THE DEAD END.......

THE CUL-DE-SAC

As I stood there watching the waters of River Koitobos flowing, I was counting my loses. I had decided to end my life there. I remembered the sacrifices and the time I gave up to get the happiness of the heart but later became a mirage. I had built my life around Cheptoo. Now she was nowhere. My life had reached the cul-de-sac. I had stopped my bicycle next to the river. I had then walked a few meters away and stood hands akimbo, cogitating the next course of action. I watched the waters that were to take my life to the next world and wondered why this earth was so full of heartless people. I had nothing to live for. I was about to jump into the river when I heard a voice behind me. It was my friend Namunyu. He wanted us to go and take Busaa and had traced me all the way to the river.

Cheptoo was and still is the woman I met and fell in love with on the same day. I am not saying this to prejudice anyone against me or Cheptoo. It is the truth. It was one evening I was walking in our neighbouring village. I was with my friend Namunyu as usual. He had taken me to a new Busaa base. We had closed campus. He was in a different university from the one I had gone to. He was known to have the characteristics of a hyena hence his botanical name. The way he use to hunt for girls was top notch. He has slept in the same house with his ‘’father-in-law’’ without his knowledge- a milestone I have never reached in my hunting escapades. It was not easy to be his friend. I had to contend with stories of hyenas and ogres. The only thing that made us close was our love for the academy. The idiot had gotten a plain A in the form four exam. He was later to get a first class degree in law and a scholarship abroad.

That fateful evening on our way to the brewing den, we met a shabbily dressed girl going to the poshomill. On her head, there was a traditional basket made of dry reeds and smeared with cow dung full of maize. I watched her as she approached. From the way her chest was, she had no brassiere. Her blouse did not have one button hence exposed partly her cleavage. At this time I was not listening to Namunyu’s war stories. I looked at her eyes when she was nearer. They kissed mine. When we passed each other I had no choice but to turn. Her anterior sides were even more captivating than the posterior. I started salivating tears. This is when Namunyu realized that I had been hit by a thunderbolt. He went to drink Busaa alone.

I followed her. I asked her name. ‘’My name is Cheptoo.’’ I leant that she was home waiting to join campus in a few weeks’ time.  I went for the jugular. The hunting instincts inculcated in me by Namunyu were awoken to activity. I remembered that I was a jaguar. The son of a hunter. We talked for some time then promised to meet each other by River Koitobos to have another tete a tete the following Sunday. I ran back to the drinking dungeon and told Namunyu what had transpired. He was not shocked. He told me that he knew a time had come for me to have a real skirt wearer and not the cheap skunks he saw me with in the village-as if he was any different.

That evening as I walked back home, the liquor I had galloped was not talking. Love was talking. I was singing to some Kalenjin tunes mixed with Mugithi rhythm. I was on top of the world. I was in love. I dated Cheptoo for exactly nine months and eight days. One day she just refused to pick my calls. I could not eat. I could not attend the lessons. I went to check what was wrong with her. I travelled for over 300 kilometres to the village. She had not been seen at her home for almost a week. I went out to investigate. A friend at the shopping center told me that she had gotten married as a second wife to a certain soldier in her neighbourhood. That killed me.

I tried reaching her in vain to reach her. I used her friends. She never wanted anything to do with me. She crashed my destiny. I wanted to die in the name of love. My Cheptoo was gone. Later I heard she had left the traumatizing marriage and gone back to school. I kept pursuing her. She never let me meet her. It is now seven years since I saw Cheptoo. If you see my Destiny tell her I have never moved on.