10/03/2024
MAHLALELA AND OTHER STORIES (A Collection of Stories / Flash Fiction)
MAKOTI
"You seem stressed, brother. What's bothering you?" said the lady who found me sitting pensively, my eyes fixed on the ATM which swallowed my bank card. She was the same lady I had seen from a distance, her eyes fixed on the ATM queue I was standing in earlier. She seemed to have a friendly personality. The type of the ladies I admire, I thought to myself while I was looking into her face. "Sorry, do you hear me?" she added with a loud voice.
"I lost my bank card," finally, I replied.
"How?" she wanted to know.
"That machine swallowed it," I said, pointing to the ATM.
"Ah!" she gaped at me, and rested her hand on my shoulder as she restored my hope: "But that can be fixed if you visit your bank and explain what you have encountered." Glancing at her hand on my shoulder, I began to think that perhaps she was interested in me.
"I will do so, my sister, thank you."
"Great. Let me go and join that queue then," she said, pointing to the other ATM queue.
My voice quavered, as I asked, "May I keep you company?"
The lady flashed a smile and jokingly said, "Well, if your intention is not to rob me of the little that I'm going to withdraw, you are welcome to keep me company."
God is generous, I thought to myself, as I promptly got to my feet. We ambled towards the ATM queue, in which we stood for thirty five minutes before we traversed the lawn in the direction of the restaurant. We then entered the restaurant and had lunch at the lady's expense. We lingered a little longer at the restaurant, having a chat. It was like we had known each other for a while. I don't want to lie, I desired to spend the rest of my life with that lady. That's why I didn't think twice to propose to be in a relationship with her.
To my proposal, she laughed and said, "Tell me you are joking."
"No, I'm not," I said seriously, shaking my head.
"You seem a good ni**er," she smiled at me.
Returning the smile, I said, "Not as good as you are, nigress."
She laughed and said she had never met a funny guy like me. As I was about to say something, her cellphone rang and she answered it quickly. She spoke with the caller for almost ten minutes. After that, she got to her feet and told me that she had to go.
"Alright," I said unhappily, getting to my feet as well. She gave me a hug, and rushed out of the restaurant. At least I've acquired her phone number, I thought to myself.
Later that day, I phoned her and reintroduced myself. She sounded quite happy for my phone call, and I took advantage of that by telling her how much I loved her. Instead of saying the feeling was mutual, she just laughed and said I was funny. Nevertheless, I believed she loved me.
I became stressed when I lost my cellphone together with the SIM card to which I had saved her number. Don't put the blame on me, for I had forgotten the phone number of someone I loved dearly. It happens sometimes.
My efforts to do SIM swap were fruitless. So I ended up accepting that I had lost contact with Surprise. This is the name she had told me the first time we met.
It was two months later when I received a phone call from my friend, inviting me to his uncle's wedding which was going to take place in Phokwane, the bride's village. Because Surprise had told me that she stayed in Phokwane the first time we met, I accepted that invitation in the hope that I would meet her again and pick up where we had left off.
My friend and I arrived at the wedding venue at 11a.m. My heart danced with excitement when I saw Surprise at the wedding venue. She was more beautiful than before. Finally, our eyes met. She smiled at me that I courageously beckoned her. As she was about to come to me, a certain woman stood in her way, and said this, with a loud voice: "Makoti, today is your biggest day! Good luck in marriage, my girl!" Then she, the woman, ululated. I almost cried when I saw Surprise ululating together with that woman. I turned and left the wedding venue without looking back.
