You See Me

Chapter 5: Max

That was so close but I think that I have finally got Lilith off my back. She no longer seems to be prying into my business. I didn’t plan on using the pity of relatability card on her but desperate times do call for desperate measures. But I think I can relax for awhile.

My hut has become a bit crowded with three guys now staying in there. Patrick is leaving tomorrow which makes me feel way more depressed than I should. When he’s gone then I’ll definitely be alone here. I don’t really sleep that night but we can’t chat as usual because of Munya.

Munya seems like a cool guy so far, I don’t know whatever intense beef that he has with his sister. If she even sense him in her vicinity she starts to go batshit crazy. I’ve seen her swing her cane violently hoping to hit him over the head. Each time Munya sighs and backs off a bit then tries again later. Is this guy a sort of sociopath? Or perhaps he’s not as nice as he seems. There is something called Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome. Where to the public a person seems like the most perfect and charming person but in private they are really terrible and abusive. So that when their victims try to seek help and expose them no one believes them and they get no support. I want to talk to Patrick about it so I text him.

#

-Hey-

-Go the hell to sleep-

-What do you think about Munya so far?-

-That he’s like the Zimbabwean version of the all American Boy-

#

I laugh at that. He’s right, Munya seems like the guy that all the girls fall in love with and the picture of masculinity.

#

-His relationship with his sister is weird-

-You seem to have grown a liking to the blind girl. You sure you want to get beat up by her brother-

-Lol, believe me she definitely doesn’t like me and I’m not here to sleep with girls-

-You could’ve tricked me-

-It just happened-

-And it might just happen again with the Queen of Demons herself?-

-What?-

-Lilith? The original Lilith was the Queen of Demons and thrown out of the Garden of Eden before Eve ever arrived-

-Wow, kind of explains a lot-

-Oh, so you think about her a lot I see-

-You’re hopeless. Go to sleep-

-Oi, now you got me up. Finish this conversation about your potential future wife-

#

I switch off my phone and snore loudly for emphasis. After a moment I feel Munya turn irritatedly and get up.

“Does he snore like that overnight?” He asks Patrick.

“Oh, he can be so much worse,” Patrick tells him. When Munya goes back to sleep I throw a pillow at Patrick.

The next morning Patrick has his suitcase pack and is waiting for the vehicle to come and pick him up. The girls seem very sad to see him off. I wonder if he was planting a few kisses himself here and there.

“With the way that the girls seem so disappointed to see you go I wonder what you’ve been up to behind my back.” I ask Patrick. Patrick give me a cheeky grin.

“You know that the ladies just generally love me dude,” Patrick tells me. He gives me a hug. I hug him back a little too hard. “Woah, leave some for the ladies my dude,” I sigh.

“I guess I really am alone now” I tell him. He sighs and his smile fades for a moment.

“Dude I’m just one phone call away and I’ll come and visit whenever I can,” He tells me. I pat him on the shoulder.

“You have to concentrate on getting good grades at Cambridge. You chose an Ivy League torture school for your education and you better graduate first-class,” I tell him and give him a big hug.

“And you’re not alone dude..”

“Don’t tell me…there’s Munya…”

“No, you have Lilith. She seems like someone you could be friends with,” Patrick tells me. I laugh. Lilith would probably start swinging her cane at us if she heard Patrick say such a thing about her.

The vehicle arrive to pick up Patrick and the girls of the village hand him a hamper full of Zimbabwean foods and things like cake mix. The perform a dance for him and recite bad poetry in broken English. This reminds me of when kids in China recite bad poetry in broken English and I feel a pang of loneliness, sadness and nostalgia.

Patrick waves to us… I’d like to think to me until the vehicle disappears in a cloud of dust. I feel a hand pat me not the shoulder.

“You’ll see your friend soon enough,” Munya tells me with a smile. He walks away to where Lilith is seated on the steps of one of the huts. I watch as she yells for him to piss off and begins to swing her cane. He walks away after a sigh and Lilith calms down. She can really be violent if she wants to.

I sit next to her and she looks like she’s about to swing her cane again.

“Woah. It’s me, not Munya,” I tell her. She puts her cane down.

“What makes you think that I don’t want to hit you with my cane as well?”

“Well I thought you might be a little nice because my friend just left and I’m feeling a little desolate,”

“If you think that I’ll provide you with the same comfort as Karen did then I’ll have you know that you have to buy me dinner first,” Lilith tells me. I freeze.

“Is Karen…”

“No, she isn’t. Calm down. It’s just that I’m particularly sensitive to smell and that particular smell mixed with your cologne was quite obvious,” she tells me. I blush red mortified. “I’m guessing that your silence means you’re embarrassed. Don’t worry. This is a very misogynistic country and also racially segregated. They won’t bother her because she’ white and they won’t bother you because you’re male and men can’t control their organs apparently,”

I can’t help but laugh at that.

“Look at that. You are now laughing even though your friend has left. That means that you will survive after all,” she tells me. She gets up and goes tot her hut, probably for her afternoon nap. I suddenly feel very lost and alone. I end up taking an hour-long walk that makes me feel like I’m going nowhere because its all fields and hills and crops. When I get back I’m met by Karen who gives me a plate with six chocolate biscuits and milk.

“We had tea when you were away and I saved you some food,” she tells me. I thank her and eat the snack slowly. She rushes off to do some more chores. Soon Munya comes and sits next to me.I offer him some of my biscuits.

“No thanks. I had my share already,” he tells me. “How are you feeling though. In a foreign country, with people of a different race and now your friend is gone. He was probably explaining a lot fo African customs to you even though he’s Nigerian and this is Zimbabwe. African cultures can be quite alike,”

“It’s kind of weird but not that bad,” I lie. Munya laughs.

“I’ll act like I believe our life. I went to study ni China for a little bit and once I took a bus to the rural areas. The villagers followed me all around the place because I was the first black guy that they had ever seen. I can only imagine what you’re going through. You must be the first Asian guy that a lot of the women here have ever seen,”

“Well, at least I’m not being endlessly stalked and everyone is quite nice,”

“Except Lilith?” Munya asks. I laugh.

“Well you must know your sister well enough. She’s quite the firecracker…or skull-cracker. I hope that she’s never actually hurt someone with her cane before,”

Munya smiles. “Well I’m sure that I have a few injuries but I’ve learned to dodge and she usually leaves her cruellest blows for me,” Munya tells me. “There was a time that she did get one good hit over my head and I had to get stitches,”

I look at him in shock. He laughs at my shocked expression. “Does she have such bad anger issues?”

“No, it’s just that when I was younger I used to bully her mercilessly so she developed a coping mechanism against me. Even though I’m not the terror that I used to be when I was younger I must have traumatised her enough that she doesn’t want to be near me ever,” Munya explains. I look at him. A lot of big brothers were holy terrors to their little sisters while growing up but the relationships get better as they age. But perhaps it took on a much darker dimension because she can’t see.

“You seem to get along well with Lilith I say,” Munya suddenly says. I scoff.

“What makes you think that?” I ask him.

“Well when you talk to her, she actually talks to you as well. If she doesn’t like you she usually just keeps quiet, rolls her eye and scowls. But she even tried to cheer you up which means that she tolerates you.She doesn’t tolerate anyone,” Munya explains to me. I nod.

“That’s a weird way of knowing that someone likes you,” I tell him. Munya nods and I think about what my words might imply. “I don’t mean that she likes me as in likes me. Just that…”

“She tolerates you more than other people. Chill. I know what you meant,” Munya tells me. His face suddenly becomes serious. “I don’t know if this is appropriate but can I ask you a favour?”

I double back and raise my eyebrows. “That sounds a bit suspicious,”

“It’s nothing shady but I’m here to keep an eye and take care of my sister. I can’t do that properly because she pretty much wants to put me six feet under but she tolerates you around her so I was wondering if I could ask you to keep an eye out for her and do some things for her here and there. I’ll do whatever I can for you in return,” Munya tells me. I look at him for a moment. ‘Like I could talk to Dr.Nadine to make you exempt from chores and I take them up because you’re watching Lilith,”

I look at him. “Hey, I don’t have much to do here anyway so I’ll watch over your sister whenever I can. You don’t need to get any favours for me. It’s not much of a trouble I assure you,” I tell him. He visibly relaxes.

Later on I find Lilith seated on the steps of her hut.

“Hey,”I greet. She grunts back. I sit beside her.

“You’re not very good at reading people’s moods are you?” She tells me. I nod and realise that she can’t see that.

“I am good actually but I have to tell you something,”

“You got Karen pregnant?”

“No we used…never mind. Your brother asked me to watch over you for him. I thought that you should know that and that I agreed,” I tell her. She pauses and turns to my direction. I’d say she looked at me but then…she can’t see. She sighs.

“Very well. As long as he doesn’t come near me,” she tells me. She’s actually okay with this arrangement.

“You two have some interesting beef,” I tell her. She shrugs.

“Looking after me doesn’t mean that you have to talk to me,” she tells me. I nod and keep quiet. We sit there like that for awhile. I lean back and look at the clouds, accidentally brushing against her. She jumps back.

“You were still here?” She exclaims.

“Where did you think that I was going?” I ask her. She scowls at me.

* * *