On his way back home from work, Samson passed by Sis Bee’s and grabbed a few drinks with his brother-in-law, Jackie. Later, he went back to his room, tired, and threw himself on the bed.
“Sometimes living feels like a burden. Oh, Samson! Why aren’t you at home? I want to go home, to my family, to my children. No, I only have one child. My beautiful wife, take me back in. No, Samson, whenever you’re involved I keep eating dust with my son, everything concerning you it’s about a problem after another problem, it’s just too much. Ah whatever, everything always goes your way,” Samson said out loud to himself.
Someone knocked on the door and he went silent. They knocked again for the second time, but roughly. He got up and picked up a knife from the cabinet. He looked at his watch, 11:30 pm.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s Nothando, from next door.”
He put the knife down and opened the door.
“Hi.”
“Hello.”
“The landlord asked me to give you the gate key, she forgot to hand it to you last week.”
“Oh thank you, but you could’ve given it to me in the morning. Troubling yourself by not sleeping just to give me a key, that’s really more than an act of kindness.”
“Don’t mention it, I always stay awake all night watching TV. Besides that, she said you go out early in the morning and that today you’re most likely to come back during the night. Samson?”
“Uhm, yeah?”
“No, like Samson Nkalanga?”
“Yes, and you’re Nothando who?”
“Nothando Sibiya, from standard seven Sakhasonkhe High School,” Nothando said, smiling.
Samson’s eyes grew wide in disbelief.
“Nothando, you’re…no way. It’s you.”
“Mind if I come in?”
“Sure, you’re welcome.”
Her eyes ran around the room.
“Sit on the bed. There’s only this three-legged chair meant strictly for strategists,” Samson said, pointing to the broken chair.
“Oh, thank you. I can’t believe it’s really you, it’s been a long time.”
“Let me see, standard seven, eight to ten plus 3 years, it’s roughly seven years since we last saw each other. I’m supposed to recognise you but you’re really a different person.”
Nothando laughed, “You didn’t recognise me because you’re tipsy.”
“I don’t think so, the Nothando I knew wasn’t that light skinned. You weren’t so big and kind of you know, that kind of stuff. You’re also tall, long hair, it’s a lucid dream,” Samson said shaking his head.
“No Samson, it’s a dream come true, girls grow faster than boys.”
“Let me touch you to see if you’re real,” Samson joked.
“Samson! You rather tell me why you’re here?”
“You know I dreamed about you yesterday, I guess it meant that we’re going to meet with each other. After all these years, I can’t believe we’re having a face-to-face conversation.”
“Yeah, it’s unbelievable. So uhm, Mr Nkalanga, what brings you here and how are you?”
“Don’t go formal on me. Well, I’m great, and I came here to look for a job and live my dream life,” Samson lied.
“Seriously, from Durban where there’s plenty of opportunities to Nelspruit and worse Pienaar, just for a dream life?”
“Yeah and you? What brings you here?” asked Samson.
“This place became my home a long time ago.”
“You don’t work?”
“I work as a cashier at Cash and Candy kids store in town, and so yeah! I’m here,” Nothando said.
“But you’re one of the smartest, well, as far as I knew you. You didn’t go to university or something?”
“Things happen in life and you end up even losing the brains. You lose your true purpose and start to even lose trust in yourself.”
***
Tell us: Do you think the meeting of Samson and Nothando is a coincidence or fate?