A little cheap

Something must kill a man. The type of death must not be a bother. There's a guy here, slender with a light complexion. A couple of years back he was in college studying Commerce. He’s one of those guys who believe in hard work. The you “reap what you sow” type. One who wouldn’t want to own a velar at 26 with no traceable source of income. The kind of man who yearns to do everything dead-on... 

It's uncouth to ghost people then just pop up and start a story.  I should have apologized, I know. I should have apologized for keeping you for so long but sorry is just a sorry word - here we are now.

You ever had a partner who made you feel like you can do anything through them who strengthens you? Well, you did no mistake. You were just being stupid because that’s what it takes to learn. Back then, life was a little cheap. You could do a lot with a thousand shillings, unlike today. Derrick lived in Nyeri where he was schooling. He balanced his school work and hustle perfectly. He lived in a small single room where he would come back to rest after a long day at the car wash. He had purple curtains, his girlfriend liked purple. They blended well with the white walls of the room. He was very organized, slightly above average for a man.

Time and age! I wonder if time is indirectly proportional to maturity. At my age, my father had two children, a well-run roof of his own. A wife by his side, and a dog of course. You don’t mention a family without a dog. It’s almost criminal. Right now it’s different, you know it’s different. Times change - we barely have anything on our names. Derrick was however in between.

She lived in Nairobi. She was fresh in college. Derrick had known quite a bit about living under ‘your’ own rules.  Where you can break them and choose whether to apologise to yourself or not. All she wanted to do was enjoy herself. Do whatever she had to do and go wherever she wanted to go. She liked KFC. Everything about KFC made her feel butterflies in her stomach.

Occasionally she would go to see Derrick in Nyeri. She did not like Nyeri. There was no fun there. She said it was cold for no reason. A small town with nothing close to KFC then. Its Derrick who visited frequently. Despite the thick line of difference between them, they got along. Love is fun.

Derrick was in between. He had something he could call his own. Luck followed him everywhere he went. Not as big however. Luck is luck. He just had a way of making ends meet. He moved to a better house; not long after, he could make enough to pay for her rent too. A fairly expensive house, he paid diligently. He saw a future with her.

Seasons change - things come and go. Money goes back wherever it comes from. He relocated to Nairobi and moved in with her. To save some pennies at least. He landed another job not long after. Luck was in his DNA or he just knew how to play his cards well. 

He knew someone who knew someone. He wanted to find a job for her. He wanted her to learn to be a little independent. To make her hair and nails from her own pocket. It was the first Sunday of the month. He skipped church. He doesn't go to church often. Derrick called his friend who knew someone in a restaurant. It was a high- end restaurant in town. 

He asked her if she would mind a part time job. There were some vacancies so she sent her CVs. Behind the scenes Derrick was pushing for the restaurant job. He knew that helping her get a job would do more good than making her hair and taking her to KFC every weekend. She landed the restaurant job a few weeks later. He congratulated her for that step. She was happy; it was her very first application and her very first job.

Work was good, it was a completely beautiful new experience. Going for the shifts was not as difficult as she thought. Serving in the restaurant and meeting new faces every day. Some kind, some squarely rude. Some light skinned some dark like 6.38pm. Making a few new friends, keeping some and dropping some along the way. Often, Derrick would pick her whenever her shift ended late. Once in a while she would just take a cab. 

Most of her shifts started ending late. He ceased picking her, he was busy doing what a man should do, he worked till late. They both worked till late but most of the time it’s him who reached the house first. Derrick would do matatus at whatever time as long as they were available. She would always use a cab, she is a lady. For her safety, it’s important. But the cab was always a saloon car. Its amazing how she landed the same car every day.

On the clock it was few minutes past 10pm. Derrick was cooking and the kitchen curtains were folded apart, she saw her wave to the cab driver after the car had parked for sometime. The car was a Mercedes benz, for a very long time it has been a benz. Seasons come and pass - times change, but the time for Mercedes to be used, as a random cab hasn’t come yet. Reality hit him like a thunderbolt. He felt goosebumps spread all over his body. The rumours he had ignored came crashing on his head; naked and ugly, this time in an image of reality. 

She didn’t know It's Derrick who fixed for her position at the restaurant. The manager didn’t want any workers but right now I guess he’s glad he gave in grudgingly - at the expense of another man. He also didn’t know that this lady was his counterpart’s friend soon-to-be wife.

When you realize that shit has hit the fan badly you don't panic. If you panic, you lose it. She came groping through the darkness, a little drunk. She said it’s a colleague who dropped her. For taking that amount of time before alighting the car, she said they were finishing up on an issue. Cock and bull stuff - cheap lies! She couldn’t answer why the same car had been dropping her for such a long time in the name of a cab - so they slept. He booked her for the next day.

They met at 2pm at a KFC in town. It was a warm, afternoon. She ate unapologetically, she was happy; chicken triggered some hormones in her. Well she looked stunning in her crop top, he admits. It wasn't just the right time to look that nice. She admitted her affair with the manager after a series of confrontations. She went home early that day, after her 4pm class. The ‘lady’ from work didn’t drop her. 

It mattered less now, he took her to KFC so that he owed her nothing. The little cheap things she couldn't do without. He was bitter inside  - broken and shattered. All Derrick wanted was to start over again. He didn’t want any connexion. It was late when she realized whose husband she's been shagging. Turns out it was more of a start over for her than it was for Derrick. Their chapter was done and dusted. Next chapter...