AN ENCOUNTER ON CAIRO ROAD
STROLLING along Lusaka’s Cairo Road one Saturday morning , a 32-year- old financial accountant, Mapenzi Mulenga, was attracted by a young woman in a lovely cream suit walking some few metres ahead of him.
Mulenga admired the woman’s permed hair, shapely legs and well-proportioned body. Observed from behind, the woman looked a ravishing beauty.
For some strange reason, Mulenga wasn’t content with merely admiring the woman from behind: he was curious to see her face as well. Was she as beautiful as he thought she was?
He had hoped that the object of his admiration would at some point look behind to enable him to see her face, but she didn’t: as if to annoy him she just walked on. He quickened his paces in a bid to catch up with her.
Mulenga soon caught up with the woman just when she was about to cross Nkwazi Road heading for the now defunct ZCBC state shop to buy groceries. She was delayed by oncoming traffic joining Cairo Road.
Mulenga was the first to cross the road, walked for some distance and stopped at some electronic ware shop, pretending to be window- shopping.
And when she finally appeared, Mulenga was stunned; for her face was as beautiful as he had imagined her to be. But surprisingly, just there and then, the woman he was admiring came smiling over to him, exclaiming excitedly, “Hullo Mr. Mulenga! Long time no see! Where have you been?” she shook hands with him.
As you can imagine, poor Mulenga was completely at a loss as to how to react to the situation. It was so unexpected. Who was she and how did she come to know his name, he wondered.
“What are you doing here? Want to buy a colour TV or something?” she smiled. “And you look so well fed , nice and round. What have you been eating? Sausages and chips for lunch, rump steak for supper, er?” she smiled again.
The amazed Mulenga tried to rake his brains just to satisfy himself that he was not dreaming. How come the beauty appeared to know him so well and yet he had no idea who she was? No matter how much he looked at her, he just couldn’t place her anywhere.
“Madam,” he thought there was no point pretending, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Your face looks familiar, but I can’t remember where we met.”
On hearing this, the young beauty laughed, saying , “Don’t be funny, Mr. Mulenga. You can’t be serious. Are you sure you can’t recognise me?”
MULENGA: “It sounds funny but I’m at a loss.”
WOMAN: “Then I’m lucky. It’s nice dealing with a person you know but who doesn’t know you. Meanwhile, escort me to ZCBC. I want to buy some groceries.”
MULENGA: “You mean you won’t tell me your name?
WOMAN: “It’s enough I know you are Mr. Mulenga.”
They entered the ZCBC where she bought a large quantity of groceries. Thereafter, she
called for a taxi. Before jumping into the taxi, she scribbled something on a piece of paper, enclosed it in an envelope and handed it over to Mulenga.
As Mulenga was about to open the envelope, the young beauty said goodbye and asked the taxi driver to take her to Woodlands Extension. “See you later, Mr. Mulenga,” she said as the taxi sped off.
To Mulenga's surprise, he found a K20 note inside the envelope and a note which read:
"Mr. Mulenga, come to house No. 3, Bomalathu Road, Woodlands Extension, at 14:30 hours. You will find me there waiting for you. Cheers.”
With the taxi gone, Mulenga kept pinching himself, still not satisfied that this was happening in a real world. But then the situation was real: he had the note and the beauty’s address.
Mulenga boarded a minibus from Kamwala bus stop at about 13:50 hours, arriving at Chilenje some 15 minutes later. He took a walk to the nearby Chilenje Market where he roamed about just to kill time.
At about 14:20 hours, he booked a taxi to No. 3 Bomalathu Road, Woodlands Extension. He paid off the driver and went to knock on the door. After a short while the door opened and a young girl aged about 12 asked him to get in.
Mulenga was impressed; the sitting room was ornately furnished. He wondered whether the house belonged to a married man or not. Encased in an expensive display cabinet was a 19-inch colour TV set and a powerful Japanese-made radio cassette player with detachable speakers.
He sat in one of the armchairs where he was ushered and kept scanning the room in admiration.
Mulenga was first greeted by the children who had emerged from an adjoining room, followed by two elderly women and eventually the beauty he had met in town. Later, a strikingly handsome boy, aged about three, also entered the sitting room.
After clearing the room of the
children except for the little boy, the then nameless beauty started the conversation. Turning to the two elderly women, she said, “Mum and aunt, this is Mr. Mulenga I told you about. It’s funny that he claims to have forgotten me.”
Turning to Mulenga, she said, “Mr. .Mulenga this is my mum and this is my aunt. Traditionally, they are both my mothers because they are sisters.”
Thereafter, the beauty identified herself as Ms Stella Buluku, saying,” I know you very well because in a way you are my brother-in-law.” MULENGA (SURPRISED) :
“Really?” STELLA : “You think I’m lying?” MULENGA: “Unveil the mystery, What are you talking about?”
Stella smiled and asked Mulenga to take a close look at the handsome boy on her (Stella’s) lap. He looked at him and said , “So what can you say about him?”
STELLA : “When you look at the boy, doesn’t he remind you of somebody?” MULENGA : Well, I don’t
know.” STELLA : “You can bring anybody here. Anybody looking at you and the boy will notice a remarkable resemblance.” MULENGA(EVEN MORE SURPRISED) : “What are you
talking about?”
STELLA (SMILING): “In short, what I am saying is that the boy you are seeing here is your own flesh and blood - your son.”
Mulenga thought Stella was joking but just then a familiar figure entered the room. It was another beauty he immediately recognised as a former girlfriend he had impregnated four years earlier while he was working in Ndola and she had been doing Grade 10 at a local secondary school.
“Mr Mulenga I don’t think this young lady needs any introduction, or does she?” Stella asked. “The girl is my younger sister Rita. She couldn’t believe it when I told her about our encounter in town. Rita is the handsome little boy’s mother.”
Stella then asked Mulenga whether he still denied responsibility for the child’s paternity. In reply, Mulenga asked Stella whether her younger sister was single.
On being told that Rita was still single, Mulenga couldn’t hide his happiness. “It so happens that I’m also still single.”
Mulenga apologised to Rita, saying, “You see, I knew the baby was mine but because of certain complications I had no choice but to deny responsibility. Will you forgive me?” he pleaded.
Rita had always fancied Mulenga and so she said, “Yes.” A few months later, Rita was expecting her second child with Mulenga . But this time as a lawfully wedded wife….
*The author is a Lusaka- based media consultant who also worked in the Foreign Service as a diplomat in South Africa and Botswana. For comments, sms 0977425827/0967146485 or email:pchirwa2009@yahoo.com.
What are you doing here? Want to buy a colour TV or something?” she smiled. “And you look so well fed , nice and round. What have you been eating? Sausages and chips for lunch, rump steak for supper, er?”