“Awushehe man Sma, you know how impatient usis’ Nina can be,” Samu snaps at Sma. “Why do you insist on calling her ngosisi? She’s only a few years older than us, yinivele?” Sma snaps back. Samu rushes down the stairs and occasionally stops to look back at Sma, as if she can will her into increasing her trot down the stairs. They get to the car and Samu makes a beeline for the front seat. Sma stops for a moment before opening the door to the back seat.
Nina is wearing her hair out, a large blond afro. A colour she knows compliments her mahogany skin and pearly white almond eyes. “You love me these days ne,” she says as she hugs Samu over the gear box. Why do we do this? It’s an awkward angle and it’s worse than a church hug in terms of quality. Why? Before starting the car, she looks at Sma through the rear view mirror and smiles. She puts her seat belt back on, starts the car and asks Samu to navigate.
Samu has never been able to be subtle about her emotions. When she heard that Nina and Sma will be going out for lunch, she lied and said she’s meeting friends at the same venue. An easy one to compose because she remembered that their book club hadn’t decided on that months venue. This was a compromise since she knew that she couldn’t ask to join them. This is because anti Mbonge mentioned that they’re meeting about a job opportunity for Sma – borotho. Another lie by the twins. They’re in love with Nina. Samus love for Nina is a love for an older sister. An older sister she wants to be like one day. Three years to be exact, hence Sma’s annoyance at the show of reverence. When they first met Nina, Smas hands and knees became warm when she heard Nina laugh. Seconds later, her heart jumped when they shook hands. Her heart still jumps. It took them six months to tell each other about how they feel about Nina. It may sometimes take them some time, but they tell each other everything.
“I’ll take an Uber to the mechanics after this,” says Samu as they park in-front of the hotel. Sma nods, a clear sign of her suspicion of this slow puncture story, especially because she didn’t notice anything this morning. Samu isn’t bothered by this. She closes the door slowly and it doesn’t close properly so she opens and closes it again, harder and faster this time. Once the door is closed, they wave good-bye a second time and Nina drives a few meters to the parking area close to the main restaurant. At the restaurant, Sma orders a whiskey and ginger ale and asks them to bring it already mixed. Nina is amused by this specification but doesn’t quizz her about it. They talk and laugh about personal and general things until their drinks arrive. “When I got your text, imagined how beautiful you must look, but as I was approaching the car earlier, I realised that my imagination fell short,” She says, as if the arrival of the drinks is the permission she’s been waiting for. Nina smiles and takes a sip of her beer. Sma does the same, without realising that she’s mirroring Nina. “Thank you lovely. Yazi, two years ago when your aunt asked me to drop off uMwelase, I didn’t think I’d ever see your family again,” “And I never thought I’d ever look through her school books for your number,” Sma confesses unsolicited and Nina blushes.
Nina is Mwelase’s favourite teacher and coach. Mwelase loves her because she teaches them more than Maths. According to Mwelase, Nina sometimes tells them stories about her life experiences as a teenager. Nina is attentive and usually tells these stories at the end of the week. She observes how her classes are doing and what some of students are going through. And then pulls relatable stories from her past to help them frame their experience. Mwelase is not the only student who counts her as a favourite. The twins used to humour her when she’d share some of these stories. But after the day of the drop-off, they started to enjoy them. And with time, they started to be the ones who’d pick-up Mwelase from hokey practice on their way back from work.
“She doesn’t eat tomatoes,” Sma tells the waiter before he puts the plate down. He takes the food back to the kitchen to remove the tomatoes and she’s is relieved that she didn’t have to ask him to do so. “You started without me?” “You were gone for so long, it was a search party or food situation,” “Mcim, no hake formed against me,” she says and quickly grabs a piece of fish off Sma’s plate before she forks it. “Good day ladies, my name is Luvuyo and I am the manager,” she says as she puts the plate of food in front of Nina. “Apologies ma’am, we have removed the tomatoes. Please enjoy this meal on us. And happy anniversary,” she says and they reply “Thank you” in unison. Moments later, she returns with an ice-bucket with two bottles of champagne. “You’ve been busy ne?” “Shucks, I forgot to ask them to pre-pour it for you,” Nina chuckles in response.
Noma the writer 