Sonto woke up with a dull headache and blinked his sleepy eyes at the now familiar hotel room interior.They had a very fruitful meeting the previous night with their business partners from Mozambique. They particularly chose Maranyane Hotel in Maun as a rendezvous point because of its close proximity to the fascinating Okavango Delta, the Tsodilo hills and other enchanting places of the Northern region. The festive season had arrived. Year 2007 was fast disappearing in the shadows of aeons of time. Most people were heading back home to be with their loved ones during Christmas and usher in the New Year. He was now looking forward for the trip back home. Home.... where it was cooler and the blue hills rolled away into the distance. He had enough of Maun’s heat and the monotony of rolling flatlands.. The three of them were going home too.
The green digital bedside clock showed 0407hrs. He decided to play classical music like he always did, instead of popping a pill. The soothing music also gave him time to reflect on a premonition he had the previous night. It was not the first time that happened .Infact, it been hounding him for a couple of weeks now since he came up for the business trip. Feeling quite hollow inside, Sonto had a quick cold shower then settled comfortably in a couch for his daily forty-five minutes meditation. After what seemed a decade in the celestial realms, he slowly came back to earth. he shifted my gaze out into the garden where daisies, popin-jays,roses and orchids were in full bloom. It was still quite so early in the morning. But the world was slowly stirring to life. For a moment Sonto watched a small blue bird chirping on the window sill. He got up from his seat and opened the window and the soothing sounds of the artificial waterfall came streaming in. As he did so, the little blue bird hobbled off to another window letch. What a beautiful morning! Thus, with all his batteries recharged and feeling quite refreshed Sonto picked up the phone to rouse Ene and Sonto from their sleep. They have to hit the road.
He was homesick now. His cousin, Tshweu, who had been studying in Moscow called him the previous night to let him know he was home for the festive season. He sounded so down in the doldrums that it worried Sonto greatly. Tshweu had been gone for years and he now he was home now and they were going to paint the town red. He knew his cousin always envied the job he was doing; Not being tied to one place , doing a boring job day after day. Sonto, Ene and Loba were all adventure writers for PATHFINDER MAGAZINE. The three of them have been tearing around the country for a while now, hitching rides, making new friends, tasting food that required all their willpower to hold down and at times sleeping under the stars. They ,met fascinating people in fascinating places, spun yarns with complete strangers around bon-fires and taking fascinating pictures that immortalised them within the PATHFINDER covers. Then they got back to Gaborone and wrote fantastic stories about their adventures which the general populace lapped up with great gusto. Money was thrown at them by the magazine directors to keep them happy, motivated and their wordsmith prowess razor sharp. What a life!
But Sonto was weary now. He missed Neiso,his fiancée. He could not wait to show her a spanking new set of wheels he just bought during their tour of duty. It was a sparkling, gun-metal VW Touareg she always drooled when she saw zapping around the city. He knew she was going to love it. At the show-room the car stood there immobile, dark, full of raw power. It crouched like a wild cat, poised to pounce. His heart had thumped wildly in his chest and he just stood there agog, lost in the throes of love. It was the proverbial waves of love at first sight that hit him when he laid eyes on the German machine. Seconds flashed by as he stood near the vehicle, mesmerised beyond words. Silently, it stood there looking like a cross between a proud peacock and the swift bird of prey, the falcon....aggressive-looking, with the contours and overall appearance that promised to pierce the wind. That morning, the car was going to do just that. Ene and Loba had decided to make last minute cancelation of their flight so that they help Loba to break-in the brand new German machine. The vehicle was now going to be really opened up in the long, open winding road back to the city.It was around 0607hrs they when they finally hit the road. Loba was driving, Ene was upfront with him and Sonto chose the back-seat. They had good laughs along the way and played music. Sonto’s friends did their best to try and cheer him up. For the hundredth time Sonto asked Ene to rewind one particular song from ABBA; The winner takes it all. It belted out in the warm cosy interior as they ate up kilometre after kilometre. A creative bug bit Sonto along the trip. He took out a small leather-bound notebook he kept in his pocket for magical flashes of creativity and quickly started scribbling. ‘Hey guys.... turn down the volume and listen to this piece I wrote’ Sonto said leaning forward between the seats.
‘What!’Loba asked,his mouth full of a sausage he had stuffed in his mouth.
‘Turn down the volume buddy...’Sonto said again and Loba brought down the volume.Ene, munching on the peanuts, half-turned in his seat to look over his shoulder, he threw a handful of peanuts in his mouth. When he saw Sonto’s open note-book he exclaimed ‘Oh man! Not again....another one of those love-poems of yours...that premonition of yours will take your mind round the bend,!’When are you going to stop scribbling all that crap...’
‘The day I stop breathing buddy-boy!’I replied,switching on the interior-lights.‘.....I promise I won’t bother you again guys with my poems...but please listen.....listen to this one....I think it’s great....
HERE LIES LOVE…
So suddenly it happened
An ancient eye peeped into the world stage’n wept
Through shifting curtains of the heavens it looked
Once again it gawped and wept
Unseen countless drums thumped their dirge
Then the heavens rained down their tears
Tearful earth trembled in terror
All the earth lay stunned
For a while, all creation froze
For one so great is gone
I heard it over the radio
'saw it on T.V.
And read it on the papers
The day they did the deed
Heartlessly they murdered Love
Here she lies cold, so cold
And all I did was shudder
And all they did was murmur
Within all, crimson streams flow
Gone is the first daughter of creation
Princess love did fade away
Into shadows of time she slipped away.
From cold chambers of our hearts she departed
From cold tombs of our souls she left,
Here lies Love.
Loba quickly shifted on his seat, ,his gaze fixed straight ahead. The trio,as if hypnotised, looked at the greenery rushing past the windows. There was stunned silence in the car for a very long time. Sonto noticed Loba’s’s eyes glisten.
‘Heck! buddy...that’s a very devastating poem....you trully are a wordsmith....heck!Man...that’s deep!’Ene said, his voice trembling with emotion.
‘Don’t make me cry when I’m driving buddy. The tears obscure my view, you know.....’intoned Loba.
Sonto leaned back in his seat,satisfied. Loba pumped up the volume of the radio. Blondie’s Heart of Glass was playing. They all quietly listened to that great song to the end. Sonto threw his head back, closed his eyes and let the song soak into his heart and soul.
He opened his eyes and stared fixedly at the white road markings rushing rapidly to meet the vehicle. Suddenly they saw several pure white doves came out of nowhere from left to right and converge before the car which was now cruising at 160km/h.
‘Loba?’ Sonto said, leaning forward to look at the doves flying ahead of the droning vehicle.
‘Yes buddy...’
‘No matter what....keep our constant speed. You see those doves before us?’
‘Yes!’
‘Don’t pass them....don’t increase your speed...alright!’
Loba glanced at Sonto and nodded. For a very long distance of about seven kilometres the amazing doves escorted them. Then when the winding road straightened out, they broke away to the left and right and disappeared. A few seconds later a lone dove zoomed across from the left, inches away from the windscreen, then another one from the right in the same manner and they never saw them again.
‘What was all that about....!’ Loba asked, wiping his sweaty brow with his hand.
‘One of Gods miracles to brighten our day’ Ene laughed out loud whilst tapping along to the music playing softly: The London Symphony Orchestra.
‘That’s very true buddy...You’ll never walk alone!’ Sonto said.
‘You’ll never walk alone!’ Loba echoed in a sing-song and the three burst out laughing. They reached Gaborone at noon, called on a few friends and fuelled the car and passed on.Late in the afternoon they were in Lobatse. Sonto decided to drive to give Neiso a surprise visit. They cruised along to her street to her house.Her little brother was on the verandah, listening to rap tunes that thumped out from the open side window of Neiso’s room behind the main house. He stood up quickly as if his bottom was on fire and just as well plopped down again when he saw the three get out of the car.
“Hey! Young-blood, are you home alone? Where is everyone? They gave each other high-fives.
He swung his feet and grinned foolishly.“Mum and Dad went for a funeral in Thamaga and Neiso just left with a friend to do some shopping.”
Sonto’s heart sank.
“Which friend ?” he asked.
“Moengele!”
“Oh! Those two….they never part company “ he said, taking out his mobile phone and started dialing her number but there was no answer.
“Buddy, you will come round later. I need to get home and rest. I am totally zonked out!” Ene said, walking towards the car.
“Me too!” Loba said, stretching his arms.
“Alright…. Tell your sister I just arrived and will check on her later….sevenish!” he said as they headed back towards the car.
“Yes.I will boetie Sonto!”he replied quickly and looked away.
They all got back inside but did not drive away. A few seconds ticked by. Sonto stared at the nervous little boy bobbing his head to the raucous rap music pouring out of the house.
He turned to his friends.“I smell a rat….she’s here!”
“What!” Ene and Loba chorused, looking at him in perplexity.
“Follow me” Sonto said, getting out of the car. Neiso’s brother looked surprised when he saw them heading back to the house. He got up and jumped the fence into the neighbours yard where his friends were playing soccer.
He led Ene and Sonto to the guest wing behind the main house and gently tugged gently at the sliding-doors which quietly slid open. The two plonked down on the garden chairs by the door as Sonto parted the heavy curtains and stepped into the pounding room, whereupon he was confronted with an unbelievable sight; clothes, socks and shoes, obviously kicked off in haste, made a beeline towards the quivering bed. He blinked rapidly in the poor light, rubbed his eyes then stepped back and beckoned to the two by the doorway, putting his index finger across his mouth. They took his cue for silence. Quietly they stole inside the room but stopped like they hit a brick wall, stunned. Their jaws dropped to the floor. The three of them gawped at the two sweating nude figures rolling on the creaking bed, entangled in throes of passion.The thumping stereo system could hardly drown the moans, grunts and squeals of delight as the two ravenously pawed at each other. Sonto stood there in the middle of the room as if his feet were nailed to the floor, gawping through a misty haze at the astounding spectacle. At the corner of his eyes Sonto spied Loba stomp across the room and yank the cord out of the mains, silencing the stereo.
“What in the blazes is going on here?” he bawled at the top of his voice.
At that instant, the two love-birds came apart as if they came in contact with a 1000 volts live wire!
The male figure lept off the bed in one single bound that could have put a seasoned gymnast to shame. He knocked against the wall and ripped the heavy curtains off their railings as he tried to break his fall, light poured inside the room. Mortified, he crouched by the wall still in his birthday suit, desperately covering his privates with his trembling hands.
“Yo man! Sonto.....Its you cousy…..Damn….damn! he intoned, breathing heavily, his eyes agog.
Neiso took one look at our astounded faces hovering around the bed and shrieked ‘Ooooooh! Oh!My God….Oh! My God!...This is not happening to me. Oh!My God! She curled up in a foetal position, covering her face with her hands.
No!...No!...No…! Jezebel…Sonto replied in a flat voice, coming closer to the whimpering figure on the bed.“Why don’t you say ‘Oh! My devil!” he said in mocking voice.
“Sonto, Is this Neiso….your fiancée…..the girl you’ve been talking about? Loba asked, fire in his eyes.
Sonto nodded, lifting his eyes to the doorway where a rag-tag group of bemused small boys gathered. Neiso’s little brother clutched a soccer-ball in his trembling hands ,tears streaming down his cheeks.
Loba stared at Sonto with knitted eye-brows ‘Yeah! Quite a fine fiancée she turned out to be! Your premonition,hey buddy-boy!”
Sonto looked at Neiso who was sluggishly dragging herself upright on the bed. As if in a daze, she started knocking her head against the headboard, her perk bosom heaving rapidly and her agitated hands trying to cover her open mouth.
‘And who is this monkey banging your girlfriend?’ Ene asked, bitting his lower lip, clenching and unclenching his huge fist.
“Tshweu!.....”
“Your own cousin…Tshweu?”
“Yeah!”
“The chap you had been jabbering about nonstop all year round. The one studying in Moscow. Your very own cousin ?”
‘Yah man”
“What! this scumbag? Can somebody please tell me what I see with my eyes is not true!” Loba wained,looking daggers drawn at Tshweu who was lost for words at that moment.
Ene touched Sonto on the shoulder
“Dude, you told us you two grew up like brothers man. So what gives?”
“Yeah, a true cousin watches after my interests in my absence!”
Tshweu came round crawling on his knees to Sonto. He clasped his hands together “Yo man,I am so sorry about all this. I messed up really bad cousy. I don’t know what got into me.We were just…just..!”
Sonto stepped away from him “Please, Keep your distance Judas”. Sonto turned towards Neiso who was clawing at the duvet to cover her trembling body.
“Just tell me why Neiso?” Sonto said, hitting his forehead with his open palm.
She sobbed “He…he…came here devastated this afternoon from Tebelopele…I…We started drinking wine and….he….he was…I…I tried to comfort him and…and… I don’t know what happened to us. I’m so sorry Sonto!” Her body shook uncontrollably,flood-gates opened and tears streamed down her
cheeks.
“Oh! Well, crocodile tears…. Go ahead and cry me a river.”
Neiso tentatively outstreatched her arm to Sonto but he swept it away with an expletive and stepped back.
“Don’t touch me” he shouted at her.“Don’t dare to touch me Jezebel” reached over towards the bedside table and started removing his photographs from the frames.
“At least you could have given me the modicum of respect by removing my photographs.“God! What happened to you Neiso?.” he straightened up, looking down sadly at her. Slowly he put the photographs in the inside pocket if his jacket.“My own cousin…How could you stoop so low!”
“Aggg…Naw man. Let me kick his teeth in for you buddy!” Loba yelled but Sonto was in time to pull him back by his belt just as he let fly with a kick towards Tshweu who was cowering on the floor. The kick missed Tshweu’s face by inches and nearly knocked down the bottle of wine on the bedside table.
Sonto grabbed him by the shoulder “Hey man,get a grip on yourself!”
Loba shook his head.Just imagine…they did not even use a condom…And that cousin of yours is….is…!” the words chocked him. He ploughed his way through the excited throng of neighbours at the doorway, muttering under his breath “I have seen enough buddy. You guys will find me in the car!”
“Sonto…please man….please…” Tshweu continued whimpering on the floor like a wounded animal.
“Please you what? Dude, you just pleased yourself with your counsin’s fiancée. What more do you want….you heartless moron!” Ene said to Tshweu distastefully.
“Please cousy…I have no idea what happened man. We got carried away!”
Sonto looked at his cousin, then at Neiso“ What do you take me for ?”he said, flailing his arms around.“...A stupid dinkum?.…He was silent for a moment, looked briefly at the bewildered spectators at the door then turned round and glared at the downcast usurper. ”She’s all yours now. Enjoy the spoils of your victory.!” he said, kicking Tshweu’s baggy pants off the floor into his face.
Tshweu clawed them of his face and hastily struggled into them, forgetting the underwear that lay on the floor in the middle of the room. Sonto glanced at the weeping Neiso and said with a smirk in his voice “Make sure you go for the HIV test!”
Feeling utterly dejected Neiso got up from the bed, barely covering herself with the duvet. She looked at Tshweu who now stood half-naked in the middle of the room, his head hanging heavily onto his chest and his long arms drooping by his side as if they were made of lead. Rivulets of sweat cascaded down his face and fell in dribs and drabs on the carpeted floor. Neiso opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets and she started to hyperventilate. Her legs folded like spaghetti beneath her body. She gasped for breath once, knocked against the dressing table and went down on the floor with a loud crash. Tshweu looked at Sonto who stared back at him, expressionless. He mechanically went over to Neiso and carefully lifted her onto the bed,cradled her in his arms and franctically fanning her with his hand Two women rushed in to assist him. Sonto calmly took the remote control from the dressing stool and switched on the air conditioner then pushed their way through the excited crowd.
“Hey, people this is not a circus. Clear the doorway!” All the little kids immediately scampered away, giggling. They soon started with the games along the street. But the older ones clustered around in two’s and three’s, whispering. Sonto went over to Neiso’s little brother sitting by himself on the door stoep, his chin resting on his bony knees, rocking himself to and fro.
“Young blood, why are you looking so glum!”
“Boetie Sonto, Are you ever going to visit us again…after what happened?”
Sonto squatted before him “Don’t’ worry little man. I will definitely come round some time”
The little boy flashed him a gap-toothed smile.
“Will we go to Lunar-Park together boetie Sonto?”
“You bet !”
“Promise ?”
“I promise Richie” Sonto said, getting up to go.
“Boetie Sonto, who is that man in the room with Neiso?” He asked nonchalantly, opening his closed palm to reveal a crispy new P20 note. Ene looked away,smiling.
Sonto patted him on the head and smiled“ Oh him! That man is your sister’s friend.”
“Neiso’s friend?”
“Yes!”
“Is Neiso going to be alright?”
“Of course she will,don’t worry.”He looked at the little boy for a while.“Where did you get the money?”
Richie bit his lip
“Neiso’s friend gave it to me. I am waiting to show the money to my mum and papa when they come. Mum is the one who saves the money for me?”
“When are your parents coming home”
“Sometime soon!”
“Alright then, see you soon Richie!”
“Bye!” Richie waved as Sonto and Ene started walking away.They found Loba impatiently kicking some loose pebbles near the car.
“What happened?” Loba asked.
“She fainted!” Ene told him.
Startled, Loba looked at me “She did?”
“It’s nothing. Shock always overwhelms her. She will be alright in about seven minutes. Right now she is cradled in the arms of her loverboy!” Sonto said, starting the car.
“Look!” Loba raised her eyebrows at the doorway. She wore a while floral satin and chiffon dressing gown, her hands clasped to her heaving bosom. Sonto swallowed hard. When he saw Tshweu who was hastily buttoning his shirt start to move towards the car Sonto engaged gear and pulled away without a single glance backwards...
CHECK MY SURPRISE CRYPTO NUGGET BELOW:
https://clicktrakr.biz/AiPaytoken