The Housemates – Episode 37

THE HOUSEMATES – Episode 37

A story by Kennedy C Katongo

 

TOO MUCH SALT.

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Chongolo immediately gave Bwalya a call but his line wasn’t going through, “Bloody Airtel lines. ” She said as she wore her slippers.

Things were not looking good, but at times, nature just turns the tables and everything turns into a serious mess.

As Chongolo was trying to figure out a way of reaching Bwalya, more drama was going on the other side.

MAX: “Who am I talking too?”

UNKNOWN: “So just because you have fancy suits you think you have the right to snatch our girls!”

MAX: “I beg your pardon!”

UNKNOWN: “Noti ifyo (No), ulemona kwati (you think)I can’t speak English as well? I don’t want you to go near Doris or else, you will get what’s coming for you.”

Bwalya was laughing, “Did you just get threatened about that small school girl?”

“Its not funny you know…” Max said with a puzzled look on his face, he couldn’t believe what just happened had happened.

The same line called again and that’s how he switched off his phone, Jokingly Bwalya switched off his phone as well stating, “He might be using some advanced stuff; out of nowhere he calls me demanding that I hand you my phone.” He teased.

It was good that Samuel was already heading home, otherwise their phones would have to be switched back on.

“Seems the small girl has a boyfriend after all, what do you think happened? He found your texts? or maybe your Facebook messages…” Bwalya nagged as he drove.

“I swear she said she single…” Max snapped.

“Its a rough world. You need evidence of someone’s singleness these days.” Bwalya added.

“Can you stop making silly comments…”

“Are you sure she said she’s single?” Bwalya short back instantly.

While the two were arguing, Chongolo was busy trying to call both of them, however, both their phones were outside coverage area.

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Chongolo swiftly crossed the road as he kept her eyes fixed on the robots as she found her way to Budget stores, from a distance she could see her, Eunice stood near the car park as she pressed her phone.

It now made sense why Bwalya felt intimidated by her, she was in a class of her own, if it was Secondary school… Eunice could have been among the popular girls.

“Excuse me!” Chongolo said as he stood beside her.

“Hi… how are you.” Eunice responded, despite being fully Zambian, she had an accent that wasn’t Zambian at all.

“Eunice right?” Chongolo inquired of her.

“Oh! Hey… she said happily as she gave Chongolo a huge. Even though both of them were meeting each other for the first time, Bwalya had spoken so much about each one of them to the other such that they both had that sense of already knowing each other.

“So this is you…” Eunice exclaimed with a smile, “It’s nice to finally meet you.” She added.

Chongolo was tall, but Eunice was slightly taller than her. Not forgetting that both had small bodies, it jusy took a glance and Chongolo could tell why Bwalya began chasing her when they met. That was his type, the slim, tall girls… on complexion, the two were not that far apart either.

“Nice meeting you…” Chongolo said warmly. People who stood near them were shocked by the way in which they greeted each other.

“You came with public transport?” She asked her.

“Yeah, I wanted to come with my car but Bwalya wasn’t okay with it.” She said.

With her was one of those big lady handbags and a small suitcase that had her name neatly embroidered on it. Together, Chongolo lead they way back home.

“So this is the Shoprite that people of Chililabombwe proudly talk about …” Eunice commented as they walked passed the complex.

“This is the one. Now you people can no longer diss us about not having Shoprite here.” She responded with a smile.

Deep down her cry was that Bwalya could behave himself when coming back to the house. Since it had been weeks since he a bottle of alcohol had kissed his lips, Max’s absence meant the gun was soon to fire.

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“This is nice!” Bwalya said as they entered Samuels place. It was one big room that was demarcated in half by a large grey curtain that was beautifully decorated.

There was one big chair in the shape of the letter (L) and what seemed to be a 32inch TV.

Bwalya was shocked, he thought the dude was just barely surviving as a teacher but that wasn’t the case, Samuel was actually doing very well for himself.

“Hey guys… I thought you weren’t going to make it.” Samuel said as he gave them a seat.

“You already back from Church?” Max asked. Samuel was a Seventh Day Adventist.

“I went, I just came back early because I had forgotten to leave the keys.” He said.

Bwalya was still in shock and kept rolling his eyes around as he looked at how a friend almost the same age as him was living.

“When is the madam coming?” Samuel asked Bwalya.

“She’s coming tomorrow. I just hope she doesn’t arrive in the evening, she loves traveling at night.” He said.

“Ladies love a bit of mystery, just waking up in the morning and all the neighbors are perplexed by her existence.” Samuel laughed.

“Ladies act like male lions, busy marking their space. So be prepared for a change.” He added.

“I think his going to be fine.” Max commented.

“Eh! you guys make it sound simple, wait until you find a lady that wants to hold hands as you walk around town buying nothing but salt.” Bwalya said with a sad face.

“Market killed!” Samuel exclaimed on the spot.

“And there is nothing I can do, telling her not to come would cause more harm. she might just land when I least expect her to land.” Bwalya said sadly. Little did he know that Eunice had already landed and was heading home.

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“I was hoping to find him home.” Eunice said happily.

“I think he escorted Max to his friends place.”

“Huh! Max agreed to leave the house? someone was in a good mood.” She laughed.

“I think he had to be bribed, Max turns everything into a debate, am sure he found a way to benefit from the deal.” Chongolo said.

“Bwalya wafitala – I told him to find his own place but awe (no) seems his days in boarding school still have an effect on him.” Eunice said.

“I think it’s just time, or maybe it’s the type of change that his scared off – staying alone and all.” Chongolo said smartly.

“You can only know once you take a risk.” Eunice added.

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While all that was going on, Maluba and Rose were in the TV room watching Suits, non of them knew that Max had moved out of the house for a week.

If all the ladies were to meet, things would take a very interesting turn since Bwalya was always denying the fact that he was dating. It wasn’t going to be a big shake though, since he never successfully proposed to Maluba like he had planned too in the first place. However, knowing that he had a girlfriend and lied about it would change the way in which Maluba saw him.

Not that she never suspected him of being a player or anything.

“How is work going?” Chongolo asked. Despite thriving in her career, Eunice was never the type that bragged about what she had accomplished, in fact, she preferred not talking about her deeds at all.

“Work is fine.” She responded.

“Thats all? there has to be more, I mean you among the top traveling models in the country. Am sure life has to be more than just fine.” Chongolo pressed in on her.

Eunice blushed, she gave off a shy smile as if not into the conversation, and decided to just go with the flow.

“We have closed at the agency, so no modeling till next month. Other than that, the traveling has been awesome, different countries every month, meeting new people and making connections. Its been overwhelming.” She giggled as she spoke.

“If I wasn’t married, I would have found a way to travel the world. But you know how these things are once you get married.”

“Awe! I think marriage is a beautiful thing. Why not tour the would with your hubby? Matter of fact, you can start locally, there are a lot of beautiful places in Zambia.” Eunice said as she tried to encourage Chongolo.

“You make life seem easy – that’s one thing I admire about you.”

“We ladies, need to stick together and make sure we are productive and influential at the same time.” She commented.

At this point, they had just made their turn into Chanda Mulilo road. Chongolo had given up on calling the guys and decided what ever was going to happen, would happen.

“Does Bwalya still get drunk like a mad man?” She asked.

“Its been like two weeks now, his been very sober.” She answered.

“It means he was telling the truth.” Eunice said passively.

“What makes you doubt him?”

“Bwalya loves playing hide and seek. It’s hard to know when his lying and when his telling the truth.” She responded as she pointed at one of the houses in the road.

“Thats the one right? The one with a big 8 on the gate…” She exclaimed. They had now reached the house.

°°°°°TO BE CONTINUED°°°°°