Читать книгу The Book of the Dead - Kgebetli Moele - Страница 9

Khutso was admitted to the University of the North, but the university didn’t produce medical doctors, so Khutso enrolled to study law. His mother didn’t mind, he was a student at the University of the North and that was all that mattered to her.

The library was the first thing that he wanted to see when he arrived at the university. He had read about libraries – places full of books – and they fascinated him because he had never been inside one. Back at home, before his journey, he had decided that he would read each and every book in the university library.

Following the directions to the library, he soon found himself outside it. He stopped, his excitement growing as he looked at it, wondering how many books – books that he was going to read – were inside.

Inside the library he wanted to scream – his mouth wide open – totally amazed by even the few books that he could see. He covered his mouth with his hand. This wasn’t what he had thought the library would be. He had thought that he would read all the books in the shortest time . . . He had thought that it would be the size of a classroom.

Still smiling, Khutso sank down onto the floor, shaking his head, defeated by his thoughts. “I am in a library,” he said quietly to himself, his eyes filling with tears.

* * *

Later that afternoon Khutso found himself sitting with his roommate, Tshepo, in front of their residential block, carefully observing the student life that they had just joined. There were many beautiful young women at the university, and Khutso looked at them, knowing that Tshepo was doing the same.

“I never had a girlfriend in high school,” Tshepo said, revealing something from his past.

But Khutso didn’t answer him, and so they just sat there, looking at the student life that was passing them by on their first Friday as students of the University of the North.

“I think I should not have a girlfriend here as well,” Tshepo added after some time, but still Khutso did not say anything.

“I think I will just try to be a student one hundred per cent, just like I was a pupil one hundred per cent. I always wanted a girlfriend. I thought about it constantly. But, truthfully, having a girlfriend would mess up my work. She would be a hindrance to my academic advancement.”

“Women, my dear roommate,” Khutso said cryptically.

“Did you have girlfriends in high school?” Tshepo asked.

“I had my fair share,” Khutso lied. “They are nothing, dear roommate, but I see what you’re saying. They can be a problem, and I think I will also take an academic break from the game of breaking hearts, because my dreams are on the line here.”

But before the end of their second week at university Khutso had seen a young woman who stirred something deep inside him. When he looked at her, his heartbeat changed, and the very fact that she made his heart beat faster scared him, which in turn made his heart beat even faster.

The first time he had seen her had been in the lecture hall.

“Sorry, I am late,” she had said, closing the door quietly behind her.

Immediately, the packed hall had gone dead quiet. “What’s your name, young lady?” the lecturer, who had been struggling to gain control of the students, had asked her.

“Pretty,” she replied.