Perpetual

The cold water poured on my body is what wakes me up with a startle.

‘Jesus man, you were not supposed to sleep here.’

I look at the gentleman who is talking to me trying to make out what is happening but nothing makes sense right now. I dart my eyes about my surroundings just to make sense but then the man speaks again.

‘You know that this is a bar and everyone is gone right?’

I lift my head and that’s when I notice that I was sleeping on the floor.

‘What happened to me?’ I ask.

I don’t have my shoes on my feet, my phone is gone and I am just in a vest and the pants.

‘This is not a place that you should be sleeping in, seriously you need to leave.’

I try to stand up but the headache has me staggering so I have to hold on to one of the chairs for support.

‘I remember you.’ Another voice says. I look up and find it’s the barman from last night.

‘What happened to you?’

I am so embarrassed because I would never get this drunk or end up sleeping in a bar. But then I mentally beat myself because the last time I did get this drunk, I ended up in bed with Sasha.

‘Man I thought after your friend came last night you would leave, now look at you.’

‘Can I talk to you?’ I stammer.

‘Sure.’

‘In private. I add in a small voice since there are more workers now watching us, watching me actually.

‘Alright let us go over there.’

‘I am not sure what happened last night, but what I do know is that I don’t have anything on me. No money, no phone and no car keys.’

‘But your car is there right?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Let us walk to the car park and check.’

He leads the way but on the way out grabs a pair of crocs and hands them to me. They are a size too small but they are better than walking bare foot.

‘Where did you park?’

I lead the way to check where I parked but there is no car.

‘It should be here.’ I say feeling a huge lump on my throat.

‘Well it’s not, looks like the person who robbed you waited till the car park was empty to check which car would respond to the keys.

‘Do you have security cameras that I can look at?’

‘Unfortunately they don’t work.’

‘How can they not work?’ I ask holding my head which feels like it will fall off my neck.

‘How can they not work?’ I ask again.

‘Look man, here is a one hundred kwacha note. It’s the only money I have on me and hopefully it will take you home. I wish I could be of more help but I need to get back to work.’

I look at the money as he puts it in my hands. When did I become a charity case? My life has been going in all the wrong directions it’s hard to keep up.

I thank him and I watch on as he walks away. When I see him getting into the bar, I locate the taxi rank and negotiate my way home since it was a little above the money that I have. The taxi driver keeps stealing glances at me in the car from the corner of his eyes. I can tell that he has so many questions and is itching to ask them but is just being polite by not asking them.

‘My girlfriend was involved in a car accident. We thought it was nothing so we went home only to discover later that she had a head injury.’ I begin saving him the trouble plus it feels good talking to a total stranger about what I am going through.

‘The night before she died I got so drunk and slept with her cousin. We buried my girlfriend and later discovered that her cousin was pregnant. Because I am a traditional man I decided to marry her. My company was not doing so well so I asked her to cook the books and in return she wanted fifty percent of the shares making me kick out my bestfriend and directors in the process.’

I breathe out deeply before continuing.

‘Well turns out she never changed, if anything she has become worse. She is sleeping with her bestfriend’s fiancé, she is selling her shares in the company and my shares alone can’t sustain it. Apparently my former bestfriend is the one buying the shares and he has given me an offer to sell my shares too to him. I went out to drink last night and woke up like this. No money, no cards, no shoes, no shirt and my car gone.’

‘Wow man that is a lot to go through. I thought those things only happen in books or movies.’

‘Well, welcome to my life.’ I say. I thought opening up was going to make me feel better but I still feel the same.

‘I don’t know if you want my advise, but I really think you should sell your shares.’

‘Right.’

‘Honestly you should, if you don’t sell you won’t be able to sustain the company. If you do, you can have some money which you can reinvest in something else.’

‘I built that company from the ground up. There is no fiber in my body that wants to let it go just like that. I don’t have the heart in me.’

‘Well you have been using so much of your heart and less of your brain. How about you finally accept that you failed your late girlfriend, your bestfriend, your directors and most importantly you failed yourself. How about you sell your shares, not to your bestfriend but someone else and invest that money in something else. Let your wife not even know about it, let her think you are still the same man she can take advantage of. You have been making a lot of bad decisions, it’s high time you pick yourself up. Man up and own up.’

‘Wow.’

‘I think this is the location you gave me.’

‘Oh we are here.’

I remove the money and hand it to him.

‘You know. After hearing your story, I could have told you to keep the money but then this is business and it’s not driven by emotions. I hope you learn something from that.’

I smile at him.

‘I will never forget you.’

‘No you will never.’

I watch as he drives off and for the first time in years I have some clarity.

..

Kwenje’s Girl

Winnie– Life might be unfolding much differently than you had thought, but don’t let that ruin your mood. Your new path has the potential to be more amazing than anything you could imagine.

..

The cold water poured on my body is what wakes me up with a startle.

‘Jesus man, you were not supposed to sleep here.’

I look at the gentleman who is talking to me trying to make out what is happening but nothing makes sense right now. I dart my eyes about my surroundings just to make sense but then the man speaks again.

‘You know that this is a bar and everyone is gone right?’

I lift my head and that’s when I notice that I was sleeping on the floor.

‘What happened to me?’ I ask.

I don’t have my shoes on my feet, my phone is gone and I am just in a vest and the pants.

‘This is not a place that you should be sleeping in, seriously you need to leave.’

I try to stand up but the headache has me staggering so I have to hold on to one of the chairs for support.

‘I remember you.’ Another voice says. I look up and find it’s the barman from last night.

‘What happened to you?’

I am so embarrassed because I would never get this drunk or end up sleeping in a bar. But then I mentally beat myself because the last time I did get this drunk, I ended up in bed with Sasha.

‘Man I thought after your friend came last night you would leave, now look at you.’

‘Can I talk to you?’ I stammer.

‘Sure.’

‘In private. I add in a small voice since there are more workers now watching us, watching me actually.

‘Alright let us go over there.’

‘I am not sure what happened last night, but what I do know is that I don’t have anything on me. No money, no phone and no car keys.’

‘But your car is there right?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Let us walk to the car park and check.’

He leads the way but on the way out grabs a pair of crocs and hands them to me. They are a size too small but they are better than walking bare foot.

‘Where did you park?’

I lead the way to check where I parked but there is no car.

‘It should be here.’ I say feeling a huge lump on my throat.

‘Well it’s not, looks like the person who robbed you waited till the car park was empty to check which car would respond to the keys.

‘Do you have security cameras that I can look at?’

‘Unfortunately they don’t work.’

‘How can they not work?’ I ask holding my head which feels like it will fall off my neck.

‘How can they not work?’ I ask again.

‘Look man, here is a one hundred kwacha note. It’s the only money I have on me and hopefully it will take you home. I wish I could be of more help but I need to get back to work.’

I look at the money as he puts it in my hands. When did I become a charity case? My life has been going in all the wrong directions it’s hard to keep up.

I thank him and I watch on as he walks away. When I see him getting into the bar, I locate the taxi rank and negotiate my way home since it was a little above the money that I have. The taxi driver keeps stealing glances at me in the car from the corner of his eyes. I can tell that he has so many questions and is itching to ask them but is just being polite by not asking them.

‘My girlfriend was involved in a car accident. We thought it was nothing so we went home only to discover later that she had a head injury.’ I begin saving him the trouble plus it feels good talking to a total stranger about what I am going through.

‘The night before she died I got so drunk and slept with her cousin. We buried my girlfriend and later discovered that her cousin was pregnant. Because I am a traditional man I decided to marry her. My company was not doing so well so I asked her to cook the books and in return she wanted fifty percent of the shares making me kick out my bestfriend and directors in the process.’

I breathe out deeply before continuing.

‘Well turns out she never changed, if anything she has become worse. She is sleeping with her bestfriend’s fiancé, she is selling her shares in the company and my shares alone can’t sustain it. Apparently my former bestfriend is the one buying the shares and he has given me an offer to sell my shares too to him. I went out to drink last night and woke up like this. No money, no cards, no shoes, no shirt and my car gone.’

‘Wow man that is a lot to go through. I thought those things only happen in books or movies.’

‘Well, welcome to my life.’ I say. I thought opening up was going to make me feel better but I still feel the same.

‘I don’t know if you want my advise, but I really think you should sell your shares.’

‘Right.’

‘Honestly you should, if you don’t sell you won’t be able to sustain the company. If you do, you can have some money which you can reinvest in something else.’

‘I built that company from the ground up. There is no fiber in my body that wants to let it go just like that. I don’t have the heart in me.’

‘Well you have been using so much of your heart and less of your brain. How about you finally accept that you failed your late girlfriend, your bestfriend, your directors and most importantly you failed yourself. How about you sell your shares, not to your bestfriend but someone else and invest that money in something else. Let your wife not even know about it, let her think you are still the same man she can take advantage of. You have been making a lot of bad decisions, it’s high time you pick yourself up. Man up and own up.’

‘Wow.’

‘I think this is the location you gave me.’

‘Oh we are here.’

I remove the money and hand it to him.

‘You know. After hearing your story, I could have told you to keep the money but then this is business and it’s not driven by emotions. I hope you learn something from that.’

I smile at him.

‘I will never forget you.’

‘No you will never.’

I watch as he drives off and for the first time in years I have some clarity.

..

Kwenje’s Girl

Winnie

🙇🏾‍♀️