the two brothers are fast asleep Ken is awoken by whispers of innuendo in one of the rooms in the house. At first Ken ignores the sounds mistaking them to be ghostly remnants from his uneasy slumber, but he soon hears his father’s voice. He does not wake his brother; he quietly leaves his bed and slowly creeps towards the shallow voices with great care. He puts his ear near a door and tries to make out the commotion to no avail, so he quietly inches the door open and peeks through the gap. His father is boozed and not alone, in front of him stands a girl a quarter of his age wearing a very small tarnished white dress. She mutters a few inaudible words and moans at the touch of his father’s rugged hands. His right hand slowly caresses her toned thighs continuously as his left hand explores the tenderness of her bosom. The girl is draped in sweat; she is soaked and her flesh beneath the dress embraces and exposes itself through the threads. He flips her around, effortlessly lifts her and places her on a table and parts her legs in one motion. The intensity of the scene arouses Ken and makes him light headed for a second, this causes him to trip forward and fall face first into the door and onto the floor. The girl catches a glimpse of Ken and then pushes away his father in order to conceal her partial nudity from Ken. The commotion catches his father’s eye; Ken’s stomach knots up, he is at a loss for words and stands by the door waiting for his father to erupt. His father moves away from the girl and makes his way to Ken and squats in front of the boy. Sensing Kens fear he doesn’t say anything at first, he looks at the boy and waits, but Ken doesn’t say anything. Ken is paralyzed by fear; the smell of alcohol doesn’t make it any better. His father reaches out with his right hand and places it gently on Ken’s shoulder. His father gently shakes him to grab his attention. ‘What are you doing up so late, did we wake you up? I guess you’ve seen a lot and what can I say, it is what it is. If you have questions I guess you just have to wait till you’re older to get the answers. Now hurry up and go back to sleep. ’ Ken is relieved that he is not punished; he quickly rushes out the room and runs to his room and buries himself in his blankets.

  Solomon’s voice slows down as he comes back to the present; the reverend listens with care as he analyzes every word. ‘I believe that’s a turning point in my life, the seed was planted that day, what I saw intrigued me and later on drove me to indulge in darker desires.’ Solomon reaches out for glass of water by a side stool.

  Peece unlocks his hands and strokes his chin in enthrallment and responds to what he has heard so far. ‘That is fascinating; so there are really two of you, I hope that is not the end of your story, if that is all there is to confess then you have wasted your time. ’ Peece weaves his fingers once and waits for more.

  ‘In order to remove a tree stomp you must know how deep the roots go, I’m just laying the foundation so that you can understand why I did the things I did. After that incident me and my father got closer and I took an interest in his work, I would beg him for a chance to be his wing man. I had this idea in my head that one day I would be just like him.’

  Solomon continues his tale; his memories skip several years in to the future, just after his high school graduation. Their father does not show up to their graduation but he promises to pick them up on time, but he breaks that promise. Ken and Abel stand patiently conversing amongst themselves for what seems like an eternity. Much later a modern small utility vehicle, not the latest model creeps up the road and stops near the brothers. The window rolls down; their father is sat in the driver’s seat with the biggest grin on his face. He looks very different; the rugged look is gone; they can smell the perfume float off him like a scented candle. His dress code has been upgraded, but it is still shabby and unintelligent, he still doesn’t know how to dress. ‘What are you two looking at? Pick your skulls of the floor and get in. How do you like my new car, cost me quite a bit of change. Things have changed my boys; life has smiled upon us.’

  The brothers later find out the true nature of their fathers work, mainly about his secret partner. Their father is a part time smuggler for a very ambitious gentleman who through luck manages to secure himself a high post in government. After working many years with their father he has come to trust him, so he makes him a partner in his biggest scheme ever. Overnight life becomes a fairy tale; the world changes into something completely different, for the first time they taste real freedom. Eventually their father decides that they are better of pursuing their higher education in another country. The brothers go with the flow of things, they quickly begin to adjust to the new way of doing things, but Ken starts to notice they are losing touch with their father. They may see more of him but he never opens up to them like he did in the past, now his mind is always on business and affairs relating to his new colleagues.

  While abroad the brothers learn how to fit into their new role in society, they soon discover that the world works differently for people at their level. They learn they have to know their place too, since they are not at the top of the hierarchy, they may be wealthy but they are not the wealthiest. They both learn the ins and outs of their new lives; five years pass and they eventually go back home. Not long after their return tragedy strikes, while on a business trip their father passes away in his sleep, his death is a shock and a blow to both of them. They never imagined a life without their father and they are quickly thrust forward into his world, they have to secure his wealth. Their education abroad proves useful; their father was a secretive man but they eventually manage to piece his business activities together.

  After his death the brothers see little need to stay in their home country, they reconcile their wealth and move to another country with a more favorable social climate. They quickly invest a big portion of their wealth and quickly find their money working for them, but they soon get bored.

  Ken comes up with a ludicrous idea; one that Abel finds very amusing, he doesn’t take his brother seriously until he catches him shuffling some of their assets around. After a little digging Abel finds out what Ken was up to; when Abel confronts Ken about the issue Ken simply pushes the issue to one side.

  Solomon pauses for a second and reaches out for the glass of water on the stool in front of him and takes a few sips. ‘That was my first major sin reverend and in a way the father of the ones that came after.’ Solomon places the cup back on the stool and crosses his legs again and continues. ‘I created the Solomon persona; at first my brother was against the idea but then one day he changed his mind, I never found out why.’ Peece coughs and interrupts Solomon mid sentence; Solomon pauses and waits for a response.

  Peece seats back in the chair and places his hand on either side of the chair and looks up at the ceiling with a puzzled look. ‘So you got bored and decided to create a fake identity to cheat the world, why didn’t you just use your wealth to pursue other distractions.’ Peece calmly leans on his left elbow and waits for an answer.

  Solomon caught off guard uncrosses his legs and quickly crosses them again, revealing the question makes him uncomfortable. He takes a moment to ponder; he rubs his forehead with his index finger. ‘I always thought I and my father got along well, we always talked, me more than he did with my brother but in the end he favored my brother more. I discovered this w
hile restructuring the will he left behind, he left nearly everything to Abel. Not that he left me with nothing; it was more than enough to get by. I always thought we were close, I understood the man and he shared a lot about his life with me, my brother never cared about that. He could have left both of us an equal share; but he gave my brother more, that hurt me a lot. After that I couldn’t stand him, I grew distant, he didn’t even notice, he is always clueless about people’s feelings.’ Solomon continues to rub his forehead.

  ‘Have you resolved this issue with your brother? What did he have to say about the will, how did he feel about it.’

  ‘He never saw the will because he was too traumatized, even the lawyer couldn’t make him read it. He told the lawyer that I was in charge of everything relating to my father’s estate, so I did what was right and amended the will, he signed for the changes without even reading the conditions.’

  ‘That sounds very deceptive, don’t you think you ought to let your brother know what your father really left for him.’

  ‘You have never met my brother