GOOD_ISNT_GOOD_ENOUGH: Episode 5

GOOD_ISNT_GOOD_ENOUGH: episode 5

Melisa wasn’t too well when we woke up the next day, I decided to drive her to the hospital to have

her checked in the morning and the doctors said it was nothing serious but they gave her some

pain killers to stop the pain that had developed in the night.

‘Sorry for the trouble.’ She said when we got home

‘Come on, you are my wife and I made a vow before God to always be there for you in sickness

and health.’ I responded tucking her into bed.

‘You are just the best.’ She said with a smile

I kissed her forehead then went to take a bath, I got ready for work but gave instructions to the

maid to keep an eye on her.

The President was leaving the country for Botswana that day so I had to escort him to the airport,

after that I had a meeting with Smith Anthony of Mark Anthony printers. The government was

worried that the opposition was circulating a fake story of how sums of money were being wasted

on unnecessary projects so the President wanted me to give the media house the full story

straight from us. You see the best way to kill an enemy who has less information about you is by

dishing out the full information for him.

By mid-morning the President was out of the country and I was in Smith Anthony’s office waiting

for him to come.

‘He will be here any minute.’ His nephew who I was told was mostly in charge of the media house

told me

I could tell that he was those kinds of people one could easily buy off, the way he was addressing

me and trying to look perfect said a lot of things.

The door opened and Smith walked in, he was a friend of my father but we never got introduced

even though I had read exclusively about him.

‘Sorry for keeping you waiting.’ He said immediately he stepped into the office

‘I used the time wisely, working always gets tiring.’ I said with a smile

‘Smith Anthony.’ He said with a smile and politely stretching his hand

‘Jason Mtonga.’ I said shaking it

He eyed me.

‘Are you the son of the late Mr. Mtonga? Thee Mtonga?’ he asked

I laughed and looked down, my father was a great man. The grave sure did hold a lot of great

men.

‘Yes Sir.’ I said

He came to where I was and gave me a manly hug.

‘Your father was a kind man before anything else.’ He said

I felt a little pain in my heart, it had been five years since he had given up to cancer and yet it felt

like yesterday.

‘I don’t want to waste much of your time, what do we have here?’ he asked as he sat down

I took a seat as well and immediately explained why I went to see him. I showed him plans of the

works that were being done and also bank deposits for each transaction that was made.

‘Why did you choose us?’ he finally asked me after I was done explaining

I sighed, this was a great opportunity for his media house.

‘You are the best in the country, the most influential and so we thought why not you?’ I asked

Oswald had come with me, he eyed me, an indication that Smith wasn’t convinced with the

response that I had given him.

‘A lot of newspapers have already started brewing this story, this is something big. Something that

could bring down the government. If you want it to go public, you must make sure that you are

telling us nothing but the truth.’ He said more seriously

I felt the hairs on my back stand, being a government official was tough. The information I was

giving him had my name on it and if something was to go wrong, I was going down too.

‘Everything I have given you is accurate.’ I said confidently

‘I will ask my best journalist to write this story and you will need to work closely with her.’

‘Wait wait wait.’ His nephew said and we all turned to look at him

‘What do you mean she?’ he asked

‘Mark can we talk about this later?’ he asked shooting him daggers

I too wanted to know who this female journalist was, I had hoped that the great Smith himself was

going to write the story.

‘I think we should be on our way out.’ I said now on my feet

He walked us out of the office.

‘Smith just one last question.’ I said stopping and turning to look at him

‘Yes.’

‘Why not you, I mean everyone knows your name. You have been quiet for a long time and a story

with your name on it will make headlines.’

He laughed

‘That is the problem with working with the wrong people.’ He said and paused

I gave him a questioning look

‘I am old, I need to leave room for young people. Brilliant and vibrant young people. What I am

representing is Mark Anthony printers and not Smith Anthony as an individual. Trust me we need

more young people out there if this country is to develop.’ He said with a smile

I smiled back at him.

‘And hey.’ He called out

Me and Oswald turned to look at him.

‘You won’t regret working with Ms. Mwila, I have watched her grow. I trained her, she is a younger

version of me but with breasts and well.’ He paused and we all laughed at his humor

We walked out of the building and I was quiet skeptical about the whole thing, I didn’t trust anyone

with the story. It was too big to just get into anyone’s hands, what if she wasn’t trust worthy? What

if she sold the story to another media house?

My thoughts were disrupted when I got a call from home telling me that Mel had been rushed to

the hospital and was being treated there.