IT took Lazzo some  manoeuvre to discover that there were countless single parents like he was!
The Pandora’s Box opened when he met Maria in the hood that too had similar statistics…
She was a child of the hood and hailed from a rather turbulent background  having been snatched from a marauding ruffian of a  hubby!
The aftermath saw her take custody of three siblings who ultimately gave her a good run for her hard-earned money!
She had to make do with these unpredictable bonds between her and strangers who often seemed to take advantage of her vulnerability Lazzo noticed that the children drove her into a tight corner she could hardly breathe!
The grapevine had it that she was a child of the hood and hailed from a rather turbulent background   having been snatched from a marauding ruffian of a hubby!
Subsequently, a Kangaroo Court’ was convened which saw hubby surrender his authority over  Maria.
On closer scrutiny, Maria had a domineering male parent who seemed to have the inclination to gain from her relationships whenever they arose.
Lazzo thought this was in keeping with the new trend of emergent commercialized social relationships in which human beings were being valued!
It was now getting more expensive to get a wife than the olden days when the old folks merely
presented a hoe or axe including beads as lobola!
How Lazzo wished those days were back because they would see a myriad of teenagers the prospect of paying colossal sums to secure a bride…
At the watering hole, Lazzo had got  wind of Maria’s past and one of the patrons had asked why in the first place of  all single women in the hood he was madly in love with  Maria.
Some even spread ill-conceived gossip that he was a victim of a love potion!
“What happened…have you suddenly  become so stranded that  you have to go for Maria whose story is well known?” asked one imbiberwithout remorse.
It seemed he did not care whether Lazzo was going to get hurt or not because he appeared resolute in his convictions about Maria’s morality which Lazzo knew nothing about..
He further went on to state that he  thought Maria had joined a group of mothers that disposed of their  offspring to the  grandparents’ backyard!
The assertion was given credence when Lazzo settled down with Maria in her rented two-roomed  house.
There were no children around but sometimes they would trek from the outskirts of the hood to pay a courtesy call  on mum and stepfather.
As time rambled on, Lazzo discovered why Maria had been retrieved from the reactionary hubby
before him.
Lazzo was chatting  to a friend outside the watering hole and at a distance, Maria  was also locked in a conversation with  someone
Lazzo did not know seem to recognise…
When it seemed the rapport was over, Maria walked towards Lazzo who instantly asked who she had been talking to.
The reply was something Lazzo did not anticipate because he got a slap which he later thought was an unforgettable lambasting.
A few heads turned in the pair’s direction as she ranted:”Who do you think I am… that you must know everyone I talk to?” she yelled at the unsuspecting Lazzo.
Deep down inside,  Lazzo was baffled  by this reaction which he thought on the other hand was
calculated to shut him  up.
Now, he realised what he was up to his neck in because the water had risen above the knee as faras this
relationship was concerned.
“It is better to tell a man off or send him away from your house rather than embarrass him this
way,” protested a woman within earshot.
Several people were making spontaneous remarks that it was difficult for Maria to choose which comment to respond to.
Lazzo had the unenviable obligation to accompany Maria to her house because he had nowhere else
to go.
He began to think that this was a price to pay for living in a woman’s quarters!
At one watering hole gathering in the  city, he had heard one woman declare that she was amused by the way hubby behaved since he became  jobless.
“Now as I am  speaking, he has put his legs on the coffee table and watching Dstv.
When my daughter walks in and reminds him that  mealie-meal is finished, he says to her,” Dear, please say that to mum  when she comes okay?’’
She was in effect dismissing the circumstances that had led to his joblessness and seemed to   stress:’Here  is a dormant man being fed by a woman!.
Lazzo’s wheel of fortune in terms of formal employment was no longer turning like millions of other mortals in the hinterland..
Sometimes hethought it was a  nightmare to see some of his colleagues drive past in what  model he considered affordable  once up a time.
However, here he  was in the hood  taking the social baseline and doing ‘What the Romans Do’ with the creed of  ‘Each one for himself and God for us all’ taking the
lead.
Sometimes it bugged him to think how some males have joined the bandwagon of critics.
The contend that hubby should wake up at dawn and go to Soweto to sell vegetables just like missus.
Lazzo protested to the patronage thatthere were certain business undertakings best suited for  women and it would be  unthinkable for him to sell vegetable because his missus did this!
There was a bit of laughter in selected places fo the watering hole.
‘Now, Lazzo, tell us, who wants you to sell vegetables like your spouse. No, they are not being fair because we cannot have a sage of the hood selling vegetables because you are what the Nigerians call ‘Igwe!’!, ‘’ the patron declared as he handed Lazzo a chilled  bottle of lager.
He swallowed hard even before taking sip from the donated bottle of alcohol.
At his best, the ‘big buyer’ can be  generous and it was him who coined the phrase: “Every  bottle of lager bought  for a woman is fictitious investment!”