AWAY from the mind-boggling confines of the watering hole, Lazzo was standing a few metres from a communal tap besieged by a predominantly female mob with arms akimbo waiting for his turn to draw water.
Here, bachelors and gigolos have been saved by the bell as they are given priority and need not stand in a queue but pass on their container to any female close to the head of the queue!
He had been standing there listening to female sentiments on the political front and for once Lazzo dispelled the myth that only the watering hole was a Pandora box!
Thus contrary to his long held belief, the communal tap post was another information centre in the hood…
During his spell at the crowd trickling towards the tap, Lazzo heard contemporary analysis of the political scene centred on the bygone elections.
One woman pushed her container towards the tap skipping a few other containers in a row amid protests from others who thought they had waited long enough to warrant a good turn.
“You cannot say one group of people is tribal because the practice is two-way!,” declared a seemingly talkative woman standing a stone’s throw distance away from Lazzo.
“Well but how cann you give someone four votes and give thousands of these to your tribesman?,” asked another curious woman who appeared alert to the exchanges.
Coinciding with the raging debate was a passerby imbiber reeling from the effects of the local hard gin who seemed to be in his own world.
“Yes, we shall vote wisely again because this time round, we have won the battle and no one should dispute this..!,” he intoned amid drunken gestures that made some women laugh while he sauntered on without remorse.
“You have not heard that this tribalism problem is also found in other countries where it has been allowed to grow?,” querried another woman who wanted to sound enlightened.
Lazzo was overwhelmed by the avalanche of commentary that he was enjoying his brief encounter at the tap where he discovered various characters emanating from diverse homes.
Now, in the eastern direction was Maria’s friend and she smiled at Lazzo before loudly expressing her ignorance that he was her neighbour!
Lazzo deliberately kept quiet to discourage further revelations in the midst of curious women in the hood.
The tact worked as the free-for-all debate drifted back to   politics where one woman claimed she had been down south where even some football clubs had an inclination towards ethnic groups whose owners had a centrist allegiance to a tribe!
She usually travelled down south and bought a few goods for resale in the country and still had some relatives holed up there,   she announced.
There was an abrupt shift of focus from political analysis to superstition as one woman yelled at the one who had squeezed her way through at the expense of a few containers.
However, from the rapport, one would tell that these were acquaintances in the hood and the ‘intruder’ justified the intrusion by quipping:”Your brother is lyng flat on his face now and have to nurse him vigorously as he has a face full of cracks.”
“What happened?,” asked the receptive acquaintance. “He had been given a bicycle by a relative to help him on the farm as he produced his crops.  But his relatives were fighting one another over this gift,” she disclosed as the audience became more receptive.
She continued:”So it so happened that recently, there was a flash of lightning and thunder in the hood and after that his face was cracked awkwardly that it was all blood.  This problem came from the village.  We don’t know what to do because we are ignorant about witchcraft.”
“He is lying in bed and motionless and he is very lucky to be alive because the thunder clap just went to his face and it will leave him permanently disfigured,” she completed the narration in a bid to woo empathy.
Lazzo lifted his ten litre plastic container of water and headed home.  He would wash and later meet his mates at the watering hole.
The music got louder as he neared the meeting place and before he entered would imagine the proceedings at the counter because it was month-end!
This was the time that no imbiber was expected to find a scapegoat for lacking resources to make merry at the watering hole!
The scenario extended to every sphere of life in the hood ranging from debts to rent ending with personal expenditure.
At   the watering hole, the debate was  more lively as the menfolk dabbled in their political rhetoric amid the flow of alcoholic drinks.
It came to light that imbibers had idenfied one another as belonging to the ‘greens’ or the ‘reds’ and in the process  of this political divide was the norm that if one wanted to have a good time, they had to side with the ‘greens’!
Lazzo heard one imbiber whose voice rose to an excited crescendo as he spoke about the bygone elections.
“We have learnt one thing.  That next time, we should transport all our cadres to polling stations free of charge irrespective of the distance!,” he yelled as he took a swig from a bottle of lager.
Many were glued to the television set catching a glimpse of the new President catching a flight to Ethiopia.
The campaign portrait was still hanging by the door and one excited imbiber walked up to the pasted picture and raised a clenched fist to the amusement of internal revellers.
Maria’s  friend was signalling to Lazzo to draw near as he had a story to tell him because the previous night, she was almost dragged behind an incomplete building under construction in the hood.
She however confronted the man’s parents the following who vehemently apologised to her and this was the act that nipped the scandal in the bud!
The clouds were forming and indications were that it would rain soon and Lazzo braced for a quick exit from the watering hole …