NK Hatendi

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (43)

43 Stories

760 karma pts

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“The wedding feast” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #93

The wedding committee had been planning for months. The soon to be bride and groom, Sekai and Tinei, attended every meeting with trepidation as the budget skyrocketed and the parents from both sides continued to add new names to the guest list. It was their turn to shine and payback for all the invitations they had accepted in the past. Their philosophy seemed to be 'What's another one or two mouths to feed?' even though Sekai's parents' pockets were not a bottomless pit. The bride's family were not city dwellers and didn't want to look as i...

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“Another shot at life” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #92

Kurai had had enough. All the self-pity was threatening to drown him, and yet he couldn't get out of the mire. His wife had left him some time ago, and his adult children occasionally dropped in, probably more concerned about the family dog's welfare than their father. They never took sides in the arguments before and since the separation. They were mature enough to know that there would be no winners. Kurai still couldn't understand how he had arrived in his current situation, constantly licking his wounds with no end in sight. As a hu...

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“Book of life” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #91

The library doors slid open as Panganayi arrived. He had to time it precisely; otherwise, someone might notice. A trickle of people came in, the eager beavers, including a mother with a pushchair who went straight to the counter to pick up her book on reserve. A pupil in school uniform playing truant from school came in to complete his Literature homework. Panganayi, a regular, headed straight for his favourite spot by the newspaper and magazine stands. None of the library staff had the heart to question why he came in so early every wo...

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“I'm an old baobab tree” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #90

I am the baobab tree that shelters Mbuya Nyatsuro, an old woman whose hut is in the middle of an African compound. The villagers think I am a strange-looking tree, yet I have been their source of life in all seasons for as long as I can remember. Mbuya is a widow who minds her own business in her lean-to hut, resting precariously against my large tree trunk. Children call me all sorts of names, including the ‘upside-down tree’ because when I shed my leaves, I look as if a giant has uprooted and replanted me upside down with my branches resem...

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“The drifter” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #89

JJ had been working up the courage to make the announcement. After a significant redundancy exercise, his former organisation had downsized globally. JJ had only been home a few months, and already he was feeling hemmed in and itching to leave. There was no enticing work locally to speak of, and the novelty of family time was wearing thin. His two siblings were back at work, and his parents were now looking at him with some anxiety, hoping he wasn't going to be jobless for long."Ok, son, we are all seated for this grand announcement. Ma...

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“Smoke and mirrors” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #88

The landline rang early in the morning when Baba and Mai were still eating breakfast. By the time they picked it up, it had stopped. Then Baba's cell phone started buzzing incessantly. "Who is it who has no respect for Bank Holidays? We have only just woken up, and it's Easter Monday," said Baba. "Baba, answer it." Mai was growing impatient.  "It never rings unless there's an emergency." "Hello. Yes. Yes. When?" Baba moved away from the table into the veranda and continued, "Yes, Yes, but we talked to you all yesterday! He never ment...

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“A wicked sense of humour” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #87

Nadia was prepared for anything on April Fool’s Day. Eric, her son, could not be trusted to spend the whole day without coming up with some prank. With his wicked sense of humour, Eric was a man child who never tired of practical jokes. That’s how he was. An only child, who had grown up in a sheltered environment, he struggled to make friends, and his loneliness had resulted in treating his mother as the best toy ever. He had promised his mother a weekend away and knew she loved the scenic drives into the country to visit historic building...

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“Raw wounds” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #86

Heidi arrived at the meeting feeling very self-conscious. She was having second thoughts about whether it had been a good idea to accept the invitation as the guest speaker at the Women in Action club meeting, where she had been a member. Busi, the chairperson, an old school friend, was hard to refuse.As Heidi entered, she was pleasantly surprised by the turnout. The morning tea club meeting was jam-packed. With a few minutes to go, people were still milling absorbed in small talk and picking up their refreshments. Latecomers were hunting fo...

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“Change on the horizon” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #85

The City Hall meeting had been long in preparation and short on funding. But there was no alternative once Zviko had thrown her hat into the ring, rallied by well-wishers, who were unsurprisingly mainly family members. She could make a difference, the township daughter who wanted to give back to her community.Zviko had won a bursary for further education in a prestigious college, away from the slums. The long commute to her new school in the upmarket northern suburbs became an issue, negotiating public transport in the unrelenting early morn...

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“brave new world” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #84

Samantha was one of the most popular radio presenters, vibrant and topical. Her weekly programme on ZBTQ on 99.1 Frequency, broadcasting all over the country, had been a permanent fixture since 2019 when Covid- 19 was on everyone's lips and impacting everyone's lives. The world had been traumatised by the pandemic, and even now, people were not sure that it had died a natural death or was in hibernation. WHO and other reports had been circulated and were now gathering dust on office shelves. Prevalence figures were no longer a talking point,...

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“Tropical paradise” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #83

On arrival at the small airport on the island, the humid heat immediately enveloped me. By the time I passed through Immigration, I was dripping with sweat. My thin blouse was soaked and plastered on my back. I was pleasantly surprised to see my name sign among the sea of faces lined up in the sweltering heat at Arrivals. I didn't remember having booked a shuttle pickup from the airport. However, Iago Hotel, my final destination, had sent a driver. We took a scenic route of winding curves in the tropical paradise. As we parked outside Iago H...

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“The reluctant student” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #82

Our local second-hand charity shop was packed to the brim after the first Covid-19 lockdown when everyone seemed to have been watching TV programmes on decluttering and decided to clean out their homes. People had emptied their knickknacks and dumped them in heaps of black dustbin bags and assorted cardboard boxes at the shop entrance. Inside, the place looked like a junkyard cum hoarders' cabin. Anything and everything was strewn on the floor. I waded through the rows and, surprisingly, found nothing of genuine interest. The ladies behind t...

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“Till death us do part” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #81

Sekuru and Mbuya's routine had changed very little since their wedding on April Fools Day in 1961. Their Diamond Jubilee celebration had snuck upon them. The whole family had kept the secret. So when the couple were told to dress in their Sunday best for a ride that afternoon, they envisaged a few drinks, perhaps a dinner at a nearby restaurant and then back home. They didn't expect to be going to a five-star hotel on the outskirts of town.They knew something was up when they were greeted in the hotel reception area by very excited grandchil...

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“A very peculiar affair” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #80

A few years ago, one November morning, we had a very unforgettable experience. Even before we left school, my friends and I sensed there was something wrong. First, it was the call to school assembly midmorning when we were unexpectedly sent home early and told no idling on the way. When did we ever have lessons cancelled for no apparent reason? Then as we took a short cut through the market, my friend Molly and I knew something was up. There was an unusual eerie silence in the streets usually bustling with shoppers of fruit and vegetab...

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“Mirror, mirror on the wall” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #79

Kundai and Chipo routinely drove in and out of their gated compound in their affluent suburb. Their residence association had built a wire cage on the main road to house their rubbish bags for the municipality refuse collection. The refuse company had become increasingly erratic; whether they forgot to collect, or their vehicles had broken down, or they had no fuel, no-one knew. On those non-collection days, feral dogs would rip open the black rubbish bags as they foraged, leaving the decomposing waste scattered in the street. In the su...

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Author bio

A recent short story writer inspired by a quote from Maya Angelou in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”