Mankhokwe...

In this city, there is a man who is driving around with a bomb. He might be your driver, neighbour, boss, husband, father or drinking buddy. But, most likely, your drinking buddy. Because, he drinks. And loves his drink. And, he loves music. And dancing. His favourite song, for now, is not état-major . But, at some point, it was. He does not understand French, does not know what the song talks about, he just liked the shouting and clapping at the beginning of the song. It laid a good ground for showcasing dance skills. That time he was in love with that song, he still had the bomb with him. In his favourite drinking place, having had asked for état-major , he would dance. Sway his hips. Place his right feet there, have the hands clasped together as in some prayer, while the left feet stood rooted in the ground to give balance to the waist that would be tossed up and down as if in some dingy on a chaotic Mediterranean sea. Spectators would abound. The new ones would buy hi...

She woke up one day to a ring on her finger: engaged. On Facebook, unknown to her, there were people fawning. And falling over themselves. Heavy with congratulatory messages. He had tagged her in a post: engaged to... Her WhatsApp was full, and overflowing, with messages. When she opened that app, she was welcomed by a group. Her friends had apparently formed that group to plan her wedding. She says it was crazy – that morning. Just below that group were messages from all over. They were all congratulating her. A few asked when the big day would be. Him. The conversation with him. It laid at the unimportant bottom. Like a pile of forgotten emotions. The last message from him was sent the previous night. It was one word: ‘whatever’. But, we will come to that later. For now, the engagement. It was her birthday. He had ignored her for the whole day (spoiler: most guys do not actually forget the birthday, they pretend! When your man – applicable to boyfriends on...

He always came through. Or, maybe, we should say He almost – key word: almost – always came through. Although, for her, she would rather we remove the ‘almost’ because, well, that word never counts. So, He always came through. She says that, throughout her life, He has been coming through. Sometimes, four days late yet still on time – like that time the good book says He had to resurrect Lazarus. Her journey, especially from the University, has been punctuated by His timely showing up. The other time, He showed up at noon. The previous night, a timid and excited student happy that she was about to finish her first year, she had gone out with friends. It was her first time going out. It was her first time drinking. She blacked out. Or, rather, went into a quiet dark sleep. She does not remember what happened. But, nothing bad happened. At least, not that evening. If anything, it nearly happened during the day. That time she woke up with a headache. The moment...