Ever since his brother’s incarceration on the 22nd of June 2022 Bingo had been haunted by his family’s financial future prospects. His brother Peter had left behind some very big shoes to fill. Even though his contract as a teacher assistant at his former school was still in progress then, Bingo dreaded its termination date. He had made all necessary preparations for when his contract at the school ended. He became more proactive in his search for employment elsewhere. He sometimes even reported that he’d arrive late to work because of some family emergency while going to submit CVs for his next employment instead. He tried saving up money but found it very hard because of family obligations. Unlike before when his brother used to help them more, he realized that times have changed and the roles have been reversed. He now had to help his brother behind bars and their family more finically than before.
He did his best to prepare for the unavoidable rainy days that loomed ahead but no matter how prepared he was, he couldn’t stop life from happening. Unfortunately however, all those job applications he sent out yielded absolutely nothing. No job offer, not even a genuine interview invitation. All he got were invites from scammers who wanted to rip him off the money he didn’t even have. Three months after his contract at the school was terminated, Bingo decided to apply for his Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). He had heard a friend saying that it only took two to three weeks for the money to be paid into the applicants’ bank account after application.
Armed with the knowledge that he’d be having money in three weeks’ time, he began making plans for himself and for the whole family. Everyone in his home sighed in relief that at least they’d have good festive season filled with abundance as the big brother had always ensured. Bingo too felt very proud that he would at least be able to put not only the smiles on his family member’s faces but also ample food on the table as well during festive seasons.
Days passed. Weeks and months followed but he still hadn’t received word about the money he was expecting. Next thing he knew it was festive season and he still had no money. With no food on the table there were no smiles on his family’s faces and that tore him apart. He became moody and uncommunicative. He spent more days indoors buried in books and trying to write. Most weekend nights he spent out drinking with friends and developed a bad habit. Unlike before he smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish and avoided food like a plague much to his grandmother’s dismay. He began to lose so much weight that most people in the neighborhood even suspected he was sick or using drugs. Neighbors commented on his heavy drinking but he couldn’t be bothered by what they said behind his back. He thought he was dealing with his issues the best way possible but his grandmother and everyone else begged to differ.
Even though Magauta tolerates his grandson’s dallying with books and some days even starring at the computer screen all day, it is not an ideal way for a black man to spend his days she believes. In one of her outburst which had become reasonably frequent, the grandmother had said to her grandson;
‘My daughter’s son, instead of wasting your life away like this in booze and those old worthless books you read all day long, why aren’t you going out there to look for work? Can’t you see how hard the times are?
Instead of answering both questions Bingo answered the former by trying to explain to the old lady all the modern ways of searching and applying for jobs he uses. But the old woman didn’t want to hear any of it. She remained convinced that Bingo is not trying nearly hard enough to find work. She lamented how good things used to be before the ANC took over the country.
‘The whites no matter how badly they treated black people at least everyone was working’, she said.
No answer, Bingo didn’t know what to say to that. He wasn’t even born yet when the whites were in charge of the country.
‘They tell our children to go to school because education is the key to success. You went to school. You are educated .Where is that success now? All of a sudden all the doors that used to be opened up by education are working with gold tokens it seems. You have to know somebody that knows the other guy that knows someone who is in charge somewhere and even that someone wants money to give you a job what kind of nonsense is that? Huh! Answer me?’
Poor Bingo didn’t even know what to say to his grandmother’s rants. He felt under a lot of pressure to find a job soon rather than later so that he could make her and the whole family happy and proud. However, personally he felt impersonal to the fact that he was unemployed. Obviously the fact that he can’t provide for his family disturbs his peace of mind and torments his soul mercilessly. Every day when he wakes up in the morning he has nothing to do except clean his room or sweep the yard, nowhere to go except running errands for granny. He brings nothing home at the end of each day. In that mundane routine, however, Bingo sees the bright side of it all even though no else in his home does.
‘Unemployment means different things for different people’, Bingo wrote in his notebook as his grandmother turned her back on him seeing that he has no answer for her, ‘for the artistic people like myself unemployment means having ample time to focus on my craft and honing my skills as a writer. Show me any self-respecting artist who wouldn’t appreciate such a luxury despite its financial shortcomings...’ he left the sentence unfinished and lit a cigarette.
As fate would have it Bingo and his family had one of the darkest festive season in their family history. The New Year had begun 2023 and everyone had great hopes for it. Well into the second month, on a Saturday of February 11th Bingo had been spending time indoors all in the hopes of getting some work done on his screenplay. He appeared not to be in the mood to go anywhere. His friend Boy rang his phone and asked him where he was. Bingo told him he was at his place. Boy marveled at this and asked if his friend was okay. Bingo told him he was alright just wasn’t in the mood for the streets. Boy simply couldn’t accept that, he went ahead to insist that Bingo come over to Monyaka Gym in their neighborhood where he was waiting for the guy they called Tantrum. Reluctantly Bingo agreed.
When he approached him, Boy told Bingo he had to take a leak at the nearby bush. On his way towards the bush clearly pressed he met with Mpho their mutual friend and Bingo’s former class mate from primary school. Mpho was talking to some other guy but as soon as he saw Boy he wanted to stop him right there and have a conversation with him as well. Boy told him he had to pee and that Bingo was right behind him. Mpho came rushing towards Bingo and hugged him tightly clearly happy to see him after many years, the feeling was mutual between the two. Even though he was drunk Mpho asked Bingo to buy him a beer. Bingo told him he is broke.
‘Okay, roll me a joint then’, he said almost as if weighing his pockets.
‘Bro, I don’t have a cent on me. I don’t even have a cigarette for that matter. Let me light that one you have in your hand’, Bingo said taking the cigarette from Mpho.
Mpho was noticeably disturbed by his friend’s broke-ness. He asked him what he was doing for a living then Bingo answered him that he’d been looking for work but without luck. Mpho thought a moment then took out a piece of paper from his lunch bag as he had knocked off from Timber City where he works but had not gone home yet.
‘Here my friend, take this number and give Zaheer a call. When he asks if you have any experience working with wood. Say yes. Call him now’, he said.
Bingo didn’t expect bumping to Mpho nor having to make a call to a strange Indian man about a job. He told Mpho he’d just take the number and phone tomorrow as he had no airtime then. Mpho was drunk and Bingo thought phoning the man right then was a bad idea so he waited for the following day. The next day Bingo made a call but it went straight to voicemail. A few minutes later the man reverted back to him. Upon answering the phone Bingo introduced himself, told the man who he’d taken his number from and stated clearly his reason for the missed call. Zaheer asked Bingo whether he had any experience working with wood and he agreed, Zaheer Okayed. Then briefly told Bingo about his starting out business and concluded by inviting him to his place the following day.
Bingo knew that the invitation was not necessarily a guarantee for a job but he looked forward to the rendezvous anyway. He told granny about the meeting with the man at Three Rivers that had a promise of a job. Granny was ecstatic about the news, she gave Bingo money for transport the next day and even prayed with him before he left in the morning.
Upon his arrival at the address the man had given him yesterday Bingo met one of his drinking buddies from the hood doing a paint job there. The two seemed happy to see each other as they exchanged pleasantries then Bingo was ushered in what looks like a workshop. Zaheer told him to sit down.
‘You said you have experience working with wood right’, he asked
‘Yeah just a little though am not a pro’.
Then Zaheer continued to tell him of his long experience in the field of interior design and furniture designing. He told him he was in real business before but sadly went under because of tough economic times and other personal things but now wanted to pick up where he left off and was looking for an assistant. He told Bingo quite honestly that he won’t be able to pay him much particularly because he doesn’t have enough experience and he couldn’t pay him a little also because of transport. Bingo thought the man fair and liked him right away. He accepted the job and agreed to start the following day.
When Bingo came to work the next day he realized that contrary to the belief he had about Zaheer living somewhere in a decent home away from the dilapidated house he was working in, Zaheer was in fact living there in the yard over ran with wild weeds and unfinished plans. Bingo later learnt that the house was in its current state because Zaheer had been through a difficult divorce that left him with a severe depression and bankruptcy that led him to destroy the house and sell everything of value he owned. Bingo was happy Zaheer gave him a job but then he began to wonder to himself how can someone who so clearly needs help himself be able to help anyone?
Then an eerie quote he had read sprang to mind;
“There is a false saying: How can someone who can’t save himself save others? Supposing I have the key to your chains; why should your lock and my lock be the same?”
He smiled knowingly to himself.
