WHEN A MAN LOVES.
Episode 3.
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@Benson Mphandika Lungu III. All rights reserved.
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Hearing the suggestion that the brother in law in question should be called, I could not imagine how I would react upon seeing him there. But as what I wanted was to first see how the elders would handle my issue before taking it my way, I decided to play calm as I watched things unfold.
After waiting for sometime for the one who had been sent to call my brother in law, he finally came walking with his head high. I looked at him as he drew close to us from head to toe with a lot of disgust that no words could express how grave it was. He went and sat on the stool which was a right in front of me. Looking at him one could tell that he was not ashamed or scared with what everything that was going on. The elders looked at each other wondering where he had got that confidence from.
“Okay, without wasting time here, we will go straight to the issue which we have called you here for. We know you already have an idea of what we are about to ask you” said the uncle to my wife.
“Okay.” My brother in law answered.
“Malengo, tell us what happened between you and Musa here from yesterday to now”
“Oh we got drunk and we got out of our senses. I enjoyed his invitation to drink” he said confidently with his head straight.
“We are told you slept with his wife, what happened?”
“Actually, it was him who bought me beer and asked me to go and sleep in house with him too. So whilst there and drunk, I thought I was with my wife. That was how I got access to his wife’s calabash and it was amazing”
No sooner had the sentence finished in his mouth than Musa swung towards him and landed and heavy blow on his face. Musa went on landing more punches on him as the elders watched. When one uncle stood to split them, the others winked at him to let musa land in some more punches. After seeing that musa was going to hurt his brother in law badly, the uncles separated the fight. The situation got a bit noisy but the uncles used their diplomacy to calm down the situation and make all people sit down back to talking terms.
“We are not happy with what has happened. You can’t start fighting whilst us elders are here with you. This is disrespectful. And you Malengo, you know quite alright how angry your friend is, how can you talk as if you want to annoy him further? You need to watch how you talk”. My uncle said.
The discussion went on and it was not clear whether my brother in law, Malengo was already in line with his prearranged plan to lay his wife or not. It was also not clear if he was doing what he did under the influence of alcohol or not. What was established was that he was wrong sleeping with his brother-in-law’s wife.
It was then decided that malengo apologies to me and then pay me three goats as a charge for the emotional damage he had caused on my life. Malengo did not deny it but accepted and immediately left us seated there so that he could go and nurse his face which was getting swollen rapidly from my blows.
“Now that he has gone, we can talk about your wife and you now” my uncle said.
“With all due respect uncle, I am in a very bad mood and I may make a decision that I may later regret. Please let me be alone for sometime and we can talk about this some other day.” I said.
The elders saw that it was really necessary for me to at least have some days of thinking about what had happened before I could make a decision. They then left me and my wife went to the home of one of my uncles after getting some clothes that she was to be changing with.
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TWO DAYS LATER.
Malengo, my brother in law Brought the goats to my uncle which were to be brought to me as payment for what he did to me. He made the payment so fast as if trying to show that he was not really touched with what had happened.
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As he was going back to his place after leaving the goats, he met his friend who stayed with the village. They exchanged their pleasantries then got into other talking.
“You should now change. I saw you taking those goats” the friend said.
“It’s nothing. Men are meant to make such blunders.”
“So you not even ashamed of yourself?”
“Ashamed of what? I really enjoyed her. I have been wanting to deal with her for so long and I finally manage. She is so amazing. Let me just tell you a bit about how I enjoyed her. When I got on her, before I could enter…..” He then paused his explanation which was full of expression due to an elderly woman who was coming their way.
They greeted with the lady after which the resumed their talking when she was out of radius where she could hear their talking.
“Like I was saying, before I could enter….”
“Malengo, I am not interested in that nonsense. All I am saying is that you should stay away from her. She is like your sister in marriage and someone’s else wife”
“I need to get back those goats in kind. And her body is my payment ”
“You will die soon if you continue touching other people’s wives”
“Says a jealous person who has never tasted what I am talking about. Anyway, allow me to go and make ways of hitting it again” Malengo walked on leaving his friend standing in awe.
After Malengo was out of sight, the friend decided to walk directly to meet me for the reason best known to himself. He hurried got onto his feet heading to my place. When he got to my home, he found me done eating a meal which I had prepared myself as I was staying alone from the time my wife left.
Those days I was not entertaining any visits as I did not see any need of being with any person it being seemingly a distraction to my thinking processes so as to solve the issue well.
“Musa, I have something very important to tell you” he said as he got close to me.
“I am not interested.” I said not looking at him.
“You will be interested because this information is very important ”
I did not respond to him but he went on coaxing me into listening to what he had to say. I was not paying attention to him such that I even reached an extent where I was about to chase him violently when he said what made me keep quiet.
“Malengo says he won’t stop doing what he did to your wife” he said.
“Did he say that to your face?” I asked.
“He did and he has even said that he will go and meet her today. Musa, you can’t let him ruin your marriage just like that. You need to teach him a lesson. I have an idea on how you would deal with him. Let me tell you my plan” he said.
He slowly went on explaining the plan to me till my heart got convinced that it was of help. Anything that would cause pain on Malengo was a welcome thing to me in those days. I agreed to be helped with his plan.
“See you in the night” he said.
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Watch out for episode 4.
