If You Asked Me - PART 4

 IF YOU ASKED ME HOW long we had been friends I would not answer that, not because I want to be rude to you but because you asked a hard question. How long can friendship from childhood be supposing you were the one asked. It was such a long time since childhood and a lot had changed in both us. I was now speaking base and I had beards whereas her she had grown into a beautiful woman. She was shorter and lighter skinned than I was. She wasn't chubby at all yet she wasn't skinny in any way that I couldn't stop staring at her.

"Why do you look at me like that?" she asked me when she got tired catching me staring at her.

"Ha ha ha I am just amazed at how beautiful you have become since all those years" I answered chuckling a little. She almost spilled tea that she was pouring into a thermos from the sufuria.

"Oh My God! Did you see that?" She asked me.

"Off course I saw it!" I answered quickly.

"Well that is because you make me blush and feel shy staring at me" she went on.

"I could help you with that if you don't mind!" I offered to help her.

"No! No! No! I don't need your help in my house!" She almost shouted.

This was the third time I was in her house ever since I learnt she was staying there. The house didn't have much to admire with everything on the floor including the mattress on which I was sited but the owner of the house was my attraction on the mountain. Oh, I wished she be my balm in Gilead so that I won't have to struggle looking at the unseen.

I remember the first time I came here I was taking her to church she was new in the city and she really wanted to know the churches around. So, I offered to take her to the one I fellowshipped which as soon as I mentioned to her made her happy based on the emojis she threw at me in the chat we were having on messenger. As much as she didn’t have a lot of furniture in her bed sitter I didn’t feel like leaving her side. Her smile was something else when she was not laughing at whatever I said or what she said.

Vic was a trained secretary and had a good job back at their home town in Machakos before moving to Nairobi where she was trusting in the Lord for a better job. Her job had been ended by her firm stand in the Word that she could stoop low to the evil demands of her boss. Had she accepted what he wanted from her she would probably be working at the county offices with him for the past three years? She had gotten the job through a referral of a friend and of all those who applied she was chosen for looking impressive. She didn’t know until later that the impression was based on her Christian attire and looks. For like four months her boss who kept all sorts of tricks to get her as his side chick got frustrated and had her dismissed from her position which she was yet to be made a permanent employee. Had she gotten to that it would have been hard to kick her out.

“I will try to look for employment opportunities for you from my accountant friends.” I told her as soon as she finished her sad narration.

“For real?” she asked. Ladies are so funny at asking such questions even if what you tell them does not look like a lie or fishy in any way.

As an accountant at my workplace I knew secretaries were our closest workmates so if a vacancy came up within our workplace I would know of it. But then it would be a tricky affair to work with her in the same company. But all the same I was thinking of a number of websites where there were job adverts matching her profession and I could not stop wishing to make her happy with applying for the jobs.

Suddenly I was all over LinkedIn, Brighter Monday, Facebook and off course IkoKaziKe the number one trending hashtag for jobs in Kenya. I kept telling myself if there is something I would to her I would make her happy with whatever I found to be needful to her. I didn’t want to hear her lament about this or that problem. Already she said how she lost her smartphone while still new in the city. She now had a borrowed smartphone from a friend which she struggled to charge and keep herself active on Facebook and WhatsApp.

“Oh, my why would a nice and beautiful sweet lady like you is suffering like this?” I almost asked her but stop before I could.

It was approaching some minutes to seven when she said she was going to look for some vegetables for supper. I felt it was going to be too risky to continue to stay there because I had to board two vehicles to my place. Tomorrow was a working day and whatever I was to do I needed to be at my desk by 8:00 am. Funny for her since she was not working at all she didn’t feel time conscious like myself. Before I could say what, I wanted to say she was out of the house with a carrier bag.

I kept myself busy in with my phone playing my favorite game as I waited for her. I was actually lying on her mattress since she didn’t have any seats and also the mattress which was on the floor was easier to lie on it. It was not easy to understand why a whole accountant like me could find consolation in the house of a lady where almost everything was on the ground because she was just starting life. My friends and workmates posted photos on their WhatsApp status on affluent rentals houses where they had gone to visit their girlfriends.

“Oops! Am so sorry Gary I will do my very best that I prepare supper so that you don’t get late to leave here” she assured me as soon as she was back. She cooked really fast and in like twenty minutes the food was ready. As any other lady would have done she served me a lot of food to eat. My piece of Ugali was twice as big as hers and so was the portion of vegetables. I tried to protest but it was no use at that time. I was a simple meal but the expertise in preparing it made me see myself as a poor man with a lot of things lacking in his life despite seeing he was just lacking one thing. I often cooked hard Ugali with Sukuma wiki which sometimes even me was a challenge to finish to eat. The Sukuma itself had no onions in it and at times it was just plain without tomatoes. The oil I often put to little that the vegetables almost turned black if I did not add water to it so as to end with soup. Looking at hers, she didn’t add any water yet the vegetables were moist and delicious. My cooking was just terrible till at times it seemed like I was just preparing medicine and not supper.

“It’s not that I am satisfied but it’s just that I got tired eating your food,” a friend of mine once told me when he came for a sleepover at my one-bedroom house. “I will fill the remaining space with water”

It was not some twenty minutes to eight o’clock when we were done eating. I just felt lazy and the thought of leaving here for my house was just heart breaking.

“That was a nice meal, thank you!” I appreciated her to which she just smiled and nodded. I just like how she smiled and leaned her head you would think one side of the head was heavier than the other.

“I asked you why you were looking at me like that but you just ignored my question, now again I have caught you it” she caught me off guard staring at her. I was guilty as charged and with the look on her face I felt tense.

“I was just wondering about the beautiful woman you have become” I managed to say.

“Thank you, Gary,” she smiled again. “It’s high time you leave now” she added though sounded unfair and harsh as much as it was appropriate. I stood up and adjusted my trouser, my shirt and started to move to the door. I felt my mission was not accomplished as I had planned. The words I had been rehearsing to tell her I had not said not even one or even something closer to that. Even the second visit I was here last week after the one that we had gone to church I felt I wanted to say something but I postponed it for today. Today was a Wednesday and I had risked coming here from work expecting that I would find the opportunity to say to her what I had been thinking.

“Looks like you wanted to say something?” she startled me as she said that. My heart skipped a bit but I wasn’t just ready to say it. I felt weak both in body and spirit.

“No, its just work am thinking about.”

“Gary, am your friend and sister in the faith, just feel free to say anything to me” she went on. “Even if its spending here just say I can adjust to accommodate you if you feel its hard to go back now to your place. After all we all grownups and not teenagers so that we fail to control ourselves”

She just kept sinking my heart by saying such awkward stuff and with the laughter it made it worse. I looked at her and for a moment she looked something else scary to me I almost scampered for the door.

“Vic, just stop it!” I almost shouted. I stepped outside the door and started to walk slowly towards the gate.

“Wait am coming with up to the road side.” She said behind me.

We walked silently until we reached near the road side and she was the first to talk, “Please have a safe journey back to your house! Let me know when you get there”

I turned to bid her bye bye and before I could face her directly she planted a quick hug on me and then turned to walk away the way we had come. Only time would tell when I would be ready to face her and tell those sweets words I had been reciting to say to her. To be precise another visit was needed and not just one but many!