The lie was safer...

“You should take it back” Makanaka said to her sister. “Do the right thing Miedzo”

Miedzo got up and put the dress in the cupboard where it had been hidden for a week. Now that Makanaka had advised her to give it back she definitely would not, she wasn’t going to let her Miss Goodie Two Shoes sister tell her what to do. Besides cousin Sekesai had more dresses than she needed and she had made a point of showing these dresses off during the holiday that Maka and Mimi had spent at their uncle’s house.

In all fairness Maka knew very well that Sekesai was not showing off, she really was just wearing her clothes, but where Maka came from when one wears different dress everyday of a month long holiday, one can be said to be showing off.

Miedzo had felt no guilt on the day that she packed the dress into the torn linning of her suitcase, all Miedzo wanted was to look gorgeous at the upper six dinner. When she has spoken to baba and amai about getting a new dress they had reminded her about the examination fees they had worked hard to raise for the two of them over and above their school fees. Baba’s insensitive advice was that the dinner was not part of the school curriculum and as such it was not a necessity. They could either go in the clothes they already had or not go at all. What did he know about being a teenager in 2017?

The guilt only crept in when she found out that babamnini’s wife had fired her maid, Dudzai, for allegedly having stolen the dress. Dudzai was such a sweet young girl and she didn’t deserve to be fired for a crime she didn’t commit. Why was mainini so foolhardy in her decision making anyway?

How would she even return the dress? How would she explain herself? Besides, what assurance was there that Dudzai would be reinstated after the confession? There were too many uncertainties. What was certain was that if she confessed Baba would kill her. Baba had given her a long lecture about living within their means when she had accepted $10 from Babamnini, she hadn’t even asked for it, he had offered and she has accepted. No, the risk associated with honesty was too high.

She could feign ignorance and say that she mysteriously discovered the dress in her suitcase. But that would be too much of a stretch, too much time had lapsed. A whole week, no one would believe her.

She could live with the guilt of Dudzai’s firing. Dudzai would get another job with a better madam. Mainini was an over-compulsive bossy good for nothing expect shopping woman anyway. Dudzai wouldn’t miss her.

Now the question was how she would deal with Makanaka. Makanaka had discovered the dress while she was packing their wardrobe. Why was she even packing the wardrobe, had it whispered in her ear while they slept that it needed packing? She could have left it alone. Maybe Makanaka would have to be reminded of the time she had allowed Takudzwa, the young temporary teacher, to kiss her on the lips.

She wouldn’t return the dress. The trouble was too much. She would deal with Makanaka and attend the dinner in her gorgeous sequinned dress that she would change into in the school toilet after leaving home in her ordinary church dress.