It was a meeting between two perfect strangers that started it all. Thulani was just strolling around the mall minding his business, as seemingly did everybody else. He glanced at his watch and noticed the time was just after eleven o’ clock. He still had enough time to at least buy himself a cool drink and maybe grab a meal at KFC. He had a whole two hours to spare before he was due to leave for work, an hour to kill before he could start preparing himself. He remembered he needed to withdraw some cash as he walked towards KFC.

The day had been a productive one. Over and above cleaning his room, a chore he had neglected over the past two days, he had made it to the mall on time to beat the regular month end morning rush to stop and replace his lost bank cards, pay his accounts and get some shopping done. He deserved a little junk food. At this moment he had forgiven himself for the drinking spree of the past two days which had resulted in him losing his beloved Polo wallet and his cards. Thankfully he had spent all he had when he lost it; otherwise he would have felt a lot worse.

I’ve got to exercise more control over my drinking, he thought to himself. The Polo wallet he had just replaced was a replacement of another wallet he’d lost two months earlier following a night of drinking to the point of unconsciousness. He worried about what his drinking was a symptom of, something he wished he felt less of – loneliness. Be that as it may, drinking excessively was no excuse. He hated people who made excuses for behaving badly and he was not exempt from this hatred and a lack of tolerance.

He always thought that everybody had the power to change their circumstances. A few years earlier he had lost his girlfriend, who was also his daughter’s mother to a “short illness”. Now a single father, he felt it was up to him to be a rock and a source of strength and motivation to his beloved daughter. Thankfully his daughter was still too young to understand the effects of alcohol abuse. He shuddered to imagine what she would think of him if she knew he indulged in irresponsible drinking to a point of losing his belongings. He wanted to be a positive role model to her. Thus he just refused to make excuses like “It’s just a wallet” or “I indulged in alcohol in a moment of weakness”.

He thought of the loss of his girlfriend. The truth was, that the “short illness” to which she had succumbed, was in fact AIDS related. She had learned of her infection with the killer disease during her pregnancy. Although he thought it was cowardly of her not to seek treatment for the disease when she could have, he felt it was not up to him to judge. He, however, felt he was complicit in her death since he helped her in taking the secret of her infection, to all and sundry except him and those close to her, to the grave so to speak. He himself only got tested after the funeral and he wished he had done it sooner. The results came out positive for him and negative for their daughter.

He was almost at KFC when a pleasant voice interrupted him from his thoughts. It came from a petite young woman who surfaced from the opposite direction. She stopped in front of him and greeted him. He could see she wanted to ask him something or ask him for something. Under normal circumstances he would have preferred to be asked something and not for something, unless that something was directions.

He could always claim to not know the place very well and move on. During this time of the month people tended to ask for money. This was different though, she was the most beautiful person he had seen in a long time. She could have asked him for his kidney and he’d give it in a flash and even offer to surgically put it in her for free.

***

Tell us: Do you think Thulani will be taken for a ride by the Damsel in distress?