FOR a long time I have not been patromising taverns, or is it beer halls, where beers like Chibuku opaque brown, white, shake-shake and super shake-shake, which is commonly known as Kantobo is sold.
Last week I had a privilege to find myself at one of these former Ndola City Council (NCC) beer halls when I went looking for a carpenter friend of mine who I wanted to repair a door whose hinges had loosened at my home.
I had been going to this carpenter friend of mine’s home for some days but I could not find him.
Each time I went to his home asking for him, his wife told me to check him at the named beer hall but I never did so.
Now, the loosening of the hinges to the door had become worse and there was need to fix them otherwise the door would fall off.
My wife was also concerned that I had taken long to find some one to fix the door and she wondered why I only needed to ask my carpenter friend to do the work when there were so many carpenters around who could do the  same work.
It was because of this that this time around, I did not go to my carpenter friend’s house to look for him, but instead, I went to the beer hall where his wife always asked me to check.
It was around 10:00 hours when I got to this tavern and the place was teeming with revellers.
I looked around for the carpenter in this place, but he was not around.
Just to walk out of the tavern would be embarrassing as I felt all eyes were on me and if I just walked out without buying beer for myself people would think I did not have money and I was just another scrounger looking for someone to sponsor me.
Because of this feeling, I walked to the counter and bought myself a packet of Shake-Shake.
I was leaving the counter to find myself where to sit when someone shouted my name. I turned to see who the caller was and I found it was an old friend, Mike.
Mike was also a good friend of the carpenter I was looking for and I thought he would know where I would find him since most of the time they were together.
After we had greeted each other, Mike dragged me to a table where he was apparently sitting with other people, and there were a lot of packets of shake-shake on the table.
I opened my packet of shake-shake and had a sip  and  placed it on the table and before I could say anything, Mike wanted to know where I had been hiding myself because it had taken long since we last saw each other.
I told Mike that I was around except that we were patronising different places and that is why  we could not see each other.
Then I explained to him why I was here.
“I am looking for …..(name withheld)
Mike looked at me with a smile.
“Alaisa. Muno ni mumwakwe,” (He is coming. This is his place), said Mike, showing me a seat.
Just as I was taking a seat, Mike pointed to the entrance of the tavern, and exclaimed:”Talk of the devil,” and I saw my carpenter friend staggering in.
The state he appeared to be in was not the kind that you would ask some one to do any work.
The time was around 10:00 hours and someone looking so drunk,!I wondered.
Someone went to the juke-box and pressed a rumba song.
My carpenter friend took to the floor and started dancing much to the amazement of many people.
Was that my friend? Was he the one I always called to do me some works at home when there was need or was he just someone like him? Then I heard someone clap and comment: “emo anwena. Taposapo nangu one ngwee pabwalwa. (That is how he drinks. He never spends any money on  beer).
The way my carpenter friend was wriggling and gyrating his waist was like he was a composer of that rumba song.
Spectators were whistling and shouting encore, encore.
Meanwhile, others were throwing K2 notes, K 1 and 50 ngwee coins on the floor which my friend picked and pocketed.
When the song ended, another one would press another song and it was non-stop. I realised that this was no time for me to ask my carpenter friend for anything.
I picked up the packet of shake-shake to have a swig. It was while I was drinking the beer when  someone from the other table started explaining to his friends that the carpenter was his neighbour and apart from carpentry, he earned his living through dancing and he was never short of money to buy food at home.
“In fact, he does not make enough money through carpentry because very few people give him jobs, but each time he is here, people will throw money on the floor for him to continue dancing. They know which songs he dances best to and they allow him to drink from their tables without any problems,”  said  his neighbour.
Another man in the neighbour’s company commented that he was very surprised to see the carpenter behave like that because he had not seen him in that mood before.
“I have never seen this man behave like this before. He looks very quiet and shy when he has not taken beer,” said the man.
Like I have said, this carpenter was my friend and I also never known him to be such a character.
The carpenter’s neighbour went on to explain that the man was very good when it came to caring about his family.
“He buys food for the family, but you will never see him buy beer although these people are throwing money on the floor for him,” the carpenter’s neighbour explained.
I again picked the packet of shake-shake and had a swig and when I put it on the table, I told Mike that I was leaving.
“But you said you wanted to see him,” Mike said, pointing at the carpenter.
I explained to Mike why I wanted to see the carpenter and because of the state he was in, I thought it was not necessary.
I dipped in my pockets and produced a K10 note which I gave Mike to buy three packets of shake-shake as I left.
Little did I know that Mike had told the carpenter friend that I had been looking for him until later in the evening when I was at one of my drinking places that the carpenter walked in.
When he saw me, he rushed and flung himself at me and said he was told by Mike that I was looking for him.
Before I could reply, someone pressed a rumba number in the juke box and the carpenter let go of me to go on the dance floor.
The way he was performing sent on-lookers, especially women, agog.
When the song ended, my carpenter friend was being offered lagers of different kinds – Castle, Black Label, Mosi and what not!
Was this man normal? How could anyone take all these beers of different brands? Besides, he had taken a lot of shake-shake at the beer hall.
As I was wondering, I head a voice behind me and it was coming from a friend who said this carpenter reminded him of Jack.
The man this friend was talking about was also a great dancer. He usually patronised posh places where soft rumba music was played.
“You remember Jack? He was a very good dancer,” said the friend.
He explained that Jack’s dance was commercial and if he started dancing, you had to know that this was not for free.
“Dancing was an art for him. When you saw him go to the dance floor, you had to know that a flow of beer would follow. He was no different from that man,” he explained pointing at the carpenter.
But one woman who was listening to the man complained that the carpenter was an embarrassment to people who knew his wife.
“Tachimoneka bwino ifi,” (this does not auger well) said the woman.
Since my carpenter friend had more beers than I had and he was in a state in which we could not discuss anything, I decided to sneak out of the bar.
Around 07:00 hours the following day, I heard a knock on the door and when I went to open, I found my carpenter friend standing there.
Before I could say good morning to him, he accused me of having run away from him and I told him about the door problem.
He went back to his home and came back after an hour with his tools.
After he repaired the door and I paid him what he charged me, he invited me to meet him at the same venue I left him the previous night.
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