A jump-start in the night

It was drizzling. The wind blowing harsh, chilly wisps of wind into his face, Bongani regarded just how unfortunate their situation was as he stepped out of Charl's car. He had drawn the shortest straw, and was consequently delegated the task of finding help. Karma, he thought to himself as he made his way to the car that had just pulled up a close distance behind them. He could hear female voices. He doubted that they would have jumper cables, but he thought it best to ask regardless. He and his friends Nhlanhla, MJ and Charl had thought it would be a good idea to drive up to the Setttler's Monument and watch the lights erupt all over their small little town as dusk fell. It had been quite the beautiful end to a long week, he had thought, as Charl sat up and prepared to start his car. It wouldn't start. His car had broken down. Karma.

Mickey never thought that she would ever feel this way again. She was happy. She wished to be no place else, she thought, as she stared down at Grahamstown from the car. She and her best friend Elise had decided that a trip to the Settler's Monument was just what they both needed. There was a light shower falling from the dark clouds which hung low, covering high rooftops with thick layer upon layer of imminent showers. The street and traffic lights below, which shone boldly on clear nights were now blurred flickers of hazy light in the horizon. It was beautiful, she thought. He was beautiful. Elise spoke first.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Mickey didn't answer for a while, so they sat in silence and continued taking in the visage before them. It had never occurred to Mickey just how small Grahamstown really was until then. Too small, she thought, as she turned to her friend intending to smile, but all she managed was a pained grimace.

"Lees," she started, tears welling up in her eyes and slowly beginning to run down her flushed cheeks. "I never thought he would cheat on me. I really thought he meant it when he told me he loved me. I thought that, that perhaps he was the one; that he would be that person in this whole rotting world who would never hurt me. He said he would never hurt me, but he did, Lees! He cheated on me!"

Elise knew how Mickey felt, and yet did not know what to say to her, how to console her. And so she let her cry, and she listened as her friend heaved in one heavy gulp of air after the other between sobs as she wept. She finally decided to at least try say something of use to Mickey, but she stopped short as she noticed a dark black man walking towards their car. Elise did not want to alarm Mickey while she was already in a state, and so she continued watching the man approaching and tried to guess what they could do if he turned out to be trouble. She could not see his face in the dark, but she could see him smiling as he signaled with his hands that he was not a threat to them. Just in case, she decided that being outside - cold as it was - seemed a better defensive choice than staying in the car. She turned on her car lights and turned the volume on louder.

"Let’s dance," she screamed over the pounding music as she opened her door and leaped outside.

They're definitely more afraid of me than I am of them, Bongani thought. Perhaps signaling them wouldn't hurt, he figured. He waved his arms up and down as it occurred to him how silly this possibly looked while doing so. A dancing hijacker in an obscure dream, he mused. He thought back to the conversation he and his friends had been having moments before Charl’s car broke down.

"Guys, am I dreaming?" Nhlanhla asked.

"We're all dreaming," Charl said. "We are all your subconscious. Everything you see, everything, is all in your head."

"You must tell me if I'm dreaming," Nhlanhla stated earnestly. It seemed he was genuinely frightened that this may all be a dream. In part Bongani shared his fear. What if, he often thought, the world as he knew it were all simply a projection, a lie the subconscious told the self to keep it from flying too close to the sun, as it were. His trail of thought was broken when MJ suggested that they headed back home, and that's when the adventure began.

Mickey did not know why, but dancing made sense. She closed her eyes and jumped around singing along to Bruno Mars and dancing in the rain, her auburn hair flailing about. She looked like an angel, Elise thought as she watched her friend dancing while keeping an eye on the approaching stranger. She turned to face him just as he came into focus.

"Hello," Mickey shouted at the stranger as she suddenly saw him approaching. "Come dance with me!" She said, and he started laughing.

"Hi," he said, beaming. He turned his attention to Elise and spoke to her. She seemed to be the one running the show. "Our car broke down and I was wondering if perhaps you had a jumper cable?"

Elise had not expected him to sound so sweet. She smiled at him, now convinced that he was not a threat to them. She looked at the car behind him and thought of how unfortunate these guys were. As beautiful as the view of Grahamstown was, it was drizzling quite hard now and there was a strong, cold breeze in the air. Definitely not the best of nights to break down in the middle of nowhere, she regarded.

"I'm not sure," Elise said earnestly. "Let's check?"

"Let’s!" he beamed. "Oh, I'm Bongani, by the way."

"Oh, I'm Elise and my friend over there is Mickey," Elise said.

"I just got cheated on," Mickey blurted out and continued dancing in the rain.

Unfortunately they didn't have a jumper cable on them. However they did bring a sense of aesthetic relief to Bongani. He returned to Charl's car and broke the news that they didn't have any jumper cables. Bongani could not get Mickey's first words off his mind. He wound down his window and stared out at Elise and Mickey dancing in the drizzle. They were beautiful. Mickey was beautiful. He wondered what sort of person could break someone so beautiful's heart. He thought of Elise. Her hazel eyes. Her frizzy, dark hair. Her dimple as she smiled. He stared out and wished he could join them, but it did not seem right to impose on their sacred moment. He considered the ritualistic nature of what they were doing; dancing in the rain in the hopes of freeing their souls from the pain of reality.

"Sorry, do you guys have a lighter?" Elise asked, interrupting Bongani's stream of thought. He mumbled something incoherent, and when noticing that they probably had not heard him, he lifted it outside the car window and motioned for one of them to come and get it. Elise came forward, and his heart stopped. She was beautiful.

"Thank you," she said as she lit her cigarette and took a long drag. "You know, we can give you guys a ride back down to campus so you can find help?"

"I'm going to stay with the car, so you guys can go," Charl said and motioned to Bongani, Nhlanhla and MJ. None wished to leave, but they realized that one of them had to. Bongani volunteered.

What were the odds, Bongangi contemplated, that he wasn't the elephant in the room, as it were. He sat back and fastened his seat belt. Conversation was far and in between, but he didn't really mind it. He was enjoying it, if anything. Being in a moving car with two beautiful women listening to really unpleasant music and traveling haphazardly down the steep drive from the Settler's Monument. It all seemed adventurous to him. His mission was simple: find someone with jumper cables.

The car stopped outside Bongani's apartment. He sincerely thanked his two hosts and made his way through the gate and up the stairs.

"That was really cool," Mickey said as she and Elise drove off.