Picture-Imperfect Family

King Takunda, Queen Makanaka, Princess Anatswanashe, and Prince Ropafadzo quickly left the castle and went into their dark blue carriage, while Uncle Ekon, Aunt Yevedzo, and their three children went into their big sky-blue carriage.

The king and Ropafadzo sat on one side, while the queen and Anatswanashe sat on the other side.

King Takunda adjusted his crown. “Does everyone have their bibles?”

“Yes, Baba” Anatswanashe and Ropafadzo said, holding their bibles up.

Queen Makanaka patted her bible on her lap. “As always, dear.”

“Then let’s be off!” King Takunda said.

The driver shook the reins and the horses trotted down the hill.

The Queen adjusted Anatswanshe’s and Ropofadzo’s gold headpieces. “Honestly, you two, you should always make sure your crowns and tiaras are positioned correctly.”

Ropafaszo leaned away. “Mama, I’m fine!”

“Now you are. Because I fixed it.” She double-checked Anatswanashe’s sapphire dress and Ropafadzo’s blue suit with golden birds embroidered on them. “And your clothes are free of creases, I believe. Do try not to crease them when we get to church. And don’t get dirty when you play with the cousins, Ropafadzo. I’d hate for you to ruin your best clothes.”

King Takunda patted his wife’s hand. “Now my love, you’ve quadruple-checked everything. Everything is perfect. There’s no need to worry.”

“I know, I know, but I feel awfully strange this morning. I can’t help but feel something is wrong. Like something is…missing.”

“Some things never change.”

Anatswanashe looked between her father and mother. “Is it because Shupikayi isn’t here?”

Queen Makanaka looked at her, confused. “What are you talking about? Shupikayi’s  right–Oh.” She looked around. Her second daughter was not there. “Oh no! She’s not here? Where is she?!”

“Don’t worry,” the king said. “She probably overslept. She’ll probably catch up with us later. She always pops up unexpectedly. You know how she is. She’s a weird one.”

Anatswanashe raised an eyebrow. “Baba told her not to come back until she apologized last night, remember?”

“Yeah,” Ropafadzo said, smirking. “You chewed her out for having that dumb cat. Don’t tell me you forgot.”

The queen’s face turned a little red. “Oh.”

The king’s eyes widened. “Oh.” 

In fact, the king and queen had forgotten. They had forgotten all about the big fight with Shupikayi last night. They had forgotten what had started the fight. They had forgotten that Shupikayi had stormed away into the night, and for all they knew, had never returned to the castle, and would never return. And, most disappointingly, they had forgotten that the day after Shupikayi’s birthday was Sunday, and that meant everyone needed to go to church as a family.

Had Anatswanashe and Ropafadzo not said anything, they would have never remembered all this until they made it to church.

They were so used to Shupikayi being gone, that nothing had seemed amiss when the queen woke up, looked at their clock, and saw that they only had an hour to prepare for church, which was barely enough time. 

that nothing had seemed to be amiss when the king was shaken awake by his wife, yelling at him to get up and get ready for church.

The king cleared his throat. “Well, she should be at the castle by now, surely. She probably came back while we all slept. You mean no one’s seen her this morning?”

Ropafadzo shook his head. “Nope! But who cares? She’s always a spoilsport. Let’s just go to church without her.”

Queen Makanaka gave her son a reproving look. “Now, Ropafadzo, that’s no way to treat your sister. Even if she can be a downer, she should go to church with us. Besides, what would people say if we went to church without her?”

“Just tell them she’s not feeling well. She probably isn’t after last night.”

Queen Makanaka shook her head. “All the same, I want her to come with us.”

“I think it’s too late for that,” Anatswanashe said. “Do you truly think Shupikayi would want to come after what happened?”

Queen Makanaka was silent for a moment. “No. But that doesn’t matter. She needs to get over it. We’re a family, and good, respectable families go to church together. What example would we be setting if we did otherwise?”

King Takunda rubbed the back of his neck. Queen Makanaka had a point. However, he wasn’t sure he could act like everything was normal if Shupikayi were to show up like he usually did in front of other people. Last night’s fight was probably the worst fight he’d had with his second daughter, and that was saying something. “How about this; we’ll go to church since we’re already halfway there, and then I will send the carriage back to go fetch her. If anyone asks about her, we’ll simply say she was taking a while to get ready and that she should be here shortly. Okay?”

Anatswanashe shrugged. “Yes, Baba.”

“I suppose that should be alright,” Queen Makanaka said. She started to bite on her nails but stopped. She really had to work on breaking that habit.

Ropafadzo laughed. “No one’s gonna ask about her,” he said, swinging his legs as he looked out the window. “She’s the middle child. Everyone forgets about her.”

The King and Queen stared at their son, then glanced at one another. As much as they hated to admit it, this wasn’t too far from the truth. They had both forgotten about Shupikayi.

When they got to church along with Uncle Ekon and his family, the king sent the carriage back to fetch Shupikayi. Certainly, Shupikayi was at the castle by now.

When the whole royal family entered the church, they received a warm welcome from all the lords and ladies and other wealthy cityfolk. Everyone said “Hi” and “Good morning” to one another. They asked how business was doing, how their families were doing, and talked about the weather.

The royal family didn’t mention Shupikayi.

No one else noticed that Shupikayi was gone.

That is, until everyone did.

You see, Aunt Yevedzo was great at keeping family affairs to herself. However, the family affairs of her brother and sister-in-law? That was fair game. So, before the worship service started, she waltzed from one church member to the other, asked them how they were doing. When her audience opened the door of opportunity to her by asking “How have you been,” she gladly gave them a show by pulling back the curtains to last night’s fight.

“Shupikayi was at it again,” Yevedzo said. “The poor thing. She’s so stubborn. She’s the middle child, the black sheep, the runt of the litter. Always has to make a fuss to vie for the wrong kind of attention. Anyway, I’ll spare you the unimportant details and get to the point. She was incredibly rude to me and my children last night. She blamed us for ruining her birthday because she wanted a party without her relatives. You know how she is. She wants to be a hermit who lives in the woods, that’s what Makanaka told me. Ask her, she’ll tell you. Anyway, she locked herself in her room, so Makanaka went to go get her, and what did she see? That foolish girl holding a black kitten!”

Conveniently, Aunt Yevedzo played the part of the victim extremely well by withholding the “unimportant” details. For instance, she omitted the part where Shupikayi got upset that Yevedzo’s son had a tantrum and destroyed her birthday cake.

On and on she went, drawing in her three willful listeners with her juicy gossip as if it were honey to a swarm of flies.

All three flies took the bait and quickly dispersed to share it with their fellow church members.

By the time worship service had begun, and everyone was praising their lord and savior with their lips, singing joyful songs magnifying his kindness, love, and truth, half of the congregation’s ears had been filled with half-truths and lies.

After the pastor was done with his sermon, and people rose from their seats ready to depart, the flies who were drunk on the sweet, yet toxic honey went to share it with all those who had yet to taste their spoils.

Within minutes, the whole congregation knew Yevedzo’s version of Shupikayi’s horrible birthday party. Within seconds, the pastor got wind of it from a wealthy bachelor who found the whole story hilarious.

“I mean, come on now, a black cat?” the bachelor laughed. “Surely, Princess Shupikayi is insane! Who brings a black cat into their own home? Everyone knows it’s bad luck. But what can I say, the royal family, well, they’re a little wild.”

The pastor stared at him blankly. “Now, I don’t believe in bad luck, Kama. And we shouldn’t be spreading gossip in the church.”

“But it’s not gossip if it’s true! Surely a person with a black cat must be some sort of witch or–hold on.” He pulled out his pocket watch and gasped. “Goodness! I’ve got to hurry. I have to make my appointment with a client soon. If I’m late once, I’ll have bad luck for a week. Great sermon, by the way. Goodbye!” With that, the bachelor ran out of the church as if a vicious dog were on his heels.

The pastor stared at the door, where many more lords, ladies, and others of high status pooled out of the building. Now that he looked around, he didn’t see Princess Shupikayi anywhere. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen her enter the building.

The King and Queen were still standing in the middle of the pews, chatting with Lord Shumba about Anatswanashe’s success with her fire-ability and Ropafadzo’s great talent with a spear. Anatswanashe was by her mother’s side, as usual, but Ropafadzo was running about outside with his cousins, as usual.

Shupikayi was nowhere to be seen.

Which, in a way, was also usual. She usually popped up out of nowhere. Still, it wasn’t usual to not see her enter the church along with the rest of her family.

Maybe the king and queen could clear up some things, perhaps shed light on the gossip that was being thrown about.

The pastor politely waited for their conversation to be over, and for Lord Shumba to leave, before going over to them and starting small talk. “Ah, your majesties, Princess Anatswanashe, it is a pleasure to see you as always.”

“Pleasure to see you too,” King Takunda said.

The pastor looked out the front door, where Ropafadzo had put one of his cousins in a playful chokehold, while the other cousin grabbed his foot to try to make him trip. “I see Ropafadzo is having fun. But where is Princess Shupikayi? I don’t remember seeing her enter the church.”

Queen Makanaka flushed. “Oh, well, you see…” Should she tell her pastor what had happened last night? Should she tell him that she, a Christian Queen, had shouted at her daughter about a black cat that she was certain would bring bad luck? Certainly not! She knew the pastor thought it was superstition. She couldn’t look like a fool in front of him and the whole congregation.

But she wasn’t sure if she should mention the argument either. They were the royal family, and as such, they had to present themselves as a united, picture-perfect family. Mentioning last night’s fight would tarnish that perfect image, making them vulnerable to ridicule and contempt!

What should she tell the pastor, then? “She wasn’t feeling well this morning, so she stayed home. The poor thing. I think she ate too much of her birthday cake.”

The pastor looked a bit relieved. “I’m sorry to hear that. So everything’s alright at home?”

Queen Makanaka smiled. “But of course! Why? Is something wrong?”

The pastor waved a hand. “Just some silly rumors going around, again.”

The queen’s smile faltered. “What rumors?”

“Ah, I don’t know. Something about you all arguing over a black cat, which according to Kama, is ‘bad luck.’” He shook his head. “It’s quite ridiculous. I’m not sure who started the whole gossip. Of course, we know that black cats can’t be bad luck. There’s no such thing as luck.”

The king smiled weakly. “Yes, it’s obvious.” 

“Anyway, I hope you all have a good rest of your day.”

The royal family went out to find their carriage waiting.

The Queen went to the carriage driver. “Where is she?” she hissed.

The driver shrugged. “She wasn’t at the palace, so I’m not sure where she’s gone. The guards are looking for her now, though.”

The queen pursed her lips. “I see.”

When the royal family had gone back into their carriage and went on their not-so-merry way home, the queen made all her feelings and opinions known.

“I cannot believe Shupikayi embarrassed us like that!” the queen said, wringing her hands. “And then the pastor put us right on the spot! I swear, I was about to faint! How could Shupikayi do this to her own mother!”

Ropafadzo shrugged. “I dunno. But at least we didn’t have to see her sullen face during the whole service.”

“She can look as sullen as she wants! I still want her with us at church. At least then, no one would be asking me where she is. And then the pastor’s going to mention rumors. Rumors! About us! Who on earth told everyone about the fight?!”

“It wasn’t me,” Ropafadzo said. 

“It wasn’t any of us,” Anatswanashe said. “Maybe Aunt Yevedzo did. She does like to tattle.”

King Takunda sighed. “You aren’t wrong about that.”

Queen Makanaka wrung her hands. “If they weren’t family, I would tell them to never come to church with us again. But–oh!” She bit her nails. “This is terrible! The whole church knows what’s happened by now, and they’re all laughing behind our backs! Why did Shupikayi have to bring that horrid cat to our castle?! When I find her, I’m going to–well, I don’t know what I’ll do yet, but it won’t be good!”

Anatswanashe gave her mother a look. “Mama, with all due respect, I don’t think Shupikayi will listen to you when you’re still heated. Especially not after last night. I know she should have come home, and come to church with us, but the fact is that she simply didn’t want to. Maybe you should be gentle with her whenever she turns up.”

“How can I be gentle with her after what she did?! It doesn’t matter if she wanted to come to church or not. She’s my daughter, and she has to obey me! She’s already made a fool of herself. She can’t make a fool out of the rest of us. As soon as we get home, I’m sending a search party to go find my child!”

“Now, hold on,” King Takunda said. “Shupikayi has always been stubborn, but she usually comes back on her own. We should wait before we bring in more people to this situation. So what if people got wind of what happened last night? Sending out a search party will only draw more unwanted attention. We always end up having some disagreement with Shupikayi, and after that, we get over it. It’s normal. We’ll simply go about our day with no problems. Alright?”

Queen Makanaka sighed. “I suppose you have a point. I just want to give that girl a piece of my mind!”

“I think both of you gave her ten pieces of your minds last night,” Anatswanashe said.

“Nothing she didn’t need to hear,” King Takunda said.

“Yeah,” Ropafadzo said. “She was bad luck! Like Baba said. Right, Baba?”

The King blinked. “I said that?”

“Yeah!” Ropafadzo said. “It was hilarious! Don’t you remember?”

“Oh.” The king rubbed the back of his neck. “I see. I remember now.”

The queen lowered her head.

The rest of the trip to the castle was silent.

When the royal family and their relatives arrived back at the castle, and Uncle Ekon and his family had gotten all their belongings, they all said farewell to each other.

“Sorry about the cake,” Uncle Ekon said to King Takunda as he shook his hand. “We’ll make it up to you all sometime. We’ll have a nice banquet at my mansion, and it will be so great, Shupikayi won’t be able to keep a long face.”

The king patted his brother on the back. “That would be appreciated.”

Uncle Ekon, Aunt Yevedzo, and the cousins went into their carriage. The carriage rode off, and the royal family waved them goodbye from their castle’s stairs until their relatives went out through the castle gates.

“Finally,” Queen Makanaka said. “I was trying my best not to lash out at them. I mean, I know one of them said something about last night!”

Just as King Takunda had suggested, the royal family went about their day, as if all was right with the world. Queen Makanaka gave Anatswanashe some more tips on using her fire-ability, and King Takunda took Ropafadzo out hunting and practiced sword fighting with him. 

Everyone was certain that Shupikayi would return. After all, she didn’t have anywhere else to go. She was a child, with no job and no house. What could she do?

The day became night, and the royal family prepared themselves for bed.

Shupikayi had not returned.

The queen started pacing around her large bedroom. “Where is she? Where could she be?”

The king was sitting on their big bed reading a book. He flipped a page and glanced out their bedroom window. Where was Shupikayi? She should have been back by now. After all, she had nowhere else to go. She didn’t have a lot of money. Unless… “Ah, I see.”

Queen Makanaka stopped pacing. “What? What is it?”

“Maybe she’s at an inn, sweetie. She did have enough birthday money to stay there for a couple of days or so.”

Queen Makanaka groaned. “Of course she’d go to an inn. But if that’s true, then she’s not too far away. She’ll be at the Nuru City Inn, won’t she?”

“Most likely.”

Queen Makanaka’s face turned red, and her hair ignited in flames. “I’m here worrying about her, and she’s staying at an inn?! She could have come to church! And she embarrassed us by being a no-show! And she is using her birthday money?! Why spend it on that when she could simply come home? Stubborn child! All because she doesn’t want to apologize!”

King Takunda shrugged. “That’s how she’s always been. But I wouldn’t worry about it. She’ll come back tomorrow. She can’t stay at the inn forever, and she doesn’t like spending money. She’ll be back. And if not, then I’ll send someone out there to fetch her.”

“I should go and find her myself! Giving me a hard time.” Queen Makanaka’s fiery hair changed from gold to blue. “I swear, if she doesn’t come back by tomorrow night I’ll–well, I don’t know what I’ll do!” She sighed and sat on the opposite side of the bed. Her blue flames suddenly went out. She put her chin in her hands. “I don’t understand. What am I doing wrong? Were we too hard on her, Takunda?”

The king sat his book down. “I don’t think so. She wasn’t listening to us. She wasn’t being respectful at all. She insisted on keeping that black kitten. We told her it was bad luck!”

“You also told her she was bad luck.”

The king frowned. “Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t have said that. But what else was I supposed to say? She’s so stubborn, that nothing gets through to her. She was supposed to take the kitten out of the castle, and she argued with us instead. I know she wanted to help it, but she cannot talk back to us.”

“I know. But I still don’t feel right about the whole thing. Everything feels wrong knowing she isn’t here. All of us are supposed to be together. All my life, I’ve dreamed of a picture-perfect family, where everyone is happy and normal. But every time Shupikayi is around being difficult, chasing her crazy dreams, going off on her own, criticizing me, and arguing with me, it’s like I’m about to lose that dream. 

“I can’t lose that dream. But I can’t lose my daughter either. What if I can’t have both? What if I have to choose one or the other? I don’t know what to do. I don’t know–” Tears formed in her eyes and she covered her face.

“Kana,” King Takunda put his glasses onto his nightstand, then sat by Makanaka’s side and put his arm around her. “I want to keep the family together too. That’s why we have our family gatherings whenever we can. But you shouldn’t worry about it so much. As long as we care for our kids, then in a way, we’ll always be a perfect family. Right? Not every family loves their kids as much as we do.”

Queen Makanaka shrugged. “I suppose not.”

“Trust me, everything will work.”

Queen Makanaka lay her head on his shoulder. “But how?”

King Takunda thought for a moment. “Time heals all wounds. But space can be good for a time too. Maybe Shupikayi had the right idea by running off on her own for a while. Maybe we should leave her be for a little longer. Why don’t we give her one more day? If Shupikayi isn’t back by then, then we’ll find her.

“And remember the pie you made Shupikayi last time when you wanted to coax her out of her bedroom?”

The queen sighed and shook her head. “She refused to come out for two days after that one argument.”

“But her hunger was more stubborn than even she was.”

The queen smiled. “I suppose.” 

“We’ll do something like that once we find her. We’ll give her a peace offering, talk about things over a nice dinner, I’ll tell her she can come back home and that we forgive her for being disobedient, and then things will go back to normal. It will be like nothing ever happened. Okay?”

Queen Makanaka nodded. “Okay. If you’re sure that everything will be alright, then I suppose it will.”

“Great!” He kissed her forehead. “Now let’s get some rest. There’s no use staying up late worrying, and being cranky in the morning.”

The king and queen turned off their lamps and went to bed.

All was quiet in the big castle atop the hill. All was well for the royal family of the Mushana Kingdom.

Except it wasn’t.

For you see, their wayward daughter had been told time and time again by her family that she brought nothing but suffering. So, she decided that she would help her family by doing what she had planned on doing ever since she turned thirteen.

As the king and queen dreamt about Shupikayi returning home to apologize, Shupikayi began to scale the border wall surrounding the kingdom to make her escape.

She was leaving the Mushana Kingdom, and she was never going to return.