A fight over ‘chwani’
(FIFTY SHILLINGS)
Life after high school was one of the
major challenges i ever faced in my life this far or close I have
come. I remember getting a ten shilling coin came at an expense,
sweat.
The ‘life is hard’ clinche now had
its meaning and partly i concurred with the ‘rigid ‘generation
that nothing comes on a silver platter.
So there is this one of my luckiest day
when my Auntie gave me a hundred and fifty shillings which was
equivalent to two days in a garden of my rich neighbor under total
surveillance and countless encounters of utterances terming you as
foolish. So to say I was kind of rich.
What came to my head was a new clad I
had seen with several dudes in our area because calling a hood will
complicate everything so to speak and how can forget a mug of keg.
Ndugire was one my friends who we had
things in common but fortune with me I was through with high school
unlike him who was still schooling and kept complaining school was
hectic, but all in all we were still friends despite a few fights
here and there over women especially when we got drunk.
There we were hitting the road looking
good, well as far as we were concerned. Stepping on either of us
meant trouble because dirt on our jeans meant washing which was not
one of our favorite things to do and of course it meant more fading
of our ‘imbo’(fake) jeans.
In the markets thing went as were
expected everyone was busy purchasing including the two young men who
had faced the knife(circumcision which is a form of intiation in most of african communities) two years ago and had issue calling them boys.
‘ihiii’.'Uncircumcised boys'.
As my eyes were curiously searching for
the best I could get out the ‘cash’ in my pocket, Ndugire grabbed
my hand with a look on his face that I only saw when he succeeded to
filch maize from his father’s store and was in for the cash.
“Dude, I have a way of getting cash
at a glance.” With number of conmen at its par I wanted to resist,
something that even today I wished I did. With nothing to loose and
everything to gain I went, gave in rather.
There was the man who I would say was
doing wonders or simply playing with people’s mind. People winning,
others loosing but to be genuine the game was good and would play it
even today on condition there is more cash in my pocket to avoid the
trauma of instant brokeness.
Ndugs loved shortcuts and I also did
but was scared of the repercussion so I took the right path not
because I was holy but because of my lack of courage.
The man had a huge carton which acted
as a surface for his source of revenue so to say and had three small
cartons which were shaped circular one with a picture of horse and
rest didn’t.
It was interesting to look at until the
incident, “Here are the three cartons and all you need to do is
show me the one with the picture and win.” The man said repeatedly
as he picked the small cartons and threw them one at a time on the
big carton surface.
Seeing that no one was willing to take
a risk the man changed the tactic and urged the crowd to play for
free that is to say to identify the right carton without placing
money into it. That is where Ndugs loved the most so he kept pointing
and to my surprise he got them all right.
The fact that he was right all the time
improved my confidence so I had his back just in case he won I had
the chances of being a beneficiary.
“Lend me with a hundred bob and I
will return it right now with an interest of fifty shillings” He
said with a passion and confidence that broke meanness into envy,
especially after having gone through a long experience of bankruptcy.
“Forget it, use your money coz if you
loose this I will only remain with 50 bob”
“What money? It ran out with
sugarcane I bought in our way here”
Poor Ndugs as smart as he was he had
nothing in his pocket and here he was confidently staring at me with
the hope of extracting a hundred shillings.
Yeah it sounded convincing but I could
not afford to give in given the fact that I had no other cash and
hated working as a gardener which was the only way I could earn.
But with investment dreams in the
future I could ‘use’ Ndugs to get the extra bird in the gambler’s
pocket, hand rather.
There I was about to make one of the
biggest moves ever, it was either a loose or win game, my hand slowly
moved into my pocket as two voices in my conscience contradicted. “Go
for it James you can double the cash at a glance.” “No James,
remember you don’t have much money”.
Ndugs shake brought into my senses,
“Stop behaving like a psycho and make up your mind.” Of course I
could not accept to loose my cash just like that, I quickly removed
my hand from the pocket and stood firm. “No am not doing this.”
“That explains why you will never
have money.” He said with an ‘Am not that desperate bagger’
attitude. With the word having sank and the pressure of making my
mind being overwhelming I grudgingly swallowed saliva and clicked due
to lack of better words to counter those deep words.
TO BE CONTINUED………………………………
Heheehe, kwani how broke were you?
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