Dave and Vincent had been bickering. Mpumi budged out of the house and yelled at them. She was so angry and they saw it. They’d never seen her like that before. They, quietly, followed her back into the house. They found Dion awake too. He had his face covered in his palms. “What is your problem?” Mpumi had asked, and no child answered. “Mpumi, please,” Dion sighed… He knew that she was not in the right mental space. He only feared that she say things to the children that she might regret later. “Dion, shut up!” Vincent and Dave saw her jerk on her other foot to catch herself before she could fall. She quickly recovered from the grimace over her fractured arm which had swung to catch balance. It was only now that the boys saw the bruises and bumps on the two adults’ faces and body. They saw how Dion kept his knee strictly bent in a certain way, and how Mpumi held on to her arm. Dion struggled getting himself up, he knew where she was standing, he had found her through her voice. He

Bowman was amazed by his team. He was proud of the ideas that they brought up. He wondered again why he would always fuss and be all nervous during special events when he actually had the best team. “…and then the women get a discount of six percent on their tickets for the entire woman’s month.” The young man was pitching what his team and himself brainstormed earlier in the week. “We were thinking we should put up posters of ordinary women among the great heroines of our nation…” The said posters would be posted all over the company’s airports. “This is to portray that we see and acknowledge them all—whether they’ve made history or they are just another ordinary woman.” “I love it!” Bowman cried. “But, won’t we make loss? I mean, giving discounts like that is…is…” “Well, we’ve had a brief work session with the sales department and according to the projected budget statement we’re not making a loss at all.” “We’re not?” “No. Instead, we’re making less income, if I can put it tha

Soon, he went down to reach his lips against the woman’s nape. He brushed them onto her soft and warm skin. Finally, Mpumi brought her hand to his that held onto her chest. She let him drop her on the floor. He climbed onto her. He carefully unbuttoned her shirt. His lips kissed all over her neck and then soon started sucking on her nipples. She only moan and yearn for more.He reached his hand down to undress her pants and that was when sense popped into Mpumi’s head. She realised what was to happen. She would not let it go on, she tried pushing him off, she failed. He was too heavy. “Dion, stop.”Dion was already far too deep to heed her warning. He continued to pull her pants down—she would pull them back on. At this point Mpumi was getting mad at her weakness. She cursed her chest pains. She cursed her injuries. She cursed her bad memory that went away with her boxing skills. The only way out she knew was to scream, “Dion, please

Mpumi finally pulled her eyes away from Dion after realising that he suspected her presence. She then shot her eyes across the room to Dave. She saw that he was happy.  He was chatting with his teacher. A group of children Dave’s age and even younger ran past her, one or two shoving her off. She quickly caught balance and watched to see where they were rushing to, she saw them make a stop by Dave. They started pulling Dave with themselves. The teacher grabbed one of them. It was a little girl, she wiped the content flowing from her nostrils and gave her a kiss on the chick. She finally let the child go to join the rest of the flock.The teacher then got up and went up to Dion. She sat with him. Dion had a pair of sunglasses. He did not want people to know that he was blind. He played it well the entire day, not one person noticed that the father of Vincent and Dave was blind.Mpumi heard the teacher ask Dion, “Where’s their mother.”

Funani had found Mpumi in his mother’s house. She was about to leave when he invited her to have smoothie with him.Mpumi hesitated a while, but finally, she brought herself over. He handed her a glassful of the blended juice. She looked around and she saw cubes of apples, oranges and an egg shell. She realised that those where the ingredients. He slid her a plate with a cheese sandwich. He was having the same lunch. He reached to sit on the table (kitchen counter) so that he was higher than her. He had not much to say. She started eating like he was. She was beginning to feel comfortable and he saw that. That encouraged him to talk, “You can sit up here with me if you like.”“You helped me on that day of the heavy rain…” she said. “I didn’t treat you right around your friends.”“You really didn’t. They still laugh at me to this day. It’s no big deal anyway.”“I was mean.