Short Writings from Bulawayo II

Between Two Men

55 Between Two Men Addelis Sibutha Merrily, MaSiziba and her husband Ncube left the beer hall in Luveve singing the latest song, NomaKanjani by South African songbird, Brenda Fassie. They had been dancing to this song all afternoon in the oppressive October heat, taking breaks with sips of ingwebu. The two were well known throughout the area for going out together every Saturday afternoon. Ncube works at a clothing factory and is paid on a weekly basis. His company is not doing very well with the mushrooming of flea markets and mpenza nhamo second hand clothing sold along Lobengula Street and Sixth Avenue. In the beer hall some blame the difficulties faced by companies on the Government’s Land Distribution Exercise, others give the cause as the fifty thousand dollars, commonly known as ‘fifty kg’, awarded to War Veterans or the Government’s support of the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some blame the companies themselves. Whatever the reason, things are not the same. Unemployment and inflation are rampant. School fees are prohibitive for most, the brain drain leaves the country short of essential skills and there are shortages. Yes, lots of shortages. One man in the beer hall had told the following story. A man asked his wife to prepare food and a blanket for him as he was going to sleep in the car in a petrol queue at one of the garages in town. The wife prepared everything, but suspected that her husband was using the petrol situation to get away from home and spend the night out with omazakhela. In the middle of the night, the wife phoned a taxi to take her to mazakhela’s place and found her husband’s car parked outside. The wife woke her husband with a barrage of insults and stones thrown at the house. Her husband beat her for leaving the house unattended. MaSiziba and Ncube were talking about the day’s experiences, describing how their friends were dancing at the beer hall, when suddenly a man appears before them from the thick bush wielding an 56 okapi knife. The man grabs MaSiziba by the hand, puts his knife to her throat and threatens to kill her if Ncube makes a move. He orders Ncube to lie facing down and searches his pockets with his left hand while his right hand tightly clutches the knife to MaSiziba’s neck. He orders the two to remain silent. They are frightened to the bone. Unable to find much in Ncube’s pockets, he becomes angry and commands Ncube to turn over. He pushes MaSiziba backwards on to her husband. The man pulls his trousers down with one hand and forces himself onto MaSiziba. She tries to resist but he successfully penetrates her. At first she cries out, but later just moves with the rhythm of the man on top of her. With the weight of the two on him, Ncube endures the agony, sharp thorns pressing into his back. While fondling MaSiziba’s breasts, the man tells her how good and sweet she is. She sweats. There is sweat on her back, her stomach, and thighs and in her armpits. She sweats everywhere. Ncube and the man also sweat. Rivers run down their faces. There is the smell of beer from the married couple and the man smells of dirt, bush and bad breath. When the man finishes, he quickly stands up and runs back into the bush. The two remain lying on each other till Ncube pushes her off. There is coldness, chilliness. MaSiziba wonders whether she is dreaming. Could it be true? How could she be raped, with him right there? Why didn’t he protect her, defend her? There is silence as they both slowly stand up. Beat off the dust from their clothes. There is no talk. It is too hard for them to open their mouths, move their lips and tongues. Their mouths are dry like Shangani River. One needs to dig deep to find water. They walk away slowly, still in silence. When they get home, their children notice something wrong. The two usually make a lot of noise with their singing and giggling, as if to announce their arrival. But there is silence. They are both angry with themselves, with each other. MaSiziba wonders why Ncube didn’t come to her rescue and why he didn’t resist. Is he a real man? Ncube’s head is spinning. He is floating. Did...