tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41713918832162680462024-02-19T07:29:36.213-08:00The Hippocampal Hijack
Musings on Kenya, mostly...Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-66143418902787195472017-02-10T15:04:00.002-08:002017-02-10T15:37:07.499-08:00<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 22.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It Takes a
Village<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had become
somewhat accustomed to people in Kenegut knowing my every move, but Mr. Mbaka had invaded my privacy. And he had no qualms about letting me know he had done so.
Mr. Mbaka was a portly man with an arthritic hip and a walking
stick. He had donated the land on which the school had been built, so he was an
important person, something like a mayor. I suppose that gave him the right, in
his mind, to enter my blue hovel without permission. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Late Monday, after
returning from my weekend with Christy, Mr. Mbaka approached me as I was headed
to the bar to meet Mr. Tembur, as promised. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Meestah
Ree-chahd, please to let me show you something,” he said. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0OQnT4RQp7tB-7YPGuu3WCCfTfpbqeaH8-PSI81DJZfEePGP68kvYsjkWZRPXPdhTd4MaaMs_wNLvCywub893xpWqPVlEnMMBqy0acnsJFnuqyIV7VFHPgt4P1oqmz68NcWYmoh0JcH8/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0OQnT4RQp7tB-7YPGuu3WCCfTfpbqeaH8-PSI81DJZfEePGP68kvYsjkWZRPXPdhTd4MaaMs_wNLvCywub893xpWqPVlEnMMBqy0acnsJFnuqyIV7VFHPgt4P1oqmz68NcWYmoh0JcH8/s320/IMG.jpg" width="236" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After six hours of
gut-churning rides on matatus and buses, I was itching for a Tusker, but I
could not refuse an elder of his standing, so I followed him as we retraced my
steps back to the blue hovel. Without hesitation, he pushed open my front door
and proceeded to my bedroom.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I was wondering,”
he said, poking his walking stick into my duffle bag on the floor. “What is
this?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He prodded at a
large bottle of multi-vitamins I had bought in Phoenix. I gazed at him in
astonishment.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“We hope it is not
drugs,” he said, solemnly.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>We!</i> I
thought. <i>How many people had invaded my blue hovel? Had a committee formed
in my bedroom?</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Those are
vitamins,” I explained.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He furrowed his
brow.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Dawa,” I said,
using the Swahili word for medicine.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“So, it is good
for you?” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes,” I said.
“It’s for my health.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“It will not hurt
me?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Did you take
some?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I retrieved the
bottle from my duffle bag. The contents, as far as I could tell, were the same.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes,” he said. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Why?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“We must think of
the students,” he said. “Some of them have been in trouble for smoking <i>bangi</i>.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I don’t smoke <i>bangi</i>,”
I said, with some hostility in my voice.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“So this will not
hurt me?” he said, plucking the bottle from my hand and inspecting it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“No,” I said, “but
your urine might turn orange.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Eh?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Your water,” I
said, gesturing at my crotch. “It might turn orange.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Orange?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He still looked
confused, but I left it at that. I told him Mr. Tembur was waiting for me.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Where?”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“The market,” I
said, avoiding mention of the bar.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“You and Mister
Tembur spend much time at the market.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“He is my friend,”
I said.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“The market is
closed at night.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Not the bar.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I turned and
walked out of my blue hovel, leaving Mr. Mbaka behind. It was a rude gesture,
but I was beginning to feel a little incensed at these intrusions in my life. By
now, the headmaster had submitted his quarterly report to TFA about me. I was
given stellar marks, except on my morality, which he had rated “below average.”
Christian missionaries had done a thorough job in Kenegut, and the rest of the
highlands, so most people frowned upon alcohol consumption.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the bar, with a
Tusker nestled safely in my hand, I told Mr. Tembur about how I had walked out
on Mr. Mbaka. I asked him if he thought I had been rude.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Do not worry,” he
said, waving his hand dismissively. “You are still a baby here.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I groaned. He was
referring to a speech I had given the day after my arrival in Kenegut, at a
ceremony held in my honor. On that day, Mr. Kiryui, the headmaster, escorted me
to the school grounds, where more than a hundred villagers had gathered.</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“What is this
about?” I asked Mr. Kiryui.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ6kGgKmzTFNMff-0n0QqOB9G9FYzByRqE7vF_1HfvgWSNQ3YlegDRl3M2Wn6gPkaN6SQs5a2WnlvJRcjonLneoK5h9J8B7IP4-sUoylWwN7SEs0nVFCEVUx5I59b6_uGeuUn5CMk3C7o/s1600/Gathering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ6kGgKmzTFNMff-0n0QqOB9G9FYzByRqE7vF_1HfvgWSNQ3YlegDRl3M2Wn6gPkaN6SQs5a2WnlvJRcjonLneoK5h9J8B7IP4-sUoylWwN7SEs0nVFCEVUx5I59b6_uGeuUn5CMk3C7o/s320/Gathering.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“They are here to
greet you.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most of the
villagers were sitting on the ground, splintered into various groups. Women sat
in one group, men in another. A group of elders were perched on chairs and benches
brought out in their honor. The largest group was of students, and they were
relegated to the back of the assembly. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Kiryui
informed me that Mr. Mtoo, who served in a security capacity for President
Daniel Arap Moi, and therefore the most respected person in Kenegut, would open
the ceremony and introduce me, at which point I was expected to give a speech
to the gathering. Just a month ago, I was a worker bee at a behemoth insurance
company, a hamster on his wheel. Now, I was being honored by the entire village
of Kenegut. I was awed and embarrassed. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had no idea what
I would say to the people gathered in my honor. Then I saw Mr. Simoni, a fellow
English teacher, in the distance, and I remembered what he had told me that
very morning. He said his wife had given birth to a boy the day before, a few
hours before my arrival.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“We have named him
Reeh-chahd,” he had said. “In your honor.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had my
inspiration. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When it was my
turn to speak, I stood, screwed up my courage, and let the words tumble out,
while Mr. Kiryui stood beside me, translating my words into Swahili. I told
them that the birth of Mr. Simoni’s baby was a blessing, and that I was honored
the boy was named after me. I then told the gathering that two babies had
arrived in Kenegut.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I am like a
baby,” I said. “I don’t know your language. I don’t know your customs. I don’t
know your culture.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Several members of
the audience began to laugh. I looked at Mr. Kiryui. He gave me a sideways
glance and nodded his head in encouragement.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Like a baby, I
will make mistakes,” I said.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now the women
joined in the laughter. I needed to wrap it up before I turned crimson.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“You must please
forgive me now for any mistakes I make in the future,” I implored. “I am
learning what it means to be a member of your family, and I thank you now for
all the help you will give me.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">By now, elders
were slapping each others’ backs, and the women covered their mouths and waved
hands in the air, as if to swat my words away. Mr. Kiryui spoke above me, over
the heads of the women, so the elders could hear. When he was finished, he
looked at me, a bountiful smile on his face, waiting for my next words.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I cleared my
throat, feeling blood fill the capillaries of my face. “Thank you for welcoming
me to your home,” I said. “I am truly grateful to your hospitality.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I took a few steps
backwards to indicate I was finished. Mr. Kiryui translated the last of my
words, and the hilarity gradually subsided. A few of the women shouted
mirthfully back and forth to one another. I dared not look at the students in
the distance.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Kiryui tossed
the proceedings back to Mr. Mtoo and then stood beside me. I asked him how my
speech was received.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“They liked it,”
he said, smiling.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Tell me, Mister
Tembur,” I asked for the umpteenth time, “did they really like my speech?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just then, Mr.
Maritim, a history teacher, appeared at our table. He had patchy muttonchop
sideburns that made him look like a mangy lion.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Ah, Meestah
Maritim!” Tembur said, raising his Tusker and pointing the bottle at me.
“Meestah Reeh-chahd wants to know again if everyone liked his speech.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“You mean the baby
speech?” Maritim said, grinning. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“It is the only
speech he has given,” Tembur said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Maritim slid
into the both beside Mr. Tembur. I raised my hand to get the bartender’s
attention and ordered a Tusker for Mr. Maritim.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“It was very
funny,” Maritim said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“See there,” I said.
“That’s the point. It wasn’t meant to be funny.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“You did not mean
it to be funny?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“No.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Then you must be
a very funny man,” Tembur said. “I would like to hear you when you mean to be
funny.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Maritim
slapped the table and chortled, covering his mouth with his hand. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Tell us a joke,” Tembur
said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I don’t know any
jokes,” I said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But then one
occurred to me.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Okay. A man walks
into a doctor’s office,” I said. “He is naked, but he is wrapped entirely
in Saran Wrap.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Eh?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Cellophane.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Eh?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Plastic wrap.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tembur and Maritim
exchanged quizzical glances.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“The man was
wrapped in clear plastic,” I said. “He was naked, but you could see right
through the plastic.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“He must be
crazy,” Tembur said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes,” I said.
“When he walks in to the doctor’s office, the doctor turns to him.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“And the doctor
says, <i>Clearly, I can see your nuts</i>.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“That’s it,” I
said. “That’s the joke.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Eh?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“<i>Clearly, I can
see your nuts</i>,” I explained. “Do you know what <i>nuts</i> means?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“It is meaning
crazy?” Tembur asked.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes, but it also
refers to a man’s private parts,” I feebly explained.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Eh?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“His testicles.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Testicles?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes, nuts is
another word for testicles.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Maritim
scratched his sideburns, uncomprehending. Suddenly, Mr. Tembur slapped the
table and guffawed. “I understand,” he said, and he proceeded to tell the
joke to Mr. Maritim in Swahili.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mt. Maritim burst
out laughing. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Three rounds
later, and I soon learned that Mr. Maritim was a bitter drunk.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Meestah
Ree-chahd,” he said, “are you owning a car in the U.S.?” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Me,” he said, “I
have never been owning a car.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I nodded my head
dubiously, unsure where he was headed. He had that glazed look in his eyes that
suggested he had donned a different personality.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Do you know,” he
said, poking his chest, “I have never been to Nairobi.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>And I had
already been there at least a dozen times</i>. These niggling observations
about my privilege annoyed me. Yes, I enjoyed certain privileges, but that did
not make me happier? </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Imagine,” Mr.
Maritim said. “I have been living here all my life, and I have never seen
Nairobi.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Tembur could
see I was getting irritated.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Look here,” he
said to Mr. Maritim. “If you have never been to Nairobi, it is your own fault.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Eh?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Do you have money
in your pocket right now?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Eh?”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“You have money in
your pocket,” Mr. Tembur said, “yet you let Meestah Ree-chahd here buy you your
drinks.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That flummoxed Mr.
Maritim.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“You see here,”
Mr. Tembur said, turning to me. He pointed at Mr. Maritim, who was still
speechless. “This is Africa in a nutshell. We have the means to do for ourselves,
but instead we put our hand out.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I did not ask him to buy me a Tusker,” said Maritim.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Indeed,” I said.
“He did not.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"But neither did he refuse," said Tembur.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That silenced Mr.
Maritim, and I thrust the knife further by ordering another round of Tuskers
for our table.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I stepped out of
the bar into the inky black night of a new moon and followed a corridor of
light emanating from a nearby window to where it fingered the treeline at the
outskirts of the market. I unzipped and urinated into the bushes. As I stood
there, glancing nervously around, I suddenly heard a man’s raised voice coming
from a nearby hut. I cocked my ear as the voice became more aggressive. The
meek protestations of a female voice followed each outburst. Then, it happened:
a smack loud enough to make me wince.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">She spoke in
Swahili, and though I did not know the words, I understood the universal
language of mercy. The man pelted her with angry words. I shook off the last
drops and zipped my trousers. The scrape of furniture being shoved aside.
Muffled cries. I despised myself for remaining rooted to the spot. A tin wall
separated me from the violence happening on the other side, and I felt
powerless. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Shaking with
anger, I turned and marched back into the bar. I slipped into the booth,
visibly upset. Mr. Tembur asked what was wrong, and I told him what I had
overheard.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Just there?” he
asked, pointing out the door.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Aiii,” he said,
clicking his tongue. “That is the owner’s home.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“The owner of this
bar?”<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes,” Mr. Maritim
confirmed. “He is a mean one. Especially when he is drunk.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I drank more than
I had planned to that night. Around midnight, we finally stumbled out of the
bar into a night that had been extinguished of all light. I had never in my
life been deposited into such darkness. I took a few blind steps and stumbled over a stone in the path. It was clear I would not be able to
find my way back to my blue hovel.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I am thinking we
must walk you home,” Mr. Tembur said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnkw_hI9skbysbaR8ayo35xt6f4Or_Axgzb5RfBq4IkYFzcHTzu8_Z7d5p57W09S5QovA6GjdXvesMFX-7hukLJxudbbBPZKMrG0pVftN_FEL5ez6fWxuhkAxXZ8FKuufZD9a-Be6UD8/s1600/rooster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnkw_hI9skbysbaR8ayo35xt6f4Or_Axgzb5RfBq4IkYFzcHTzu8_Z7d5p57W09S5QovA6GjdXvesMFX-7hukLJxudbbBPZKMrG0pVftN_FEL5ez6fWxuhkAxXZ8FKuufZD9a-Be6UD8/s200/rooster.jpg" width="145" /></span></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A rooster crowed
at dawn outside my window. I nudged the curtain aside to see cows
feeding on my lawn and the rooster perched defiantly on my fence, eyeing me
sideways. Tuesday morning. A day closer to reuniting with Christy. That is how
I counted my days in Kenegut now, and it was becoming clear that the situation
was untenable. When TFA first offered to send me to Kenya, they originally had
me posted in the Literature Department at Eldoret University, but by the time I got to the orientation in
Phoenix, I had been re-stationed to Kenegut Secondary School. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I decided during
my next trip to Nairobi that I would visit the TFA office and demand to be
re-stationed near Christy. By now, several other TFAers had been relocated.
Michelle had been moved a few miles outside Kericho. Helene and Soren had been
plucked from the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro and had been deposited comfortably at
the Teachers College in downtown Kericho. It was my turn, I decided, as I
sipped coffee in my blue hovel.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj9AKvdvWm6pgfd8xNBwc2LkqS6CMHpXk1s5D0nnZ1L4tujynqvhjCJpogkWRefhYfzOxB3uEyYDncyAnocjpsJiRbZ6yWa5t0sc4g6AB8vo3WVFbdtjrGOHUiyld4XdNP5ZE83vtbQuU/s1600/Vista3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj9AKvdvWm6pgfd8xNBwc2LkqS6CMHpXk1s5D0nnZ1L4tujynqvhjCJpogkWRefhYfzOxB3uEyYDncyAnocjpsJiRbZ6yWa5t0sc4g6AB8vo3WVFbdtjrGOHUiyld4XdNP5ZE83vtbQuU/s320/Vista3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kenegut was a
beautiful locale. At any turn on the path or road, I might be confronted with a
magnificent view of the surrounding highlands. And the people were generous,
kind, hospitable. I was their sorry son, and they looked after me, watched my
every move. They knew I drank beer in the bar and wine in my blue hovel. They
knew I traveled to Nairobi every weekend, and they wondered at the reason why.
They suspected me of harboring drugs, of possibly smoking <i>bangi. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Those unseen eyes
followed me everywhere, and I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As I sauntered
toward the school grounds, I saw Mr. Mbaka in the distance, sitting with Mr.
Langat, the oldest man in Kenegut, who was presumed to be more than 100 years
old. Sitting beside them, all smiles, was Kiptoo Kiryui, the headmaster’s son.
It was a marvelous tableau, and I hurried back to my blue hovel to retrieve my
camera. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2MjzFPH9RiEBFY4xhkvs4Ig1FZ6RPuhK8txFpzS8YcQnzh3sh1X-lsdXiOVEkccJeVUFNO0uQF-_BVL9r5yLfy-yiIvQCBewwKCxF5auaSzHSDUYVOg-Nlf2Fb8qs3LQl0YVcjiqVC9E/s1600/Mbaka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2MjzFPH9RiEBFY4xhkvs4Ig1FZ6RPuhK8txFpzS8YcQnzh3sh1X-lsdXiOVEkccJeVUFNO0uQF-_BVL9r5yLfy-yiIvQCBewwKCxF5auaSzHSDUYVOg-Nlf2Fb8qs3LQl0YVcjiqVC9E/s320/Mbaka.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Mbaka ruined
the photo by picking his nose, an action that was seemingly not frowned upon in
rural Kenya. In fact, each morning, Kiptoo bounded trouserless out of his house
next door and perched himself on top of a dirt pile in my backyard, where he
would defecate without the least sign of bashfulness.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I shook hands with Mr. Langat, with my free hand supporting my wrist, as was the custom with elders. I looked into his rheumy eyes, magnified behind black, horn-rimmed glasses, and wondered at what he had seen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If he were truly more than one-hundred years old, he would have been born around the time the British colonized East Africa. As a boy, he would have witnessed the British forcibly take over the highlands, and he and his family would have been relocated onto "native reserves." He would have been middle aged when Mau Mau rebels fought against British rule, and I wondered if he had participated in the effort to reclaim his family's ancestral lands. To ask would be rude, and he most likely would be evasive anyway. By the time Kenya gained independence in 1963, he would already have been an old man, well into his sixties, if not his seventies.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I would have asked him a number of questions, but Mr. Mbaka had something important to tell me.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Mistah
Ree-chahd,” he said. “Last night, I thought I was dying.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I eyed him quizzically.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“My water was
orange,” he said, “so I thought I was very sick.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I smiled.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Then I remembered
what you told me.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He pointed an index finger at me, the one with which he had
picked his nose. “But do you know,” he said, “my hip still bothers me.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I smiled. I
thought about explaining to him that vitamins did not work that way. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Instead, I told
him I was sorry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>(To be continued)</i></span></div>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-20872414239353195952017-01-13T17:25:00.000-08:002017-01-15T11:54:13.845-08:00<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Between Two Worlds<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I returned to my blue hovel in
January, after traveling alone for five weeks, I found myself being pulled between two worlds.
At Kenegut Secondary School, I had managed to get my teaching schedule squeezed
between Tuesdays and Thursdays, so each Friday morning, I dressed, stuffed belongings into my backpack, pressed my Filson hat onto my head, and
exited my blue hovel to hike six miles to the Busia-Kisumu Highway.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCc_2i2Jo85jJjgepcnk-L-tuINkxKN1EB3_PURCtoeiagAKEhTN2irui9gxK1nj-Q_kWDcMOqMRllHYMNNwIJgt1_ViPWObhpZLBk-Bg8y7sZz76kjPiLFeaHinqkEQSyC_MhzA3O2Q/s1600/riftvalley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCc_2i2Jo85jJjgepcnk-L-tuINkxKN1EB3_PURCtoeiagAKEhTN2irui9gxK1nj-Q_kWDcMOqMRllHYMNNwIJgt1_ViPWObhpZLBk-Bg8y7sZz76kjPiLFeaHinqkEQSyC_MhzA3O2Q/s320/riftvalley.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the juncture, I waved down a passing matatu
heading for Kericho, where I exchanged my ride for a Stagecoach bus to Nakuru.
In Nakuru, I usually lunched on </span><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">nyama choma</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> or chicken curry at one of
the tourist hotels. If I were in a hurry, I might risk giardia or amoebic
dysentery and wolf down a couple of meat pastries from a street vendor. Sated,
belly full, I boarded another Stagecoach bus for the slow climb up the eastern
face of the Rift Valley, with expansive views of the landscape I had just
traversed. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eventually, the road leveled off, and
the bus driver shifted gears until we were hurtling downhill toward Nairobi. By
the time I stepped off the bus at University Way, I had already traveled five
hours. Only one more matatu to board: Number 29 to Langata. I usually
arrived at Kifaru Lane by late afternoon. I had only a half-mile walk to Christy’s
house. When I turned onto Ndovu Lane, my pace was nearly a jog. I rushed headlong
down her drive, pushed open her front door, and flung myself into her open arms.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Home. I was home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mondays were painful. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After breakfast, Christy and I would
trundle down Ngong Road in her red Renault wagon and idle away a few hours at
Yaya Centre. Sometimes, she drove me all the way into Nairobi, where we would
have an early lunch at the Norfolk Hotel or the Trattoria. Our favorite lunch
spot, however, was a deli run by an American woman who served thick, moist
slices of chocolate cake.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Inevitably, the time would come. We
lingered in our goodbyes, holding hands, holding each other. Sighing already
with longing for one another. And always I waited until the last minute,
passing up matatus or hired cars to stay with her a few minutes longer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">One time, I lingered too long, and the
car I had hired dropped me in Kericho at sunset, in the middle of a downpour.
Everyone was scrambling for matatus home. I was forced to stand on the back
bumper, gripping the luggage rack, as the packed matatu lurched down the Busia-Kisumu
Highway toward the juncture to Kenegut. By the time I was dropped off, the sun
had set, but I still had six miles to walk in the pitch dark of an African
night. I was soaked through, shivering with cold. But somehow I made it back to
my blue hovel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">By now, Kenegut and my blue hovel had
lost its charm. No electricity. No running water. No restaurants. No cinemas. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">No Christy.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I chafed at the confines of the school
grounds and the surrounding village. The days seemed interminable, and I kept
myself preoccupied with running, writing, and reading. I sometimes read for
hours on end, and I soon exhausted the school library’s meager assortment of
books. Whenever my mind was idle, my thoughts returned to Christy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrB6CC7lGPJN6SXPZiRTAYp4NuKd0Lwabv2kacenIxYApVxTwfSfpSaEQRv1MVr0WjZCkxQVr1V9axCoeNKt4e7VSgnhGpm8U02JnFmM8VAl7B7FXCNb0pqSRgkHRx_md40rXNEQpjAQ/s1600/Tembur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrB6CC7lGPJN6SXPZiRTAYp4NuKd0Lwabv2kacenIxYApVxTwfSfpSaEQRv1MVr0WjZCkxQVr1V9axCoeNKt4e7VSgnhGpm8U02JnFmM8VAl7B7FXCNb0pqSRgkHRx_md40rXNEQpjAQ/s320/Tembur.jpg" width="239" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">On one of my return trips to Kenegut, I
stopped to buy a chess set with pieces carved from soapstone. I taught my
colleagues how to play, and Mr. Tembur, a math and science teacher, was a quick
study. He was tall and gangly, with a toothy smile, and he often spoke out of
the side of his mouth. Soon, he was beating me at chess almost every day, and
I could tell by the wry smile on his face that he would checkmate me in a few
moves. Always, he was apologetic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I am sorry, Meestah Ree-chahd, but I
must take your queen,” he might say. Or, as he took my bishop, “I am sorry,
Meestah Ree-chahd, but your holiness the bishop must die.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I found other ways to pass the time, but
inevitably I was faced with hollow, empty hours alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In Nairobi, Christy and I filled our
hours--every minute of them--and everything we did, even the smallest actions,
seemed magical, rapturous. A bottle of wine purchased at the Karen dukas meant we would be sitting before the fire, on her sofa, later that evening. Buying
a loaf of seed bread at the local bakery meant we would be eating toast
together for the next morning’s breakfast. Stacking firewood outside her house
ensured we would stay warm for the next few evenings. We were securing a
future, purchasing items that committed us to an evening, a morning, an entire
weekend together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">One afternoon, we came home to find two songbirds
singing sweetly outside our bedroom window. The birds bobbed and weaved their
heads, as if trying to kiss. When we turned away from the open window, we saw
that the birds had knocked over a floral arrangement, scattering flower
petals across the bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That evening, at Christy’s suggestion, we
stepped outside to look up at the stars. They fluttered and pulsed in a night
sky unpolluted by lights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Beautiful,” I said. And when I turned
to her, she was looking straight into my eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“This is your chance to get it right,”
she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I knew she was referring to the night in
Nairobi National Park, but her words cut right through me, and suddenly all my
life felt like preparation for this moment. I would get it right. So I leaned
in and kissed her tenderly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That night, as we sat before the fire
drinking wine, Christy fell asleep with her head in my lap. As I gently stroked
her hair, I was at turns amazed and grateful at how quickly my life had
changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Night had fallen, and feeling lonely and
claustrophobic in my blue hovel, I made my way to the Kenegut marketplace to
have a Tusker or two at the local bar. Most of the male teachers lived in
tin shacks huddled around the outskirts of the marketplace. These shacks were
the size of storage pods you might find in people’s driveways in the U.S.,
sparsely furnished with a single bed, a small homemade desk and chair, and a
bureau for clothes, if they could afford it. Otherwise, shelving might do. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">During
the day, the heat inside was stifling, and the tin walls and ceilings popped and
cracked as they expanded with the heat or contracted in the cool of the
evenings. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The market itself was a clearing the size of a football field, with
small shops lining its edges. These shops were mostly clapboard-like affairs.
There was a butcher, a kinyozi (barber), a handmade furniture shop, several
small dukas that sold essentials, such as rice, sugar, bread, and salt. But
most of the business was conducted in the market’s open central area, where
locals, mostly women, displayed their fruits and vegetables on cloths spread
out on the ground, secured at each corner by large stones.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3g_puclr_0UVQLfDp64cr9jFQ4P8NvZkIr-acHJeYmDw8FZmpyaVl3T1LY0WlS5oFM5ofIDVAjpbi_qHNol-Bl_Es_Jv-OL7qCy9OFG9NozJh8T9uESq-a9ixs1JP6X-y3LSJKQGikU/s1600/Maralal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3g_puclr_0UVQLfDp64cr9jFQ4P8NvZkIr-acHJeYmDw8FZmpyaVl3T1LY0WlS5oFM5ofIDVAjpbi_qHNol-Bl_Es_Jv-OL7qCy9OFG9NozJh8T9uESq-a9ixs1JP6X-y3LSJKQGikU/s320/Maralal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the evenings, most of the teachers
hovered around the marketplace, so it had become habit for me to saunter the
half mile there in the evenings and “accidentally” find Mr. Tembur and the
others to ask if they would join me for a drink. For their part, they always
acted surprised to find me there. On their meager salaries, I knew most of them
were penniless by the end of the month, so I would stand them for Tuskers,
Pilsners, or White Caps—whatever was their poison. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This evening, I found Mr. Tembur alone,
leaning against a tree. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Tembur, looking hangdog, held out
his hand. “Meestah Ree-chahd, will you kindly sponsor me for a drink?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Gladly,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The bar was a tin shack the size of a
school bus. Inside, it was musty and gloomy. A lamp hung limply from the
ceiling, its weak bulb powered by a generator that thrummed outside. The
bartendress, a stern, hard-faced woman, brought two Tuskers she had pulled from
a stack of crates behind the bar. In most rural areas, beer was served at room
temperature, because electricity was inconsistent. In Kenegut, it was
non-existent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For the next two hours, Mr. Tembur made
me laugh. A tonic to my loneliness. As is the custom in Kenya, empty beer
bottles were left to pile up on the table, a sign, I suppose, of wealth. The
more bottles, the wealthier the person. So it should have been no surprise that
some locals approached our table beseeching Mr. Tembur to have me stand them
for a round. Each time, Mr. Tembur responded with sharp words until the man
clucked his tongue and walked off disgusted. But one man, dressed raggedly in moth-eaten
clothes, would not relent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Enda!” Mr. Tembur said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But the man persisted, swaying on his
feet as if the room were spinning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Tembur called to the owner of the
bar, who was sitting with a group of locals, drinking a White Cap. He glanced
at us, then unfolded himself from the bench seat, and sauntered over to our
table. He pulled the drunk man away by the elbow, but still the man would not
relent. Standing unsteadily on his feet, he protested and pointed at me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Suddenly, the owner slapped him across
the face, a smack so loud it silenced the room. The owner barked a few harsh
words, and then the drunk man, humiliated, shuffled out of the bar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mr. Tembur could see I was upset.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“He is a drunk,” he said. “His children,
they go without.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In this way, with these small reveals,
Kenegut lost its charm for me, and my blue hovel no longer felt like home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The next morning, I was up before
sunrise. I choked down a thick slice of bread with strawberry jam, drank a cup
of Nescafe freeze dried coffee, packed a few belongings in my backpack, screwed
the Filson hat on my head, and stepped out of my blue hovel to a glorious sunrise.
Mr. Tembur greeted me on the dirt road that led to the Busia-Kisumu Highway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3gOiEFb9WE-GkihqOT-kBYvDWbQVXLlK_H4U92oBn3_ZnuecXtFQ6wIGMHRJeF-3HjTbLt3-qAyRhp7vObcV_B7eFv6xfNvqGn_XAtnz4W2LdDYer5N9WYlZbEwSPzo1a3ORjVq78FWs/s1600/sunrise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3gOiEFb9WE-GkihqOT-kBYvDWbQVXLlK_H4U92oBn3_ZnuecXtFQ6wIGMHRJeF-3HjTbLt3-qAyRhp7vObcV_B7eFv6xfNvqGn_XAtnz4W2LdDYer5N9WYlZbEwSPzo1a3ORjVq78FWs/s320/sunrise.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“You are in a hurry this morning,” he
said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes,” I said. “I want to get an early
start.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“There must be something important in
Nairobi,” he said, with a knowing smile. “Every Friday you leave earlier, and
every Monday you come back later.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I smiled nervously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“You are like the man chasing the honey
bird,” he said. “You are after something sweet, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I laughed. “Is that a Kikuyu proverb?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“No, it is a Tembur proverb.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We clapped hands, shook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I will see you Monday night, Meestah
Ree-chahd,” he said, smiling. “Perhaps you could sponsor me for a Tusker.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Indeed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The gears ground downward and we came to
a complete stop. We all craned our necks to look out the front windshield. A
long line of vehicles snaked away into the distance, disappearing around a
curve in the road. People began chattering, and then the bus driver was
peppered with questions. He replied in Swahili and gestured helplessly at the
long line of vehicles before him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXOD6rDt4xGMsMU7Xz3yVbRIMcuEaH6bZMu5oNw5d6gaDSW9Er7uUMZpJ9Z22Czxwx8dNEZ0d7Y88kDyFH8OCnOtK8b4Q-SZR1VJGE2Zpm_BXXPH_PFkvr5Bd_6rmCyoL4SNuGs37faQ/s1600/trafficjam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXOD6rDt4xGMsMU7Xz3yVbRIMcuEaH6bZMu5oNw5d6gaDSW9Er7uUMZpJ9Z22Czxwx8dNEZ0d7Y88kDyFH8OCnOtK8b4Q-SZR1VJGE2Zpm_BXXPH_PFkvr5Bd_6rmCyoL4SNuGs37faQ/s320/trafficjam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Soon, impatient motorists were filling up
the passing lane. Matatu drivers, because they work on commission, are usually
the first to go off-roading and blaze trails through the bush. Eventually, both
shoulders of the highway filled with vehicles, but they too came to a
standstill. Word eventually reached us that a tractor trailer had overturned on
a bridge. There was no going around. We would be stuck until the truck could be
moved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We were halfway to Nakuru, in the middle
of nowhere, or so it seemed to me, but soon vendors crawled out of the bush
selling fruits, vegetables, hard candies, cigarettes, magazines, newspapers, wristwatches,
batteries, air fresherners, steering wheel cushions. You name it, it was for sale.
After a couple of hours of sitting idle, I bought an ear of roasted maize and a
bunch of miniature bananas for my lunch, which the vendor pushed through my
open window. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another hour passed, and the heat inside
the bus became soporific. I pulled my Filson hat down over my eyes, rested my
head against the window, and fell asleep. I woke to the sound of the engine
coughing to life. According to my wristwatch, I had been asleep nearly an hour.
It was almost mid-afternoon. If we moved quickly, we would make Nakuru in time for me to catch a bus to Nairobi. But untangling the traffic was a nightmare. We crawled forward a few
feet, only to halt for several minutes, and we moved at this glacial pace for
more than an hour. By the time we were funneled through the bridge and were spilled
out on to the open highway, the sun was tauntingly low in the sky. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our bus lurched into Nakuru an hour
later and a mad scramble for matatus ensued. Everyone was trying to get home.
No one more desperately than me. It was soon clear I would not find a ride anytime
soon. Nairobi was three hours away, which meant I would get there well after
sunset, and Nairobi is no place to be after the sun sets. I was stuck in Nakuru
for the night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Christy would be expecting me soon, but
I had no way of reaching her. Cell phones did not exist then in Kenya, but in
just a few years the entire country would be wired, and you could travel to the
remotest place and find a Maasai elder herding his cattle in the Amboseli bush,
or a young Samburu warrior washing his spear in the Ewaso Ngiro River, with a cell
phone attached to his belt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For now, I had to wait out the night. I
checked into the Midland Hotel, just off the highway, and ate a steak dinner in
the hotel restaurant. Afterward, I went up to my room and took a hot bath in
the large, clawfoot bathtub. I then laid out clean clothes for the next day
and packed my backpack, so I could bolt out the door first thing in the
morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was up before sunrise and well on my
way to Nairobi before the sun finally pierced the horizon. By mid-morning, I was
sprinting down Ndovu Lane, worrying irrationally that Christy had given up on
me and gotten on with her Saturday. Perhaps with friends. Or another man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I reached her doorstep, the front
door was locked. My heart sank. But then I saw her fleeting figure dart past
the window.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The door opened. She stood there looking
at me in disbelief. I pushed my way inside, let my backpack and hat fall to the
floor, and embraced her mightily.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I was so worried,” she whispered in my
ear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I cupped her face gently in my hands and
told her I was sorry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Last night was difficult,” she said. “I barely slept at all.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I pulled her closer. We had been cheated
of an entire evening together, so we clung to each other for a while longer,
trying to reclaim it.</span><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif";"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>(To be continued)</i></span></span></div>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-45196594027659496552014-06-28T11:13:00.001-07:002019-12-10T14:31:24.059-08:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Lunatic Express</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After several weeks of traveling cheaply, of wedging myself
into packed </span><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">matatus</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"> and creaky buses,
I decided I would allow myself a little luxury, so I booked a berth on a rail
line to Nairobi that was once dubbed The Lunatic Express. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">Nairobi, established in 1899 by British colonialists as a
railroad depot linking Mombasa to Uganda, quickly grew to become the capital
city of British East Africa and of independent Kenya. The construction of the
railroad, which spanned nearly 700 miles, took several years and thousands of
lives, primarily through malaria, dysentery, cholera, and other diseases. </span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p><br /></span>
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<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_qdylQeuzmwwlwoEDWlubr90kEQQlR-Cw2TXxJy3yaZmBy_Wg78NaQ2lW-XxlSubeyF66BLwawvB3kZ4o7bfBv2Rz6hqg5-UjS74TWCHGL6nGllteTWbIaS1bDAx2Hfpkv3pIHnIgTA/s1600/maneaters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn_qdylQeuzmwwlwoEDWlubr90kEQQlR-Cw2TXxJy3yaZmBy_Wg78NaQ2lW-XxlSubeyF66BLwawvB3kZ4o7bfBv2Rz6hqg5-UjS74TWCHGL6nGllteTWbIaS1bDAx2Hfpkv3pIHnIgTA/s1600/maneaters.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The most notorious form of death, however, was by lion
attack. For several months in 1898, two male lions, known as the Maneaters of
Tsavo, stalked and killed at least twenty-eight workers. The lions dragged their
victims out of their tents kicking and screaming into the bush to be ruthlessly
devoured. The British East Africa Company hired Lieutenant-colonel John Henry
Patterson to dispatch the lions, which he managed after several months and
several unsuccessful attempts.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The lions spent twenty-five years as Patterson's floor rugs
before being sold, in miserable condition, to the Chicago Field Museum, where
they were reconstructed and put on display.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not long after my train ride to Nairobi, Hollywood released
a film version of Patterson's story, starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer.
Eventually, it made its way to Nairobi cinemas, where Kenyans greeted it with
much laughter, primarily because the film was shot in South Africa instead of
Kenya, and the South African cast members had mangled the Swahili language. The
most memorable moment, though, was watching Michael Douglas chant and dance
with Maasai warriors. Kenyans in the audience laughed uproariously, while I
groaned in my seat.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The train departed Mombasa shortly after nightfall and
arrived in Nairobi fifteen hours later, around 10 a.m. I paid roughly 2,000
shillings for a second-class berth, which I shared with a young Australian man
named Pete, who was on his way home after spending several weeks traveling
around Kenya. He was baby faced but burly, built like a thumb, and he was
easily given to melancholy, especially when I told him I was less than halfway
through my stint.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You're bloody lucky," he said. "I don't
want to go home."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I told him he was young, that he had plenty of time to
explore the world. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"That's where you're wrong. This is a one-off
thing," he said. "Not unless I win the lottery."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He explained that he was from a working-class family and
had only recently come across a little bit of money.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"This is me last hurrah. I'll be settling down,"
he said. "My holidayin' will be on the Gold Coast with me wife and
kiddies."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You have a wife and kids?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Nah, but I expect I'll have 'em soon enough," he
said. "Hey, let's have a Guinness!"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I agreed. I'd had a Kenyan Guinness before. For some
reason, it was of a stronger variety than could be had in the U.S., with an
alcohol content around 8 percent. After the first few rounds, Pete told the
steward to bring six beers at once to save him the effort. Three beers in, I
was already drunk. And tired. I yawned several times as a hint, but Pete was
oblivious. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Wagga what?" I said, when he told me where he
had grown up.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Wagga Wagga," he said. "Never heard of
it?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I told him I had not. "What does Wagga Wagga
mean?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"It's an Abo word," he said. "Means crows.
One crow is wagga. More than one is wagga wagga."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I don't recall how the conversation turned, but shortly
after he told me about Wagga Wagga, he revealed to me that his mother had died
recently.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Sorry," I said. "How did it happen?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He sighed, twisted his face into a grimace.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I'm sorry," I said. "That's not my
business."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Nah, it's all right," he said. "She died of
cancer back in June."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I apologized again.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Before she died, she gave me her life's savings.
About three thousand dollars." He looked out the window. "She always
knew I wanted to go to Africa."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"That's very touching."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was silent for several seconds. I was about to say
something to lighten the mood, but the alcohol must have flooded his frontal
lobes and suppressed his inhibitions.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Me dad's a drunk," he said, suddenly. "Lost
his job in Wagga Wagga, so he moved us out to Broken Hill and started working
for the mines."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I glanced at the empty bottles and realized he was drinking
at almost twice the rate as me. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Me mum hated it there," he said. "I think
she was saving that money to leave him."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You think so?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yeah. And she might have," he said. "But I
remember something quite clearly. She asked me once if I loved me dad."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He fixed his gaze on me.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"She wasn't asking off hand," he said. "She
was looking straight into me. Kind of scared me."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"What did you say?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I said yes. And I said it like I bloody well meant
it."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"And you think that's why she stayed?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yep."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I don't remember what else we talked about. Pete downed
beer after beer, while I nursed one until it was as warm as broth. At some
point, I told him I was turning in.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Oh, yeah, right. I won't keep you up, will I?"
he said, pointing at his Guinness.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I shook my head, climbed into my bunk, and rolled to face
the wall.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Sure is dark out there." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I did not roll over, said not a word. A few minutes of
silence. The train was rocking me to sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"We must be in the middle of nowhere. There are no
lights to be had."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I woke at dawn to find Pete sprawled in his seat, a
Guinness sitting precariously between his thighs. I reached over, rescued the
half-full bottle, and set it on the washbasin among the numerous empties. I
counted at least twelve.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The train jolted, and the clinking of glass must have
wakened him. His eyelids fluttered open, and then slowly he leaned forward,
like one of those mechanical tipping birds, until his head hung between his
knees, his hands covering his face. I asked if he were okay. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Me head's splitting," he groaned.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I fished in my backpack for some Tylenol and gave him three
capsules.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Thanks," he said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He glanced around, and then he reached for the bottle of
Guinness on the washbasin. He popped the pills into his mouth and washed them
down with a long swig of warm beer. He was mostly quiet the next few hours,
perhaps because of his hangover. Perhaps because he was embarrassed by the
things he had said the night before.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGoPJ8IQ0oorhCksJ0zyTTcG121qv075vKzcsfHFOh6-5OF3c6N0PJu6RJqZqWh-H2Zn7tr6a2Qizlxq5msSVVytUNem0TZC5db9Gth7a0N-GmQEB0ZJgES8AOvdLF1uBUswi5Bm2xciw/s1600/station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="400" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGoPJ8IQ0oorhCksJ0zyTTcG121qv075vKzcsfHFOh6-5OF3c6N0PJu6RJqZqWh-H2Zn7tr6a2Qizlxq5msSVVytUNem0TZC5db9Gth7a0N-GmQEB0ZJgES8AOvdLF1uBUswi5Bm2xciw/s400/station.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The train lurched unceremoniously into the Nairobi Railway
Station. We poked our heads out of the car and plunged into the stream of
humanity flowing out of the station onto Haile Selassie Avenue. Pete said he
was going to the Iqbal Hotel to rent a room for the day. He needed a shower, he
said, before heading to the airport that evening. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Against my better judgment, I told him that I got a
discount at the Parkside Hotel. I was spending the night in Nairobi, so I
suggested he use my shower and park his bag there until it was time for him to
leave.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Thanks, Mate. That's mighty generous."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We trudged up Moi Avenue, weaving our way through the
bustle and throng of pedestrians. I paid for a dormitory-like room at the
Parkside, overlooking Jevanjee Gardens. Pete tried handing me money, but I
waved it away.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I dropped my backpack on the bed and told Pete I was going
to the TFA office and that I'd be back to fetch him for lunch.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I know a good Italian place," I said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Sounds good. I'm famished." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I descended the stairs to Monrovia Street and turned north
on Muindi Mbingu Street to the Norfolk Towers, where the office was located.
There, I was handed an application for a year-long extension on my contract.
Marie Nelson, an administrative assistant, said I would be an excellent
candidate. I thanked her and told her I would seriously consider it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Marie also handed me a $250 reimbursement for “hazard pay.”
Recently, a colleague had been robbed of his brief case at Kenyatta University,
and the matter might have ended there, but insult was added to injury, and his
assailants forced him to strip down to his underwear. He walked across campus
clad only in his boxer shorts and took refuge in his department chair’s office.
Another colleague woke in the middle of the night to hear voices coming from
her ceiling. She fled screaming across the schoolyard to summon security
guards, who found two men in her attic trying to cut a hole through her
ceiling. Soon after, there were demands for hazard pay.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was reluctant to accept such compensation. We had been
warned o</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">f the perils of living in Nairobi, so this seemed to me like changing
the rules after the game had begun, but Marie pushed the envelope into my
hands.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Take it,” she insisted. “It’s already in the books. Don’t
add to my workload.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“As long as you put it that way,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I said my goodbyes, stepped onto Harry Thuku Road and
headed south. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Walking the streets of Nairobi was always an experience.
Street boys with glue bottles stuck to their noses. Grubby-clothed children,
snot caking their upper lips, being directed by their mothers to tug at your
sleeve and beg for shillings. A man with a leg as wide around as a basketball,
a result of elephantiasis, panhandling for money on the sidewalk. Another man
folded up by polio begging in the middle of an intersection, hoping drivers
will toss a few shillings at his feet as they whizz by in their vehicles.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">By this time, I had adopted the "Nairobi Walk."
My version was to know exactly where I was headed before stepping onto the
sidewalk and making a beeline for my destination. No meandering, no dawdling,
no daydreaming. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pete hovered in the lobby of the Parkside, freshly shaven,
his wet hair slicked back. Nairobi still terrified him. He did not brave the
streets himself, so he hesitated when I told him we should walk rather than
take a taxi.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"It's only a few blocks," I said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"So, you're not afraid of Nairobbery?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I smiled. "Not anymore. It's not that dangerous if you
know what you're doing."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I have to admit, I was a little surprised when you
took off on foot for the hotel."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Why didn't you say something?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Like I said, you surprised me."</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUI0_g4YAsjj_sCIiz4rd7tB9D3a4T6UX7y4gMlI31Vn7pm_Fb4TrJOugn19Z1IBBWuTwUKkQIIRKYjsW3xj7Kj7WVNz2twEkT_k0QdDlSxloUSf-JcLu9hoIUjcQIPjDYXvc-kYrSDxI/s1600/trattoria.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUI0_g4YAsjj_sCIiz4rd7tB9D3a4T6UX7y4gMlI31Vn7pm_Fb4TrJOugn19Z1IBBWuTwUKkQIIRKYjsW3xj7Kj7WVNz2twEkT_k0QdDlSxloUSf-JcLu9hoIUjcQIPjDYXvc-kYrSDxI/s1600/trattoria.JPG" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I led Pete to Trattoria, an Italian restaurant in the heart
of the business district. We sat at a table on the second-floor balcony,
overlooking Kaunda and Wabera streets.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pete immediately ordered two Tuskers from the waiter. His
eyes met mine.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I got shillings that need spending," he said. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"This is on me."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was in no hurry to order. He downed two Tuskers before
he even opened the menu. Eventually, he decided on a filet mignon, one of the
more expensive dishes. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Order whatever you want," he said. "I mean
it. I need to spend the last of me shillings."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You can exchange them at the airport, you know."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Nah. I want to go out in style."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I settled on tilapia in a white wine caper sauce. Pete
ordered two more Tuskers. When our meal came, he ordered another round of
Tuskers.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I'm still drinking this one," I said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"All right, then. One," he said to the waiter.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the waiter cleared our plates, he ordered another round.
By this time, he'd had six beers to my three. I told him I preferred a
coffee.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Come on. Be a bloke. I'm leaving today."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I gave in. Halfway through the next beer, he began
bemoaning his return to Broken Hill. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"It's a dead end," he said. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"It can't be that grim"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He said he had quit his job at a gas station in order to
make this trip.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"They won't have me back. I'll probably end up in the
mines with me old man."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He told me the world's largest mining company owned the
town, so the most lucrative jobs were in the mining industry.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"It's like being in the mafia," he said
"Once you're in, you're in for life."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You'll land on your feet," I said, without
conviction.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yeah, like a cat," he said, feebly.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pete checked his watch.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"What time's your flight?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"In three hours."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You should get going."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yeah." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But he sat there staring down at the pedestrians on Kaunda
Street. His eyes followed a Maasai woman, with a shaved head, dressed in red
and blue shukas, beaded sandals, beaded wristbands and necklace. The only thing
missing was the beaded collar around her neck.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Look at her," Pete murmured.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Let me buy you one more round," I said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He nodded. We spent another half hour on the balcony,
mostly in silence, watching street life below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pete dashed upstairs to retrieve his bag, while I found a
taxi and haggled with the driver over the fare. We settled on fifteen hundred
shillings, a fair price. After several months in Kenya, I learned that you
don’t settle on the first price offered. My first night in Nairobi, I spent 500
shillings on a Tusker, of which 400 shillings were returned to me when my
supervisor discovered how much I was overcharged. When Pete emerged from the
hotel, he announced he had less than a thousand shillings left.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Holy cow!" I exclaimed. "That's not enough
to get you to the airport. Not by taxi."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Seriously?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"How much do you have?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He pulled the wad of bills from his pocket and counted
eight hundred shillings.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"We'll have to put you on a bus."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"How much is a bus ticket?" Pete asked.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I don't know, but you're going to have to head to the
bus stage now."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Right."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I will take you to the airport," the driver
insisted.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"He has only eight hundred shillings," I said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The driver eyed me skeptically. All<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>wazungu</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>have money, he was thinking. I
explained that Pete was leaving for home and had spent all his shillings.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The driver sighed. "Sawa."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You'll take him?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">While Pete was climbing into the taxi, I retrieved seven
hundred shillings from my wallet and slipped the bills into the driver's hand.
He beamed with gratitude.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I leaned through the back window. "Have a safe
trip."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pete smiled. "You're a lucky bastard," he
said. "I'd kill to be in your shoes."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We shook hands. I unbent myself and watched the taxi drive
off. Pete stuck a hand out the window and waved. I returned the gesture.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I went up to my room and flopped onto the bed, staring at
the swaying branches of a Eucalyptus tree outside the window. One day, I, too,
would be leaving Kenya, and the thought seized me with panic. I could not
imagine returning to the suburbs of Chicago. I imagined Pete returning to
Broken Hill, tomorrow or the next day, and the sheer and utter despondency of
his countenance was merely a projection, I knew, of how I imagined myself upon
my return to the States.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kenya had transformed me irrevocably. I had walked alone
across a game reserve, amid zebra, eland, gazelle, and water buffalo; had witnessed
a lion take down a zebra less than fifty yards from my camp tent in Nairobi
National Park; had been charged by an elephant in Tsavo West and had never
before driven an automobile so fast in reverse. Though I had eight months left
on my existing contract, I was determined to prolong my stay. I sat up,
retrieved the extension application Marie had given me, and sat at the desk to
fill out the paperwork. Only a few of us in the group of sixty-four
teachers would receive extensions. I was determined to be one of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Several days later, while on a Stagecoach bus in Nairobi, I
thought I saw Pete walking west on Mama Ngina Street, near Trattoria. I
swiveled in my seat to get a better look. I was sure it was him. Immediately, I
pulled the chord, but the next stop was a few blocks away, at the Hilton Hotel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I hustled down Mama Ngina Street, but Pete was nowhere to
be seen. I turned north on Muindi Mbingu Street to Kenyatta Avenue, which was
swarming with pedestrians. I backtracked and headed for Trattoria. I searched
the restaurant but did not see him. I thought about checking the Iqbal Hotel,
but that was in the opposite direction he had been heading.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I thought about it some more, I realized I might have
been mistaken. The hair was a little different, and the backpack was blue, not
red. Pete was in Broken Hill. I had been chasing a ghost. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I reached the TFA office, I found Marie perched behind
her desk, a telephone receiver wedged between her jaw and shoulder, taking
notes. Her eyes darted my way, but she quickly returned to her paperwork. She
talked loudly, fervently, to some poor Kenyan who did not understand the import
of her words. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Wiki kesho!” she exclaimed. “Kesho! Kesho!”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I flopped into a chair next to her desk.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Sawa sawa,” she said. “Asante.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">She sighed loudly after hanging up.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I asked, she told me she had been on the phone with
Kenya Airways, trying to book flights for next week. Three of my colleagues,
she explained, were giving up and going home. Africa was too much for them. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“They are lonely,” she explained. “They miss their families.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I guess it takes a certain kind,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yes,” Marie said, smiling. “The crazy kind.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I smiled and gave her the paperwork for my extension. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I must be the crazy kind.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">She took the application and glanced at me.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Why do you want an extension, Richard?”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was taken slightly aback. “You told me I would be a good
candidate.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“No,” she said. “Why do you want to stay in Kenya?”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had no idea how I should answer her. I was thirty years
old, and already I could count more than ten places as home--among them
Chicago, New Mexico, Montana, and Venezuela. I no longer had a definite sense
of what home meant to me. Kenya was different. It wasn’t home, exactly, but I
felt I had returned to something essential. Or that Kenya had returned
something essential to me. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I don’t know.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Marie shook her head. “You look tired,” she said. “You
should get some rest.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I <i>was</i> tired. And
filthy. I had just endured six hours on <i>matatus</i>
and buses, from Kenegut to Nairobi, over some of the most dangerous roads in
the world. The sun would set in about an hour, and Nairobi is no place to be
after the sun sets.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">It was time to board my final </span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">matatu</i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> and head...well, home.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>(To be continued)</i></span></div>
</div>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-70014558425805229362014-06-04T15:51:00.001-07:002016-12-30T12:00:15.283-08:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A Malindi Mama</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was being followed.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I knelt, pretended to tie my shoe,
and saw her out of the corner of my eye.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had gone down a side road, an
unpaved track that led to Shiek's. At least, that's the name I thought the
waiter had given me. I was perusing a menu posted outside an Italian
restaurant, when he tried luring me inside. I had binged on Italian food the
day before: insalata mista, bruschetta, mushroom risotto, chicken masala, a
beef calzone, and gelato. I was hankering for some local fare, so I asked him
where I could get some <i>nyama choma</i>.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Eh?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Nyama choma," I said.
"Where can I get some?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You want nyama choma?"
he said, smiling.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He pointed down a side road.
"You go down there," he said. "Turn left, and Shiek's is just there."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Shiek's?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I turned left onto Ganda Road, and
that's when I first saw her about thirty yards behind me.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had a bad feeling about Malindi
the minute I stepped off the bus. I was ambushed by touts and beach boys, all
clamoring for my attention. I'd had plenty of experience with touts before, but
these young men were shrill, desperate. I pushed past them and escaped down
Kenyatta Road to look for a place to stay.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I splurged and paid for a bungalow
at Seaview Resorts. My room was spacious and breezy, with a fan and a defunct
television set. I took my first hot-water shower in days and washed my
mouldering clothes in the bathtub. I was on the back patio, hanging my damp
clothes on the furniture and railing to dry, when I heard a woman titter and
say something in what sounded like Italian. I leaned over the railing and
looked at the neighboring bungalow. There, on the back patio, an elderly,
bikini-clad European woman was on a deck chair entwined with a young, muscular
Kenyan man in a white Speedo.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWu03GNpM2_o35k86ZT3wZMw22H3CndCVjj58YXYm_rRc2TbYaUSLCSLQ2djuuwnNi3Bu0UnyK9q2m8Z13c7ZtC8-BLLCZSYcXIAXgQqUprZZeIugzl4HMLragSGZMom-Xk3vn5EdTOEo/s1600/sex-tourism-kenya-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWu03GNpM2_o35k86ZT3wZMw22H3CndCVjj58YXYm_rRc2TbYaUSLCSLQ2djuuwnNi3Bu0UnyK9q2m8Z13c7ZtC8-BLLCZSYcXIAXgQqUprZZeIugzl4HMLragSGZMom-Xk3vn5EdTOEo/s400/sex-tourism-kenya-1.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was shocked. Not because of their
age difference. Nor because it was an interracial coupling. No, I was fairly
certain this was prostitution. While I had heard that prostitution was
notorious on the coast, I had never expected to encounter it so vividly.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Male prostitutes on the coast had
it much easier than their female counterparts, so at the time I excused the
elderly woman's actions. More power to her, right? In hindsight, though, she
was only helping to justify the more nefarious practice of female prostitution.
Most women, or girls, entered the trade in their teens. Some entered before
they were even twelve years old. And terrible things sometimes happened to
them. Most girls made five times more in a day than the average Kenyan, so not
surprisingly family members often encouraged their daughters to enter into the
practice.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The girl following me to Shiek's
looked young. Definitely in her teens. She wore a red halter top and dark blue
jeans, and her hair was done up in European fashion, short, straight and
bobbed. I wondered if the waiter at the Italian restaurant had sent her after
me, perhaps thinking I had been talking in code.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinb4NmLTpYPBbS4znHpxp4IQ_iypZ-gFxq3wSRz798ZV-OcYU-PY7uuw3ioGiLFqNH3jEU352mynbjgfdOKf0orkZlAlWjyvNR86zMVIVYrmRKRrlbM7YiyyrIugQHyzh56smCtcO6qn4/s1600/kinyozi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinb4NmLTpYPBbS4znHpxp4IQ_iypZ-gFxq3wSRz798ZV-OcYU-PY7uuw3ioGiLFqNH3jEU352mynbjgfdOKf0orkZlAlWjyvNR86zMVIVYrmRKRrlbM7YiyyrIugQHyzh56smCtcO6qn4/s320/kinyozi.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I saw a sign ahead for a </span><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">kinyozi</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
(barber). In my gluttony the day before, I had failed to find a barbershop, so
I was still sporting the monkish haircut under my hat. As I turned down the
side road, I spotted the girl once again out of the corner of my eye. Perhaps
she would give up the chase while I got a haircut.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <i>kinyozi</i> was closed, but
next door was a beauty salon, so I stepped inside. A portly woman with a
bountiful smile full of big white teeth said, "Karibu!"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Asante," I said, and I
asked her when the <i>kinyozi </i>would open.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You want a haircut?" she
said.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You sit down here," she
said, pointing to a chair. "I give you a haircut."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Do you have a razor?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Razor?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I lifted my hat off my head.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Aiiiii," she exclaimed.
"Does it hurt?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Not anymore."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">She commanded me to sit down. I
did. She fastened a sheet around my neck. Then she dug through a drawer to
produce an electric razor. Within five minutes, she had my head shaved. She
held up a mirror before me. I ran a hand along my stubbled head.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Looks good."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I then realized we had not settled
on a price beforehand. Big mistake. She could name any price she wanted. And
she did.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Two thousand," she said,
when I asked.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Shillings?!"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That was the <i>mzungu</i> rate,
but I was no <i>mzungu</i> anymore. I told her I had paid only two hundred
shillings for a haircut in Kericho.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"This is Malindi," she
said, smiling broadly.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I told her I wouldn't pay that
much.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You pay me one thousand,"
she said.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Five hundred."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Sawa."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Sawa."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had haggled well, but I walked
out of the salon feeling cheated nonetheless. Sure enough, waiting at the
corner, seated on a curbstone, was the girl who had been following me. I
crossed to the far side of the street and quickly regained Ganda Road. I did
not look back.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A few blocks down was Chic's Bar
and Restaurant, an open-air establishment with wooden picnic tables in rows
beneath makuti shelters. I was the only one there. The place seemed abandoned,
until I heard the clattering of pots in the kitchen.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I sat at a table and waited. Sure
enough, the girl appeared at the entrance. She spotted me at the corner table
and walked toward me. She sat shyly at the far end, across from me, and mumbled
something I did not understand.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Pardon?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Do you have a mama?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Immediately, I thought of my mother
in Illinois. "Yes," I said, without sarcasm. And then I realized what
she had meant. My first reaction was one of anger. I was furious that she would
think I would engage a prostitute. My face must have betrayed my feelings, for
she suddenly looked despondent.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I thought I should say something,
but I did not want to protract the situation. So I sat there silently. She sat
there silently. And sat. And sat.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eventually, I retrieved my journal
from my backpack. My head bent over its pages, in some strange form of
symmetry, I began writing about my current situation: <i>I am sitting in Chic's
Restaurant. A young woman I believe to be a prostitute is sitting at my table
right now. She asked me if I have a "Mama," to which I said yes, but
she hasn't said anything since.</i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I looked up from the page. She sat
there looking desolate. She was definitely young, perhaps sixteen, and from
this proximity I could tell she was wearing a wig. Her lips were painted a
burlesque red and her face was powdered to conceal the pockmarks on her cheek.
I wondered if she would be in trouble for failing to get any business from me,
and I imagined the waiter at the Italian restaurant beating her in a back
alley. Strangely, I imagined her wig flying off her head as the waiter struck
her.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I thought about giving her some
money, but that would only encourage her situation. Then, immediately, I
thought I was being high minded, a privileged Westerner. And that made me angry
again, to have been put in this situation involuntarily.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">All this time, no one from the
restaurant had acknowledged my existence, and I wondered if the young woman's
presence was causing a delay. I stood. My head hit a supporting beam of the
makuti shelter. I gasped, winced, fell back in my seat, and held my head in my
hands.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">My forehead throbbed dully. The
girl had covered her mouth with her hands, but her eyes betrayed the smile
beneath. I thought of yanking the hat off my head, to show her my bandaged wound,
but I would only be making more of a fool of myself.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, a woman emerged from the
kitchen, carrying a menu. She set it on the table before me and looked uneasily
at the girl across from me. They spoke in Swahili, none of which I understood,
but I could tell the girl was being interrogated. Their conversation gradually
became heated, with the server occasionally pointing at me. Finally, she waved
the girl away.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Enda!" she said, and
she watched her until the girl was out of view. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The woman turned to me indolently
and waited wordlessly for me to order. I wanted to tell her I was not the least
bit interested in prostitutes, but hers was a stare I would come to know well
in Kenya. This was a woman who had had many dealings with foreigners, and not many
of them were pleasant ones. I was just another <i>mzungu</i>, in her eyes.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since the place was completely
empty, it suddenly occurred to me that the restaurant might be closed.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Are you open?"</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Do you have nyama
choma?"</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I will have nyama choma with
sukuma and ugali, tafadhali."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"To drink?" she said,
sliding the menu off my table.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Tusker."</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Sawa."</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8K_jP_xLNg_0afCJfyofAUPAJYX0StEXEWOlnsE5Q6NFdKLglbYBGHlIgG8aewlZQaECfKHLzA6uFYmCcaekh1mgbbgU9BHXBwpIVwQJHmYP_YqCDOEGnvxwyoobD63JQqVzMSmKobA/s1600/nyamachoma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8K_jP_xLNg_0afCJfyofAUPAJYX0StEXEWOlnsE5Q6NFdKLglbYBGHlIgG8aewlZQaECfKHLzA6uFYmCcaekh1mgbbgU9BHXBwpIVwQJHmYP_YqCDOEGnvxwyoobD63JQqVzMSmKobA/s320/nyamachoma.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I gorged myself on nyama choma and
ate the whole platter of roasted goat, along with the sukuma and ugali. My
stomach distended, picking gristle from between my teeth with a toothpick, I
realized I had handled the situation with the girl very poorly. But I don't
know what I could have done differently. I could have been sympathetic to her
plight, engaged her in some conversation, but I like to think I acted the way
most people would. Several years previous, when a young man accidentally
stepped in front of my vehicle, forcing me to slam on the brakes, my first
reaction was, "You stupid son of a bitch!" He had not meant to step
in front of me, that was apparent from his apologetic expression, but my first
reaction was anger. <i>How dare you almost burden me with your death?</i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If I had not already paid for a
second night at Seaview Resorts, I would have left Malindi immediately.
Instead, I resolved to leave for Nairobi early the next morning. Nairobi was no
paradise, but at least it did not pretend to be, and its utter honesty about
itself suddenly attracted me. It was time to return to more arid climes.</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>(To be continued)</i></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-18798987079927217762014-05-24T14:36:00.001-07:002016-12-30T11:28:12.742-08:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A Lonely Road</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"There
is room," the tout insisted.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
matatu was bursting at the seams with passengers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Where?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
tout looked over the heads of his customers, searching vainly for an empty
spot, then he shoved a few people further inside and pointed down at one of the
steps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"There."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He
gripped the back of my arm and tried forcing me aboard. I dug my heels in.
"No."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He
made a hissing sound, dismissed me with a wave, and then banged the side of the
matatu with the flat of his hand. "Enda!" And they were off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaMFWWgHX8MZm2kRc-bYA8SSLDkdc9_f2zB0zfNtwA-S6Fjcr-j_5-U1fCX53DXmhHx0Ew95E2xS2YwljASIImwORTYvm86rGll_8Uhu8fqOEHnMzp2SZg0CQW6uvrpfBuBX7rFYITGQI/s1600/Matatuoverload.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaMFWWgHX8MZm2kRc-bYA8SSLDkdc9_f2zB0zfNtwA-S6Fjcr-j_5-U1fCX53DXmhHx0Ew95E2xS2YwljASIImwORTYvm86rGll_8Uhu8fqOEHnMzp2SZg0CQW6uvrpfBuBX7rFYITGQI/s400/Matatuoverload.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
had been standing at the same corner for more than an hour, waiting for an
acceptable ride. It was obvious one would not materialize. Not this morning. I
must lower my expectations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Like
the others, the next matatu to wobble toward me was overloaded. But from my
discerning eye it did look relatively new, somewhat dignified, unlike the
others, which sagged from broken suspensions. Or heaved and lurched like boats
on a choppy sea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>You
are the one</i>, I said to
myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
tout jumped off the back fender before the matatu had come to a full stop, a
maneuver, I am sure, which would have planted me face first on the pavement.
He, however, commenced a graceful jog alongside the vehicle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Wapi?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Shimoni,"
I said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He
grabbed my backpack and tossed it swiftly onto the roof of the matatu. I peered
through the door. Sardines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Wapi?"
I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He
pointed vaguely inside. I looked again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Hapa,"
I said, pointing at the rear bumper, and before he could answer, I jumped on.
The tout laughed and slapped the side of the vehicle. A jolt, and we were off,
hurtling down the road toward the turnoff to Shimoni. I clung to the luggage
rack for dear life. We stopped a few more times to pick up passengers, who
somehow managed to squeeze inside, and each time the tout would laughingly
comment about the crazy <i>mzungu</i>, while pointing at me. Halfway to the
turnoff, at a busy stop, enough passengers had disembarked so that I could
wedge myself inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"So,
you want to be a tout?" an elderly gentleman said to me. An explosion of
laughter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
smiled. "It doesn't pay enough."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"That
is good," the gentleman said. "You should not take jobs from
Kenyans."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">More
laughter. The remainder of the ride was cheerful, and I answered the older
gentleman's many queries. Then, the tout stuck his head through the door and
said, "Hapa."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
wriggled my way out of the matatu, jumped onto the pavement, and retrieved my
backpack. The matatu sped off, burping diesel fumes, and left me standing alone
at the turnoff to Shimoni. According to <i>The Rough Guide</i>, I had an
eight-mile hike ahead of me, so I set off at once down the dirt track.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It
was a long, lonely walk. A few miles in, I was parched and weary and rested a
few minutes beneath the shade of a palm tree. Something was odd, and when I
thought about it, I realized I had yet to see a soul. I knew a town
existed at the end of the road, but there was no vehicular or foot traffic in
either direction the entire time. I had seen distant huts through the trees,
but no people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
trudged on and then thought about how far away Christy was at the moment. She
had gone home to Missouri for several weeks for the holidays. I imagined her
with family, and felt a little wistful, especially with Christmas approaching.
There was a time when my hometown was all I needed to know of the world. I had
explored every nook and cranny of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, even Busse Woods
and the industrial park, which, because of its proximity to O'Hare Airport, was
one of the largest in the world and very attractive to children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
left Elk Grove for Southern Illinois University only because it was expected of
me. The day I packed my belongings into the family car, and my father drove me
six hours to Carbondale, was my cleaving. But I did not know this as I gazed
forlornly out the window of my dorm room, watching my father's dwindling figure
recede in the distance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
had begun traveling my own road, and one road would lead inexorably to another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wXCkGOoHFQxLwSacETfXbATbYYl-YXkdlp8FwDgzxuLsINQ-r4mLsCNooGbV1FqxLXT4feMxJrJTe21ug-PbRn4j5oWbQLOugWx84t_58-xPUGAGUWgvGXP5V70FFGNJtaoibkGWkeY/s1600/shimoni2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wXCkGOoHFQxLwSacETfXbATbYYl-YXkdlp8FwDgzxuLsINQ-r4mLsCNooGbV1FqxLXT4feMxJrJTe21ug-PbRn4j5oWbQLOugWx84t_58-xPUGAGUWgvGXP5V70FFGNJtaoibkGWkeY/s400/shimoni2.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
road I was now on eventually led to Shimoni, a sleepy coastal town with a
cement pier jutting about one hundred yards out to sea. To get to Wasini
Island, my destination, I needed a ride, so to the pier I went and reserved a
seat on a motorboat to the island.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
paid for a room at a hostel with a well-stocked bar and a restaurant that was
legendary for its seafood. In fact, luxury safari outfits dropped off clients
at the restaurant just for the meals alone. They never stayed, though, as the
accommodations were basic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF3geO9hats-ax9JpH-CuhHOdttumh9pPdFaPv7bMJqfzb_KZATdQxh2K-jXj-bCa_1KfOJWA9AKdwtNzftEJ13oADv4ETlVch5RNXYOj0dTqsjwlrWJVnZAQHTJEcHjx8A9x3IgJHeDo/s1600/Seaview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF3geO9hats-ax9JpH-CuhHOdttumh9pPdFaPv7bMJqfzb_KZATdQxh2K-jXj-bCa_1KfOJWA9AKdwtNzftEJ13oADv4ETlVch5RNXYOj0dTqsjwlrWJVnZAQHTJEcHjx8A9x3IgJHeDo/s400/Seaview.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
island was Islamic, as was its architecture. All the doorways were narrow and
the lintels at forehead level, so I had to duck to enter or exit any room or
building. My room was very basic and contained a bed and an end table. That was
all. I did, however, have an ocean view. I tossed my backpack on the bed,
retrieved <i>The Rough Guide to Kenya</i>, and headed to the bar for a
much-deserved Stoney. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
walked down the hallway, flipping through pages of </span><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">The Rough Guide</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">,
trying to plan the rest of my day, so I forgot to duck as I exited the
building. My forehead slammed into the lintel's edge, staggering me. It was the
only time </span><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">The Rough Guide</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> would betray me.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
flow of blood was immediate and copious. I stumbled toward the bar, only to be
greeted by gasps and horrified looks from the staff. I am sure I looked like
Sissy Spacek's Carrie. The bartender rushed toward me and immediately applied a
bar towel to my head. Another staff person approached with a rusted bucket full
of water that looked as if it had been squeezed out of a dirty mop. He looked
ready to pour it over my head, but I waved him off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
bartender said he knew where to get fresh water. He led me away from the bar,
where rows of bottled water stood sentinel on a shelf. We turned a corner
between buildings and a young Swedish woman was met by my ghastly countenance.
She gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes wide as saucers, as if I were
missing a limb. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I
forgot to duck," I told her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Come
here," she said, grabbing my arm and leading me away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
bartender relinquished care of me. The Swedish woman (her names was Anna, she
later told me) took me into her room and began ministering to my wound. She
poured bottled water over my head, and then dabbed and applied pressure
with the bar towel. She retrieved antibiotic ointment from the first aid kit in
her backpack and salved the wound. Scissors, gauze, tape. In no time, this
saving angel had my wound cleaned and bandaged.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You
should go to hospital," Anna said. "You might need stitches."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Out
her window, the sun was already low in the sky. As if reading my mind, she
said, "It is too late now. You must leave in the morning."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
thanked her profusely. At dinner, about an hour later, I bought her a bottle of
water to replace the one she had used to clean my wound. I was so dazed, so
fixated on the dull ache of my head, that I could
not savor the famed seafood dinner. The bartender told me I
had to be in Shimoni no later than 8 a.m., as that was when the last matatu
left for the main road. Remembering that long, lonely hike, I believed him. I
asked him why there were no matatus after eight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Nobody
leaves Shomini," he said, "except matatu drivers."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
lay in bed that night, my head throbbing, realizing I had traveled this far to
see Wasini only to be leaving without having experienced anything but the
hostel and its renowned restaurant. I made it to Pandya Memorial Hospital
in Mombasa late the next morning. I was impressed by the facility, and I told
the nurse ministering to my wound as much. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Mistah
Reech-ahd," she said, in a dignified tone, "we perform surgery
here."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Aghast,
I thought she meant that I was going to require surgery, but then she said,
"We even give our patients anesthesia before we operate on them."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sarcasm.
I apologized and told her I meant well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I
must shave you," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">She
retrieved a razor from a cabinet, sterilized it, and began shaving the hair
around my wound. A few minutes later an Asian man with graying hair and a
Hitler mustache walked in. He looked at the wound and quickly proclaimed I
would not need stitches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"None?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"None,"
he confirmed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He
retrieved a hand mirror to show me the wound, a vicious-looking knot with a
two-inch gash. What worried me more, though, was that I looked like a monk, as
my hairline had been shaved back several inches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Can
you at least shave the rest of my head?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Mistah
Reech-ahd," the nurse said, "this is not a barbershop."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Luckily,
I had a hat. I left the hospital at mid-afternoon. Sweltering heat. By the time
I reached downtown Mombasa, every article of clothing was soaked through with
sweat, even my hat. I had not eaten since dawn, a mandazi and a cup of coffee,
so I stepped into a restaurant for a late lunch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
dining area was open, airy, with cement walls and floors. I soon began
shivering in my damp clothes. Teeth chattering, I ate my nyama choma, sukuma,
and ugali, while flipping through pages of <i>The Rough Guide</i>, deciding on
my next destination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
settled on Malindi, a coastal town north of Mombasa. Malindi was popular with
Italian tourists, so it had some of the best pizzas, pastas, and ice cream in
all of Kenya. And it had a reputation for hospitality to strangers, ever since
Vasco da Gama was welcomed warmly by the king of Malindi in 1498.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What
could possibly go wrong there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>(To be continued)</i></span></span>Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-20804920873945525972014-05-16T09:22:00.001-07:002016-12-30T11:59:57.735-08:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Mombasa,
a Mango, and a Monkey</span></i></b><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
bus terminus was empty except for a few other Westerners waiting for night to
break, for faint predawn light to settle on the streets. I shouldered my
backpack, glanced at the young blonde-haired man next to me as he peered
anxiously out the doorway, and stepped out onto Moi Avenue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZtYPgZw-YOBAwj0hf0P5pQx6RmvFI_RmmucssaPMpmVKx9slBXZYBBuDcVn1fOkYJuEKLT4pLm92jIR3wmmwam6mN8bmoCDSmj0EsDLiLuXpQ0FVl3sVyAZWL8GD-8hORvHVpuaOScos/s1600/tusk-arches-mombasa_9099_600x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZtYPgZw-YOBAwj0hf0P5pQx6RmvFI_RmmucssaPMpmVKx9slBXZYBBuDcVn1fOkYJuEKLT4pLm92jIR3wmmwam6mN8bmoCDSmj0EsDLiLuXpQ0FVl3sVyAZWL8GD-8hORvHVpuaOScos/s320/tusk-arches-mombasa_9099_600x450.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
headed east, toward the city center and the hotel where I was to meet Michelle,
Ross, and Shirley. Already, the air was muggy, and by the time I reached the
ivory arches welcoming travelers to downtown Mombasa, my shirt was soaked
through with sweat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
had spent ten hours on a bus traveling on one of the most dangerous highways in
the world, the A109, or the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, a roadway littered here
and there with the desiccated shells of abandoned vehicles. If I were going to
die, I might as well be asleep for it. Most of the time, my eyes were closed,
but I was prevented from truly falling asleep by the jolting and shuddering of
the bus and the gasps of horrified passengers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When
I reached the hotel, I was utterly exhausted. I searched the lobby, but no sign
of Ross, Michelle, or Shirley. They must be late, I thought. I sat down on a
sofa and tried to sleep, but I felt the eyes of hotel employees on me. I
shouldered my backpack, shuffled outside, and flopped onto a beach chair
beneath a palm tree by the pool and fell asleep with an ocean breeze caressing
me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When
I woke, I felt I had been out for hours, but by my watch I had been asleep less
than twenty minutes. I went back inside and ordered a small pot of coffee. Half
an hour later, still no sign of them. I then had the bright idea of checking
for a note at the front desk. Sure enough, they had left one. They were taking
a boat to Zanzibar that left at 9 a.m. "Meet us there," the note
said. I checked my watch. I had half an hour until the boat departed. If I
hopped into one of the taxis outside the hotel, I could make it in time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was halfway across the city when I changed my mind. I had three weeks left of
Christmas break, and I did not want to spend it missing connections and
scurrying to beat time. I wanted to relax and travel at my own pace, so I told
the driver to take me to the Likoni Ferry instead. I would spend a few days on
the coast by myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Christy
was in the States, visiting family. We had said our goodbyes the day before,
and I already missed her terribly, so I suppose I wanted time to think, as
well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggrLOWj7fUZYVGnooucelPf5VFhhwdhfEpAo4yPrX-6l4uPFGXUS8kw7Cn5o9PFy4v5NcguHW2ZTZikmz1Vlgaa1EJPN-cfbdcn7jmgJh8fgxNQCvOmbLsdn3nFo-zRrWybywufCh-Ok0/s1600/Ferry-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggrLOWj7fUZYVGnooucelPf5VFhhwdhfEpAo4yPrX-6l4uPFGXUS8kw7Cn5o9PFy4v5NcguHW2ZTZikmz1Vlgaa1EJPN-cfbdcn7jmgJh8fgxNQCvOmbLsdn3nFo-zRrWybywufCh-Ok0/s400/Ferry-crossing.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
sandwiched myself in with hundreds of Kenyans on the ferry, a dubious
undertaking at the time. A couple of years before, in April of 1994, one of the
ferries capsized, killing 272 people aboard. The ferries had also been known to
stall and drift out to sea. On this day, however, we made it safely to the
mainland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
trudged along the beach, past expensive hotels and resorts, until I came upon
Vindigo Cottages, a wayward, slightly unkempt compound a little overgrown with weeds.
Perfect. There, I paid for a two-bedroom chalet, with a full kitchen,
overlooking the Indian Ocean. Before I even entered my cottage, an elderly
Kenyan man was waiting for me by the front door.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Please,
sah, I buy you dinner," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was taken slightly aback. "You want to buy me dinner?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"No,
sah, I buy dinner...chakula...and I cook it for you tonight. In there," he
said, pointing to the kitchen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After
a few more confused exchanges, I realized he wanted me to give him money, so he
could buy food at the market, and make dinner for me in my kitchen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"How
much?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Five
hundred."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Five
hundred shillings?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was a little skeptical, but then I noticed his bicycle propped against a nearby
tree. A wicker basket hung form the handle bars and two others served as
panniers across his rear tire. I gave him the five hundred shillings and told
him my name. His name was Daniel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You
like fish?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I
love it."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I
will make fish."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
thanked him. He mounted his bike and pedaled off. I entered my cottage, tossed my
backpack on the bed, and trotted down to the beach. I had planned on taking a
dip, but a young man named Phillip convinced me to go snorkeling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"How
much?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Five
hundred."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Is
everything five hundred shillings here?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Eh?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
haggled and we agreed on two hundred shillings. Phillip took me in a dugout
boat about one hundred yards out to sea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUsRFQr4j6sGRurG5dHk3Dwt-jDDxyefRYmutgzleai6PU3UvpOeV8GFXxAz7lLKRIVb4aD6eDdKWKflkJI7dXBSb-VBvzOxuKVdpfVqeFZRTTLMHmrds75nHKPLkgLqz0bYduAo0FNJw/s1600/Diani.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUsRFQr4j6sGRurG5dHk3Dwt-jDDxyefRYmutgzleai6PU3UvpOeV8GFXxAz7lLKRIVb4aD6eDdKWKflkJI7dXBSb-VBvzOxuKVdpfVqeFZRTTLMHmrds75nHKPLkgLqz0bYduAo0FNJw/s400/Diani.jpg" width="265" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Here,"
he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The
reef is here?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The
reef is here," he said, and he handed me snorkeling gear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
had never snorkeled before in my life, so I made many fumbling attempts and
came up often gagging on seawater. Phillip, I am sure, enjoyed many laughs
while I was under. I got the hang of it, eventually, and managed to stay down
for longer and longer periods. I saw clownfish, powder-blue surgeonfish,
angelfish, trumpetfish, even a moray eel. During one dive, I was so engrossed,
I didn't know I had gone too far. Phillip later told me he had been yelling at
me to stop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unaware,
I had reached the edge of the reef. A yawning abyss lay beyond. Sure enough, I
crested a wall of coral and immediately felt the tide pulling me down into a
great maw of deep, dark water. I clawed my way back to the surface and
scrabbled over the reef, scraping my shins in the process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When
I surfaced, Phillip was there, wide-eyed, eager to pull me in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Don't
go there," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I'm
done."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If
you've been cut by coral, you know how painful it can be. The scrapes were not
very deep and did not produce a lot of blood, but my shins were on fire. I
crawled back up the beach to my cottage and nursed my wounds with a cold
Tusker. I dropped into a hammock on my back porch, in the shade of a makuti
shelter, and relaxed to the susurrations of the sea. I woke a few hours later
with half a bottle of warm beer resting in my lap. Daniel was by the back door,
dismounting his bicycle. His arrival must have wakened me. He pulled a string
of three fish from his front basket.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Samaki,"
he declared.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
suspected he had fished for them rather than buy them with the money I had
given him. He then pulled sisal bags full of fruit and vegetables from his
panniers. I could see the balding head of a coconut sticking out of one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Daniel
immediately began work in the kitchen, while I popped down the road to a
mini-market to buy a bottle of wine. I returned to the unmistakable aroma of
grilled fish. Daniel was grating the coconut into a pot of rice. Fifteen
minutes later, around sunset, I sat down to an exquisite meal of fish kebabs
with coconut rice and flaky chapatis. There was enough food for the two of us,
but Daniel refused to eat with me. He retreated instead to the kitchen and
began cleaning up pots and pans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sated,
I poured a glass of wine, leaned back in my chair, and listened to waves
breaking on shore. Daniel came out to collect my plate. I praised his cooking,
gave him an extra five hundred shillings, and told him he should open a
restaurant. He beamed, thanked me, and then reached into his pannier to produce
a mango. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"For
breakfast," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
thanked him and accepted the mango.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You
must put it in the icebox," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
asked why, and he pointed to the thatched roof. "Monkeys."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sure
enough, a colobus monkey was perched on one of the rafters. Our eyes met, and
it bared its teeth and disappeared through the thatching.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"They
steal everything," Daniel said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
thanked him again. He mounted his bicycle and pedaled off. The rest of the
evening, I lay in the hammock, listening to the ocean, and finished the bottle
of wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A
bloodcurdling scream. I bolted upright in the hammock. Complete darkness. I
checked my watch: almost midnight. Had it been a dream?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another
inhuman scream. My heart pounding, I flopped out of the hammock, scrabbled
inside the cottage, and peered frantically out the windows. A plan. I should
have one. But nothing presented itself to me. So I crouched at a windowsill,
checked my breathing, and listened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Silence,
save for waves breaking on shore. Then, a turaco began warbling. Other
nightbirds gradually chimed in. Not until I heard several minutes of
uninterrupted birdsong did I finally slink toward the bedroom. I slipped under
the sheets and slept fitfully until sunlight pierced the curtains.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
flopped out of bed, shuffled into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator to
an exhalation of cold air and emptiness. For a beat, I stood there stunned. And
then I looked around for my mango. Nowhere. I turned, and behind me on the
kitchen table was a pile of feces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">My
first reaction: Who in hell steals a mango and then shits on a table? And then,
illogically, I tried making a connection to the screams of the night before.
Yes, eventually, I looked up at the rafters. When our eyes met, the monkey
bared its teeth and disappeared through the thatching.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAuI0XzUwS1VS9fZq-oCTcRUEi3pid-gL2h-FrYOv4rcia8252fg4vV3MQnC9E4gyWzOzhiL_cMPaXeMw2D2YruGpbPrW9MVuGqMiRP7k76QDE5C-tAFVInU_1cTysv3c3yr2ikC0hw9w/s1600/Beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAuI0XzUwS1VS9fZq-oCTcRUEi3pid-gL2h-FrYOv4rcia8252fg4vV3MQnC9E4gyWzOzhiL_cMPaXeMw2D2YruGpbPrW9MVuGqMiRP7k76QDE5C-tAFVInU_1cTysv3c3yr2ikC0hw9w/s400/Beach.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Daniel
was already waiting outside for more business. I told him I was leaving. He was
disappointed and insisted on taking a photograph of me with my camera. Why? I'm
not sure. But here is the photo he took.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
packed my meager belongings and flipped through pages of <i>The Rough
Guide to Kenya, </i>deciding on my next destination. I settled on
Wasini, a small, remote island with few inhabitants and no vehicles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What
could possibly go wrong there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">(To be continued)</span></i></div>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-90893905833580311422014-05-08T10:36:00.001-07:002016-12-30T10:39:53.971-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A Visit</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A
few weeks after my excursion to Maralal, I hopped off a Stagecoach bus at
a roundabout near Barclay’s Bank and hailed a taxi to the Kunste Hotel, at the
outskirts of Nakuru. The Kunste was a spacious, brightly lit establishment with
a central courtyard and a breezy verandah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Teachers
for Africa was holding its first in-country meeting there. When I arrived, some
of my colleagues already were milling about or sitting in the lounge drinking
Tuskers. I said my helloes and was greeted warmly in return, but I was feeling somewhat
monastic, so I settled into my room and sat down to read and write. After an
hour or so, feeling fatigued, I lay down on the bed and fell into a light
sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
woke at dinnertime. The distant clatter of cutlery beckoned to me as I locked
my door and strode down the hallway. The restaurant was a beehive of
conversation. I continued on to the verandah, where I ordered a cold Tusker
from the bar and sat on a sofa among people my age, Ross Galati, Michelle Fama,
Anne-Marie McGranahan, Helene and Soren. The Vandervoorts, an elderly couple in
their seventies, sat on the sofa opposite. I don’t remember who else was
in that company, but what happened next is indelibly imprinted in my memory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The
sun had already set and the courtyard was cloaked in inky black night. A loamy
breeze wafted in, crickets called from concealed places. Then, suddenly,
a beautiful young woman stepped onto the verandah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My
heart leapt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She
wore a floral-print dress, and had shoulder-length hair bleached blonde by the
African sun. She was lithe, graceful. She glowed with warmth and confidence, like
a sudden burst of spring after a long winter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Instinctively,
I nudged Ross in the ribs and gestured with my chin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"What?"
he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwOBEjl0WxqmYSEKi6ybdJaxnaNvc5nR1Izxh4IG6fNbg4qaCTYqi4GhEt1-LHge8Mou4Za1NxKwGEoTBGHI2HH8L4XuGu1abtKXL-S7nZ73oyKT5Vb1yL5Q6Z9wwf1FFFea7BtbDU74/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwOBEjl0WxqmYSEKi6ybdJaxnaNvc5nR1Izxh4IG6fNbg4qaCTYqi4GhEt1-LHge8Mou4Za1NxKwGEoTBGHI2HH8L4XuGu1abtKXL-S7nZ73oyKT5Vb1yL5Q6Z9wwf1FFFea7BtbDU74/s400/IMG_0002.jpg" width="341" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He
was not seeing what I saw. I wish I had a photograph of that moment, but this
one must suffice, as it was taken around the same time and is the same
perspective I had of her when we first met. When I saw this photo, several
weeks later at the TFA office in Nairobi, my heart leapt once more, and I had
no qualms about snatching it from the photo album and tucking it into my shirt
pocket. Already, I was thoroughly enchanted by her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She
sat down opposite me, next to the Vandervoorts, who seemed to know her well, as
did Anne-Marie. Her name was Christy, she told those of us who had not met her
yet. The conversation continued, but I only half listened as I cast furtive
glances at her. She had beautiful, soulful eyes, and when she smiled, her eyes
smiled too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
learned that, like Anne-Marie and the Vandervoorts, she was in her second year
with TFA. She had skipped out on the Phoenix orientation, as well as the
Nairobi orientation in August, to be with family she had not seen in almost a
year. TFA had stationed her in Nairobi National Park, working for the David
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an organization that rescued orphaned elephants,
rehabilitated them, and returned them to the wild.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She
was calm, confident, already seasoned by life in Kenya. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The
remainder of the weekend was spent mostly in meetings, but I deftly found ways
to be near her. One afternoon, during a long break, I looked out the window of
my room to see her alone at a table in the courtyard, reading a book. I
immediately snatched up my copy of <i>Les
Miserables</i> and charged downstairs. When I reached the courtyard, I saw her
in the distance, sitting cross legged in a chair, her book open before her. It
was like a scene out of a Victorian novel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
sauntered along a footpath, as if minding my own business, and when I neared
her table, she looked up from her book at me. I closed the distance between us,
said hello, and asked if I might join her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At
one point, I gathered the courage to ask her if I could visit her in Nairobi
during Christmas break.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"I
want to see the elephants," I said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She
smiled, perhaps at my pretext, and agreed. We did not set a definite time
or day, so I sensed her acceptance was only half-hearted. When I returned to
Kenegut, I thought about her a lot, and my journal entries reflect apprehension
at the turmoil of emotions she might stir up in me if I were to pursue her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But
pursue her I did. Shortly after the start of our month-long Christmas break,
several us--Michelle, Ross, Soren and Helene--were camping out in Anne-Marie's
Nairobi apartment. One afternoon, we were talking about colleagues stationed in
the area, and I asked Anne-Marie where Christy lived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"She
just moved to Langata," Anne-Marie said. "I haven't visited her
yet."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
told her I had plans to visit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"I
have her number, if you want to give her a call."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Because
landlines were notoriously unreliable in Kenya at the time, I was honestly
surprised to get her on the line, and even more surprised that she agreed to
see me. That afternoon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Meet
me in the parking lot of the Karen Hotel," she said. "I'll be in a
red Renault wagon."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The
plan was that I would spend the night at her place and drive with her to the
Trust the next morning to see the orphaned elephants. I packed my meager
belongings, thanked Anne-Marie for her hospitality, and traipsed down the road
to hail a taxi. The driver turned to me and said he would have to take a longer
route because of student riots at the university. I thought he might be taking
advantage of me, but when we turned a corner in Westlands, we encountered a
wall of angry students. The driver hastily put the car in reverse and took a
very circuitous route to the hotel, one that too us past the Kenyan president’s
residence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLziv2i0rTtH-WXWACmrBjm5Cwt4iFnnrPLT_245hbTW7syIeD_T52dbRqP5BVl_U432SU8slI3CU0YdCy-NUK8rJ07kNVocuNp-gMhPMBs2DBv4LoJsVTg7iOzuLEB1kwvW0yiJnL6KU/s1600/renault2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLziv2i0rTtH-WXWACmrBjm5Cwt4iFnnrPLT_245hbTW7syIeD_T52dbRqP5BVl_U432SU8slI3CU0YdCy-NUK8rJ07kNVocuNp-gMhPMBs2DBv4LoJsVTg7iOzuLEB1kwvW0yiJnL6KU/s1600/renault2.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
arrived about fifteen minutes late. The only red vehicle in the parking lot was
one that looked like a miniature ice cream truck. As I approached the passenger
side, there she was, sitting behind the wheel. She was lovelier than I
remembered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
opened the passenger door. She smiled, and we both said our hellos. I
apologized for being late and told her about the riots downtown. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Were
you in any danger?" she asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
told her about the mob of students we encountered. Her concern for me was
touching.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That
evening, we ate at the Horseman Restaurant in Karen. After three months of eating
mostly ugali, sukuma, and lentils, I tried very hard not to weep over my
dinner. I had ordered a zebra steak, at Christy's recommendation, and it was
one of the best meals of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBhV_Yc-X7z7gGjv3pPjswZtqd62yzS-d6iViorfwt9oWRmpVWyI4CrzNPhTjLV56Q_wNXc88ZcmfzQa6COYyJzICvn3-cmgzv2P52sJWeNIgBNkolux7QoEKvzAxKEywlhbzx0Qz3nk/s1600/guesthouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBhV_Yc-X7z7gGjv3pPjswZtqd62yzS-d6iViorfwt9oWRmpVWyI4CrzNPhTjLV56Q_wNXc88ZcmfzQa6COYyJzICvn3-cmgzv2P52sJWeNIgBNkolux7QoEKvzAxKEywlhbzx0Qz3nk/s320/guesthouse.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Christy
lived in a guest house in Langata, a suburb of Kenya. Compared to my little
blue hovel, her home was paradise. She had a kitchen with a refrigerator, a
stove, and running water; a bathroom with a hot-water shower and a toilet; a
television; a fireplace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
slept blissfully on the couch that night and woke the next morning to sunlight
streaming through the patio doors. Christy was up and about in her room, so I
slipped outside and sat in a safari chair on her back porch. As I was taking in
the surroundings, a Rhodesian Ridgeback the size of a pony came trotting around
the corner. I froze; it froze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"That's
Chumley," Christy said behind me. "He's a sweetheart."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At
the sound of his name, Chumley bounded toward me, tail wagging, and nosed me in
the crotch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After
a quick breakfast, we headed for the elephant orphanage. We entered the park
through an east gate off Magadi Road and followed a dirt track that meandered a
few miles through tall brush. We rounded a corner and there was the parking
area, with Daphne Sheldrick's house in the distance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Daphne
was a white-haired <i>grand dame</i> in a billowing dress. She was friendly,
but it was clear from the beginning that she was a no-nonsense woman, as she
must be to live alone in a wildlife park. Her husband, David Sheldrick, was
warden of Tsavo National Park before his death of a heart attack in 1977.
Daphne had established the Trust in his memory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That
morning, we visited the orphans. Some of them were sickly, while others were
well on their way to being rehabilitated. There were only a few visitors at the
mud wallow, the hour when paying tourists were allowed to visit with the
elephants, so Christy was relaxed as the orphans cavorted about. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhClSfQFW1ZHw2V_FN8latKr0UoHo258YEyRa8o_mojngiaIdBd1szxqY1jZ3hIZyYf5o0fiZnbZrkdqDz-hQBq79j1H0OkNspDqdzcrY5kpm0h3GPnigkHiLIDWlvQOqBHnCr1utULLtk/s1600/Orphanele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhClSfQFW1ZHw2V_FN8latKr0UoHo258YEyRa8o_mojngiaIdBd1szxqY1jZ3hIZyYf5o0fiZnbZrkdqDz-hQBq79j1H0OkNspDqdzcrY5kpm0h3GPnigkHiLIDWlvQOqBHnCr1utULLtk/s320/Orphanele.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She
told the visitors to blow into the trunks of the orphans, as that was how
elephants remembered someone. Sure enough, the orphans raised their trunks when
the visitors approached. When a sickly calf ambled up to her, Christy put her
hand in its mouth. It was a way to soothe the orphan, which had lost its mother
to poaching. She was definitely in her element.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Daphne
approached us after mud wallow. For reasons I cannot remember, Daphne had to leave
for South Africa that weekend, so she invited Christy to house sit.
Christy agreed, and Daphne gave her the option of sleeping in the house or
in a camp tent about one hundred yards away, in the bush.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"I
would sleep in the camp tent, if I were you," I chimed in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Not
by myself," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"You're
welcome to stay, too," Daphne said, smiling faintly, and she turned to
walk back to the house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We
drove back to Christy's place to gather some belongings, and then to Karen
Dukas to get some supplies for the evening: pork chops, potatoes, asparagus,
wine. That night, I cooked dinner for us in Daphne's kitchen. We ate on the
back porch, listening to the sounds of an African night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Around
midnight, after a few glasses of wine, we braved the march to our tent. Our flashlights
zigzagged, searching out predators, as we walked the longest one hundred yards
of our lives in the pitch black of an African night in the middle of a wildlife
reserve. Inside the tent were two single mattresses fitted with sheets,
blankets, and pillows. We tossed our belongings inside, then Christy pointed up
and said, "Look."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Above
us was a ribbon of white. The Milky Way, a white streak across the night
sky, throbbed and fluttered. I looked at her, her neck outstretched,
vulnerable; she dropped her gaze to look at me. I spoiled the most romantic
moment of my life by lunging at her for a kiss. Our lips glanced off one
another, and she turned away, stifling a laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Needless
to say, I was thoroughly embarrassed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
don't remember what was said next, but shortly after we ducked mercifully into
the tent and settled down for the night. I spent a few fitful hours reliving my
debacle, while hyenas mocked me with their distant, demonic chuckles. Eventually,
I fell asleep, only to be woken at dawn by the distressed braying of a nearby
zebra.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Both
of us shot up from the blankets and looked at one another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Open
it!" Christy said, pointing at the tent flaps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
flung open the tent flaps to witness a zebra clattering across rocks less than
fifty yards away. Suddenly, a lioness lunged out of the bush onto the zebra's
back. The zebra's hind legs collapsed, and she went down, whinnying. Another
lioness appeared and leaped in. Grunting, they dragged the struggling zebra
into the bush and disappeared from view.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We
looked at one another, astonished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A
Samburu guard appeared near the house, staring down at the kill site. Without
looking, he motioned for us to come to him. Quietly, carefully, we did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Do
you see it?" I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Just
there," he said, pointing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
didn't see a thing and told him so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Come,"
he said, and he marched off toward the kill site. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Christy
and I hesitated briefly, then we fell in behind him. About fifty yards into the
bush, we came across the carcass. She had claw marks on her back and two
puncture holes in her neck. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Where
are the lions?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The
Samburu pointed into the bushes. "They are just there."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I
looked, saw nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"At
night," he said, "they will come to finish."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A
few hours later, during visiting hours, a cheetah appeared, gazing forlornly at
the carcass, but it was too shy to come any closer. Giraffe sauntered in that
afternoon to drink awkwardly from the water that had pooled on the rocks where
the zebra had been taken down. The lions were nowhere to be seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Heeding
the Samburu's words, we stepped out on the back porch shortly after sunset and
listened to teeth tearing into flesh, sinew, and bone. The lions had returned,
and their grumblings reverberated in our chests, as if we'd been located. Fifty
yards away, a carcass was being devoured, and there was nothing between it and
us, except a low wall. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We
slept in Daphne's house that night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDyPwGtCrUEWVJxigBazM-D66DRyTaa4OkjLAfdzfj37SksBAomo4NEFKCfaASJ9r-YaIlADugZc7-9MrNo-k2A7hFtHPF4PRjfmeCN61nqKfoAusL_RDAEr4CWIoPMTXW6pUXN04NeSs/s1600/carnivore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDyPwGtCrUEWVJxigBazM-D66DRyTaa4OkjLAfdzfj37SksBAomo4NEFKCfaASJ9r-YaIlADugZc7-9MrNo-k2A7hFtHPF4PRjfmeCN61nqKfoAusL_RDAEr4CWIoPMTXW6pUXN04NeSs/s320/carnivore.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This
story ends here. But our story did not. I stayed with Christy almost a week
that early November in 1996. I eventually got over that fumbling attempt at a
kiss. The next several months, I would emerge every Friday morning from my
little blue hovel in Kenegut, walk six miles to the nearest paved road, and
ride creaky matatus and patchwork buses for five or six hours, over some of the
most dangerous roads in the world, just to be near her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif";"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Almost
twenty years later, I am still by her side.</span><span style="font-family: garamond, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-53897793902689613572014-05-01T16:34:00.000-07:002016-12-30T11:48:20.561-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif"; line-height: 150%;"> </span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18.0pt;">The Beast in the Jungle</span></i></b></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Teachers
for Africa stationed me at Kenegut Secondary School with fellow TFAer Jared
Achieng, a Kenyan who had been working for IBM in the United States for more
than ten years. I thought I was the lucky one of the group, because here was
someone already familiar with the country and who spoke the language. But
Jared's father died shortly after our arrival in Nairobi, so he left our group
and spent the first few months in Kisumu, his hometown, making preparations for
the funeral.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So,
unlike my colleagues, I was by myself. I was lonely at times, crushingly so,
but eventually I settled into life in Kenegut. I wrote and read by candlelight
long into the night, taught English during the day, and went on runs through
the countryside with my students, many of whom ran barefooted. I was in the
highlands, tea country, and the views were often stunning. On hikes or runs, I
would turn a corner and suddenly a breathtaking vista was before me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZI1us7sdtcEap-uCm4I4AO4QzxYcmrGfcuI_QA66NNS2xrQgNjATUl5AhLP94TI0MBQV9rI7DWSxzXDzxZCVhFDnNFRtA_X1UBW8l9paJuyGBJqwiTXehI-p5jpzjf8j9IuzHFBiK1CQ/s1600/Vista.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZI1us7sdtcEap-uCm4I4AO4QzxYcmrGfcuI_QA66NNS2xrQgNjATUl5AhLP94TI0MBQV9rI7DWSxzXDzxZCVhFDnNFRtA_X1UBW8l9paJuyGBJqwiTXehI-p5jpzjf8j9IuzHFBiK1CQ/s320/Vista.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At
least once a week, I traveled twenty miles to Kericho, the closest major city,
where I would while away a few hours before stocking up on necessities: tinned
biscuits, Cadbury chocolate, freeze-dried coffee, wine, batteries,
candles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
would pop into the Midwest Hotel for a cold Tusker and watch Kenyan news,
broadcast in unintelligible Swahili, on the television above the
bar. If I were lucky, I would get news of cricket and soccer matches from
England, and this would enthrall me, though I had no previous interest in, or
knowledge of, those sports in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When
you live alone, apart from others like yourself, you get used to it after a
while, if it doesn't drive you mad. There were times, however, when I
questioned my sanity. Journal entries during that period reflect my worries
about financial security and the future. Friends and family were busy with
careers and raising children, while I was still gadding about. My little sister
was about to marry, an event I would miss because of interminable wanderlust.
Everyone seemed to lead a normal existence except me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje935TuvL-zBOhFIsIWqVuVHberBVUmv8HX2DDJx3fgU6Xg7vD3MIohWVXKvNERrwRAgbvO1wU-P_yXaJtET7ELF-4WJf1vckqI12M3Fy3bPpDt0C4HAZRJt-dRZx-n9xlmCpOa_6FBI8/s1600/Maralal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje935TuvL-zBOhFIsIWqVuVHberBVUmv8HX2DDJx3fgU6Xg7vD3MIohWVXKvNERrwRAgbvO1wU-P_yXaJtET7ELF-4WJf1vckqI12M3Fy3bPpDt0C4HAZRJt-dRZx-n9xlmCpOa_6FBI8/s320/Maralal.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Traveling
was my solace, and eventually I began wandering further from my blue hovel, to
outposts like Maralal, a dusty, tree-lined haven in Northern Kenya reminiscent
of towns in Hollywood films of the Old West. To get there, I had to travel four
hours by bus on a dirt track through desert scrub. By the time I reached
Maralal, I was covered in grit. It had lodged in creases of my skin and filled
my nostrils, and where I rubbed it my neck felt scoured as if by
sandpaper. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
bus driver dropped me off at Yare Campgrounds, just outside of town, where I
paid 500 shillings (about $10) for a thatched banda with a makuti roof, a bed,
and a hot shower. A bargain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was, however, not <i>in </i>Maralal. To get to the city center, I had
to walk 4.5 kilometers in the blazing sun. There, I had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe
(not part of the chain) and downed several Stoney Tangawizi, a local ginger
beer. My waiter asked if I were staying at the Safari Lodge. No, I said. And I
told him I was staying at Yare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Aiiii,"
he exclaimed. "That is far. The lodge is just there," he said,
pointing out the door.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Where?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Just
there," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitNVVF8U3yJIADALv4psHIqkF2aZm07BJGbSP-SmZhlDuf6aG6J9QDIVULXH9AyWK3k6O68psSWouSV9cwoAU81N7mICgoV5ESb-B9zmI9bHplLXHZ2vnqPR5VsWqVCbuG58Uyu1ogx4w/s1600/645_53559975451_9570_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitNVVF8U3yJIADALv4psHIqkF2aZm07BJGbSP-SmZhlDuf6aG6J9QDIVULXH9AyWK3k6O68psSWouSV9cwoAU81N7mICgoV5ESb-B9zmI9bHplLXHZ2vnqPR5VsWqVCbuG58Uyu1ogx4w/s320/645_53559975451_9570_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "garamond" , "serif";"> </span> <i>Just there</i> was
three kilometers from the city center, another long walk in the blazing sun.
But the lodge was very comfortable and was situated at the edge of the Maralal
National Sanctuary. I sat on the restaurant's veranda,
which overlooked a watering hole that attracted an array of wildlife,
and ordered a pot of chai and a bottle of water. </span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
lounged there a few hours, writing in my journal, but mostly I meditated at the
sight of eland, gazelle, waterbuck, and zebra gathered at the watering hole. At
one point, I saw two young Samburu warriors, dressed in red and blue shukas,
walking in the distance. The waiter appeared at my elbow, and I asked him where
the men were headed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5KfSm4lwRpqAxmkAGfmsXtu8uQ7OxFohshNg63yR0IR7y3ZZTqOo5TWITI3Fiip8TpiVnjca2SbL9Gr89zxKZ17Nhx92NBW_SEOU_3pWv24bO_dl-t5mJLwN7WC_xGV5LbuTGuerDx50/s1600/watering+hole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5KfSm4lwRpqAxmkAGfmsXtu8uQ7OxFohshNg63yR0IR7y3ZZTqOo5TWITI3Fiip8TpiVnjca2SbL9Gr89zxKZ17Nhx92NBW_SEOU_3pWv24bO_dl-t5mJLwN7WC_xGV5LbuTGuerDx50/s320/watering+hole.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yare,
maybe," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The
campground?" <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Yes,"
he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Where
is the campground?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Just
there," he said, pointing in the direction the Samburu were headed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Just there</i> was directly across the reserve, which
was studded with wildlife, including water buffalo, one of the most dangerous
animals to humans in Africa. If I walked across the reserve, however, as the
Samburu did, I would cut my walking distance in half.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
paid the waiter, packed up my belongings, and walked down the drive away from
the lodge. At a bend, hidden from view of anyone at the lodge, I saw the
footpath the two Samburu men had taken. I hesitated briefly. And then I took
the plunge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
first several minutes were terrifying. I was sure I was making a huge mistake,
but I kept on nonetheless. I eyed every bush for signs of lion or water
buffalo, and every few hundred feet I scouted out a tree I could clamber up, if
need be. Mostly, I encountered herds of zebra, who were unhappy about my
presence and would trot off braying and whinnying if I got too close. Antelope
and similar ungulates kept their distance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">About
halfway across the reserve, I began to relax. I even took photographs. All of
them, however, of zebra. None of the photographs capture the combined feeling
of fear and sheer abandon I felt at being in the middle of a wildlife reserve.
This is stupid, I told myself, but I felt exhilarated nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwWixNzDAAJg6Ch9ANIG8rD5d1J1y_j96jjQlkpFyAxlxI1VlumPvEgFIP6MVbkwTG3g8lbV9X3lj72IX-SfCuJino1YZzhZ8Cn__wRx-mSw-d24-1KkTprABq-vcjMBq4AEIqDY4iLR0/s1600/Zebra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwWixNzDAAJg6Ch9ANIG8rD5d1J1y_j96jjQlkpFyAxlxI1VlumPvEgFIP6MVbkwTG3g8lbV9X3lj72IX-SfCuJino1YZzhZ8Cn__wRx-mSw-d24-1KkTprABq-vcjMBq4AEIqDY4iLR0/s320/Zebra.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
rested a while in the shade of a tree, captured in the photo to the left.
Except for wildlife, I was alone. Utterly alone. But in that solitude, the
peace of that reserve, I realized I was in the midst of the world. That life
was all around me. And I was part of it. I was no longer a tourist, not simply
passing through. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eventually,
the zebra relaxed and returned to grazing. On a distant hillside, a safe
distance away, I saw the boulder-like shapes of water buffalo. Soon, cicadas
began calling and some slate-colored boubous answered with trills. The heat,
the hum of the cicadas, and the sweet bird song soothed me. I wanted to
stay longer in the shade of that tree, but it was getting late, close to
hunting hour, so I picked myself up and reluctantly moved on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As
I neared the main road, I saw a park ranger leaning against his truck, his arms
crossed, waiting. My first impulse was to turn around and run. Perhaps he
hadn't seen me. But the thought of walking back through the reserve at dusk was
far too terrifying. So, I faced the music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Are
you crazy?" He pointed up at the hills. "Do you know a leopard lives in
those rocks?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"No,
I didn't know that."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"There
are lions here," he said. "Sometimes elephant."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
told him I had followed some Samburu men.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You
are not Samburu," he declared.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
apologized and said it would not happen again. He excused me with a disgusted
wave of his hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was changed when I returned to Kenegut and my little blue hovel. I had nothing
to prove to myself. Or others. Not that I had done anything extraordinarily
brave. I hadn't. But all the dread and anxiety of doing something with my life,
of waiting for some spectacular event to define me, like John Marcher in Henry
James' "The Beast in the Jungle," had disappeared, and I felt at
peace with myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And
just at the moment I let go, stopped waiting for something to happen, my life
changed in a most unexpected but glorious way.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>(To be continued)</i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-63803768168295369052014-04-23T12:35:00.000-07:002016-12-30T10:35:43.884-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Waning Youth</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
plunged headlong into Kenya. I have never felt so alive, so present in the
moment, so incredibly responsive to new experience and stimuli, as I was from
August 1996 to July 1997. I have returned to Kenya three times since then, once
for another year-long excursion, but I have failed to recapture that first
experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kenya
was different then. No internet. No cell phones. Land lines existed, but they
were government-run, so telephones were unreliable and expensive. I was truly
cut off from the outside world, my only form of communication through letter
writing, and I spent hours every night scribbling by candlelight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHp3Ideo9VA_2zYJotzwwhY-E17Lv2PIt9XA65aNF_LM7M3vDyCOqY9gxro76J9JADDr-ccbCLrBVGt231611xeyG-H05IfC-HERa4uLnpVfZs5XtDhX5Th_nXTsqHkjXOJeolzkG_4xI/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHp3Ideo9VA_2zYJotzwwhY-E17Lv2PIt9XA65aNF_LM7M3vDyCOqY9gxro76J9JADDr-ccbCLrBVGt231611xeyG-H05IfC-HERa4uLnpVfZs5XtDhX5Th_nXTsqHkjXOJeolzkG_4xI/s320/IMG.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I used empty bottles of Rocamar wine as
candleholders and listened to Vaughn Williams, Bach, Beethoven. I had only a
few CDs, so I became very familiar with them. In fact, <i>Fantasia on a Theme
by Thomas Tallis</i> became the soundtrack for my journeys. Many years later,
the song came on the radio while I was making dinner in Madison, Wisconsin, and
I was overcome with emotion as memories flooded back. Not extraordinary
moments, though there were some, such as seeing a lion take down a zebra about
fifty yards from my tent in Nairobi National Park, or being charged by an
elephant while driving through Tsavo West. No, most of the memories were
mundane ones: weaving through the throng, the bustle and noise, even the
stench, of the streets of Nairobi; clinging desperately to the back of a matatu
as it hurtled down the Busia-Kisumu Highway in a downpour; stepping out the back
door of my blue hovel in Kenegut to see a polished, shimmering section of earth
miles in the distance, only to discover from a passing student that I was
seeing Lake Victoria forty miles away; even one of looking out a bathroom
window on the fourth floor of Sarit Centre to an alleyway below that struck me,
somehow, as charming.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Those
moments! I feel sometimes as if I could reach out and touch them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7dYjI45867dYPtZjY2Ch9kbapTA_bTmFl434Tb6UBkeWgftyjcPd0L0G5yiU-VSZFdnyX-JyRmEVcG-B4t0q-hYI7pBcgE7uLvCi2e8d96gov4RvuWbHCAkv6JVI6ZABxYkBrWueWa4/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7dYjI45867dYPtZjY2Ch9kbapTA_bTmFl434Tb6UBkeWgftyjcPd0L0G5yiU-VSZFdnyX-JyRmEVcG-B4t0q-hYI7pBcgE7uLvCi2e8d96gov4RvuWbHCAkv6JVI6ZABxYkBrWueWa4/s320/IMG_0001.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">My
eyes were restless, everywhere, as is evidenced in this photograph with one of
my students, Goeffrey. It wasn’t long before I became claustrophobic in my
little blue hovel and began making excursions. First to nearby schools, where
some of my colleagues were stationed. Then to far-flung destinations, such as
Maralal, Nanyuki, Nyahururu, and Wasini Island. Stepping onto a bus or matatu
was exhilarating. I felt carefree, untethered.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">George
Bernard Shaw once wrote, “Youth is wasted on the young.” Almost, with me. In
the waning years of my youth, I had lived. And if there is one regret, it’s
that I waited so long, but I doubt I would have truly appreciated such an
experience in my twenties. I arrived in Kenya at the right moment. The fact
that I would meet the woman who would be my wife is testament to this, because
that story is incredible in itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>(To be continued)</i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4171391883216268046.post-79703463763603895662014-03-26T14:17:00.000-07:002016-12-30T11:45:43.881-08:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Blue Hovel</span><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It’s
not a moment I am stuck in. Rather, it’s an experience. And since hundreds of
moments comprise that experience, I have no definite starting point. No moment
I can point to and say, “This is where my story begins.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So,
I shall begin with a photograph.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWUtuW-MYkGnKFQV0jkKtmq5tpoIVkRO1Ql0cZTB49IK6LkTJPDH_FccwimKG4XjWzxYMyhAgev-ny92TSMcET9aNYii5eH-eqlS7XBEMpowhjlUTyoV_nMUHzlQXVUILdmhHuGIsXnA/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWUtuW-MYkGnKFQV0jkKtmq5tpoIVkRO1Ql0cZTB49IK6LkTJPDH_FccwimKG4XjWzxYMyhAgev-ny92TSMcET9aNYii5eH-eqlS7XBEMpowhjlUTyoV_nMUHzlQXVUILdmhHuGIsXnA/s320/IMG.jpg" width="232" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In
August of 1996, I moved into this simple room in a rural village in the western
highlands of Kenya. It was a move I had been anticipating for several months.
When I took this photograph, I had been living in Kericho and teaching at Kenegut
Secondary School for about a week, so the initial dread of moving to a
developing country had worn off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This
moment I remember well. I was sitting in that chair, engrossed by Mikhail
Sholokov’s <i>And Quiet Flows the Don</i>, and had read uninterrupted to the
end of a long chapter. I looked up from the page and took in my now-familiar
surroundings. Before me was the girl’s hoop-ball field. Beyond it was the boy’s
soccer pitch, identifiable as such only because of the two netless goals
crouched at either end. To the right of the pitch squatted the brick-and-mortar
schoolrooms and the headmaster’s office. To the left stood sentinel the hedges
that blocked my view of the dirt path that meandered six miles to the nearest
paved road, the B-1, or the Kisumu-Busia Highway. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
stood, retrieved my cheap camera, and took the snapshot above. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As
well as one of my bedroom.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0OQnT4RQp7tB-7YPGuu3WCCfTfpbqeaH8-PSI81DJZfEePGP68kvYsjkWZRPXPdhTd4MaaMs_wNLvCywub893xpWqPVlEnMMBqy0acnsJFnuqyIV7VFHPgt4P1oqmz68NcWYmoh0JcH8/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0OQnT4RQp7tB-7YPGuu3WCCfTfpbqeaH8-PSI81DJZfEePGP68kvYsjkWZRPXPdhTd4MaaMs_wNLvCywub893xpWqPVlEnMMBqy0acnsJFnuqyIV7VFHPgt4P1oqmz68NcWYmoh0JcH8/s320/IMG.jpg" width="236" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Home.
I was home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes,
this little nook, this crumbling hovel, was my home. And home had suddenly come
to mean much more to me. Home was now a feeling that could not be put into
words, but it was a feeling that all who have journeyed to Africa understand.
And any words crafted to define that experience almost always fall flat and
ring untrue to the ear, like trying to describe a soaring piece of classical music.
No, you must hear the music yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
won’t romanticize my feelings at the time, because they were conflicted. I had
traveled to Kenya at a point in my life when I had decided to stop leading a
vagabond existence. Up to this point, I could count more than ten places as
home—among them Chicago, Carbondale, Las Cruces, Missoula, and Caracas,
Venezuela. My parents had been divorced almost twenty years by then and had
moved many miles away from one another, so I never had a definite sense anymore
of what “coming home” meant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But
here I was. A roof, a bed, two chairs, a table, a wash basin, a box of candles,
a stack of books, but no running water or electricity. Home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before
I got the call to live and work in Kenya, I had been ricocheting across the country
for five years. First to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I received an M.A. in
creative writing. Then to Missoula, Montana, where I received an M.F.A. in
creative writing. From there, I returned to Las Cruces in a desperate attempt
to return to a scene of former glory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There,
I wrote fiction in the morning, worked afternoon and evening shifts designing
ads for <i>The Dandy Dime</i>, and in between jogged and walked my Australian
Shepherd, Beau. I could not, however, find work that would meaningfully sustain
me. I lasted only five months before I tucked tail, packed my wheezing,
rheumatic Subaru station wagon with my few belongings, including Beau, and
returned to the suburbs of Chicago, where my sisters and childhood friends
still lived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ten
gloomy months I spent in Chicago, to which returning seemed like miserable
regression, trying to decide on what trajectory my life would now take. Why go
to the southern tip of Illinois for my Bachelor’s, then to southern New Mexico
for my Master’s, and finally as far north as Missoula to receive another
Master’s, only to return to my hometown? To me, the point of getting those
college degrees was to abandon the nest and make my way in the wide world. I
was bitterly disappointed in myself, a feeling that lingered over me like a
black cloud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
immediately found a job at Walden Books in the vacuous, soul-sucking Woodfield
Mall, a job which I walked away from after only three months, without a word,
in the middle of a shift. I then took a part-time job working three days a
week, Tuesday through Thursday, at a behemoth insurance company drawing up
contracts I literally did not understand. I awaited the axe almost every day,
but after several months the company was willing to slide me into a full-time
position at the end of the summer. I seriously considered the offer. As a
part-timer, I was pulling in about $1,500 a month; as a full-timer, I would be
making more than twice that, with benefits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was thirty-one years old. I should stop knocking about, I told myself. It was
time to start making a living. Pull my own weight. Plant roots. Get married.
Have a family. But as I ticked off those milestones, I had only a vague image
of myself in those moments, and the image of myself was of someone I disliked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then,
in late June, I got the telephone call. During the brief return to Las Cruces,
I had submitted an application to a Phoenix-based organization called The
International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH), an application
which I had long ago forgotten about because I had missed the deadline by two
weeks and was told I would be considered for placement the following year. So,
when someone from IFESH telephoned me more than a year later to say that I had
been accepted to teach in Kenya, I was completely blindsided. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Was
I interested in the position? Yes, of course! Never mind my recent agonizing
about my life. I would go to Kenya. Certainly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At
work, I was an empty suit, pretending to be busy but most of the time
daydreaming about Kenya. And when I could no longer stand the confines of my
cubicle, I would wander the hallways of the building, sometimes taking the
elevator to the top floors and peering into the grandiose executive offices.
Already, I felt like an intrepid explorer, for no one questioned my right to be
there. The trick was to look as if I were on official business and, as
camouflage, always be carrying a folder or a piece of paper. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">During
one of my expeditions to the top floor, I passed a conference room with
executives sitting stiffly around a table, listening attentively, dutifully, to
someone giving a presentation. Except for one gentleman in a charcoal-grey
suit. He was leaning back comfortably in his seat, legs crossed, one arm
dangling idly, twirling a pen in his fingers. He was an older gentleman with
graying hair, but he was slim, fit, good looking. The epitome of a successful
businessman. He looked at me as I walked by. I waved. He waved back, a
whimsical smile on his face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That
brief moment stuck with me. His gesture seemed to me the permission I needed. <i>Go,
if you must. Leave me here with my daydreams.</i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6N7_zWlY7ryJQ6zm3TSFyYk4igkM9CnqjUB9zjDcsiacN-SGrcJP-QVrmFnfHzglNW3FgOO7f4l4e39DB3Qlb40bcFF0aqlfffDgwkrol6qBi6PWdMHf9wyJjCTZnT7MfjjxFl6hXsyU/s1600/gallagher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6N7_zWlY7ryJQ6zm3TSFyYk4igkM9CnqjUB9zjDcsiacN-SGrcJP-QVrmFnfHzglNW3FgOO7f4l4e39DB3Qlb40bcFF0aqlfffDgwkrol6qBi6PWdMHf9wyJjCTZnT7MfjjxFl6hXsyU/s1600/gallagher.jpg" /></span></a></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">During
lunch breaks, I would often go outside and saunter along the walking path,
gazing up at the Gallagher Centre where I worked, a veritable skyscraper at 26
floors and almost 400 feet, the second tallest building in the Chicago suburbs.
There was the beehive to which I had almost become indentured.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And
as I walked the path around the manmade Hamilton Lakes, co-workers, mostly
women, would speed past dressed incongruously in their business clothes and their
Nike, Adidas, or Reebok walking shoes. Hamsters on their wheels, I thought. But
not me! I was escaping. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Once
again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes,
I was doing it again. Despite my determination to be more responsible, here I
was, uprooting myself once more to live and work halfway around the world. But
the seed had been planted in my brain and had given flower to various imagined
scenarios of life in Africa. This would be my last hurrah, I told myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Resolved,
I was able to enjoy the dwindling time I had left in Chicago. Even trips to
Woodfield Mall were magical, for it housed a travel shop at the time, and I
would pore through the numerous travel guides about Kenya and East Africa.
Eventually, I settled on <i>The Rough Guide to Kenya</i>, primarily for its
sage advice for people traveling on a budget.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bomen
Hotel in Isiolo, for example, with its flowering jacaranda and hibiscus trees,
was exactly as the travel guidebook described it, and a most welcome and
inviting haven at 1,500 shillings, especially after several gut-churning hours
sitting on a slab of wood on a rickety bus through the desert scrub of Northern
Kenya. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When
I set <i>The Rough Guide to Kenya</i> on the counter, along with thirty
individual travel packets of Woolite, a moneybelt, luggage locks, and a
Leatherman Wingman multi-tool, the salesperson, a young man in his twenties,
rotated the book, read the title, and then looked up at me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Kenya,
huh?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Yep,”
I nodded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“How
long you gonna be there?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“At
least a year.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Holy
cow,” he said. “Peace Corps?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
explained my situation to him, and he was genuinely impressed. As was the
salesperson at the camera shop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I’ve
always wanted to go to Africa,” the gentleman said. He was an older man, in his
fifties, it seemed. He had graying hair at his temples and he peered at me over
his reading glasses, which he had put on to explain to me the settings and
options on my cheap camera.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“It’s
never too late,” I said, optimistically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“When
you have two daughters in college, it’s too late,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
next few weeks went by in a blur, but everything I did was tinged with the
imminence of departure and subsequent adventure. I bought a Walkman
compact disc player with attachable speakers. A cheap pair of binoculars.
Mosquito netting. Hiking shoes. I visited the post office to get a passport. A
health clinic to get cholera and yellow fever shots. My childhood doctor, whom
I had not seen in more than fifteen years (they no longer had my records) to
get a prescription for Chloroquine, an anti-malarial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
day before departure, my older sister had a pig roast at her home in Crystal
Lake. I invited a few childhood friends. We reminisced, drank too much beer.
They slapped me on the back, wished me luck. And then, amid all that good cheer
and revelry, I suddenly became homesick. Already, I was homesick. Here were
people who had planted roots, had wives, husbands, and children, had
comfortable homes to return to at the end of a long work day. Pensions, savings
accounts, 401(k)s. Security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“What
the hell am I doing?” I asked my friend Eric. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He
slapped me on the back and said, “You're going to Africa.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I'm
having second thoughts.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Have
a third thought,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
woke the next morning, hungover, and inspected my luggage—a bulging five-foot
duffle bag and a large backpack stuffed to the gills. Then I glanced at Beau,
who was looking at me out of the corner of his eye, ready once again for the
signal that it was time to load up and journey to another destination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">But
this time Beau would not be going with me. The first time in five years. I was
leaving behind my traveling companion. I gave him a hug and a tearful goodbye
and left him standing at the front door of my sister's house.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
was off to the airport. My journey was about to begin. And it would be an
experience that would define my life in many, many ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><i>(To be continued)</i></span></span></span></div>
</div>
Richard Nunezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258525730657769813noreply@blogger.com1