I feel a warm liquid flow down my back slowly. A faint sob, followed by a stifled cough. The weight on my shoulder is really bothering me now. My load wiggles for a little bit. I feel another stream of warm liquid trickle down my back. This time this came straight from my shoulder area. Did she just pee on me? How did Inini get in this situation you might ask. Well, let me explain!
I had just gone to our Rural home in Rushinga for a weekend. I was extremely excited because my cousin Talkmore was also there. This dude had been exiled by his father two months ago. As soon as I saw him when I dropped off the bus, I knew this survivor had adapted. Wrapped in torn overalls, oversize gumboots and a torn SeedCo hat perched on his head. “Bloody farmer,” I chuckled. He was pretty happy to see me. It seems like he had something important to tell me. I dropped my stuff at the house and my grandmother was not there so we decided to take a walk whilst Talkmore told me what was troubling him.
Let’s get one thing straight. If you live for more than a month in the rurals, you qualify to be a SRB( a person with a Strong Rural Background). Talkmore was now one. The way he talked, the cigarettes he was now smoking plus this guy was now drinking kachasu (illicit brew). Things are also pretty different over here. Especially when it comes to the marriage side of things. It seems Talkmore had found the ‘woman of his dreams’! Ahyas!
Before I knew it this guy was telling me that we were on our way to this girls homestead. It was getting dark fast and with the vegetation that these rains have given life too, vision is poor. Plus I scare easily! Now as I said before, things are pretty different here. Especially when it comes to marriage. There are two ways an elopement can go down. Its either the girl comes to the boys house (kutizira) or the boy literally carries the girl to his house (msengabere). Now, the later is pretty savage, not so common these days. There a marriage laws now, that would be deemed as kidnapping. But that is what this DUMB negro did.
Here I was still carrying this load of a 80kg plus human. Her mouth covered by a cloth. Was I helping this guy out of love or out of need to experience it? I was in deep trouble, I knew it. I hadn’t even seen my grandmother, who was the reason why I came to Rushinga in the first place. Talkmore was grinning besides me as we trudged through Grandma’s groundnut field as we neared the house. I do not know if this guy knew the law or still remembered that the ZRP existed. To him all this had gone perfectly well. But I still reeked of piss. Fuck!
Inini
