She Is No More!

My dad’s girlfriend is history. On Sunday, while my sister took her on a tour through the garden, I happened to find myself in the bedroom where she left her handbag. This was by sheer coincidence. She had been very careless. Her handbag was open and her ID book had slipped out.

I used my phone to take a snap of the contents. To prevent people from snooping in her bag, I put her ID book back in the bag and closed it. Now, was that not very thoughtful of me?

With her ID details in our possession, we learned that she was using her middle name. Not too out of the ordinary, but we also learned that she used a different surname. That was suspicious enough. Well, so we thought.

No sooner were they gone before we climbed on Internet. My sister logged on to the credit bureau with her employer’s password. She got permission to do it – providing we pay the normal fee. A credit check revealed that the strange surname that she used was her maiden name. We still had nothing on her. And then we hit the dirt under the section on spouse details. Spouse details? Yep, there was a husband.

My sister called the husband, pretending to be a friend, asking to talk to his wife. He said that she’s visiting her mother and should be home in about an hour or so. When asked where the mother was, the answer came as no real surprise. She was in the same retirement village as my father. Bingo!

We decided to pay my father a surprise visit, hoping that she would still be there. Alas, she had left, but when we presented my father with the evidence, he admitted to ‘helping’ her few times with her car installments. He said that she promised him that she will pay him back. Like hell she would. Well, she is going to do it now. I’ll see to it. My father was wise enough to make electronic payments directly into her banking account.

Anyway, not too much damage done and my dad is fine; only a bit pissed off with himself. If anything, this episode just brought the three of us closer – if that was possible at all. For the first time ever, he discussed his will and his financial position with us. No nasty surprises there.

I took him to the airport last night. He’s going to visit an old friend in Gauteng. No, he won’t be asking her to marry him, but I suppose hoping can do no harm.

I can understand why most of you thought that I’m meddling in my father’s private affairs. I would probably have said the same if it was not my father. It is easy to talk when the problem is not close to home but I’m sure that if it was your father, you would have acted the same as we did. Blood is thicker than water.


Sit tight! Tomorrow is Friday!