the city of war and its great disaster

On the way to the TV station, Natasha kept calling her mother but the phone kept ringing and ringing.
“She’s still not answering?” Tulani asked.
“No,” Natasha said, looking extremely worried.
“Try your dad.” Tulani suggested.
Natasha called her father and he answered after the forth ring. “Baby, where are you?” He sounded almost out of breath.
“Dad, is everything okay? Where’s mum? I’ve been trying to reach her for a while now.”
“Oooh…your mother…she is…she is…she should be sleeping I think.” Bernard stammered through the lie as he looked down at his wife’s sleeping figure on the couch. Having suffered through many episodes of panic attacks in the past, Bernard had learnt to keep Martha’s meds close by in case of such emergencies.
“She had a slight headache so she’s sleeping it off now.” Bernard said, not wanting to tell his daughter the truth because she would automatically start asking about what caused the attack and insist of coming home instead of going to work.
“Is it very serious?” Natasha asked.
“No, not at all. I think it’s just the heat; she still hasn’t adjusted to the change in weather. Where are you right now?”
“Tulani is driving me to work dad,” she answered, suddenly remembering why she had called in the first place. Her excitement quickly returned. “You won’t believe what happened dad! I have been given the chance to host the biggest program at work today.”
Bernard nervously laughed. “That’s good news baby. Your mother and I are very proud of you.” It was all he could tell her. Soon or later she was going to find out the truth about her father and there was nothing they could do as her parents to keep that from happening.
Instead of shielding her from the pain that the truth might bring her, Bernard reasoned that it would be better if she met her father now and draw her own conclusions based on what she sees. He trusted that the daughter he had raised all these years would be wise and strong enough to deal with such a shocking truth.
Silently, Bernard prayed for everything to be okay.
“Give mum a kiss for me and don’t forget to watch the show! Will call later to check how mum’s doing. Love you, bye dad.”
“What’s wrong with mum?” Tulani asked the moment she was done on the phone.
“She has her usual migraines,” Natasha said. “She’s been getting those since we moved here. I think she’s having trouble readjusting to the weather.”
“We will go straight home once the program is done. What does she like to eat?”
Natasha gave him a look.