MAKEPISI:PART 3 (Final)

The following morning Ruta called Mmanuku, Boikie’s wife to come and get him.

“I have never seen him as drunk as this before.” Ruta said.

“Don’t act surprised, akere it is you who is selling him the liquor. Isn’t it?”

“Take your dog home. I don’t want him on my benches!”

“ Ija, after you have given him liquor and taken his money, my money, you chase him away like a dog. Nê?” MmaNnuku said , placing her hands on her hips.

At that moment Boikie woke up, still half asleep and half drunk. He was terrified to see Mmanuku and sobered up immediately before sinking on his knees in front of her and clutching her hands tight.

“Please my wife. Forgive me please, I won’t do it again. It was a mistake. It was that loafer Sabata, The Village Poet. I’ll buy you the car you want out of my own pocket. Strue’s God, believe me. I am Sorry… I am…”

“Forgive you for what? And what has Sabata got to do with it.” Mmanuku said.

“For causing you to lose the race!.”

“You really are still very drunk Boikie. What are talking about? If it is anybody’s fault it is that of that witch, Mmapule who said I must bet on Mahalia and not Sea Breeze.”

Boikie stood up abruptly.

“What do you mean?”

“I wanted to play Sea Breeze. My late mother appeared to me in a dream on Friday and said I must play Sea Breeze, but that witch Mmapule said she was sure Mahalia would win. I should have listened to my mother.”

“You mean Mahalia did not win?”

“Of course not, Sea Breeze won.” Mmanuku said, looking at Boikie suspiciously.

“Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.” Boikie shouted and danced a little jig which nearly threw him off balance seeing, that he was still drunk.

“You are happy that Mahalia did not win? You are happy that I lost? You son of a bitch!” Mmanuku said as she advanced on Boikie.

“No! No!” Mmanuku!” Boikie said as Mmanuku got hold of the lapels of his jacket, jerked him towards her and butted him with her forehead on the bridge of his nose, breaking it and making it look like the shopkeeper’s, whilst driving her right knee sharply into his crotch.

At that moment MmaPule, Zobo’s wife, came dragging him into Ruta’s shebeen and started shouting at Boikie.

“I want my money back. Right now Boikie. Do you hear me?”

Boikie was still dazed by the effects of the two stepped Thugu-Tlepe Mmanuku had done on him.

“What do you mean?” he said feebly from the ground where he was writhing in agony, clutching his crotch with his one hand like a Rap singer and his bleeding nose with the other.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I am talking about. I want the money Zobo gave you for that silly cap you sold him.” Mmapule said, yanking the Ayres & Smith cap from Zobo’s head and throwing it at Boikie’s feet.

“I never sold any cap to Zobo. We bought it at a lejuta’s shop who would not let us to leave without buying.”

“You sold it to me.” Zobo said.

“Zobo my brother, why are you doing this to me?” Boikie sobbed.

“You did. You sold the cap to me.” Zobo said.

“Boikie then told Mmapule and Mmanuku what had happened. How they had gazzatted to buy the cap in order to placate the dour shopkeeper.

“I am not going to listen to any of these lies from both of you. I want my money next week, you hear me?” Mmapule said to Boikie. “And as for you. I’ll fix you, you’ll eat pap and cabbage for the rest of the year for squandering my money on silly caps like an adolescent. You’ll know me!” Mmapule said as she pushed Zobo out of Ruta’s shebeen yard.

“And you,” Mmanuku said to Boikie as she picked up the Aeyrs & Smith cap from the ground and pulled it down on his head almost to his ears, “you are going to wear this cap day and night like that lejuta of yours whom you so much admire that you gave him my hard earned cash. I’ll teach you a lesson. And if you take off that cap from your head even for a second, you’ll know me. You’ll know me well, I am telling you”.

And that is why Boikie is always wearing a cap everywhere he goes, and why Zobo and Boikie and Sabata The Village Poet are not on speaking terms with each other, even up to today.