Tod left home that day in a very foul mood. He was so bitter with what Vicky had just done to him. He felt so much humiliated by this "good for nothing girl" as he described her.
"She has no right to reject me! After all, don't I provide for them everything that they need? I am doing them a great favour!" and with that mentality, Tod felt that Vicky was obliged to yield to any demands he had for her. But she had turned him down- not once but twice! And she was not even the slightest bit apologetic. This made Tod even angrier.
He went straight to Ngatis pub and sat on a long stool at the counter. The bar attendant came over to where he was. With a beaming face she spoke to him.
"Welcome back Tod. Long time no see!" she started up the conversation with her once regular customer.
"Yes Tinah, I am here now. Give me my favourite and let me drink in peace. I am in no mood for talks". The attendant seemed to know him so well that she did not speak any further. She only smiled sweetly to him, saying "okay" and fetching Toďs favourite drink. She poured it into a glass and set it before him.
"There you have it my darling! Enjoy your super drink honey!" she said beaming even more. Tod looked at her and snorted. He wanted to speak something to her but closed his mouth as soon as he had just opened them. He knew that reacting to her acts and words would only prolong their "useless" conversation yet he had a more "important" matter to deal with.
"I must teach this girl some manners. She has to know how to treat me! By the time I am through with her she will know who I am in her life!" he spoke under his breath. For many minutes he contemplated on the actions he was going to take against her. As he went over and over again his plan of action, he continued pouring the alcohol from its bottle into his glass and gulping it down. When his anger rose to a higher level he grabbed the bottle from the table and imbibed all its remaining contents in one long shot! Then he smashed the table with his huge hands sending the glass he was using crashing into the floor next to him. Everyone in the drinking den turned and looked at him with unpleasantness.
"Who are you staring at you fools!?" he returned their gazes and spattered towards them. One man at a table not far from his snorted back at him also giving him a very contemptuous look of disdain in his eyes.
"You are the fool in here! Take your drink in peace and leave us alone!" the man added. He seemed so much perturbed than most of the other clients in the joint.
"You vagabond! Who tells you to answer me back!" Tod shouted as he got off his stool and staggered toward the man who had spoken up. Some men stood up from where they were seated. They knew this was culminating into a fight. Enjoying fights as they did, they quickly made room for the two to face each other head on. The man who had answered Tod also stood up, one could tell he was calculating the size of his opponent. Tod was a giant of a man, tall and plumb. His size alone dwarfed the man. Yet this man stood glaringly at Tod and seemed to urge him on. This made Tod even angrier and his slow walk turned into a run as he dashed to hit the man who dared him. He reached him and raised his right hand up, turning into a fist and lowering it, directly aimed at the head.
But the man was as swift as a deer. Hardly had Toďs hands started its descend than he swerved to the side and aimed his blow at Toďs belly. The punch hit him squarely. Tod belched and suddenly doubled over in pain. All the alcohol he had taken gushed out as he threw up all over the floor.
"Argh!! Disgusting!!" the other drinkers complained as he continued belching and making the floor dirty with his spats. The man who had hit him came and stood in front of him. He looked as if he was going to add Tod another blow. In stead he squatted next to him and, looking directly at Tod said;
"Big man huh! Next time you should know your limits! Keep your issues to yourself, you get that!?" he asked Tod as he got up to his feet. Before he left, the man moved to the back of Tod who was still doubling over. The man threw a good kick on Toďs behinds, sending him head first into the dirt he had made on the floor. There were loud booing and sarcastic laughter roaring from all the people in the pub.
"Serves him right!" a customer shouted. Others chipped in with many kinds of comments. On the floor Tod was feeling so humiliated and embarrassed that he wished the ground where he knelt could open up suddenly and swallow him from this ignominy! He was writhing with so great anger coupled with shame that he shook so violently on the floor. When he was thinking of rising up two strong arms suddenly grabbed him and raised him to his feet. He looked from one side to the other and saw that those holding him were the men who offered security at the bar. They had been summoned to restore order. They led Tod out of the pub amidst boos from the revellers.
Outside, Tod looked at himself and turned back to look at the club where he had just been thrown out.
"I was a regular here and you now throw me out! Useless! Stupid!! You are all very useless!" he said in his drunken stupor.
Then he remembered why he had come to the bar in the first place. He wanted to plan on his move to revenge Vicky's behaviour earlier that day. Vicky had smashed in his balls!! Such a painful moment! Then a bar reveller had squarely hit him in the tummy then he had sent him flying into his own mess by kicking his ass! Shame! Terrible shame and defeat in one day! This was too much. He felt like killing somebody that day.
Hanging his head Tod went back home silently. He was bleeding in his heart out of shame. The anger in him built up to revenge.
It was around 7:30 in the evening when he entered the house. Vicky and the two boys were in the living room watching their favourite program on television. They were laughing as one of the characters in the play by the name of Otul had drank too much alcohol and as he stepped on the makeshift bridge he missed and fell into the trench by the roadside. He was immediately covered in the murky waters. The children laughed even more when he tried to sit up and fell back in. It is at that moment that Tod entered the house with light staggering