Today is the day that I go broke. I think it will be later in the evening as I trek back home after the work that I will realize how broke I am .I will smile and pretend to have enjoyed it all but be crying deep inside in pain and anguish. No one will notice- no one does with my act. I’m already thinking of people who can loan me some money till end month. It is six in the morning. I know it will be a long day. I read somewhere that nothing is for free and man don’t I know what that means now!
Don’t get me wrong I was happy while it lasted. The thing –if you can call it that- is that I did not expect it to cost that much. I mean who knew a simple outing could be so complex.
I think it all comes down to pay. My employer does not discriminate his employees. On the contrary he is good at what he does –making money. When it comes to sharing it, he also shares it appropriately. If you live in Kenya then you know what we always say about our leaders-they are not bad people it’s just that they are surrounded by horrible people. They always mean well at all times but their directives get misquoted and misrepresented by the cohorts near them doing the actual work. You see that is why I am saying that my boss is a good person. He pays me according to the labour laws- the bare minimum wage, period .Once he overpaid me by mistake and I learnt my lesson. Again, the lesson being nothing is for free. The strenuous deductions for the overpay ended last week.
Yes I said week- I’m paid every two weeks- waiting for one month would just not do. I can’t handle the budgeting. My boss says it’s better for us since we don’t need that much anyway. He says too much money will spoil us. So we take it like a dose- twice a month. It was in a moment of joy and foolery on new found wealth after my latest dose that I thought it better to spend some money.
I had lots of money yesterday. Not that much to spoil me but enough to put a spring on my walk. I have an old polyphonic phone- I’m tired of defending it-it’s a phone-supposed to receive and make calls, isn’t that what phones do? Mine also sends text, most of the time but with my new found wealth I thought it was better to call.
Once in a while I do call you know…. really. My mobile network provider has a new offer-they give me an opportunity to call at times for a lower amounts-depending on where I am geographically so I went to the place where the rate is the lowest. It so happens that it’s always close to a dustbin or a huge hill of refuse. I wonder why- could it be because where I live we’re surrounded by it, I don’t know. I don’t go out much but when I do it has to be a big bang. So I scrolled my contact list and saw several potential dates and settled on one. This was not really hard for me. It’s all about economics. People are different so I checked my list depending on their expectations of a date and their tastes. One caught my attention and her expensive taste.
After several confirmations on how much I would pay for my call I rehearsed my message and when I was good and ready made the call and invited her for the date. The thing (again with the thing! Agh!) is dates in my area are like fast food. They are always ready to go. Not much planning needs to be done, no cajoling and advance notice needed. Just a phone call on a weekend. Life is simple or so I thought.
Before the date I went and bought a few toiletries –a bar of soap and a roll of toilet paper (not that I had run out of newspapers, I was trying to be cozy).She was not the date I would take to a recreational park. When we got to the venue she ordered a cocktail- a small glass that has a mixture of drinks worth a weeks pay. I still had one weeks pay but that was until two of her friends joined us. I think they paid for most of the drinks they took. I lost count after I ran out of cash. I can’t quite recall when they left me to join the adjacent table next to the man dangling some car keys whether I said goodbye or thank you. Was I happy they had left or sad? It must be the drinks- but I only took one.
When did I get back to the house again? What time was it? No it wasn’t cos of the fun, far from it. I think it was around 4 in the morning, right? What a walk! I think the distance from the city to The Estate is shorter at night. I took how long? Why was I running? was someone chasing me ? They took my wallet! Good thing I don’t keep anything in it. Serves them right! What a night! I had fun!
So why is it so cold right now? The sun is up early today. It must be raining in this room again.It so cold. My clothes are wet. I need to get up and go to work. Funny I can’t feel my blanket. I’m imagining things-is that a dog in my house? Why is it sniffing me? Get away dog. What is this? When did I paint these walls brown! I must talk to the landlord.
Oh wait! That looks like soil and the dog is sniffing at the garbage I’m lying on. I could have sworn I got to the house. Let me sit up. Oh God! There’s our gate!
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