A Rivalry from the Womb: Stumbling on a Monarchy for grabs

into a far distance the eyes could not see, which looked eerily dark in spite of the bright shining and hot summer sun. Despite their wa

nderful memories the sudden encounter would evoke in him, did not help his troubled mind. Everybody seemed deep in thought, silently remin

rs and dwellings, thus personifying debonair which naturally made them any girl's dream date prospects which, needless to say, they duly put to good use except they overdid it because many times during weekends, if they were not already out downing shots of reasonably priced w

r final stage performance for a most coveted diamond prize, yet, come nightfall, one would be at pains to point at the people they thought they knew too well as meek and sworn to the straight-edge, after the chameleon transformation they would have undergone, from appearance to their overly flirtatious interactions, betraying their now, over-heated testosterone, gone ber

ing and sparkling faces, courtesy of the drinks' intoxicating power, but the sarcastic aliases they called each other with when tipsy, their bad and redeeming features such as the generous tips and, needless to say, everyone's favorite drinks, as well. But definitely not their "other" companions. In fact, hell would have a much bigger snow

ng the seriousness of the occasions as if they were all that responsible; the type that covets formal dressing like suits, long skirts, and drink responsibly, but still managing to look respectably gorgeous. The downside with this lot was the unsolicited counseling services on all manner of issues as if they were already decades old in marriage, or on duty, offering some paid for counseling services. These, they called the marriage type; too u

ssness. It was a rollercoaster full of thrilling incidents, some bordering on crazy. They truly lived dangerously, no wonder it did not take long for members of the crew to live by the norm then; the faster you drive, the faster you die. Soon, one by one reaped what they sowed as they departed for the other life, due to various incurable

ous laughter for everyone. There were particular such occasions that remained vivid in Tito's mind which naturally also produced many interesting talking points at such "review"

ich ensured no whisper of gossip escaped him, was talking about. Hangover was apparently killing him, which was not surprising owing to the copious amounts of the hard stuff he had again stubbornly imbibed the night before, in spite of everybody who knew what he became once he downed a few bottles, advising

ood this time, bra.

red. "All I remember is you fawning all over that cheap tart I already chopped the other weekend," making everyone turn their jibes on Ze Louis but only

Still Emu looked none-the-wiser. However, the more he expressed ignorance, the more everybody seemed to enjoy it h

mean zat! No

e quickly chipped in

yeing the same cute but easy-going, frequent party-goer, which expectedly slipped into an open physical confrontation, and as others joined in to separate them, the jostling alerted Elly to come out to watch and hear the cause of the scuffle just like every

ing and cheering loudly like they had started drinking

wistfully but only finished the sentence with a head-shake

k and her whole horde of braggin' wailers too!" He mocked him while everyone joined in the long cheerful laughter as Emu who always did not forg

ig fool you become when sozzled, you dared everybody including her t

d help me to explain to her, dudes. You

oper punch," Hankeys said smugly with his trademark big grin playing on his lips, rekindling another round of laughter with imitations of E

of the most ridiculous reasons as long as he knew one of the belligerents, which for him however seemed to mean donating his already funny round face as a landing pad of mostly misplaced salvo of blows from his equally sozzled, and hen

ini knowing the script too well, could only join in the hearty laugh at himself while dramatically clapping his hands, and finally holding his shaking big flat head. The lady Emu had referred to as "promise to marry" was a one night stand for Mthini, who

ed how Mthini had in fact mentioned about marrying her in future thus sending everybody into a tearful mirth. Mthini had known there and then, that the story would make one of the hot banter topics at their usual reliving-the-night "after" party and long after. The over drunkenness however proved to be his saving grace too as according to the loquacious lady of the night, when teased as to how th

were busy coaxing the same girl you fat pig,' he retorted once he

tise would testify to its effectiveness. The irony being that, come morning, and now completely alcohol-deprived, his head became the very personification of empty headedness as regards any beneficial wisdom he dished out, and more often looked clueless when some apparent beneficiaries of the same, expressed gratitude to him for the windfall they made courtesy of that very same expertise dished out at a previous drinking session, y

om. That far I remember," he would testify. "But as to

efore" gathering, eagerly, knowing very well whatever that would come out next from hi

ter, not because they knew what that meant, but because in his statement, he had imitated the country's former leader who loved to repeat the phrase "literary naked" with exaggerated funny hand gestures when describing how he

s they approached the now, visible and sandy beach. Suddenly he couldn't see clearly anymore and was even struggling to walk to keep up with them when they took a boat, and in trying to clutch on to it as it slowly drifted into deeper waters, he found himself struggling to breathe. He had always feared water and couldn't swim. But now, he had no choice if drowning was not his favorite alternative. He twisted and turned until suddenly he woke up to a start and sat up, slightly startled by the nightmarish experience, threw away the blankets which were making him feel hot

e to have taken another whole thirty minutes or so to finally find real sleep which meant it should have been around 11 pm and therefore the dream, regardless of what time it started, lasted for less than three hours yet it had felt like a whole

r all the good times we shared as a family!" The words still

d actually happened at her home village, when news reached them- there were no mobile phones then, even telephone lines were few and far apart- through mail of some sad incident concerning probably a close relative or some personality well known to he

erfect answers. It was not the first time that he had had nightmares. Neither was this the most disturbing of them all, but there was something he could not put his finger on which just lay beneath his understanding of the whole episode. Per

d in such fights over mostly flimsy issues. Two of those involved his now avowed arch-enemy, whom Tito made sure not to cross paths with again anytime soon, having heard of what he had become since then, and was

er all this