Book 33: Streets Paved with Gold

Bongani Ngcobo suffers from high blood pressure and stabbing pains in his chest every Christmas Day. This year it is worse than ever. Being his doctor, I treat his symptoms, but I also need to understand the cause of his complaint. I assumed it was due to pressure from work. Bongani owns a large construction company and employs hundreds of people. He started from nothing and is now fabulously wealthy. And to celebrate his wealth, he has built himself a mansion and married three wives. On deeper inquiry, it appears that I was wrong. It is not the pressure of work that makes Bongani ill. It is his relatives. Bongani comes from a large family. Each of his three wives has relatives and they have relatives too. The extended family is vast and on Christmas Day it open house for all the relatives at Bongani’s, Sibongile’s, Lindiwe’s and Nomsa’s home. No wonder he suffers from stress. Poor Bongani can’t even remember the names of all his relatives. Worst of all are the Christmas presents. No-one is happy with their gift. Christmas presents are a reason for war between cousins, between uncles and aunts, and between grandchildren. As his doctor, I would advise him to stop having the annual Christmas party, or alternatively, go to court and file for a divorce from all his relatives (not his wives, just his relatives). Not a bad idea when you come to think about it.
The second story is a dramatization of an incident in the life of a navigator on board a bomber during WW 2.