LAZZO was lazing about under a shade outside the watering hole when he noticed a stunning female figure with a probable Miss World beauty pageant statistics …
At a distance, she was certainly awe-inspiring and there was no doubt about that because he knew that he had a natural sharp eye for beauty was a subscribe to the dictum that ‘beauty was in the eye of the beholder’
As she drew nearer, Lazzo began to notice the facial features of this toweing female who instantly sent adrenaline racing in some male watchers except those with liking for stocky and plumpy figures.
Lazzo had noticed over time that many  revelers in the hood fancied the wriggling of waists and agility displayed by heaving the heaps in an enticing style by some female dancers for instance.
She was the one to recognise him and suddenly emitted a radiant smile that Lazzo thought he would never forget in a long time.
It was no other than Panganani who used to be his classmate  at a Chingola primary school.  Times had changed!
A few seconds, Lazzo began to think about what on earth a dude of that kind was doing in the hood and walking.
In the city, such girls rarely walked about because they were either on a mini-bus going into town or were being driven by their admirers.
But for all he knew, such women would not stand on the road two minutes before attracting a volunteer for a lift.
He recalled one incident when he was travelling from Kabwe to Lusaka and midstream before Chibombo, a bus broke down.
Soon, a few female unaccompanied passengers stood out on the road and started waving down get-away lifts.
One by one, they were being snatched by drivers of sleek models passing through the spot.
“When you are with a woman, consider yourself to be alone because when you pick a fight, you are really on your own!,” said one imbiber seated on his right.
“But these days, there are women who fight like men, so I think we should look at that thinking again!,” replied another gleeful partaker.
Some men naturally waited and were devising ways of helping the driver overcome his problem.
It was a tyre burst which momentarily swayed the bus from side to side but luckily, there were no vehicles criss-crossing from either direction before the bus came to a stop.
All passengers  were evidently perturbed by the series of swerves and Lazzo was not spared the psychological trauma either!
By now, the hitch-hiking sequel had uprooted all unaccompanied females.
The spare wheel was fitted to the bus with the  of  remaining passengers who were mainly male.
As the bus sped on, the elated driver announced that he would deliver all remaining passengers on board to their respective townships irrespective of distance in the city.
Luckily enough for him, many dropped off at various  points on the way so that he had a few to take to their respective townships.
There was not much head-scratching for a solution because the remaining commuters including Lazzo were all going to the hood…
This was over 1900 hours when the journey came to an end in the hood because each one the rest decided they would drop off at the main station and find their way home…
It had been a jolly good ride for Lazzo and other passengers wherever they were!
The woman exclaimed his name ‘Lazzo!’ where have you been all this time? Look at you, you hardly change and you still have maintained your youthful looks!,” she told him.
His mentor sitting by his side chuckled to him in low tones,’forget it, you are getting old, she is flattering you!,” he said and moved back to his original position giving an impression of someone gossiping.
Lazzo in his introspection or thinking thought the gesture  mostly befitted the womenfolk although a loud assertion would draw a sharp retort from gender equality activists as he being male chauvinist !
He dismissed the thought instantly as he was engulfed in an abrupt embrace.
After the greetings repertoire, both parties began to reflect on how long they had been not seeing one another.
It was the usual scenario of people who had not met for a long time expressing their joy like the glee of an excited child who had landed a toy!
May be both of them were toys to each other and toys were meant to excite toddlers!
But were they behaving like infants? No one knew but perhaps they were both infatuated.
Lazzo  and his mentor  were seated on a long wooden form facing the door towards the watering hole counter.
The spot bears a hide-out posture placed along a dusty lane inside the hood.
Getting there proves to be some zig-zagging trek that will have you jump over pools of stagnant water.
On a moonlit night, the water gleams in the moonlight and
inexperienced walkers have been deceived to think this was dry land when they were stamping straight into a pool muddle!
As she sat by his side, the inclination to please her further emerged.
He asked whether she would take a lager or two.  At first, she blushed like one who was shy to admit they were also imbibers.
Lazzo had met countless women of all shapes and philosophies but he figured out that she was social.
He recalled the days he and some of his classmates would write love letters to girls in class and the woman seated beside him received one from Lazzo.
She was a tiny lean girl but beautiful and Lazzo remembered the style of the love letters written in almost poetic form.
The inside edges of the letter had a ring of flowers drawn using crayons while the handwritten text was in the middle.
One had to find a neutral girl to deliver the letter because this was a secretive mission.
Some letters were however intercepted in class by the teacher and read out to everyone.
Such scenes were shattering to the budding schoolboy lover who knew that finally, this would be the talk of the hood!
Lazzo was lucky this day because it was three days after payday and the hood was ecstatic as usual.
(To be continued)