IT was the usual run-around at the watering hole as Lazzo, whose name was a shortened version for ‘Lonesome’, which many conversant with his past upbringing associated with being the only son.
However, he had grown up into a likeable vibrant young man who bumped into Maria, a middle-aged woman who
proved to be an asset at Panganani Enterprises, a fledgling office block off Great East Road.
But what was striking about Maria’s life was that she had dated several men in her middle-age but ended up with severe heartbreaks because finally, all suitors flew away like the proverbial eagle ending up elsewhere!
In fact, Maria’s father had pointed out her flippant behaviour in his relentless attempt to advise her.
One day, he told her some anecdote about an eagle thrown among chicks.
Along the way, the small eagle was growing up with the chicks but only the man who got the eagle’s egg from the wild knew the secret, but watched its life closely.
One day, he decided it was time to let it loose and so he threw it into the sky. It was the first time for the bird to experience the art of flying.
At first, it spluttered its wings after about two metres of flying but fell to the ground.
The second time, the master threw it with more thrust that it seemed to pick up speed naturally into the sky!
He watched intently as the bird flew away finally into the blue sky never to return.
Maria could not figure out what the father meant but guessed that he was trying to caution her against bad company.
He thought she had been misled but hoped one day she would fly away to better company.
Her father could not stop her streak of dating, which he thought was getting out of hand for a middle-aged girl blossoming into a woman.
Dad was at pains to point out such issues given the society he grew up in.
It was taboo for a father to delve into matters of his daughter when the mother was there to fulfil her obligation.
He thought there was no way out of this fix because the urban setting had punched holes in the traditional extended family system ways of old, including etiquette.
Attempts to save the situation were a disaster because counselling sessions for girls who had stormed the world of womanhood were turned into picnics.
Instead, they were replaced by women guzzling and merry-making at the expense of much-needed counsel.
Maria had become a flirt at the office and was embroiled in an affair with a workmate.
He was a handsome young man in his early 30s, the sort that girls clamoured for.
But he was often surrounded by those spinsters to a point where one of his friends at a club gathering said if Penyani was a top-class lawyer to a level of State Counsel, he would simply be known as ‘Skirt Counsel’.
The suggestion had caused ripples of laughter, but Penyani was not amused and, as his name suggested, he merely looked in disdain and hoped such reference would not occur again.
But he was unwary of the fact that the more one reacted to a
knick-name, the more it stuck!
The best remedy, however, was to pretend one did not hear a thing but names don’t leave like people do, they always stick to someone.
At the office, Miso was rather sloppy and absent-minded but stunningly beautiful.
She was the Cleopatra of the office and Penyani could not hide his feelings for her.
One evening, Penyani and Maria found themselves in an awkward position, having attended a farewell party for a workmate who was leaving the country for studies abroad.
The usual elbow-raising of knife and fork, including the wash-down drinks and meals, completed the evening.
Little did he know that he was not the only one whose heartbeat stopped at the sight of Maria but several other secret admirers were on board.
At the end of the party, guests some of whom had come with their spouses and families, trooped out of the hired premises in the Rhodes Park area. In his heydays, Lazzo had lived here before retreating to the hood…
In his mind, Penyani thought this was the best chance to take away Maria whom he desired so much like a package of sausage and chips during lunch hour at the office.
They went outside the hostage and walked briefly hand-in-hand talking softly to one another on the sprawling lawn leading to the gate.
A pool of cars was parked in the parking lot, and Penyani with Maria were planning to go outside the premises to hire a taxi to their desired destination.
But close behind them was another cassanova in the name of Lazzo who had a small round face with rather clever eyes. He chuckled a bit at seeing the pair.
He worked in the buying section of the company and was known for having a sharp eye for single women.
Lazzo stopped to greet them as they started chatting and, out of the blue, he offered Maria a lift knowing too well that she had no car of her own!
As both Penyani and Maria did not own vehicles, they were in the same predicament.
“But we are together and going different directions,” protested Maria the way a spouse becomes possessive over her partner.
Penyani could not find anything to say in the circumstances as now he was at the mercy of a man offering a lift to Maria.
If only he could use his discretion to include him in the offer, the better but still, it would mean that they would be dropped off at different locations.
This  could not work well for him for ‘strategic reasons’ and he was embroiled in deep thought as Lazzo flashed out a fat wallet from inside the jacket full of K100 notes.
He counted five of these and after asking Maria about Penyani’s destination, which she disclosed.
Penyani was amazed at the amount of money some people flaunted in the city when he was in dire straits!
On the other hand, Penyani could not resist the bountiful offer at that time of the month.
Still, Penyani was compelled to accept the banknotes. He watched the car drive away into the dark with a longing gaze  like it was the last bus on a lonely route at dusk…
(To be continued)