Melokuhle



Yesterday was the only night I got to sleep with Melusi ever since we arrived in this place and I slept like a total baby next to him, I didn’t stir in my sleep or toss and turn like all the other nights where I couldn’t get some goodnight sleep and having to wake up with my joints pricking against my skin that even me trying to massage them did not help.

I wanted to stay in bed a little bit longer, we got in bed around 1 a.m, my body is still a bit tense from all the work that I have been doing this past week but I am a wife in this house and I have to do my wifely duties and that means getting up before the crack of dawn, I stretch myself trying to untie my muscles from the tangled knotted mess that they are. I kicked off the blanket and rubbed the sleep from my eyes and let out a yawn before getting up from the bed that is trying to pull me in and enjoy my sleep with Melusi.

I leave Melusi still in bed, sleeping so soundly that I even envy him making me want to make a uturn and return to the warm blankets. I walked into the kitchen and found Lizzy and my mother sitting at the table drinking tea and eating scones.

“You should go back to bed,” Lizzie says to me when she sees me approaching. I shaked my head, I am filled with nerves and anxiety knowing that today is the day we are going to do a little ceremony for my baby.

What I want is a hot long shower or a bath but here there is no bathroom, we only get to use small basis but besides that, I still can’t bath, I was told that the bile must stay on my body the whole day and I must sleep with it, surprisingly Melusi didn’t complain about the smell that is now filling up my nostrils.

I sat down and poured myself a cup of tea using a steel teapot that you use by placing it on the stove.

Being in here it is like I have taken a step back into the past and I love it. I am not filled by the fancy stuff that is meaningless. Melusi wanted me to renovate this house, but I refused this house is still very strong and does not need much the only thing that we need is to fix are the walls that are starting to crumble up, the leaking roof and put a recent one, paint the walls with a more bright colour, put the gate and that is it. I want to come here and feel like I am home and not in some hotel.

I welcomed the work that came by me when the sun started to rise. I started off by making some breakfast for the men since we ladies ate when we woke up. After making sure that Melusi ate something I went and started off with cooking lunch for the working guys. When the sun was starting to get a bit low they slaughtered the goat and the women went to bath me with inyongo to get rid of my baby’s dead spirit I came back smelling so bad that I too couldn’t even handle the smell mixed with the sweat that I managed to accumulate throughout the day but Melusi didn’t seem to mind as he stood next to me, we knelt down emsamo and Melusi sad the clan names “Nkanyezi.” this is the name we came to name our child, it is both fitting for either a girl or a boy.

I shed a few tears as we said our goodbyes and Melusi told Nkanyezi to go and be with his or her great grandparents and grandparents. He even went to bury the little foetus next to his grandparent’s graves. We cried so hard when we were left alone at the graveyard, I buried my head on Melusi’s chest as I cried for failing to carry him or her and not being fit enough.

“Let’s go,” Melusi whispered, after being here for 20 minutes. I dusted off the dirt on my dress and we walked away, the nice thing about the graveyards in this place is that you get to bury your loved ones in your own yard. Walking back I feel lighter and free from the guilt I have been feeling in the past few days knowing that Nkayenzi is now in a better place.

Instead of Melusi going back to stand with the men and drink umqombothi, he insisted on sitting with me, now I can finally rest. My feet are throbbing from all the standing and the walking. Melusi massages them, I can’t stop looking at him, he looks so handsome not being in his suits and wearing cheap clothes that he got down at the market he is even wearing the famous Zulu vest that is brown and has black spots I like this version of him, the version that laughs a lot and that is not all about work and having a serious face all the time that people even get scared to talk to him.

“I want us to have a traditional wedding before we go back to Jo’burg.”

“Planning a wedding takes a lot of time Melusi and I want a perfect wedding this time.”

He puts my feet back on his lap when I try to move them “And you will get your perfect wedding.” I sighed why am I even bothering talking to him, he won’t understand “Let me break it down for you, we have to find someone who will cater for us on this short notice, get a DJ, a décor and”

“And what? Money will do the talking.”

I sometimes forget how much pigheaded he can be. Sometimes I love his stubborness but other times I wish I can smack it out off him.

He does not seem care as to much money he has to give up, I give up trying to convince him otherwise, it proves to be useless. This time I don’t want a quick wedding, I want a grand wedding one that will satisfy my inner child and I will make sure that I get it even if we pay millions, since clearly he does not care about spending money.