all. “What is it, partner? Tell me, what is it?”
“It’s him, partner. It’s him-uh-uuuh…” Abella broke
into tears. She let herself lean onto her friend's
shoulder.
"Oh!" scowled Lucinda. Without another question,
she took Abella upstairs, to her private lounge, and
for a while she was busy soothing her as she
sobbed uncontrollably. “Wait here. You need some
to drink.” Lucinda suggested. She left Abella
cradling on the sofa, and scurried towards the mini
bar.
A moment later, Lucinda was back with a bottle of
wine. She served it to Abella before she joined her
on the sofa. “Tell me, what really happened to
you?”
“Partner, when I committed to this man. I
committed everything." A tearful Abella said. "No
reservation. But--”
“I know what kind of a woman you’re, darling. Now
tell me. What did he do to you this time?”
“I know nothing about him,” She murmured,
trying and fail to suppress tears. In less than five
minutes, Abella had emptied two glassfuls of
Dompo and she was on third.
Such quick! In her mind Lucinda exclaimed,
staring at her. “Abella, this is not funny. You are
drinking so much so quick...”
“No. Yes. I know it’s not," Her fore finger pointed at
a half empty glass in her hand. "But this will make
it funny.”
“Ok-ok. If that makes you feel better…I want to
know what happened.”
She told her. She told Lucinda of all the overhead
conversation between Elijah and Jezebel. “Tell me
Lucinda,” She grumbled in the end, gasping
between sobs, “What’s wrong with me…that I
don’t deserve the happiness other women ha--?”
“Hey, stop saying that, partner. Stop!” Interrupted
Lucinda.
“I never cheated on my man. Ever!” Abella blurted,
tears started pouring down her soft cheeks. “Have I
ever fantasized of it? Like hell, I do. But out of my
respect for him, I never dishonored myself.” Then
in a mild drunk voice, she quipped, “Now see, I’m
stuck here pouring out my humiliations, at you.”
“It was me who welcomed you here…” Argued
Lucinda, staring sadly at her confused friend.
“No, Lucy. I should be well and out of your hair
now.” She was pouring in more wine. “I’ve given
you too much of me already.”
“You really don’t deserve to go through all this,
partner.” Lucinda said. She then moved up and
went back to the bar. There she picked up a bottle
of Vodka. “I lost my interest in these dogs, years
ago. It’s time you forget about this animal, darling.
He doesn’t deserve you.”
"Mh-huh." Mumbled Abella, indecisively.
“Men are weak creatures. They deserve tramps and
diggers, but not real women, like you.”
“I know Lucy. I--”
“No you don’t!” Lucinda spoke scornfully. She took
in a huge shot of vodka. “If you know that, why
haven’t you been able to move on by yourself?”
“Lucy, I know, but it’s not that easy.” Abella
struggled to pull herself off the sofa. “But now I
know. I know what I’m going to do. I’m--”
“Okay. I was just trying to help, you know. I really
am, partner, don’t get me wrong.”
“Lucy, it’s not your fault. It’s mine.” Her voice
became sad. “You know, we never realize how
much we care about others, until when we find out
they don’t care at all, about us. That’s what hurts
me most. Why always me, Lucy? Why?”
“Now you’re letting your emotions over cloud your
judgment. You’re not alone, darling. You’re just
adding up the number on top of billions of women
in the same situation.” And before Abella said a
thing, Lucinda asked, "Something to eat?"
"No, partner, not now. Maybe later."
"Mh. okay, if you say so. But I thought you could--"
“Have you ever dated a man, Lucinda?”
Interrupted Abella. She clearly didn't have appetite.
With her eyes flaring in surprise, Lucinda spoke,
“Who hadn’t, Abella?” She then gazed intently at a
quizzical Abella. “Years ago, yes. I dated dozens of
dogs. I kissed a good number of frogs, maybe as
twice as my age."
"Mh?" Abella had her sexy, big eyes getting bigger.
"Oh, yeah! And they all came to me with cardinal
cassocks, only to unleash their worms out as soon
as they got what they craved for. I lost my virginity
while I was seven.”
Out of shock, Abella jumped forth, “What?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s it. I grew up a lonely girl. My dad
and my mom were always too busy to have time for
me. They would leave the house at 6:30am and
return while I’m already asleep. The only time I had
with my mother was on Sundays, when we would
go together to church and shopping afterwards. My
dad was a no-show man most of the time. And the
only person who had time for me was my older
brother, Mbulisi who unfortunately died
accidentally when he was eleven, four years older
than me."
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Said Abella, sympathetically. “Did
he fall ill?”
“Nope. He died in front of my eyes. We were
running down the stairs towards the waiting car
outside our house, as we were getting out for
school. He was in front of me and he happened to
lose his footing and slide, rolled over several stairs
before he knocked his head onto the floor--”
“Oh, Lucinda, that’s sad, really! I’m so sorry!”
“Thanks, partner…” Lucinda posed, in reflection. “It
was the most horrifying thing ever!"
"It was. Definitely, that was."
"You should try this one." Said Lucinda as she
poured in a vodka shot into Abella's empty glass. To
her amazement, Abella dropped it all, in one gulp.
"Mmmh! Never tried this before! Bitter!" She
flinched as the shot trailed past her throat. "Enhe?"
Her face wearing a wryly smile, Lucinda proceeded,
"Well, the loss affected me deeply. I started
spending much of the time alone, in my bedroom,
watching TVs, playing with dolls, until months later,
when we got a new shamba boy, Thabo. Soon he
became closer and closer to me. And I needed
someone to talk and laugh too. My parents weren’t
there. It seemed like they didn’t know or cared
anything about my feelings." Lucinda took a deep
breath. After she exhaled it, she said, "Before I
knew it I started engaging myself in things I never
even had idea of. A thing led to another, until one
day, Thabo forced himself on me. That’s the way I
lost my cherry."
"Oh, my God Lucy!" Abella remarked.
"And my mom was too dumb to see signs that I
was sexually molested and abused almost every
day. I turned my anger from Thabo to my parents.
And by the time daddy noticed something was
going on between me and Thabo, it was too late,
eight months had passed...."
"Oh, my God! Did he find out?"
"Well, he almost killed Thabo if it wasn’t for him to
run out of the house when he saw daddy jetting to
his bedroom to pick the gun. He never showed up
again.”
“Oh, Lucinda…what a journey.”
Well, it was, coz it didn’t stop there. Lucinda slept
around with a chain of boys. She felt nothing. By
the time she was thirteen, she started having
affairs with adult men, ten years or so older than
when was. Same thing. She felt nothing. "But one
day, in a supermarket, I bumped shoulders with
this guy, and he was like, “Oh, sorry Missy!” And
his voice got me done. I checked him out…he was
the hottest man on planet. I approached him, and
soon we started dating.” Lucinda posed, sipped on
her glass.
“To cut the crap short, we got engaged six months
after our first date. Then one evening, during my
wedding preparations, all hell did break loose…”
Abella was silent, a mixture of wine and spirit was
taking its toll on her. She was listening mildly to
Lucinda.
“I had just misplaced my mobile phone,” Continued
Lucinda, “And before I had time to look for it, I was
needed to make an urgent call, so I borrowed my
mom’s. Now, just after I hanged up the call, before
I returned it to her, my eyes ran through her
outgoing calls list. I don’t know what exactly led
me to, but I found myself scrolling on that list.
Among dialed numbers was Dakarai's, my fiancée.”
She paused, taking a shot off her glass. “Well, I
wanted to ignore it, but the timing of that call irked
me, it was almost 1am! I wanted to ask her in case
there was something wrong regarding the wedding
planning or something, but I decided against it. I
kept quiet.”
“Oh, really? Doesn’t look as good, partner…” Abella
somehow forgot her problems, for a moment. She
was taken by Lucinda’s surprising quarry.
“It didn’t take long before one day I caught them
red-handed, in a hotel bed.”
“What, Lucinda?” Abella chocked out a chunk of
vodka that she was taking in. “Ah-aaah! You mean
your mom and your fiancée were..?”
“Exactly!” Her face wore a sudden serious look.
“The two were screwing around behind my back!”
“Oh my God! Oh my God! I feel dizzy, Lucinda…
This is…Oh my--”
“See? Shits happen, Abella,” She took a huge
chunk of vodka, and hissed. “Shits happen to
everyone, not just to you!”
“Oh, Lucinda. I still don’t believe any of that…that’s
impossible. How could they? How could--”
“Don’t bother Abella…look at me. Look at me. Do I
have any of that fucking pain in my face? I buried
them right there. I shut them out of my life right
there, both of them…that damned mother-fucker
and the witch herself!”
Abella wanted to say something, but nothing came
out. She was feeling awfully dizzy.
“Since that day, I have never dated a man again!”
“So this is the reason, is it, Lucinda?” Abella
considered. “This is the reason you became a--?”
“Yes! And I'm not apologetic. No regrets."
"Ah, men..!"
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