Mr. Somnus (Complete)

8

Lungile is searching for something on the internet. He types in the words Wyatt University. The website page pops up. He clicks on it and enters the website. He sees a montage of pictures of doctors in surgery, patients in hospital gowns receiving treatment and laboratories showing students conducting research. He clicks an icon that says, Medical Fellows and Alumni.

He takes a sip of his beer then scrolls down a long list of names. Try as he might, he cannot find a Rakasha Mandinzwa. He exits that page and clicks the icon marked, Alumni Photos. There are no pictures of Deans. In fact, there are no black people among the alumni at all. He selects the contact details page and looks for a cell phone number. He dials the number on the screen and clears his throat.

After three rings, the other end picks up,

'Good day, Wyatt University,' a pleasant female voice says, 'How may I direct your call?'

'What a lovely voice – if you don't mind my saying! I wonder if you could help me, I'm trying to find an alumnus – he's an old friend of mine.'

'Unfortunately such information is confidential,' is the reply.

'Oh, that's a pity,' Lungile sighs. 'It's a matter of some urgency.'

'Tell you what, give me your email address and I'll mail you the info you want.'

'Would you be such a darling?'

'You're lucky I'm even in the office – we're normally closed on Saturdays. May I have his name, the programme he studied and which year he graduated?'

'It's Rakasha Mandinzwa, a Zimbabwean. He was a medical student... ummm I'm not sure which year though...'

'One moment please... I'm afraid I can't find him in the faculty of medicine, but I do have another R. Mandinzwa in another faculty – of the class of 1993. Might that be the one?'

'Yes, please do.'

'Alright, give me your email address and I'll send you everything I have.'

'Alright, it's l-u-n-g-I-e-m-p-o-f-u at raucous hunting dot com – all small letters.'

'Check your email in the next few minutes.'

'I cannot thank you enough.'

'When are we going for drinks?'

'Whenever that is I'm buying!'

'I'll hold you to that,' the lady chuckles, 'bye.'

'Goodbye.'

An email pops up on the hunter's laptop screen. He opens it and reads through the first line. Lungile slams his beer down on the table and leans forward peering at his computer in disbelief.

'It can't be!' he exclaims.

He scrambles out of his seat and scoops his car keys off the table top. Lungile throws himself into the driver seat of his truck, and quickly dials a number on his mobile phone.

'You can cut the phone after I'm done talking,' he says urgently.

'I won't cut the phone. What's up?' Varaidzo replies.

'It's that doctor.'

'What about him?'

'I've been looking him up and have a bad feeling about him, Vari. I know what you said about him helping mwana but I just feel we should get Minnie away from there right now.'