Gum trees

MIBy Dumisani khumalo*

Lost direction is lost wisdom .The smallest thing loosely hung on their minds like a drone.Mary knew Joe was a host to many lies jamming her interests and she knew he now took her for granted while Joe likewise thought she was blocking his views and what he wanted.

The last time they had been to the spot was when Christmas was playing to the summer heat and they both had been drowsy in the car ,taking in the warming party heat, to liquor of course.

It was also taking them carelessly down to the bottom of their love life and doing two things at once ,like drowsing and driving ,an accident taking the front fender of their car for repair costs and these were a bit higher than their own falling out .It was also as often as in cooking and drinking , the burnt turkey being their first reason to argue over something.The second was squeezing a tube of paste. Her quick quipping tongue making them fail to listen to each other as she expected they had to make some savings fundamentally from an example in the mouth wash tube .It was surreal looking at the real ,while he squished the top of the tube in a bit out of a rush .

It was lackadaisically finding an excuse to say something to each other before the other got the upper hand.

 Finding his prospects was quick when his eyes caught a pearl of a personality in the kitchen drinking a red wine,as everyone sat outside for the air.

He was caught eyeing the short skirts and those long legs of the girl tucking in some trees into some pots.She had him spell bound he did not hear his wife coming in at all and asking him what he was doing there. His

The girl was taken aback.She felt his tone of voice like a nudging arm forcefully getting quickly at her in a language of affection.There was open desire in his eyes that she could not allow,and maybe the alcohol had the better of him ,and his wife who just came in with a temper.

His eyes were watching her long and as lustily making her stop what she was doing.Was he one of those creeps or something,she gave it a thought and moved away to give them some space in case a fight ensued ,while the hosts were in the quail of the noise and confusion taking place , that the party would continue .

The green grass outside before them turned to ember in the sunlight as their lost wisdom turned to things so heated as their red blazing fire .His wife dragged him out on to the grass with her tongue tying him to his crime as her curious illusions burst out like a waterfall , everyone was shocked at the turn of events,and the consternation in such a manner,when they came in looking lively and loving, everyone took the cue ,it was not convincing ,how they had suddenly changed and turned on each other.

The bickering blistering out of his mouth ,was still the shadow of his drooling tongue.It was not faint ,and made his move look bold and brash,it was removing her from the scintillating lovelorn man he had become.

Curiously ,as she watched his tentative steps towards the lady.It was not convincing to try to cool things down ,his horn ,already sounded,made the ferry ,Mary was aware of his egoist mind sounding it for the lady's blossoms.He wanted to be known for the zing of his sting for that six inch love affair ,or was it true?

Incensed with a blow by blow argument that started up in their car ,he was sure to loo

se both women as they were aware of the people s judgemental minds ,and the way the heart wants what it wants.

The bed would be cold and who was not there when the time the hangover cure came ?A woman rots from the head like a fish ,a man from the heart like a dish it seemed to come out of them.

The car ran as she wanted to get home early to iron out his new wild cat ambitions ,as pull down the curtains if she had over reacted and spiked his ire ,as he lamely watched.

Being at the wheel gave you a better seat in the arguments.He had driven before without a doubt taking sights,as she felt chauffeur driven .Now it was a race up the boulevard of Gum trees that had grown ever since they had fallen in love with each other.

He took the land marks ,the habits ,terrain as the rain and winds calling in the traffic.The man he was now had changed to a peckers man it was messing her proud talking to him down .Was she wrong?,She was proud of herself ,and apologies were in order if she read his mind .He gruffed off ,thinking it was giving life to his pride a hole to kill him when the door opened and she asked what he was trying to do.

They could not trust each other anymore she said .So was he out to the bedroom when she followed thinking he was going to take all his clothes and leave the house.

He opened their wardrobe and took out a dress she had worn the day she had been planting trees outside .The gum trees ,and barely did she remember.The dress was exactly the one the woman at the party had worn ,and how blind that she did not see it when the anger got the better of her senses.

Her heart settled and she almost laughed as he reminded her of those beautiful days when they enjoyed each other's company without a fight ,and how he finally proposed to her ,was in that same dress.Tears came down her cheeks as he held her in his arms .All the suspicions over his eyes about those curious occurrences started  dying out in a flash of a second.Their life would never be the same again.

She went to her wardrobe knowing how much her man cared in silence and what was scattered in front of her eyes was bitterness ,selfish and hard to anyone with a sound thinking mind to tolerate.She prayed for forgiveness as he also asked her not to judge him .It was what moved him ,the dress and it is what brought him to the realization that he was not perfect at all .