Reminiscences on those days when they dated! They were young and carefree. Trevor was on his way up the ladder in the challenging real estate portfolio. He had been fresh from high school when he had stumbled upon a clerical post with a real estate portfolio. He decided to date a collage of lectures. That meant he faced a battery of examinations, lessons, practical on the job training and hard work. These came between him and his favourite pursuits. The number of times the board allows rewrites is limited. Qualification opens avenues to better remuneration, commission, status and possible partnership. He likes his beer, sports and fraternizing with the gentry who watch live EPL/ESPN soccer, play boozers soccer, tee off at the greens and try their hand when silver at dicing with the basket or volleyball. Then he met Naomi by a freak accident. A day when everything was going wrong is the day he met her. A day he should have been bitterly embarrassed is the day she rescued him. She appeared so cute and innocent, like a moth approaching a flame. She has the temper of a wounded she-leopard and the looks of Jezebel. His spiritual knees buckle. His mouth stays agape. His eyes lose focus when he sees her. To him she is an open sesame password to marital bliss. He has never bothered chasing after the ladies. He could easily have married the girl next door or his parents' friends' daughters. Is it all that fast and easy? They both share being children of immigrants. He wants to break the yoke of working in the mines. He has watched retired mine workers survive on stipends. Society looks down upon immigrant labour from whose pool he was born. They both want to beat the status quo and sink prejudice. It is an uphill battle. Will they grab the limelight?

Lake Of My Heart

 He collected her straight from the gates of Parirenyatwa Hospital taking her to town. He just entered the gates making a U-turn with thirty metres of the western gate. She and her two female workmates waited for the dual cab truck to stop. The dark clouds that had been hanging in the air chose the very moment to let huge droplets of rain to start falling. The women bundled into the vehicle squeezing against each other. The rain came in earnest. 


 Why was the human race petrified of water falling from the sky? One moment they had been there standing with their umbrellas in their hands, un-opened now suddenly the rains were coming in huge droplets. They squeezed into the truck. 


 “The vehicle won’t start, it requires a push,” he suggested. “Hi ladies.” 


 “After the rains maybe,” someone suggested. “We will be warm, cosy and snug.” 


 “There are vehicles I am blocking.” 


 “You push I can guide the wheel, I am a driver after all,” Naomi had replied. 


LAKE OF MY HEART – CHAPTER 19