AS the watering hole was getting to its peak, a female patron walked into the premises with a lacerated lip and bleeding.
Her intent was to arouse empathy from the patronage embroiled in its ways emptying bottles of alcohol!
The watering hole was getting rather stuffy and humid as cigarette smoke permeated the atmosphere.
Lazzo had the unenviable situation of being an involuntary passive smoker sandwiched between two smokers puffing away at their cigarettes.
The hapless missus made the mistake of probing hubby over rent cash perched away in a suitcase!
The man then decided to unleash a series of blows which left his missus bleeding as she rushed indoors to escape the one-man instant justice. As the woman narrated her ordeal to a receptive patronage hubby entered the watering hole and addressed the owner of the watering hole asking whether he would be happy to have his parents insulted.
The confrontation shifted to another man who testified that in fact, it was not the first time that hubby had clobbered his woman and that it was actually the third time in the year!
This time round, hubby had gone out after collecting a wad of notes from its hiding place and disappeared.
At this point, missus later discovered that he had in fact spent the two days at a woman’s house.
Lazzo listened intently to the unfolding circus at the watering hole as the slant forehead man loudly warned the assailant:”These days, authorities are not playing with perpetrators of gender-based violence and this could be the beginning of the journey to jail!”
Whether she had insulted him or not was no valid reason to punch the hell out of her!
On another occasion missus was punched for refusing to give hubby the Nshima that he demanded since he had come home drunk to the hilt!
The patronage was ablaze with revelations about what the woman had said and retorted that if he wanted food, he should ‘go to his parents’ home and find it!
It was at this remark that hubby pounded the missus as the hood got wind of the indoor skirmish that provided input for storytelling at the watering hole!
Another patron joined the fray when he disclosed that in fact, the man was a ‘person without papers’ from a neighbouring country.
He pointed out one of the eight countries surrounding Zambia that an alien would not go round that country for two days without being pounced on by the immigration.
Lazzo pondered the prospect of many such people in the hood who had gone undetected!
Still Lazzo reasoned that it must be quiete unsettling for one to enter a foreign country ‘without papers’ according to the popular cliché in hood!
He had also heard of some aliens disowning their country of origin and cling to the country they enter illegally.
To such people, Lazzo thought the old adage ‘home is home though never be so homely’ was an empty creed.
A concerned patron turned to the pummeled female’” You are also to blame for not reporting him to authorities each time he beats you up!,” he declared whilst looking her straight into the year.
“But my relatives stop me from reporting him and insist that he is still hubby!,” she disclosed to the sympathetic patron who resignedly replied,”It’s  all up to you and one day you will not wake up from the
immense beatings you get at the hands of this brutal man who I think should be caged!”
He continued:”In fact, I know your granddad very and I will personally talk to him about this!”.
The music blared loudly from the huge twin speakers so much that Lazzo danced in his seat but his dancing act was incomplete as his mentor handed him another bottle.
He had noticed that it was barely five days since everyone in the hood was deemed to have had their pay.
This period had a domino effect on the flow of resources at the watering hole as a flurry of ‘rounds’ took effect and even catering for the unemployed.
There was another man reeling off balance and he only stopped when he bumped into a patron seated by the counter who calmly smiled as he observed that the man was making involuntary and unbalanced movements on the dance floor.
He was seemingly in his own world or ‘Utopia’ that most patrons simulate when they  go past the inebriation stage.
The man was luck because bumped into a peaceful patron but hell would have broken loose if he was in another section of the hood notorious for harbouring riff-raff.
This typical watering hole was playing host to a mild patronage to the extent that when Lazzo was fumbling for cash in the pocket, he accidentally dropped the keys to his home.
As he sat by the veranda wondering what to do next, a young man arrived carrying his keys and explained that they had dropped at the watering hole.
Such a gesture was far-fetched from the clientele not far from the hood and that the sense of fidelity was rare.
Sometimes, he thought that someone was out to pick his pockets especially when he stood before the counter.
These were times when his sense of feeling was lulled by alcohol and he thought some slick fingers usually fished out one or two banknotes.
There seemed to be characters whose chief mission was to ascertain who was fishing out what from their pockets.
He recalled an incident when suddenly, a patron who had been watching him suddenly sprung up from his seat and wanted to see what note he was about to give the watering hole attendant!
“This is just a K10 and nothing more!”he had the courage to say to the intruder who blushed at being found out!
But one interesting poser was how the hell he had dropped the keys or were they picked from his pockets?
He left the answer for providence to decide…