Luthando sniggered as he noticed that she was running out of breath. He shook his head and went to take the shovel back from her.

“What do you think you are doing? I’m not done yet,” she said with a stubborn voice.

“What you can help with, is to get that firewood and start the fire again over here because I’m going to need light over this grave.”

She sighed and rubbed his hand across her forehead and replied, “Fine.”

Luthando continued while she went back and gathered the firewood, she used earlier and the piece of rusted roof, even though there was no need for it anymore since the blustery wind had cooled off.

She started the fire and watched Luthando working hard on this grave. As she gazed at him, she regretted giving him such a hard time. He was different. Totally different from the other boys in the village. She fell in love with him as every second passed by. Her heart was certain he was the one she had been waiting for.

She had no idea how she’d thank him for all of his help. Perhaps give up her pride to him? She was ready for Luthando to be her first. It was not something new that had crossed her mind. Her mind made that decision some time ago as she saw how serious he was when he didn’t lose hope and kept approaching her. It would be a perfect time to give herself to him.

After few hours he dug the grave. A light drizzle started, which turned into a heavy rain.

“Luthando. Let’s go! We need to go back inside the hut.”

Her words seemed to have not reached Luthando’s ears as he continued shovelling.

“Luthando! Leave that! We will continue later.” Now her voice was rising with anger while the rain showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Luthando paused briefly while he didn’t look back over his shoulder at her. He just kept on shovelling, before calmly saying,

“There’s no amount of rain that will stop me from finishing this. You go back inside. I will be fine.”

“But, Luthando…”

“No! Now go back inside and let me do this.”

His voice surprised her as she has never heard it rise up in anger. The feeling of her own anger melted away only to be replaced by shame.

She left him and went back to the hut. As much as she hated leaving him out in the rain, there wasn’t much she could do since she didn’t even have an umbrella.

Hours and hours passed by with Luthando digging up the grave. The rain had no mercy on him as the water filled a quarter of the hole. But he continued until he was satisfied with the hole.

Qhawekazii couldn’t sleep, thinking about Luthando. She went out to check on him, and luckily she found him finished, but struggling to find his way out. The sand was wet so he couldn’t grip on it.

“Just hang on! I will go and get the ladder.” She shouted and ran to get her father’s homemade ladder. She came back and put it down the grave and Luthando came out safely.

It was around 3am when Luthando was back in the hut, feeling cold and freezing. Luckily Qhawekazii had hot water she put on the fire with the three-legged pot. She covered him with a blanket and soaked his feet on the warm water.

A few minutes later when he was warm enough, they laid down on the bed and she rested her head on the crook of his neck.

“I never thought you were this strong,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’ve always seen you struggle with a bucket full of water. I thought you were just weak.”

Luthando couldn’t help but laugh at her honesty of what she thought about him.

“But today. You proved me wrong,” she added while her hand was on his chest, tracing up and down fiercely at the fabric of his shirt, feeling the muscles beneath.

“Well, I did tell you that I am a man, didn’t I?” she chuckled.

“You should’ve believed me.”

As he continued speaking, she could hear him through the ear she was resting on his chest, his voice sending vibrations to rumble through her. The kinship between them was real.

They were both tired and Luthando was feeling exhausted because of digging the grave. They both fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Tell us: What did you think about Qhawekazii’s story?