When Love Turns Sour ~ Short Story

Guest Writer: Dr Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga (Malawian author, Poet and Academician)

He knocked on the Kanjedza house door leading into the living room of his girlfriend's elder sister. He knew her as a cheerful lady. She was also very good at cultivating rapport with all those she met. In conversation, she was deliciously engaging. Needless to say that as Pangaliindu knocked her door, an air of calmness and self- assurance prevailed around him.

Before coming here, he had called at the house where the retired parents of his girlfriend resided. There, he was told that Zitha his girlfriend had gone out to visit her elder sister a couple of hours ago.

Since Pangaliindu was not in a hurry to go home, he decided to follow his girlfriend where she had gone although he had not alerted her that he would meet her. After all, it was purely by chance, that he was in the same town as where his lover was.

Otherwise he should have been 60 kilometers away in the town where he lived and worked. But he was sure that after his lover had told him that she would be away for two days, she never imagined that he too would later gravitate towards Kabula, initially to see his parents, and finally, to check on her before he returned to where he had come from. Such was the caring nature of Pangaliindu.

Pangaliindu could not tell what propelled him to embark upon such a sudden trip when in fact he had not planned it. Nevertheless, he travelled and reached his home village where his parents welcomed him with evident joy and gratitude, as they received all the rare gifts he had brought them.

He felt good seeing them smile and enjoy every funny story he told them as he recounted their collective past while he was growing in the village under their tutelage. 

But now he was eager to see how overjoyed Zitha would be, upon seeing him. Meanwhile he waited for the door he had knocked to swing open and let him in. Over the period they had been in love, they had memorable moments together which cemented their romantic togetherness. Whenever the two love birds were in each other's company, they were indeed a blissful duo joking and laughing. They also teased one another in jest.

When Zitha invited Pangaliindu to open the door, he was really excited. Without much ado, it yawned open.

Directly opposite him, what he saw stunned him. Surely he could not have been dreaming Genuine but disturbing reality was before him. He had never bargained for it. But it confronted him. He felt like a heavy sledge hammer was descending forcefully on the tonsure of his head.

Pangaliindu's mouth was left agape, as his mind momentarily jammed with confusion and utter disbelief. His heart beat hard like it would leap out of the rib cage housing it.

Instantly, Pangaliindu's mouth became dry. What was this? He wondered. What had he done to deserve this? He pondered. The world was unfair indeed. Why him? He discovered that he had more questions than answers. 

From nowhere sweat began exiting from Pangaliindu's tense body making him feel like he had been in an inferno of anguish for God knows how long. He felt like a caged lion, ready to pounce on its prey but rendered helpless by restricted movement.

A heavily bearded man whom Pangaliindu knew, sat on the sofa with his upper torso bare because he had removed his shirt. His body was covered with sweat. A prominent forest of kinky hair stood prominently on his broad chest as his big eyes raved in his sockets like they were searching for a new meaning of life.

Described by Zitha as a former boyfriend once upon a time when Pangaliindu was courting her, this gorilla of a man had not also seen the inside of a university. Such a man was this time his unexpected nemesis. He was now enjoying the salubrious and intimate company of Zitha his supposed lover. Relaxed by the right side of Zitha, he seemed to enjoy making Pangaliindu feel small and useless like a stranger that was not welcome.

Today Pangaliindu felt like a mad man who was relentlessly filling a perforated bucket with water hoping to carry it to a5 nearby vegetable garden.

By the side of the gorilla on a stool, Pangaliindu saw a fat wallet threatening to burst with cash when on his part, waiting for payday at the end of the month, was like walking with a heavy cross to Golgotha when you are hungry and thirsty, because as he stood in the doorway, he was broke. 

The beast that faced Pangaliindu was a drug dealer to whom cash was not a challenge. Married and with children, he chased skirts left and right for as long as his energy lasted. He was also well known for being ridiculously generous to those that had fallen prey to his sexual propensity.

Bwititi, for that was the name of the man with Zitha in the house, looked unusually relaxed when Pangaliindu suddenly appeared on the scene. Wearing a loose pair of white shorts and feet in costly slippers, his long legs were stretched in front of him. A can of Heineken stood in front of him on small table together with empty ones he had already guzzled.

Near where Zitha sat, there was a tumbler of her own filled with an unknown liquid which was half full. Next to it Lime Juice, Coca cola, Malawi Gin and Tonic water were in the company of Vodka, Clearly, all this underscored the mood of intimate relaxation prevailing between man and woman.

But when Zitha's eyes met those of a visibly infuriated Pangaliindu, the tension that meeting generated was not only discernible but also disturbingly palpable. The pleasant chemistry that had preceded the present encounter changed instantaneously.

Zitha was no longer her bubbly self enjoying mischief away from her young and handsome lover who had seen a marital future in her. But confident Bwititi was unmoved. He operated in a territorial manner as the man of the house. A combination of nonchalance and defiance ruled in his eyes and loud body language.