DURING the festive season, a lot of things happen. The mood in many people is that of joy and merry-making.
During this time of Christmas and New Year, people, especially those working in well-established companies, have a lot of money after receiving salaries and Christmas bonuses.
A good number of them spend their money on necessities which they take to their families.
One wishes this festive period would continue a little bit longer.
While some families usually spend good times together during this period, others have problems as some family members spend time in police cells for misbehaving and idling while others are found in clinics or hospitals after being assaulted as a result of fights that come along with festivities.
Still others are found in bars and night clubs drinking their heads off.
Of course, the people found in bars and night clubs outnumber those found in police cells, clinics and hospitals by far.
However, it is rare that one finds himself or herself sleeping on the floor or sofa or bench in a bar because he or she wanted to, but rather because he or she had taken one too many and only realised that he or she was all alone locked up in a bar after everyone had left and the bar was closed.
Two weeks ago, I was at the market centre in Chifubu Township in Ndola where I had gone for a stroll, and while there, I met two friends who were having some beers at one of the bars.
The time was around 10.00 hours and I thought this was too early to start drinking, but since it was the festive period, a lot of people – men and women – had already started their drinking sprees.
I bought myself a Coca Cola and joined the two friends at their table.
Opposite the table where we sat was a man who was lying prone on the bench and snoring noisily.
The man was dressed in some company work suit and from the look of things, he was supposed to have gone for work but could not because he had apparently taken a lot of beers and could obviously not walk given the state he was in.
In fact, I thought he had done well not to report for work, if indeed he was supposed to be working because, in that state, he would have been dismissed.
As the snoring was getting worse, the bar patrons were cheering, laughing and passing comments that the man was changing gears.
I was wondering why this man did not go home to sleep. I was not the only one having this thought because coincidentally, a woman who was also drunk asked some men nearby who appeared to be the man’s friends why they did not hire a taxi to take their friend home.
One of the men replied that they could not take the man home because they were scared his wife would be hostile to them together with him for not sleeping at home.
“Aba bamudala balele mu bar emobabakomene. Elyo bacibuka, bacisanga bali mutoileti (This man slept in the bar where he was locked in. When he woke up, he found himself in the toilet),” said one of the men in the group.
As an eavesdropper, I got interested.
The man slept in the bar where he was locked in and when he woke up he found himself in the toilet! How did this happen? I wondered.
It was the same woman who asked why his friends had not hired a taxi to take him home who, again, asked what had happened.
It was then that one of the drunken man’s friends explained what had transpired.
According to the man, it was on Tuesday, two days before Christmas Eve, when the drunken man, with two of his friends, went to the bar to have a beer.
The man said his friend was locked up in the bar unknowingly because he was too drunk and was refusing to go home because he wanted to continue drinking.
“Balikolwa sana. Ngatwabeba ati tiyeni kung’anda balekana. Balishitilapo nefibotolo fitatu ifya Bols (He was very drunk. When we told him that we should go home he was refusing, and he bought three more bottles of Bols),” said the man.
He explained that his friend was a darling of almost everyone in the bar as he was buying beers for all since he had a lot of money.
He said the more his friends told him that they needed to go home, the more beers he bought and he was being referred to as the ‘big buyer’.
The man narrated that at one point, his friend disappeared and they thought he had sneaked out to go home.
“We thought he had sneaked out, but he went to the toilet and it was there where he dozed off and finally went to sleep. When he woke up, he found that he was in the toilet in the bar. When he left the toilet bar, he found the bar had closed and everyone had left,” said the man.
He said it was around 02:00 hours when his friend realised that he had been locked up in the bar.
“He called me on my cell phone and told me that he had been locked up in the bar and wanted me to find the barman to open for him. “How could I have done that? Besides, I didn’t know where to find the barman,” he said.
The man said at 06:00 hours, his friend called him again to tell him that he was still in the bar and wanted him to go and help him out.
Around 07:00 hours when the bar workers opened the bar, they were surprised to find the man sleeping there and when they woke him up, he was totally drunk. On the floor, there was an empty bottle of Bols, while there were two full bottles on the table.
When the barman asked him how he found himself in the bar, he explained that he had gone to the gents (toilet) and that’s where he dozed off. When he woke up, he found the bar had closed and had no choice but to sleep there.
A few minutes after the bar workers had opened, the man who was telling the story came and told them how his friend had called to tell him that he had been locked up in the bar.
“Yes, we found him here with three bottles of Bols – one empty and two full ones,” said one of the bar workers. The bar workers said they would not let the man go until after stock taking in case there was a shortage.
“The workers did their stock taking for about two hours. Fortunately there was no shortage. The workers were honest, otherwise they would have said that the drunken man had stolen things including the three bottles of Bols he had bought the previous night,” explained the man.
He said instead of going home after stock taking, his friend decided to continue drinking, saying there was need to celebrate his freedom as he had not been found to be a thief.
“Natunwe bane. Nganibambi ngabambepesha ati ninjiba (Let’s drink friends. If it were other people, they could have accused me of being a thief),” said the man.
It was the continuous drinking that made the man so drunk that again, he slept in the bar.
His friend insisted that he could not take his friend home because his wife was so hostile and tough and the state his friend was in would just worsen things.
However, the sober man said he had sent someone to the home of his drunken friend to inform the wife that her husband was around and she should go and pick him up from the bar.
By the time I was leaving the bar, the drunken man was still sleeping and snoring heavily. He must have been enjoying his sleep.
I wished I had stayed to see what happened when the wife arrived.
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