Staffrider Vol.5 No.2 1982 - DISA
Staffrider Vol.5 No.2 1982 - DISA
Staffrider Vol.5 No.2 1982 - DISA
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Pikinini's Adventure<br />
by Walt oyiSipho KwaMthetwa Illustrated by Mzwakhe<br />
PIKININI, a young man from the<br />
bundus, was employed by a subcontractor<br />
called Nyambose & Sons<br />
Construction, at Ntuthuko Power<br />
Station. As an illiterate and unskilled<br />
person, he was working as a labourer<br />
and therefore earning a pittance.<br />
4 Ye bo mfowethu,' responded<br />
Pikinini. He stared at the eyes of<br />
the stranger suspiciously, as he<br />
was told that if a man hides his<br />
feelings and intentions, look at<br />
his eyes, they tell the whole<br />
story.<br />
It was dinner-time, the much<br />
dreaded Blue Monday was at least old.<br />
Pikinini searched and found a cool<br />
place near the big tyres which he<br />
adjusted and arranged in such a way<br />
that they formed a sort of an umbrella<br />
which sheltered him against the sharp<br />
burning rays of the midsummer sun.<br />
After meals, he laid down to take a<br />
nap.<br />
'Yebo wethu,' said a voice from a<br />
person who was standing beside him<br />
and gazing at him with fire red eyes,<br />
just as he was about to be taken to<br />
dreamland. He slowly opened his left<br />
eye, then the right, lazily rose to sit<br />
straight up and leaned his back against<br />
the tyres.<br />
'Yebo mfowethu,' responded<br />
Pikinini. He stared at the eyes of the<br />
stranger suspiciously, as he was told<br />
that if a man hides his feelings and<br />
intentions, look at his eyes, they tell<br />
the whole story.<br />
'My name is Mangedla, odl'izimali<br />
zakhe and that man there,' pointing<br />
under a tree, a few metres away, 'is my<br />
friend, his name is Madrom.'<br />
'Ngiyabonga, mine is Pikinini.'<br />
Mangedla then waved, calling<br />
Madrom. Pikinini was then befriended<br />
by those two men of his age.<br />
It was now chaile-time, everybody<br />
collected what belonged to them.<br />
Pikinini collected his skhafuthini too,<br />
and joined a long queue to be clocked<br />
off duty by the time clerk. Mangedla<br />
was behind him.<br />
'Yaze yashaya Pikinini,' commented<br />
Mangedla. Pikinini just grinned and<br />
said nothing.<br />
As the hostel, where they were<br />
accommodated, was not very far from<br />
the power station, it was easy for them<br />
to foot it home. When reaching the<br />
gate of the power station, Pikinini<br />
could not maintain the possibility of<br />
walking beside his companions. The<br />
dubula was too strong for him. The<br />
gate was too small for thousands of<br />
people to go through synchronously.<br />
STAFFRIDER, VOL. 5 NO. 2, <strong>1982</strong> 7
Change language