4500

 

Beautiful days are seen in the morning. Those who thought they were wise said that. But sometimes beautiful days are seen  late in the evening. I was home with a good friend of mine, call him T for Tom. A friend that we’ve been with through tough hurdles of life. We get along like a house on fire. We were having coffee in the evening doing some boy talk. Him telling me how he loves baby mama dramas like Kenyan celebrities. We were deeply indulged in our conversation, talking about this common phrase 'what next after campus.' I had graduated a month ago and was already desperately looking for a job. 

I had applied for jobs and internships but had got no feedback from wherever. I was already feeling frustrated but my guy kept telling me ‘bro it’s been only a month and a half’. Amidst our conversation my phone rang. I thought it was Nyakamagambo. Around this time she would call me to go and pick animal feed by the road from the nduthi guy. She keeps poultry, a dairy cow and has lots of farms. She’s an all-round woman and is always busy from dawn to dusk.

It was my friend from college calling. He has a tough name you won’t be able to pronounce. I picked the phone and told T that it’s the guy with a tough name calling. ‘hello’, I said. He replied on the other end with a crooked voice. He told me there’s a job for me, we are friends so we network each other. He asked me if my driving license was okay. I shout ‘very okay’ even before he finished. He told me to take a pic of it showing my classes of vehicles clearly. 

I hurriedly did that and sent him my ID and passport photo too. He told me that I’m most likely going to have the job and should just wait for a call shortly. It’s the Brook house international school that’s looking for a driver urgently, the driver should have started working as soon as yesterday. He told me that If the guy calls, I should say that I’m in Nairobi lest I lose the chance. I thought of the quickest way I would reach Nairobi the next morning. To catch a night bus. I waited anxiously for the call. I was literally trapped under anxiety.

I walked all over the house with some genuine happiness.  Waiting to discuss my salary and book an interview tomorrow morning. My guy T is here happy and calculating how many loans of his I should help him clear should I get my first salary. That’s how close we are, but I wasn’t sure I would honour him anyway. It was out of excitement that I kept saying yes to everything, like you say to the bodaboda man when he’s telling you things you’re not interested in. At that time the wind is violently blowing your ears carrying his words away that even when he tells you that his wife died yesterday you just laugh and say, 'that's nice bwana'

How we would take a weekend out, go kamakis and nurse some choma to bless the first salary and anoint my work life. How I would save my 30k or whatever it would be, buy a car and build a house in my piece of land in two years time .

My phone rings. It’s the long-awaited heaven-sent administrator from Brook house. He has a kikuyu name let’s say Kinuthia. He asks  me if I’m so and so. Yes, I’m so and so. His voice sounds like a decent person who is in a tie and some six-piece suit. He asks how many years driving experience I have. Its roughly 4 years. He doesn’t ask if I’ve ever operated a psv. He asks me where I reside in Nairobi. It’s the great kinoo. That’s quit a distance from Brook house but you don’t waste a job opportunity in Nairobi. 

Kinuthia asks me if I have a COVID cert because it’s a requirement. I was not vaccinated yet. Not many people in the village believed in COVID vaccination and I was a villager. Kinuthia asks me If I have a doctor friend who can process for me the covid cert as fast as possible. The only person I know who is close to being a doctor is the brother of my ex-girlfriend, still in college. So, I tell him I have no one. He tells me that staff at Brook house are covered at Mbagathi hospital. He knows a doctor there, Dr. George. He can process me the COVID cert faster, as fast as how your ex moved on.  He tells me to expect a call from Dr. George as I prepare to report tomorrow to be accessed.

I spring off the seat and give T a high five. ‘Bro I got this job’ I said.  I now don’t say it inside my heart. I want the walls and the seats in the house to hear the good news. Its confirmed just one more step to go. I pick my phone and dial a number saved Dad in my phone book. He is happy for me but you can sense doubt in his voice. Maybe he was just wondering how on earth his learned son was comfortably choosing to be a school driver.

I ring my mom; she tells me to meet her in town. I clean my rubbers and put them outside to dry as they wait for the night travel. We take off to town. T and I, not even happy because of the job but because of the first salary in 4 weeks’ time. I ring Dr. George; he picks my second attempt. I told him am so and so. Yes, he knew me. He’d been told I would call. 

Getting a COVID cert via backdoor is ksh7500 but because Dr. George knows Kinuthia and Kinuthia needs me urgently. Dr. George is ready to let go ksh 3000 and consider ksh 4500. I tell the nduthi guy to speed because if he didn’t, I would miss a crucial job opportunity. Its Brook house international school I tell you. As a driver I would go home with a whopping minimum of 50k you know. That is me telling another me. 

The doctor, he wants my full name, ID number and email. Before he finishes, I’m half way writing him the details he wants. The only thing between me and my fortune is four thousand five hundred shillings! People buy jobs for as much as half a million Kenyan shillings. I’m in town, my guy T Is here besides me giving back up just incase someone should try kidnapping me at this crucial time before I land my job. Villages are very funny, maybe there’s an ancestor who wasn’t happy that I was getting a job and was about to work through  someone against me. I was delicate. 

My mum looks at me, you can really tell she has something to say and possibly not something I want to hear. The doctor calls, its late in the evening and he wants to go have some rest. I tell him I can’t afford ksh 4500 at the moment and should I find it I would hand it over to Kinuthia the next morning. He asks me how much I can afford at the moment so that he can give me the cert as I wait to clear the arrears tomorrow. I hang up on him.  

I feel like I’m sober now. Mum asks me the legitimacy of this job offer. Its Brook house International school. Picking a random 23-year-old from a village in Suna to go and be their driver, without going for a driving test. With no proper interview. I have woken up now, T is feeling stupid and can’t believe he’s just about to graduate and still can’t tell the difference between a water buffalo and a dairy cow.

Mum is relevant. Her observations make sense. I pick my phone and call my friend with a tough name. He claims Kinuthia is his friend and he knows him very well. As well as he knows that Ruto is the reason why Russia is attacking Ukraine. I call Kinuthia, I ask him why his strange doctor wants me to send him ksh 4500 before I see my COVID cert yet I had no idea who he was. Kinuthia is in a noisy matatu, he tells me to let him reach home and call me. T suggests that we take a walk down town and reboot our heads as we wait for Kinuthia to call. Ten minutes gone. Its over thirty minutes he hasn’t called. Its Friday,4^th march 2022, I’m still waiting for Kinuthia to call.

What next after campus? If you want this job tell me in the comments section, I'll generously give you Kinuthia's phone number.