The tide was coming in. The waves rolling across the sea, causing its glassy surface to undulate periodically. They came in fast, crashing onto the sandy beaches with a loud roar that usually startled city dwellers who came to the coast to laze off their troubles. Matthias was one of those city dwellers that day. He was on holiday for the first time in his life. The fruits of his labour were truly sweet.
And yet, all he could think about was the two women in his life.Most men would love to be in his place, two beautiful women literally offering themselves to him on a silver platter. But for Matthias, it was driving him nuts. Tanya was constantly attentive, fantastic in bed and her usual entrancing self; so much so that he was beginning to remember how good the old times were.
As all this went on in his head, he watched as Kim swam and played in the ocean. From his vantage point on the seawall of the hotel, he was awed by Kim's beauty. He couldn't understand why after being with her for two and a half months, her beauty still cast an overpowering spell on him. Maybe the phrase 'drop-dead gorgeous' had been made especially for her.
Matthias continued to think about other choice phrases to describe Kim.Just then, she got out of the ocean and walked up the beach to the seawall. " What're you laughing at all by your winking lonesome?" Kim inquired as she grabbed the towel Matthias had been holding for her.
"Nothing much. Just trying to put words to your ravishing looks in my head," he replied, at her. Kim shook her hair, sending drops of saltwater his way." Hey, don't drown me! The ocean has dibs on that opportunity!" Matthias joked as he moved away quickly. Kim snatched up two handfuls of wet sand and threw them at him. He dodged them and threw back a handful.They chased each other all over the beachfront with handfuls of sand, ignoring disgruntled tourists and old ladies sunbathing. It felt ridiculously like a scene from a cheesy romance flick, but he didn't care. He was with Kim, and that was all that mattered.
Wait a minute, he thought, rudely pulled out of his blissful reverie. Was he seeing double? He was trying to wrap his head around the fact that...that...there were TWO Kims on the beach. And the other one was making her way towards them. He was frozen in puzzlement. The only difference between them was Kim, his Kim, had silver green eyes, while the...impersonator's, as she came closer, he noticed, were a deep, beautiful shade of lilac-grey. Beautiful, but sinister.
Kim number two covered Kim's eyes. Matthias resisted his alpha male protective instincts to tackle her to the ground. "Guess who?" she purred silkily as Kim froze.
" Um...gimme a clue at least..." Kim said as she felt the fingers on her eyes.
" England, Ireland..." Kim number two started to sing a nursery rhyme.
" Scotland, Wales! Kayla!" squealed Kim as she tore off Kim number two's - Kayla's - hands. They embraced excitedly.
Kayla?...
" Oh my goodness! You've grown so big so fast! How've you been? And who is the hunk of man?" asked Kayla as she gave Matthias an appreciative once-over with her eyes.
" This is my hunk of man. His name is Matthias. Babe, meet my long lost sister Kayla," Kim said as she stepped over to Matthias and wrapped her arms around him.
" Mmhmm, girl, your taste so got better with time!" They both laughed. " So what're y'all doing here?"
" We're on holiday. Matthias planned a romantic getaway just for us." Kim replied as she looked into Matthias' eyes, the love evident in her voice.
Matthias in the meantime was still dumbstruck. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He couldn't even raise his hands to rub his eyes. There were suddenly a whole lot of questions that needed answering. The conversation continued to pass over him.
" So sis, where are you staying?"
" At the Sai Rock. You?"
" We're in the same hotel! What a coincidence!" said Kim excitedly. Yeah right, thought Matthias.
" Shall we head there and have a drink?" Kayla suggested as she turned in the direction of the hotel.
" Great! Let's just get our stuff." They walked up the beach, ladies chatting and Matthias in tow.
" Does your man have a voice of his own or is he a silent surprise?" joked Kayla as they sat down at the bar.
" Tongue-tied by our beauty, I guess." They laughed, The exact same laugh. "I need to go to the ladies'. Be right back-get acquainted, you two." Kim got up, winked at Matthias and left.
Kayla contemplated him silently, sipping her apple martini. He stared at his sandaled feet. " You know," she finally said, " you're a terrible actor."
" You're a terrible surprise."
" Ah, the tomb speaks. We all have secrets."
" You more than some?"
" Touchy, aren't we."
" I just want answers."
" Which you will get if you can at least keep your cool. I thoufht in our line of work you would have learnt how by now.You and I know about that night. You want to protect my precious little sister? Then get a grip, you moron. Ah, Kim." She was back. " We were just talking about you." Kayla smiled.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Episode 3
The old mansion sat in between the rolling hills of the countryside. A long winding driveway leading to the house, where the royals of yore had driven their prancing horses up to the mansion had lost its pristine glory. The gravel was overgrown with weeds and grasses; the brazen lampposts that lined the driveway green with age and the once white glass globes above them broken and brown with layers of dust. Mathias noticed all this in the moonlight that intermittently flooded the opening where the mansion was.
‘Thank God for clouds’ he thought as he snuck up to the house in the shadows the aged trees surrounding it made. ‘Another day. Another dollar. Another night, another nickel? Corny.”
That night was not unlike other nights. In fact, it was more ordinary than most. All he had to do was get in, look for valuables if any, and then as usual, burn the house down. Or rather, burn the mansion down as it was in that case. His employer needed the property declared condemned so he could buy it at a throwaway price and develop it- in other words, make a killing. All in a day’s work.
After a thorough search of the house, Mathias came up with nothing. What looked like an antique cabinet turned into a decrepit ruin once he touché it. It fell apart even before he could open one of the drawers. Just as he was about to begin the work of setting the explosives, Mathias heard a sound. ‘Damnit. Someone’s here’ Steathily, he hid in the shadows. Light footsteps came up the stairs, sounding like they also had something to hide. A slight figure crept into the room. It walked the window, put down a bag and began to assemble something. A shaft of moonlight coming in through a broken skylight in the ceiling caught a lock of thick hair falling in sensual waves.
“Kim?” he said incredulously “What the hell are you doing here?”
His voice startled the figure. The figure turned around to get a look at who was talking. The shaft of moonlight illuminated the figure’s face; the beautiful features were Kim’s. In a heartbeat, the woman turned around and jumped out of a nearby window.
‘Kim!” Mathias screamed as he ran to the window. He looked down, expecting to see her in a pool of blood. To his surprise, he saw nothing there. Looking towards the tree line, he saw a quickly retreating figure disappear into the shadows of the trees.
Mathias stood there for more than five minutes, dumbstruck by what had just transpired. He tried to process the events but they just refused to fall into place. He continued doing his work on the house with a half a mind. The other half was preoccupied with what happened in that room. Within ten minutes, he had wired up a pyrotechnic explosion which would leave no traces and incinerate the mansion. He walked out of the mansion, into the shade of a nearby tree then pushed the button that set off a series of dull explosions that soon turned the house into a towering column of orange-red flames. As Mathias crept away through the forest, his mind turning over and over again as he tried to comprehend what has happened, the sound of fire engines could be heard in the distance.
‘Maybe it wasn’t her I saw. Maybe…NO!” Thoughts ran through his mind as Mathias walked to the small motel where he had parked his car. There was no way he could have mistaken that face for someone else’s. The face that had been in his thoughts incessantly for the past three months? No way. He felt betrayed. She was hiding some part of her life from him. Ironic, since he had been doing the same. So what was the point of something so beautiful but based on lies? He needed to talk to her. But not just yet. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number so familiar he could do it with his eyes closed.
“Hello…Tanya? Can you come over to my place in like half an hour?” There was a pregnant pause. He could practically hear the wheels turning. “Sure.” Click. He would talk to Kim the next day.
They met 45 minutes later at Mathias’ place. Not a word was exchanged between them. From the moment that she walked in the door, their lips locked and the two fell on the couch in a passionate embrace. From then on, the scenario played itself out like an old romance novel. The next morning, Mathias realized his mistake when he woke up with Tanya lying in the bed with her head on his chest. He immediately regretted calling her and doing all that they had done the whole night. He wished he had given himself time to find out the truth before acting brashly. Mathias jumped out of the bed, waking Tanya in the process.
“That was brilliant baby” Tanya said as she got out of bed and put on a robe. She walked over to Mathias, who was looking at himself in the dressing table mirror, and wrapped her hands around his wide shoulders. “We should do this more often” she said in a seductive tone as she rubbed his bare shoulders and played with his hair.
“Tanya, I…” he was lost for words. It was brilliant and he knew it. She did that thing that she always did back in the day and it drove him as crazy as it always did…it was as if nothing at all had changed. But there was Kim. He tried again, “I don’t think…”
“Hush”, Tanya said as she placed a finger on his lips. “Listen, I know I hurt you. And…” her eyes clouded with tears as she remembered. “I can’t explain why I did what I did. Not right now anyway. But one day I promise you, I’ll tell you. I want to be with you.” She kissed him and held him close. “I’m not going to lose you again.” She then proceeded to help him forget everything except her.
Mathias walked into class an hour and forty minutes later. He was late again, but it had stopped bothering him a long time ago whether or not he made it to class in time. “That’s what tape recorders were made for” he mused as he exchanged silent hellos with his comrades. They would furnish him with a copy of the tape they were recording the day’s lecture on, at a cost of course. He reached into his pocket to get his IPod to listen to some music and came up with air. ‘Damn. Must have left in my room when I was rushing to make it for class.’ He thought s he settled in to listen to the lecturer droning on and on about the Kenyan economy.
At lunch time, he strolled to the cafeteria and bought a heavy lunch. He sat alone in a corner, eating slowly as he mulled over the tumultuous night he had the night before. As his mind wandered, he didn’t notice the slight figure sneaking up on him. All of a sudden, a pair of perfumed hands covered his eyes.
“Guess who?” a melodious voice purred. The auditory orgasm, unmistakable in its 16.7 million colors. “
“It must be a figment of my imagination.” Mathias replied as he slowly removed the hands from his eyes, holding them in his own as he stood up. He turned around and received a long, passionate kiss from her. While he recovered from it, she looked lovingly at him, her hands still clasped within his.
Mathias led Kim to the seat opposite his on the table and pulled out the chair for her.
“You’re such a gentleman” she commented as she sat down. Mathias went back to his own seat and sat.
“So how was your yester night?” Kim asked as she settled into the chair.
“Normal. Did some work and it was kinda difficult but I survived.” Mathias replied in a joking tone as he tried to mask the fear that had begun welling up inside him.
“So where were you yesterday?” He asked as he looked straight at Kim, searching her eyes for a glimmer which would confirm or dispel his fear. Kim looked straight at him and answered “I was stuck in bed with a bad migraine, remember I called you and told you about it?”
It was then that it hit Mathias that she had called him before he left for the mansion.
“Why are you asking honey? Something you not telling me?” Kim asked as she took his hand off the table with both her hands and started stroking it. He had been nervously tapping the table. ‘I saw you in the mansion yesterday and you aren’t even hurt after jumping out a second story window’ he said in his head as he said out loud “No. It’s nothing. Just thought I saw you on my way home”
So who was it he saw at the mansion?
‘Thank God for clouds’ he thought as he snuck up to the house in the shadows the aged trees surrounding it made. ‘Another day. Another dollar. Another night, another nickel? Corny.”
That night was not unlike other nights. In fact, it was more ordinary than most. All he had to do was get in, look for valuables if any, and then as usual, burn the house down. Or rather, burn the mansion down as it was in that case. His employer needed the property declared condemned so he could buy it at a throwaway price and develop it- in other words, make a killing. All in a day’s work.
After a thorough search of the house, Mathias came up with nothing. What looked like an antique cabinet turned into a decrepit ruin once he touché it. It fell apart even before he could open one of the drawers. Just as he was about to begin the work of setting the explosives, Mathias heard a sound. ‘Damnit. Someone’s here’ Steathily, he hid in the shadows. Light footsteps came up the stairs, sounding like they also had something to hide. A slight figure crept into the room. It walked the window, put down a bag and began to assemble something. A shaft of moonlight coming in through a broken skylight in the ceiling caught a lock of thick hair falling in sensual waves.
“Kim?” he said incredulously “What the hell are you doing here?”
His voice startled the figure. The figure turned around to get a look at who was talking. The shaft of moonlight illuminated the figure’s face; the beautiful features were Kim’s. In a heartbeat, the woman turned around and jumped out of a nearby window.
‘Kim!” Mathias screamed as he ran to the window. He looked down, expecting to see her in a pool of blood. To his surprise, he saw nothing there. Looking towards the tree line, he saw a quickly retreating figure disappear into the shadows of the trees.
Mathias stood there for more than five minutes, dumbstruck by what had just transpired. He tried to process the events but they just refused to fall into place. He continued doing his work on the house with a half a mind. The other half was preoccupied with what happened in that room. Within ten minutes, he had wired up a pyrotechnic explosion which would leave no traces and incinerate the mansion. He walked out of the mansion, into the shade of a nearby tree then pushed the button that set off a series of dull explosions that soon turned the house into a towering column of orange-red flames. As Mathias crept away through the forest, his mind turning over and over again as he tried to comprehend what has happened, the sound of fire engines could be heard in the distance.
‘Maybe it wasn’t her I saw. Maybe…NO!” Thoughts ran through his mind as Mathias walked to the small motel where he had parked his car. There was no way he could have mistaken that face for someone else’s. The face that had been in his thoughts incessantly for the past three months? No way. He felt betrayed. She was hiding some part of her life from him. Ironic, since he had been doing the same. So what was the point of something so beautiful but based on lies? He needed to talk to her. But not just yet. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number so familiar he could do it with his eyes closed.
“Hello…Tanya? Can you come over to my place in like half an hour?” There was a pregnant pause. He could practically hear the wheels turning. “Sure.” Click. He would talk to Kim the next day.
They met 45 minutes later at Mathias’ place. Not a word was exchanged between them. From the moment that she walked in the door, their lips locked and the two fell on the couch in a passionate embrace. From then on, the scenario played itself out like an old romance novel. The next morning, Mathias realized his mistake when he woke up with Tanya lying in the bed with her head on his chest. He immediately regretted calling her and doing all that they had done the whole night. He wished he had given himself time to find out the truth before acting brashly. Mathias jumped out of the bed, waking Tanya in the process.
“That was brilliant baby” Tanya said as she got out of bed and put on a robe. She walked over to Mathias, who was looking at himself in the dressing table mirror, and wrapped her hands around his wide shoulders. “We should do this more often” she said in a seductive tone as she rubbed his bare shoulders and played with his hair.
“Tanya, I…” he was lost for words. It was brilliant and he knew it. She did that thing that she always did back in the day and it drove him as crazy as it always did…it was as if nothing at all had changed. But there was Kim. He tried again, “I don’t think…”
“Hush”, Tanya said as she placed a finger on his lips. “Listen, I know I hurt you. And…” her eyes clouded with tears as she remembered. “I can’t explain why I did what I did. Not right now anyway. But one day I promise you, I’ll tell you. I want to be with you.” She kissed him and held him close. “I’m not going to lose you again.” She then proceeded to help him forget everything except her.
Mathias walked into class an hour and forty minutes later. He was late again, but it had stopped bothering him a long time ago whether or not he made it to class in time. “That’s what tape recorders were made for” he mused as he exchanged silent hellos with his comrades. They would furnish him with a copy of the tape they were recording the day’s lecture on, at a cost of course. He reached into his pocket to get his IPod to listen to some music and came up with air. ‘Damn. Must have left in my room when I was rushing to make it for class.’ He thought s he settled in to listen to the lecturer droning on and on about the Kenyan economy.
At lunch time, he strolled to the cafeteria and bought a heavy lunch. He sat alone in a corner, eating slowly as he mulled over the tumultuous night he had the night before. As his mind wandered, he didn’t notice the slight figure sneaking up on him. All of a sudden, a pair of perfumed hands covered his eyes.
“Guess who?” a melodious voice purred. The auditory orgasm, unmistakable in its 16.7 million colors. “
“It must be a figment of my imagination.” Mathias replied as he slowly removed the hands from his eyes, holding them in his own as he stood up. He turned around and received a long, passionate kiss from her. While he recovered from it, she looked lovingly at him, her hands still clasped within his.
Mathias led Kim to the seat opposite his on the table and pulled out the chair for her.
“You’re such a gentleman” she commented as she sat down. Mathias went back to his own seat and sat.
“So how was your yester night?” Kim asked as she settled into the chair.
“Normal. Did some work and it was kinda difficult but I survived.” Mathias replied in a joking tone as he tried to mask the fear that had begun welling up inside him.
“So where were you yesterday?” He asked as he looked straight at Kim, searching her eyes for a glimmer which would confirm or dispel his fear. Kim looked straight at him and answered “I was stuck in bed with a bad migraine, remember I called you and told you about it?”
It was then that it hit Mathias that she had called him before he left for the mansion.
“Why are you asking honey? Something you not telling me?” Kim asked as she took his hand off the table with both her hands and started stroking it. He had been nervously tapping the table. ‘I saw you in the mansion yesterday and you aren’t even hurt after jumping out a second story window’ he said in his head as he said out loud “No. It’s nothing. Just thought I saw you on my way home”
So who was it he saw at the mansion?
Episode 2
The rays of the dawn filtering in through the leaves of the tree outside his window, dancing on the wall opposite his bed reminded Mathias of the image the word ‘fairy’ conjured in his mind. With a start, he thought out aloud ‘Wait a minute, is it morning already?’ Uttering a colorful expletive, he leapt out of bed and dashed in to the shower.
By the time he got to class, only 45 minutes remained until its end. He slipped into the back of the lecture hall, got a seat in a partly hidden spot then tried to catch up. Fortunately, in UON, the lecturers never took attendance so he would not be penalized for coming in late.
“Girl I’m in love with you, but this ain’t no honeymoon…” The words of his favorite John Legend song played in Mathias’ head repeatedly. He felt the urge to listen to the song, so he pulled out his MP3 player, plugged in the earphones and slipped one into his left ear. As the soulful melodies floated in, his mind wandered to the events of the past few days. He could not believe that a week had passed since that fateful night that he had met Kim. Time had flown by so fast.
He chuckled to himself a bit when he remembered what happened the day after their first meeting.
Mathias had called Kim that evening on the premise of arranging a way for him to get his coat back. Of course, it ended up being some kind of an unofficial date. It turned out absolutely disastrous. They agreed to go to an out-of-the way Chinese joint where the chef cooked the food in front of you. When they arrived at the restaurant, they could not find a place to park Kim’s car, which forced them to park what seemed like a kilometer away and walk back to the restaurant. When Mathias was getting out of the car, his pants were caught in the door and the right side was ripped. When they got to the restaurant, they had to wait for about 45 minutes to get a table because the place was full to the brim. 20 minutes later, when their food was finally ready, Kim’s hair got in the way of one of the candles… they decided to bow to Destiny’s will and leave. After that, the night got better, especially when they went to Tamasha.
Mathias smiled, then frowned almost immediately as the next song began playing-Killing me Softly, Tanya’s favorite song. Tanya was Mathias’ proverbial thorn in the side. She was the splinter that dug itself deeper, the harder you tried to get it out. They had gone out for a long time way back when Mathias was a freshman. At the time, she was in the third year. Mathias had thought he was so cool because he had an older chick while his contemporaries were fighting with the older students for the scarce resource of freshmen girls.
Their relationship, more of a fling than anything, lasted longer than either of them expected it to. He knew that she stayed on because the loving was too good. A mischievous grin came to his lips as he remembered how they would start in the kitchen, move to the living room, the bedroom, then finish in the shower.
So why had he stayed? Granted, she was a vixen, and her touch sent shock waves up his spine to his brain. Yet… there had been something there. Or so he thought.
One morning, after a particularly passionate night at her place, Tanya turned to him and smiled that languid sexy smile.
“Was it good”, she asked as she ran her polished nails on his bare chest. He laughed to cover his discomfort. He hated being asked.
“Why do you ask?” he asked in reply. Tanya got up and began dressing.
“Coz it was the last time” she replied as she wiggled into her jeans.
Mathias remembered bolting out of bed, throwing his clothes on quickly and walking out without a word to her. She did not even try to follow him out and explain anything. That marked the end of that torrid relationship. Tanya still called him once in a while when she was feeling particularly lonely. Mathias never did like booty calls so he never did reply to her advances.
All that was in the past now so Mathias put Tanya out of his thought sand began thinking of his lunch date with Kim. That date was to be official date number one. He hoped that Murphy’s Laws would take a break so that he could enjoy the food and Kim’s company at that new pizza place where they had agreed to meet. At that point, the lecture ended and the silent lecture hall erupted into a cacophony of desks moving, people shouting and chatting as they left the hall in groups. Mathias walked out alone as he thought about Kim. He just could not keep his mind off her any more. Her hair reminded him of the ocean waves as the tide came in at a brilliant seaside sunset. Her eyes like two incandescent pools of expression and emotion…
“Excuse me, Mathias? Hi, my name is John. Sorry to hear about Mr. Njuguna. He was one of my favorite lecturers. Si I’ll see you around?”
The voice passed as quickly as it came. Mathias’ bubble of love and happiness broke like a watermelon that a hippopotamus sat on. He came crashing back into reality, with lead weights to tie him down. His secret was finally out.
Mr. Njuguna had been Mathias’ boss. Though he was in university, Mathias has a couple of things that he did on the side. Some of them weren’t exactly pleasant. They could even be called unsavory or seedy- in other words, they might not hold up under a moral microscope.
Mathias and a couple of his friends had formed a ‘club’ when they were second year students. This ‘club’ took care of things that people didn’t want to take care of by themselves. They were mercenaries for hire.
That night when Mr. Njuguna died, Mathias was with him. It was the night he had met Kim. Only he knew the full story behind Mr. Njuguna’s death. This is why he would never tell his club mates the truth.
By the time he got to class, only 45 minutes remained until its end. He slipped into the back of the lecture hall, got a seat in a partly hidden spot then tried to catch up. Fortunately, in UON, the lecturers never took attendance so he would not be penalized for coming in late.
“Girl I’m in love with you, but this ain’t no honeymoon…” The words of his favorite John Legend song played in Mathias’ head repeatedly. He felt the urge to listen to the song, so he pulled out his MP3 player, plugged in the earphones and slipped one into his left ear. As the soulful melodies floated in, his mind wandered to the events of the past few days. He could not believe that a week had passed since that fateful night that he had met Kim. Time had flown by so fast.
He chuckled to himself a bit when he remembered what happened the day after their first meeting.
Mathias had called Kim that evening on the premise of arranging a way for him to get his coat back. Of course, it ended up being some kind of an unofficial date. It turned out absolutely disastrous. They agreed to go to an out-of-the way Chinese joint where the chef cooked the food in front of you. When they arrived at the restaurant, they could not find a place to park Kim’s car, which forced them to park what seemed like a kilometer away and walk back to the restaurant. When Mathias was getting out of the car, his pants were caught in the door and the right side was ripped. When they got to the restaurant, they had to wait for about 45 minutes to get a table because the place was full to the brim. 20 minutes later, when their food was finally ready, Kim’s hair got in the way of one of the candles… they decided to bow to Destiny’s will and leave. After that, the night got better, especially when they went to Tamasha.
Mathias smiled, then frowned almost immediately as the next song began playing-Killing me Softly, Tanya’s favorite song. Tanya was Mathias’ proverbial thorn in the side. She was the splinter that dug itself deeper, the harder you tried to get it out. They had gone out for a long time way back when Mathias was a freshman. At the time, she was in the third year. Mathias had thought he was so cool because he had an older chick while his contemporaries were fighting with the older students for the scarce resource of freshmen girls.
Their relationship, more of a fling than anything, lasted longer than either of them expected it to. He knew that she stayed on because the loving was too good. A mischievous grin came to his lips as he remembered how they would start in the kitchen, move to the living room, the bedroom, then finish in the shower.
So why had he stayed? Granted, she was a vixen, and her touch sent shock waves up his spine to his brain. Yet… there had been something there. Or so he thought.
One morning, after a particularly passionate night at her place, Tanya turned to him and smiled that languid sexy smile.
“Was it good”, she asked as she ran her polished nails on his bare chest. He laughed to cover his discomfort. He hated being asked.
“Why do you ask?” he asked in reply. Tanya got up and began dressing.
“Coz it was the last time” she replied as she wiggled into her jeans.
Mathias remembered bolting out of bed, throwing his clothes on quickly and walking out without a word to her. She did not even try to follow him out and explain anything. That marked the end of that torrid relationship. Tanya still called him once in a while when she was feeling particularly lonely. Mathias never did like booty calls so he never did reply to her advances.
All that was in the past now so Mathias put Tanya out of his thought sand began thinking of his lunch date with Kim. That date was to be official date number one. He hoped that Murphy’s Laws would take a break so that he could enjoy the food and Kim’s company at that new pizza place where they had agreed to meet. At that point, the lecture ended and the silent lecture hall erupted into a cacophony of desks moving, people shouting and chatting as they left the hall in groups. Mathias walked out alone as he thought about Kim. He just could not keep his mind off her any more. Her hair reminded him of the ocean waves as the tide came in at a brilliant seaside sunset. Her eyes like two incandescent pools of expression and emotion…
“Excuse me, Mathias? Hi, my name is John. Sorry to hear about Mr. Njuguna. He was one of my favorite lecturers. Si I’ll see you around?”
The voice passed as quickly as it came. Mathias’ bubble of love and happiness broke like a watermelon that a hippopotamus sat on. He came crashing back into reality, with lead weights to tie him down. His secret was finally out.
Mr. Njuguna had been Mathias’ boss. Though he was in university, Mathias has a couple of things that he did on the side. Some of them weren’t exactly pleasant. They could even be called unsavory or seedy- in other words, they might not hold up under a moral microscope.
Mathias and a couple of his friends had formed a ‘club’ when they were second year students. This ‘club’ took care of things that people didn’t want to take care of by themselves. They were mercenaries for hire.
That night when Mr. Njuguna died, Mathias was with him. It was the night he had met Kim. Only he knew the full story behind Mr. Njuguna’s death. This is why he would never tell his club mates the truth.
Episode 1
This is what happens when you put 2 bored creatives in the back bench in Murej's class...
It was a moonless night. The weak light of the star field above could do nothing to dispel the oppressive darkness that enveloped every nook and cranny available. The forefathers would have called that an omen of course.
Mathias was the kind of man who didn’t care much for omens and old wives tales. He trekked through the night, silent like the darkness. In his mind he was thinking about the events of the day gone by. He wondered if he or any of his classmates deserved the news that he was going to deliver when he got to his hostel room. What an omen it was.
A dark blue sedan slipped through the darkness, lights switched off. Hadn’t it been for the low roar of its powerful engine, Mathias would have lost a limb or two or his life. He jumped off the road into a ditch just in time as the car flew by. As he struggled to get up out of the ditch, cursing under his breath the whole time, he heard the screech of tires on blacktop, door open and slam shut.
“Are you ok? I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” He heard a voice akin to an auditory orgasm, sparks and all, say. As he climbed out of the ditch, the voice got a body. In the dim light of the brakes on her car, he marveled at the legs and the curves. Regardless of the fact that he could barely see her, he could tell that she was no plain Jane. Her dark hair fell in sensual waves around her face, hiding it within.
“Umm, excuse me. Are you okay?” she ventured again. He realized that he had been staring at her the whole time. He smiled.
“I’m fine. Just a small knock on the head. Nothing life threatening really.” ‘Stop babbling you fool’ he thought to himself.
“Well, can I at least give you a ride somewhere? A hospital maybe?” she asked, the concern sounding in her voice.
“I guess that you can give me a lift to my place. That’s where I was heading.” Mathias replied.
“Ok, jump into my car and give me the directions.” She replied, her tone of voice changing as relief set in.
In the dim light emanating from the dashboard of the car, her ethereal beauty captured Mathias. He couldn’t help but stare.
“My name is Kim by the way.” She said, trying to break the ominous silence that had enveloped the inside of the car.
“My name is Mathias by the way.”
“Sorry again for almost running you over. I don’t know what I was thinking driving without my lights on.”
“It’s ok. A small knock on the head is good for a man.” Mathias joked. She burst into giggles, her laughter sounding like an exotic waterfall in a faraway paradise. Mathias liked it.
“So where is this I am taking you?” Kim asked as she turned to look at him.
“The…the…the University of Nairobi hostels on Waiyaki way.” He stuttered, caught off guard by her striking beauty.
“Oh, so you’re a student?”
“Yes I am. Third year Economics.’
“You don’t say! Which classes do you take?…”
The conversation went on till the dark blue sedan pulled up outside Mathias’ hostel, the sound of gravel thrown up by its wide tires clattering against the foliage in front of the hostel breaking the stillness of the night. By then, Mathias had learnt that Kim was one of his classmates, albeit she was an evening student. During the day she worked at an advertising agency as a creative director.
“Umm…umm… Guess I’ll see you around?” Mathias asked as he got out of the car.
“I guess so. Sure” Kim answered.
With that, Mathias closed the car door and as it pulled away, he jerked himself out of a daydream and almost tripped over a bottle that was lying on the driveway. As always, hw had forgotten to ask for her number and he was dreaming of what would transpire if she suddenly turned her car around and came back. He turned and walked up to the door, reaching into his jacket pocket to get his room key. His hand grasped only cold air. Mathias quickly racked his brain, wondering where he might have left his jacket. That was when it hit him. He had forgotten his jacket in Kim’s car.
The next morning, life went on as usual. Mathias went on with his daily activities, but two things remained engraved on the fabric of his mind: his secret announcement and his chance encounter of the night before. He couldn’t forget her eyes. He couldn’t deceive himself that he wasn’t thinking about her. He would surreptitiously look carefully at every female who crossed his path and start every time a wave of dark hair caught his eye.
“Hi.” The auditory orgasm again, this time in Technicolor. In the light of the morning sun, Kim was even more beautiful than he could imagine. She made her way up to him, her smile dimming the sun’s rays. She opened her arms and gave Mathias a great big hug, shocking him once more.
“That was unexpected.” He remarked as he tried to regain his composure.
“I didn’t think we would meet again this soon. You forgot your coat in my car yester night. I was worried that you would freeze to death without it by the time I saw you again.” Kim said as she ran her hand along his shirt. The shy grin on her face confirmed her honesty.
“Then this must be my lucky day.” Mathias replied, great hallelujahs going off in his mind. “Was that an angel’s chorus? Nope, just an angel talking” he thought to himself.
“So I should get your number” Kim said as she pulled out her phone from her handbag.
“Huh?” Mathias was struck dumb by the fact that she was asking for his number.
‘Wait. It’s so that I can get my coat. Right.” He mused in his mind.
“You have class right now?” he asked.
“I’m late actually.” Kim replied. Again, the brilliant smile. Mathias had to remind his legs not to crumple under him. He gave her his number and said, “Flash me so that I can get yours.”
“I’ll talk to you as soon as I get out of class.” Kim said as she turned and walked off quickly towards the lecture halls. Mathias’ phone vibrated as she walked away. He took it out of his pocket with a smile, and then did a double take. Wait a minute, Tanya?
It was a moonless night. The weak light of the star field above could do nothing to dispel the oppressive darkness that enveloped every nook and cranny available. The forefathers would have called that an omen of course.
Mathias was the kind of man who didn’t care much for omens and old wives tales. He trekked through the night, silent like the darkness. In his mind he was thinking about the events of the day gone by. He wondered if he or any of his classmates deserved the news that he was going to deliver when he got to his hostel room. What an omen it was.
A dark blue sedan slipped through the darkness, lights switched off. Hadn’t it been for the low roar of its powerful engine, Mathias would have lost a limb or two or his life. He jumped off the road into a ditch just in time as the car flew by. As he struggled to get up out of the ditch, cursing under his breath the whole time, he heard the screech of tires on blacktop, door open and slam shut.
“Are you ok? I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” He heard a voice akin to an auditory orgasm, sparks and all, say. As he climbed out of the ditch, the voice got a body. In the dim light of the brakes on her car, he marveled at the legs and the curves. Regardless of the fact that he could barely see her, he could tell that she was no plain Jane. Her dark hair fell in sensual waves around her face, hiding it within.
“Umm, excuse me. Are you okay?” she ventured again. He realized that he had been staring at her the whole time. He smiled.
“I’m fine. Just a small knock on the head. Nothing life threatening really.” ‘Stop babbling you fool’ he thought to himself.
“Well, can I at least give you a ride somewhere? A hospital maybe?” she asked, the concern sounding in her voice.
“I guess that you can give me a lift to my place. That’s where I was heading.” Mathias replied.
“Ok, jump into my car and give me the directions.” She replied, her tone of voice changing as relief set in.
In the dim light emanating from the dashboard of the car, her ethereal beauty captured Mathias. He couldn’t help but stare.
“My name is Kim by the way.” She said, trying to break the ominous silence that had enveloped the inside of the car.
“My name is Mathias by the way.”
“Sorry again for almost running you over. I don’t know what I was thinking driving without my lights on.”
“It’s ok. A small knock on the head is good for a man.” Mathias joked. She burst into giggles, her laughter sounding like an exotic waterfall in a faraway paradise. Mathias liked it.
“So where is this I am taking you?” Kim asked as she turned to look at him.
“The…the…the University of Nairobi hostels on Waiyaki way.” He stuttered, caught off guard by her striking beauty.
“Oh, so you’re a student?”
“Yes I am. Third year Economics.’
“You don’t say! Which classes do you take?…”
The conversation went on till the dark blue sedan pulled up outside Mathias’ hostel, the sound of gravel thrown up by its wide tires clattering against the foliage in front of the hostel breaking the stillness of the night. By then, Mathias had learnt that Kim was one of his classmates, albeit she was an evening student. During the day she worked at an advertising agency as a creative director.
“Umm…umm… Guess I’ll see you around?” Mathias asked as he got out of the car.
“I guess so. Sure” Kim answered.
With that, Mathias closed the car door and as it pulled away, he jerked himself out of a daydream and almost tripped over a bottle that was lying on the driveway. As always, hw had forgotten to ask for her number and he was dreaming of what would transpire if she suddenly turned her car around and came back. He turned and walked up to the door, reaching into his jacket pocket to get his room key. His hand grasped only cold air. Mathias quickly racked his brain, wondering where he might have left his jacket. That was when it hit him. He had forgotten his jacket in Kim’s car.
The next morning, life went on as usual. Mathias went on with his daily activities, but two things remained engraved on the fabric of his mind: his secret announcement and his chance encounter of the night before. He couldn’t forget her eyes. He couldn’t deceive himself that he wasn’t thinking about her. He would surreptitiously look carefully at every female who crossed his path and start every time a wave of dark hair caught his eye.
“Hi.” The auditory orgasm again, this time in Technicolor. In the light of the morning sun, Kim was even more beautiful than he could imagine. She made her way up to him, her smile dimming the sun’s rays. She opened her arms and gave Mathias a great big hug, shocking him once more.
“That was unexpected.” He remarked as he tried to regain his composure.
“I didn’t think we would meet again this soon. You forgot your coat in my car yester night. I was worried that you would freeze to death without it by the time I saw you again.” Kim said as she ran her hand along his shirt. The shy grin on her face confirmed her honesty.
“Then this must be my lucky day.” Mathias replied, great hallelujahs going off in his mind. “Was that an angel’s chorus? Nope, just an angel talking” he thought to himself.
“So I should get your number” Kim said as she pulled out her phone from her handbag.
“Huh?” Mathias was struck dumb by the fact that she was asking for his number.
‘Wait. It’s so that I can get my coat. Right.” He mused in his mind.
“You have class right now?” he asked.
“I’m late actually.” Kim replied. Again, the brilliant smile. Mathias had to remind his legs not to crumple under him. He gave her his number and said, “Flash me so that I can get yours.”
“I’ll talk to you as soon as I get out of class.” Kim said as she turned and walked off quickly towards the lecture halls. Mathias’ phone vibrated as she walked away. He took it out of his pocket with a smile, and then did a double take. Wait a minute, Tanya?
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Ode to Superman
The city streets are littered with splotches of light emanating from the tall street lamps that tower out of the darkness intermittently along them. In between the lamps, the darkness is strong, almost overpowering. In that darkness, evil lurks. The vilest of villains are having a congress, scheming on their next malevolent plot to overthrow the city. Their iniquitous laughter fills the space left by the strong breeze that whips by, lifting the trash left by the city dwellers in their daily quest for the dollar.
A piercing scream rents the air. A lady is frantically swatting at one of the villains with her handbag. Her mink fur coat and diamond crusted shoes give her away as a foreigner to the darkness. She is in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time. The rest of the villains hear the scream, and then come in closer to see if there is anything on her that is worth the scream. They get her against a dark wall. She is still frantically swinging the handbag as if it is a weapon that will mortally wound anyone who dares to come nearer her. One of the villains, a particularly magnificent specimen with broad shoulders and great muscles on his arms and chest that ripple with his every movement, moves up form the back of the pack effortlessly and swats the bag out of the air without blinking. The lady screams again, the pitch higher and duration longer. The big villain grunts. His sensitive ears ringing at the same pitch as the scream which is driving him mad. He lifts his big hands to his ears, and then as soon as she stops, swings his left hand to his right cheek then brings it back down with the force of a jack hammer. The lady gives off another high pitched scream, her brown leather mitten covered hands raised to her wind stung cheeks in a feeble attempt to shield them from the strike of the villain’s hand.
Then from nowhere, a flash of red and blue…the big villain is snatched away and all that the rest see is his feet flailing in the air after he is set down on the edge of a building not too far from where they are standing. Fear casts an icy grip on each of their hearts and in a single movement they are all scampering away for their safety. Without warning, they are all plucked and set on top of street lamps one by one. “Help! Help” their screams fade away into the night as the red and blue materialize into a man of steel who sweeps the lady off her feet, retrieves her bag and then floats away lazily into the city.
He is the one and only super hero. Man of action. Fearless and courageous. Kryptonian man of steel….He is Superman.
A piercing scream rents the air. A lady is frantically swatting at one of the villains with her handbag. Her mink fur coat and diamond crusted shoes give her away as a foreigner to the darkness. She is in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time. The rest of the villains hear the scream, and then come in closer to see if there is anything on her that is worth the scream. They get her against a dark wall. She is still frantically swinging the handbag as if it is a weapon that will mortally wound anyone who dares to come nearer her. One of the villains, a particularly magnificent specimen with broad shoulders and great muscles on his arms and chest that ripple with his every movement, moves up form the back of the pack effortlessly and swats the bag out of the air without blinking. The lady screams again, the pitch higher and duration longer. The big villain grunts. His sensitive ears ringing at the same pitch as the scream which is driving him mad. He lifts his big hands to his ears, and then as soon as she stops, swings his left hand to his right cheek then brings it back down with the force of a jack hammer. The lady gives off another high pitched scream, her brown leather mitten covered hands raised to her wind stung cheeks in a feeble attempt to shield them from the strike of the villain’s hand.
Then from nowhere, a flash of red and blue…the big villain is snatched away and all that the rest see is his feet flailing in the air after he is set down on the edge of a building not too far from where they are standing. Fear casts an icy grip on each of their hearts and in a single movement they are all scampering away for their safety. Without warning, they are all plucked and set on top of street lamps one by one. “Help! Help” their screams fade away into the night as the red and blue materialize into a man of steel who sweeps the lady off her feet, retrieves her bag and then floats away lazily into the city.
He is the one and only super hero. Man of action. Fearless and courageous. Kryptonian man of steel….He is Superman.
Out with the old!!!
I cry for the generation who grew up in the 90’s. Do you want to know why? It is because we grew up on a wealth of experience brought to us courtesy of Walt Disney pictures. Our minds were constantly bombarded by the Disney love story and the mindless entertainment of the Spanish tele-novella. Those stories always went the same way: Boy meets girl, and its love at first sight. They kiss on the doorsteps of her house after their first date and after many many months, they get married and have 2.5 children, a dog, a big house with a front lawn and a white picket fence and 2 cars: the old sports car that Dad has been restoring for eons and the station wagon Mom uses to drop the 2.5 children in school.
This story changed a bit in the late 90’s. It became boy meets girl, hates her so much the first time he sees her then after a while he either saves her or teams up with her to stop the bad guys/girls and as a result they fall in love and ride off into the sunset. We never got to know what happened after they rode off into the sunset.
When I compare this fairytale of a love story to what happens in real life, it brings tears into my eyes. Most people barely remember the last time they truly fell for someone at first sight. Yet, somewhere within us, in our inner child, we expect that everything should and will go the fairytale way. I blame this squarely on Disney and the malleability of the young mind.
Anywhoo, that’s not what I wanna talk about. The traditional boy-girl relationship is dead. It seems to have died quite a while ago and yet I have only realized its demise now. In this day and age of speed dating and social networking, it seems that young people have less and less time to ‘waste’ getting to know each other. We used to count the number of dates it took for a guy to get the first kiss from a girl. Now we count the minutes. The faster a guy can score a kiss, the higher his standing within his group of friends. And it’s worse online. Believe me.
I should put it out right now I am a traditionalist. I do fall into the class of people who grew up watching Disney flicks (you couldn’t say no), but I haven’t yet conformed to the popular forms of dating. You see, when I was growing up, the people I looked up to all took eons of time dating before they even thought of announcing an engagement. So I expected the when my time would be nigh, the same would happen to me. But looking at what is going on in this world, I think I am the only person holding on to this ideology, though I am sure that I am not the only person who was indoctrinated with it.
Therefore, irregardless of what popular culture is bombarding me with, I believe that someday I will meet that special someone and I am sure that I will not fall for that someone at first sight, but also I won’t launch into a barrage of snogs with her within the first ten minutes of our meeting. I will take my time to get to know her and who knows; maybe I will set a new standard for the new generation. But in the meanwhile, I will be attending the memorial ceremony for the traditional boy-girl relationship. It will be held at the cemetery where it was buried next to chivalry, romance and true love….
Random Ramblings of an Uninspired Writer
Sometimes I sit at my computer and just stare at the screen. I know that may sound a bit weird to some of you, but anyone who has ever undergone the process of needing inspiration to write can attest to this. Once in a while, my muse will check in and give me oodles of inspiration and those are the days I come up with the quirky tales that I talk so much about (and I am sure some of you are tired of hearing about/reading) But then there are those days when I think that I have received a visit from my mysteriously erratic muse, so I get out my writing gear and sit down at the computer to write. Then I proceed to waste an hour or two writing and re-writing one paragraph or if I get lucky, one page. So sometimes, maybe as a way to beckon my aberrant muse, I open a new document on my word processor and sit at the computer and just stare at the cursor as it blinks in front of me.
This strategy has never worked, but that is beside the point. Most of us have things that we do without knowing why exactly we do them and what result we expect from doing so. One such thing that I have observed in our popular culture is trying to erase people from our lives. This happens especially when the people have catalyzed or caused what qualifies as a ‘disaster’ in our lives. We do all in our mortal power to forget that these people exist. I should say that I am probably the biggest culprit in this. I have tried to erase a few too many people from my life severally and every time I do try to erase them, something keeps on bringing very loud reminders of their existence back to me. From ex-girlfriends to high school friends that we only tolerated because we were all in one school, most of us have someone or some people that we actively try to remove from our minds by erasing the physical memories we have of them. I have heard of people who burned all the gifts that their ex partners gave them, others who literally cut (or cropped) people out of photos, and yet others who cleared their phones of messages and phone numbers associated with that person. Personally, I am guilty of the last one :-D
But all of you culpable of one of the above strategies or any one of the myriad of other strategies know for a fact that they don’t work. There’ll be that one thing that you hold too close to your heart to burn. Or that one text message that made your day every day for a whole week and you can’t bring yourself to delete. Or that life changing experience that you had with that friend which runs through your mind every time you are dreamily talking to someone about how your life changed since then. When this happens, most of us do one of two things: we either go on a serious memory purge by reaching for drugs and/or alcohol (or chocolate) to help us forget or we smile and move on without giving it much more thought.
Those who go the purge way always end up regretting it the next morning (or the next time they step on a weighing scale) In my opinion, these are people who really haven’t moved on from the bad experience, however much they may tell themselves and others that they are over it. Every reminder serves to make this hole that they have in their hearts bigger and bigger and if they don’t realize it soon enough, most of them implode and that’s how so many drug addicts and alcoholics are created.
The people I wholly respect are those who smile and move on. Those are the signs of people who realized that they need to move on and they got up, brushed themselves off and moved on. It takes a whole lot to realize where you are. But once you do, the release you get by moving on is way better than any drug. We should all aim to somehow realize that the bad experiences have passed and it’s up to us to move on. Most importantly, it’s not good to totally isolate yourself from these people whom you are trying to erase from your life. Granted, interacting with someone who, in your brain, has some stigma attached to them can be weird. That doesn’t mean that they cannot add any value to your life. I have learnt the hard way that sometimes the people you really need are the same people that you are trying the most to erase from your life. So try to re-establish your connections with these people.
Right. Now let me get back to staring at my screen and wondering when my muse will pass me by…..
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