SING FOR ME

Chapter 2:Struggles

Mutsa's POV

"Mutsa the village head wants to see you",my big brother said to me removing his garden boots outside, what have I done this time I thought to myself,that man made sure I was in trouble all the time just so when the chief comes back I was in for it how childish,"I'm coming just now",I said finishing up the sour fruit I got from the forest this morning, I made a face due to its soursness everytime I took a bite but still ate it anyway,the struggles of life no one understood them.

My name is Mutsawashe(God's grace) Zulu,I'm 25years old and I was a village herd boy,I had two big brothers Tinga( pronounced as Tinger) and Runa(pronounced as Rooner)Zulu,who are 28 and 29respectively,we lived with our 70year old father Mpilo Zulu who was blind and disabled,he had a stroke when mother passed away 6years ago and everything hasn't been less difficult from then.

Everyone in the village thinks we are cursed my father half dead as they like to call him,who suddenly went blind,and had stroke soon after my mother died meaning he had killed her with his witchcraft ways and everything backfired,how unbelievable these people were because they had already forgotten my mother had been battling cancer for years and her body couldn't take it anyomore and she died after the help from so many doctors.

My mother they never liked anyway because they thought she was a pretender who tried to be good to everyone but had bad intentions in the end,I still remember when they dragged her to the village center shamed her for trying to sleep with another woman's husband,yet she had simply alerted the wife of the husband's advances towards her,they threw rotten fruit and vegatables at her,mocking her for trying to sleep with a man half her age, Tobian my good for nothing village head,since then he had so much hate for my mother and our family.

Me and my brothers it was another story,we refused their offers of marrying their daughters and they mocked us for it,not to brag but i and my brothers where good looking,sunkissed,I was a 6'3with a well built body,deep dimples they confused me for a girl when I was a baby and my brothers were both 6'1,so I'm guessing then we were every girl's dream, including some married women I laughed internally thinking about a few women who had made advances towards me,offered to take care of me and my family and pay me at the same time,women of these days.

Why didn't we have wives was what bothered them,as for me I was still young,I was a village herd boy for calling out loud,where would I get money to pay for Lobola,let alone bring a head of cattle and goats to the family,yet with the little that l got from the many jobs i had around the village wasn't enough to take care of my father and the family,and besides being shitty poor a lot of girls here were not my type.

What of my brothers you may ask,My older brother is saving up to marry the chief's daughter and the chief doesn't even know about this yet and I don't know if he's gonna like it because he vowed himself if his daughter isn't married by one of the self made billionaires in Nigeria,let her be married by the presidents'son or some other powerful African man with great influence and a lot money,that's very much like selling his own daughter and yet he didn't know his daughter had fallen for a Zulu boy who was opposite of filthy rich but seriously poor,so we excused him from the family duties,he had fought against it at first but in the end end came to an understanding that if he had to marry the chief's daughter he had to save every penny he got.

As for my second brother he was the wild and mischievous one,went out with a lot of girls promised them marriage but be with a new girl the next day,most of the village mums hated him for this and when he finally decided to settle down, saved lobola for three years paid it in full and took his 6cattle and two goats that our father had divided us evenly and took it to the brides family only for the wife to run away with a rich man from the city six months later,that left him heart broken so he started farming on our small land our grandfather left for us and sold the products on the market when they are ready and ripe and this helped us to survive too.

I took my farmer's hat which sat by the kitchen stone bench and put it on before standing up,Nigeria was super hot when it was in summer and if you weren't used to it you would surely walk naked,I walked out of the kitchen and greeted my two older brothers who where sharpening their axes maybe to go get firehood in the hoods."Afternoon big brothers what are you all up to?",I asked them tucking my trouser into my boots.

"We headed to the woods for some firehood",Tinga said before drinking water from a clay pot,"and wassup kid heard the village head wanted to see you again what troubles did you cause this time around,don't tell me you finally accepted his wife advances and you have been beding her somewhere we don't know",Runa said with a smirk wiping sweat from his forehead.

We all laughed,"brother you know me better,I'm too young to be bothered by women let alone the village head's wife, i have other problems to worry about such as you guys and father,I will find my woman when the right time comes,that man just hates me for no damn good reason",they all snickered,"now now let me go my brothers before that man finds a new fault to please the chief with I waved and walked away.

When i arrived at the village heads'huts i alerted him from a distance as a sign of respect,he came out of one of the huts with a wrapper around his lower half, his belly pot huge and hanging proudly,at least he could have put a T-shirt or a vest on because that looked disgusting,no wonder his wife was always looking for some men to get into her pants,he smiled showing his yellow teeth,"aagh my son you are here"he said scratching his belly pot,"I heard that some of the cattle you herd ate a villagers whole vegetable garden and they came complaining".oooh shit I thought.

"We have discussed about the issue and for the case not to be reported to the chief he said you will have to pay him and since I collect your pay before it gets to you I thought it will be good we remove a few nairas from your pay",he said looking at me with a serious face.

"What?!!!".I panicked,"I get less money from herding all the village cattle that is $100(USD),if we round it off and you know I have to pay my fathers medical bills,help around with everything that's needed around the house as my brothers do and take of myself how much are you taking away from my salary",I asked him now pacing.

"Half of it" he said looking at me still serious,oh my god no I thought to myself.

"Now that's all my son you should be careful with those cattle you know or you will work the whole month for nothing next time because you will be paying for your faults with half of the money you make or yet the rest of it,be careful when doing your work,the least you need is the whole village hating you as if they don't already,now if you excuse me I would like to eat my food in peace some of us have three meals a day you know,now if you don't mind",he said going back into one of his huts.

The nerve this man surely had,he kept trying my patience and I could see it....what if we have a meal once a day or sometimes two if things where well off.

We were trying to make a living and you didn't have to rub it in my face,I had big plans with that money and he decided to drop a bomb like that on me,wow it never gets better now does it,I shook my head,stupid cattle,the few seconds I left them to get some fruit in the forest and they destroy someone's garden,damn they were as stubborn as their owners,these are some of the struggles of being born into a very poor family especially in this village.

Another chapter done i hope you enjoy it....I would love your support and comments guys,share it with your friends and vote too....stay safe.