The Valentine Frenzy

Chapter 3

The bus departed at exactly 7:30 a.m. without delay. The moment we left the station, I set a chat rolling with my partner.

"I'm Jack."

"Pumlani."

"I'm heading to Port-Elizabeth. Are you off to Cape Town?"

"PE too, of course," he said, laughing.

I guessed he liked my attitude. Without asking, he began to talk about his mission to the Eastern Cape Province. His boss had summoned him a few days before and asked him to travel to Port-Elizabeth for an assignment in a high-school.

I knew our mission was the same right away. My boss, Mr Tsepo, had called me four days back.

"You are leaving for Port-Elizabeth to teach Maths in a community called Glenmore." I was beside myself with joy because I'd always wanted to travel out of the city to have a feel of the hinterlands.

That aside, staff evaluation was going on at the office and my name featured on the list of those to be promoted. This assignment was all I needed to seal it.

"We are travelling for similar tasks, you know. Everything you just explained applies to me."

"Oh, you work with Dekkers too?" he asked, raising his brows.

"Sure. I'm at the Jo'burg head office." My shoulders rose a bit. I still had this nasty habit of raising my shoulders whenever I spoke about Dekkers. Though not a top staff, being employed gladdened me. Many of my friends still attended interviews around the country.

"I'm at the Pretoria office. I came to Johannesburg last night to take this bus," Pumlani stated.

"I have been with Dekkers for about five years now. Glad to meet you, buddy."

"Likewise."

Dekkers Consultancy was a government-recognised educational facility with offices in two provinces– Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. But management had started thinking of expanding our offices to other provinces. Many of the government education policies got implemented through our company.

The recently introduced National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) was the reason we had been deployed to the Eastern Cape. The programme was meant for high schools in South Africa, and our task was to demonstrate to the teachers how the new curriculum would affect their current teaching methods.

The project would last four weeks; after which the regular school staff would take over from us consultants. The schools must get used to the new curriculum within the shortest possible time.

"Well, we are now partners," I said.

Pumlani laughed aloud. A free-spirited guy, his openness made it easy for us to chat for long while the bus trudged on.

"Your woman is just as hearty as you are. And she looks like a natural partner to you. I'll like to see you two walking down the aisle someday."

"Hawu. I love my girl, but marriage is a different thing altogether. I met her three months ago, and she has been very supportive so far."

"I can see she loves you deeply. Not many ladies met a few months back would come with you to the station. You must be treating her nicely."

"I believe so. What about your woman? How long have you been together?"

"Two years or so."

"Oh, that's some decades. She must be unsafe around you. I mean calling you a hanstadar."

"Yeah, I think so. She doubts my move all the time, but I don't know why.

"That's not hard to tell. It's for the same reason my girl followed me here: Fear of losing you."