Mike is also Duke

 

Writing is magic. Everything is a story. Today I come with the things we left unsaid.

It has been a while since you had a long one. Let’s go… 

He met a friend in 2019. He met him on Facebook. A friend who by coincidence was his namesake. They met by chance. People meet by chance; in church, at the club or in a matatu. He could tell he was a nice person. A happy lad, a good friend you would be happy to meet.  Let us all agree and call him Duke. This means that they are all Dukes. My friend and his friend. Their tribal name is also same. They only contrast at the surname. Duke is not a very common name. You can’t just leave your house and meet Duke like you’d meet Caro or Erick.

For convenience let my friend be Duke and his friend be Mike. They made good friends. Mike worked with a research firm whilst Duke was a campus student on holiday during that period. The firm did research on alcohol consumption rate in their hometown. He lived in the outskirts of the town while Mike lived in the neighbouring suburbs; where you wouldn’t have to pay a coin to eat sugarcane. You stepped on sugarcane peelings everywhere. Duke was actively looking for something to keep him occupied during the long holiday. Mike offered him a job opportunity. There was an activity coming up in a neighbouring county that would make the firm need more workforce. He threw the dice to see what fate had to offer. He sent his application to the hiring manager just as Mike had instructed him. He was told to expect a feedback in one or two weeks at most. He waited patiently.

Three weeks later, he was still jobless. No feedback. No nothing! Mike told him there was some sort of corruption involved. This bastard! we have encounters quite often. If you’ve never had an encounter, fate is on your side. This is nothing new you dust yourself, go right back and try again. No one owes you an apology for not landing a job.

Mike became even a better friend. One that when you start hanging out with, you’re never apart. A friend you could rely on. One who could help you and you feel it’s genuine and out of a pure heart. They talked about things, about careers, about sports, about their families and personal life. They wanted to get rich. They had hefty ambitions. Ambitions that needed determined hearts and souls to achieve.

Mike had a girlfriend. He was in a serious relationship that would soon lead to marriage. Duke in the other corner was nursing a dying relationship with a Taita girlfriend. A relationship on its last legs. I didn’t know Taita girls also behave like their sisters from the mountain.

One day Mike visited late in the evening. The family dinner was one that you would admire. His cousin prayed that day. Duke’s cousin. He got out of jail the other day and was now transforming into a clairvoyant reverend who couldn’t wait to shove the gospel down everyone’s throat.

They have a big house with multiple rooms. His dad was wealthy. After dinner his mother told him that its good to leave his room for his friend and go spend the night with his younger brother. Mike didn’t have an issue sharing a room with him anyway. Besides, Duke didn’t fancy sleeping with his younger brother because he would need massage the next morning. You would sleep well and wake up to find his legs strangling your neck.

Mike visited one other time. His girlfriend was sick and he needed some help from his guy. He had become free with Dukes family. It was only fair that Duke visited him before he resumed college. He couldn’t find the time and kept postponing his visit.

Mike had been a little busy with work and his girlfriend was expectant. They lost contact for a few weeks because he travelled a lot. He told his guy that whenever he comes back he will pay him the visit he owes.

On a sunny Friday afternoon, Mike is home and Duke goes to visit. In the little shanty town with dusty roads he finds his way. He finds Mike and they make that bro code greeting. It always starts with “Budaaaa…” The area is covered in sugarcane plantation. You have to manoeuvre your way through by dispersing the sugarcane leaves outta your face with your hands. Moreover, the sugarcane leaves are very hostile; bathing experience will not be the best.

They cross over to the homestead. It’s a humble family with a cow and her calf, a few chicken and one small dog. A few semi houses also blend in. Mike’s house was next to the gate. His father was a church elder in the nearby SDA church. His mother was also mama kanisa. They were both not home because it was a prayer week. There was only a ka boy who Mike didn’t introduce. His house was well  bedecked, he had a nice bedroom. He told Duke he made his bedroom nice because he was expecting his girlfriend to move in.

They were having some tea. It was now cold in the evening. The sun had set. Mike seemed uneasy. He was restless. He was worried about something he didn’t want to talk about. He went to the bedroom and came back multiple times. He behaved like someone who owed him millions had just disappeared mysteriously.

He finally got his shit together. Duke had gone to pick a phone call outside. While walking back he bumped on Mike. He was standing by the door. He was disturbed.

“Could you do me a favour,” he asked

“Yes I can of course,” Duke answered.

There was silence for a few seconds. He allowed Duke to get in. He wanted to show him something in the bedroom. Duke followed him silently. He had a plethora of thoughts. He first thought that it was some bad news about his girlfriend because she was sickling. He asked Duke if he could give him a hug. Just a hug. That was the favour he wanted, it’s what he has been gathering pluck to say. He looked at him as if he didn’t get him correctly. Before he got himself together, Mike was all over him caressing him intimately. Duke pushed him on the wall lifting his fist over his ugly face in anger. He was confused; he didn’t see this coming, from the cloak and dagger beginning. He eased his hand off Mike’s neck and went for the door handle. Mike followed him mumbling words... off he went.

Mike was not even Mike, he wasn’t Duke either. He was unknown. He didn’t even have a girlfriend. He was into men. Duke came to join the dots, why he insisted on sleeping with him when he visited. He could now see why Mike had always wanted him to visit. He understood why Mike really wanted him to sleep over that night when he stayed late in his hometown. Sometimes you judge other times you dont, you just let things be things. Most things about him were lies, except his parents, they were servants of God. They only didn’t know that Mike is not Mike and also not Duke.