Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 12

Episode 4 years ago

Dysfunctional Family - Season 1 - Episode 12

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“I can’t believe we are finally back here again and will be sharing the same dorm, bed and class.”

“I know right..” said Sylvester in agreement as he lay beside Lubesha. “Though I’d have traded Literature for Commerce.”
“Says someone who hates reading.”
“Yeah..but reading novels? That ain’t me, man.”

“Oh come on, Vester. Novels aren’t really bad and from the ones in the syllabus, I’ve already read The Concubine and Animal Farm, you’ll love them.”
“Yeah, right,” snorted Sylvester as three of their roommates came into the room. “Let’s start preparing for school.”
They got out of bed and began unpacking, cleaning their portions, preparing their uniforms etc.
It was Sunday and the school was packed with old and new pupils.
“I have a feeling this term is gonna be great,” Lubesha said while admiring his new books.
“How so?” asked Sylvester.
Lubesha had to shrug. “I honestly don’t know..I just have this wonderful feeling this term will be great.”
“Maybe for you but as for me, am sad my babe won’t be schooling here no more.”
“I’m sorry about that but there’s other cute girls in school.”

“Oh so you’ve got eyes to notice cute girls?” said Sylvester teasingly. “Great to know.”
“Haha.”
“What’s that?”
Lubesha had stumbled upon Tracy’s bracelet which he had packed in his trunk. “This? It’s for my future wife.”
“You crook!” Sylvester punched Lubesha in a friendly manner. “Who’s the unlucky girl?”
They sat on the bed and Lubesha narrated how he’d run into Tracy at the Falls almost three weeks back. Sylvester burst out laughing. “You a dreamer, man. Fantasy is for babes so man up and start chasing skirts here in school. Forget about that Tracy or whatever her name is..and that bracelet, keep it for your future girlfriend.”
“You’re impossible,” hissed Lubesha as he pocketed the bracelet. One of their roommates was new so he couldn’t risk placing the bracelet carelessly lest it gets stolen.

The bell rang in the evening indicating it was time to eat.
“And might I ask why you’re still seated there, Vester? Didn’t you hear the bell?”
“Am not in the mood to eat from the dingo..their food is just beyond terrible.”
“A few weeks from now when you run out of cash and foodstuffs, you’ll be craving that same awful food so better haul your a-s up right now, man!”
“Did you just say the A word out loud?” an overly excited Sylvester bolted to his feet just to pat Lubesha on the shoulder. “Am proud of you.”
After much persuasion, Lubesha finally managed to get Sylvester to agree to go eat from the dinning hall.

Sylvester looked at the badly cooked meat and cabbage and almost threw up. He couldn’t believe there were times he craved those badly cooked meals.
“I wish I’d snuck something delicious under my armpits.”

Lubesha was about to remind Sylvester how stern the new prefects looked but stopped short when a girl behind them exclaimed, “Ew! This looks gross!”

There was noise as chairs and heads turned, all eyes were on the new girl.
The girl she was with sternly whispered, “Laura, behave!”
Together, the two girls took their walk of shame and found vacant seats.
That’s when Lubesha recognized her. “No freaking way…” his jaw literally dropped to his plate.

“You look stupid, Lulu. Close that mouth, bruv!” scolded Sylvester.
Lubesha was dreamily saying, “It’s her!”
“Who?”
“Tracy,” he whispered through gritted teeth. “The bracelet girl!”
“No freaking way!” Sylvester repeated Lubesha’s exact words. “You mean that slay queen is Tracy?”

“Not the slay queen who calls our food disgusting, the friend!”
Sylvester stole a glance at Tracy who was eating the dingo food with so much ease. The girl was pretty. “You’ve got great taste..go talk to her.”

“You think that’s a good idea?”
“How you gonna get her to be your girlfriend much less give her bracelet back to her if even a simple hi is a hustle?”
“Alright, man, I’ll talk to her once she’s done eating.”
“You better do so.”
Almost everyone at the dinning table couldn’t resist stealing a glance at Laura who was staging an epic show as she forced the food down her throat.

Where she was seated, Tracy was embarrassed to the core but just shook her head.


☆☆☆
She was walking in the dark, along a narrow and lonely path she had no idea led where. There were trees on both sides and they kept on making weird noises. She was dead scared and was shivering but continued walking as she had no choice but to walk.

She had walked for minutes and minutes and yet had run into no fellow human being.
“God help me,” she muttered.

Rustling sounds gripped her attention and she feared for the worst as she looked over her shoulder. She expected to see a wild animal or something but was relieved to see a fellow human. Her relief didn’t last long when she noticed the fellow human was a man. She increased her pace and so did the man.. She then broke into a sprint. So did the man.
He was chasing her and seemed to be catching up when…

“Honey, wake up. You need to wake up!”
Juliet woke with a scream before pulling Donald in for a hug. She was perspiring profusely and her breath was ragged.
Donald waited for her to calm down a little before offering her a glass of water. He also waited for her to gulp down the water before he could say, “You were having a nightmare.”

“A really bad dream, Donald. I owe you one for waking me up.”

He pursed his lips. “Are they back? The nightmares,” he added when he saw the blank stare she gave him.
Juliet knew what he meant so she shook her head, “This was just any other nightmare.”

“What was it about?”
“I don’t wanna relive it.”
“Thought as much,” Donald said with a sigh, getting up and stretching himself. “Anyway, I just came to inform you dinner’s ready.”

It was Sunday and Donald had promised to prepare supper for the family so Juliet who had been bored to death late in the afternoon had decided to take a nap…then came the bad dream.

No one likes to be chased in their dreams.
She tucked her weave behind her ear before getting out of bed and yawning. “It’s about time, I’m starving!”

The Musongo family sat at their six seater dinning table so that only two vacant seats were left.

One of those would have been occupied by Lubesha had he been here, thought Donald and Alice wryly even though Lubesha had left for Livingstone on Saturday, the day before.
Donald’s beef kebabs smelled and looked delicious, so did his masala rice, salads and Victoria Sandwich cake.
“Juliet honey, please say grace cause I can’t wait to fill my stomach with the work of my hands.”

Juliet smiled before saying, “Shall we pray?”


The prayer was brief and they began to eat merrily, except Amos who was brooding.
“What’s with you?” Juliet finally asked him.

Amos’ eyes were watery. “Do I really have to go back to school tomorrow?”
That earned him one hell of an ugly glare from his father. “We’ve been through this.”

Amos groaned. “But Alice’s class? Can’t you do something about the arrangement?”
It was Alice who replied. “And you think am happy to admit I’ve got a brother who’s failed grade nine twice so far? Or being in the same class with him? Please,” she gave him an eye roll.

He ignored her. “I wanna become a mechanic, Dad. School isn’t for me, why don’t you understand?”

“And why don’t you understand that times have changed and jobs are scarce, Amos? These days almost every job requires a grade 9 or 12 certificate! Now if you don’t wanna go to bed with a sore body, drop this topic. ”
Amos gave his father a long stare before pushing his chair back and scurrying off to his room.
“Amos!”

“Let him be,” Donald patted Juliet’s hand. “Enjoy your food, honey.”
Juliet was caught between a rock and a hard place here. On one hand was her husband who only wanted the best for his son and on the other was the son who only wanted to quit school.
She saw things from the perspectives of them both and knew that they were both right in one way or the other. What was she going to do?


☆☆☆

Dinner was over and people were retiring to their dormitories.

Sylvester pinched Lubesha on the arm. “Go talk to her!”

“Am going!”
He found it hard just to walk to where Tracy was seated and say hi.

When he finally mustered the courage to do so, she was standing on the threshold ready to leave the hall.

He made it there and tapped her on the shoulder.

Tracy turned, slowly. “Yes?”
This was awkward. Mostly because even Laura was staring at Lubesha with her arms crossed.

“I just thought of saying hi.”
“Really?” came Laura’s sarcastic response. “How boring. Tracy babe, do you know-” she rudely eyed Lubesha from head to toe. “him?”

“I don’t think so,” replied Tracy softly and then, “Have we met before?”

Lubesha was hurt she couldn’t remember him so he shook his head. “No.”
Tracy and Laura left him standing there without even wishing him good night.
“You look like an idiot standing here like a statue,” said Sylvester in embarrassment. He had witnessed everything. “Now I know I’ve been insisting you get yourself a girlfriend but I think Tracy’s way out of your league in the sense that she doesn’t deserve you… let’s go crush, we’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

Lubesha didn’t sleep a wink that night as he couldn’t get Tracy out of his mind. He was only 14 and would be turning 15 in a couple of months so he couldn’t have fallen in love with her, right?

It was probably puberty and hormones doing their job so maybe he was just infatuated with her, at least that’s what he told himself.
The question was, how was he going to rid himself of that infatuation?