He got up to go attend to the matter. He stepped out the house, using the opportunity for fresh air.
"Mbulazi", the man greeted.
"Ngikusiza ngani Shelembe?"(What can I help you with?)
He was squashing his hat in his hands as he stepped a bit closer in his worn out Chuck Taylors.
"Sine nkinga la emphakathin. Siyangenelwa ezindlin ebusuku. Konke loku kwenzeke ngesuku elilodwa"(We have a problem in this community. We're getting robbed at night in our houses. All of this happened in one day)
"Amaphara?"(Drug addicts?)
"Angazi. Kthiwa bashisa udonsi lwempisi ukuthi silale sife khona bazo ntshontsha kahle"(I don't know. Apparently these people burn a hyena's tail to make us fall deeply asleep so they can steal well)
"How many houses so far?"
"Five. Kune two eykhala ngeymbuzi"(Two households are complaining about goats)
"Zenze njan iymbuzi?"(What about the goats?)
"I don't know kodwa bathe mebevuka bathola ezimbalwa zishonile"(When they woke up they found a few of them dead)
"Dead not stolen?"
He nodded.
"Zibulawa yin?"(What kills them?), he asked in a very baffled tone.
"Akekho owaziyo. Kodwa mina ngicabangela isilwane. Inyoka maybe?"(Nobody knows. But I suspect an animal of some soft. Maybe a snake?)
Manqoba felt a headache trickling to the forth of his head, worrying about his livestock as well.
...
TWO MONTHS LATER.
After they came back from school, Lwandile informed that he was going to take a nap, leaving Mxolisi and Rorisang in the living room. She placed her backpack on the couch and sat, waiting for Mxo to come back with their juice. He did and came to sit next to her. She took out her math workbook and study guide, along with her large pencil case.
"I think we should go to my room. This table is too low for me my back is gonna hurt", he said as he stood up.
"You know how your mom feels about that"
"Do you see her anywhere?", he questioned, a voice full of irritation.
"Yoh okay. No need to bite my head off", she packed her things up and followed him, leaving the bag behind. They got there and he offered her the chair. He went out to go get Lwa's from his room. Lwa just looked at him suspiciously when he was wheeling the chair out.
"What?"-Mxo.
"You're asking for trouble", he warned and Mxo snorted.
"Trouble loves my company. Not the other way around", he said and Lwa laughed in defeat.
"Anyway, is it me or your parents are acting hella weird these days?"- Lwa.
"Ey Kanyo you know I never want to involve myself in their mess it fxcks with my peace", Mxo continued taking the black chair out. Lwandile rolled on the bed to get a better position to sleep in.
Rori tossed a jelly tot into her mouth when he walked in and it disturbed a completely wrong pipe. She started coughing out while hitting her chest.
"Are you okay?!", Mxo rushed to help her. She shortly stopped and swallowed, trying to stabilize her breathing.
"I'm fine but...", she said as she searched the floor.
"What are you looking for?"
"My contact lens. It fell out now my sight is trash", she informed as she continued searching. He helped her scan the grey carpet for it.
"Are you winning?", he asked if she's making progress in finding it.
"I don't see shxt", she said and they both raised their faces to look at each other, before exploding in laughter after realizing the pun in her statement. They continued searching as they laughed.
"Man I can't lose them I just got these yesterday"
"Here...", Mxo found it next to one leg of the bed. She took it.
"How do you put these things on anyway?"-Mxo.
"I'd show you but I can't put it on now. It's probably contaminated I'll have to put it in solution first", she said as she took out the other one as well, putting them in their small case that was in her 'Hello Kitty' pencil case.
"I am officially blind", she said and laughed. He laughed lightly as well.
"You really can't see? As in totally?"
"I can. But I can't see anything at a distance. I'm myopic", she informed.
"You used to wear glasses. Where are they?"
"In my bag. I hate feeling blind but I hate them twice as much"
"Well you need them now", he said as he got up to go fetch her bag, loosening his tie around his neck. He came back with it and handed it to her. She took the casing out and put the glasses on.
"How do you feel now?"
"Much better thanks", she said and smiled. He smiled too and took his seat. She paged through the study guide to find the section on trigonometry and showed him the question she had the most trouble with. He was still trying to figure out the direction of the question when she suddenly said "But I don't feel comfortable being in your room man Kopano"
"I don't bite", he said without raising his face and picked a pencil out of her stationery bag.
"Your mom wouldn't hesitate to cross these two streets to go tell my dad that--"
"My mom is for me to stress about"
He said and she sighed.
"This is simple. Remember, when you have sin and whatever angle it's no different to having one over the cosec of that angle? Which ultimately means that a cosec is actually an inverse of the sin that you have? Same goes with your cot and tan. Do you remember this?", she pulled the chair closer to listen attentively.
"Look this equation might look long and complicated but it's actually not. Yours is to convert, substitute and shift a few things around lemme show you"
He pulled the notebook closer and worked it out. He got stuck on one of the steps and sat back on his chair to think.
"See? It's not as easy as you made it out to be", she said and he kept quiet, biting his upper lip thoughtfully.
"Wait. Sin 30° is half right? So we can discard of this and substitute that here", he said and allowed the pencil to do all the work under the instruction of his mind passionately. She kept stealing glances of him, admiring him flowing in his element.
"Aaaand Bob's your uncle!", he cheered when he came to the very last equal sign.
"No way. It can't be that easy", she laughed. He laughed too and attended to his ringing phone on the table.
"Marshmallow", he answered his brother's call.
"Mxo. Can you talk?"
"Sure. What's up? Why so serious?"
"I bumped into Ndalo KwaDiliza. Remember that tournament I told you about? When I asked her what she's doing there she said she lives there and ran off. When I asked Zee what's going on, she went off at me about how much of an ignorant boyfriend I am and asked how come I don't know that Ndalo got kicked out"
"She got kicked out? Did Zee say why?"
"Eish Mxo. U spat uNdalo mfethu"(Ndalo is pregnant), Melo said and Mxolisi's lip dropped in slow motion.
UNEDITED.
Episode 42
Comenzar desde el principio
