Quest For Love

                  KIIL MI KWIK

He sat there,contemplating what had brought him here,where misers....

It is around midnight.Some few minutes past 11 p.m that he walked aimlessly in the ghostly town where no life seemed to thrive at that hour of the night.On that particular day,to add to his miseries,the weather had for no reason decided to be gruesomely cold.Cold air was biting and eating in to his skin as he walked in short-quick steps to his destination.In his mind,it seemed an entirety to him.He took so much time to reach where he wanted to.

As he got into the heart of the town, a few people could be seen moving about,everyone minding their own business.He tried to figure out what kind of people they might be.At that hour of the night,he told himself,the only people who were active were call girls,thugs and the police.However,when he closely looked at some of these people,no one seemed to fit in any of the categories.

Lost in his wild thoughts,he time and again went past some beautiful young as well as old women who were well dressed and whose clothes and the fragrance of the ointments they used told you that they were far from poor.In dizzly lit streets he could be able to tell that their beautiful faces hid secrets as deep as the grave.Their curvacious as well as shapeless bodies for some,had been used by men from all walks of life.The tall dark and handsome type of men,the rich,the poor,the ugly,the uglier and even the chimpanzees with faces close to those of men. As he walked past them,the call girls with the hope of getting a customer at that early hour of their business called him fervently "Customer,Shot ni Soo".And when he showed the least of interest to the sellers,they hurled special kind of insults (most of which consisted of either male or female genitalia) and only those with PHDs in Toilet Language and Insults could afford to use.

From quite a distance, he could hear the music buzzing in the air and loud voices of misers singing along to this music.The voices,incoherent as they were,told of unseen problems which the singers had for long incubated in their souls. With a renewed energy, he hurried towards the direction where the voices were coming from.At this point,his body had become accustomed to the cold and in his stripped long sleeved shirt,he no longer felt the cold.Just like he had become adapted to the hard life he lived,his body had also adapted to the cold...like its' master.

He was now a few meters away from the den when the loud music came from. He aimlessly strolled to the place.At the top of the building,a hugeand well choregraphed board read "TRAVELLERS BAR AND RESTAURANT" on the left hand side of the board,was a photo of a beautiful woman who was scantily dressed on the top and in a micro mini-skirt which hid as much as it revealed. On the right hand of this board,was another photo of a seemingly young man man holding a bottle of beer and who looked at the woman on the left hand side with lustful eyes.Below this board the word 'KARIBU' had been scribbled.When he reached the entrance,a heavily built man whose angry muscles seemed restricted by the white and light short sleeved t-shirt he wore from escaping his body asked him to produce his National Identity Card. The man seemed so serious with life that you would think he was not human and if he was,he was different from the rest. The kind of humans that acts as if they live in heaven and only come down to earth to take lunch and defecate. He looked at the card and the picture in it and then looked at its owner to confirm it was his and in a haste let the man in.

Inside the bar the music together with the voices of people who had neglected their wives and children,their jobs,their fiances and everything else dear to them filled the air.While some danced with bottles of beer in their hands,others could be seen enjoying vigorous scrubbing from ladies' bottoms. Others,having had too much alcohol,slept on the tables and slippery saliva drooled from their mouths. In that God forsaken place emanated smells of both expensive and cheap perfume,sweat of men and women who had danced for long enough and there also reeked of alcohol and dirt save the smell of the urinal which was a few meters from the bar.The mixture of all these made the place smell worse than a busy garage where vehicles of all kinds are brought for repair.

He quickly scanned the place and his eye caught an empty 'sina taabu' at the corner of the bar.Here,he thought,would be the best place to take his bottle of beer.As he walked towards his new-found position,drunkards stepped on his feet and others hit him as they staggered to God knows where. These would however not deter his mission which had brought him here. He quickly made himself comfortable on the tall sina taabu chair and waited for the waiter to come and take his order. In his waiting,his thoughts wandered in to an abbys of darkness.A dark past and present which made his life close to imbearable. He thought of his wife and how she was possibly snoring her life away in her deep sleep. Perhaps she was not at home. Perhaps another man held her close to his breast and caressed and kissed her to drive away the cold. Perhaps...

He thought of the reason he was at this place and the strong will that had driven him here where no life seemed to thrive. During the short lunch break that their company gave them,He had decided to pay his wife a visit at home and for once in a long time,take lunch with her. He had even gone farther to purchase red rose flowers to colour their lunch. With so much ewe to reach home which was not far from his place of work,the man had hurried with flowers in one hand and the other in his khaki trouser's pocket. He knocked the door anxiously and at first,there was no response. He knocked on the wooden door for the second time,this time a little bit harder and again no response came. Wild thoughts started taking a toll on his mind. What if his wife was sick? What if she had gone for a journey without informing,what if.....??? The what ifs could not cease attacking his mind.

He then thought of turning the door knob. With little effort,the door slowly opened. The room was built in such a way that upon entering the main door,you came into the table room on your right and on the opposite side,there was the dining room. The rooms were well furnished-for a young couples' house-and every furniture occupied a special place.There were three couches in the table room made of black leather and in the middle lay a small table made of clear glass. Under the table were fashion magazines,newspapers and a few novels. On the table was a tv remote and a few cups which the users had forgotten to clear after using. On the wall facing the couches,was a tv,which seemingly did not fit in that kind of a well furnished house. On the dining room was a round mahogany table which was sorrounded by six chairs and above the table was an expensive head lamp. When He set foot in the room,he noticed all was not well.

Dead silence occupied the room and a few things were scattered on the floor. Scattered in a way a person messes up their rooms when looking for something they can't find. Her called her name 'Cate!' but no response came. At this moment,he became more suspicious and anxious. He set for the narrow corridor that led to their bedroom and he instantly opened the door when he reached it. Behold,there laid his beloved wife,completely naked with an equally naked man. The two had been lost in their love making session that they did not hear him knocking,entering or even calling her name to at least try and dress up. The man thought he was in a stupor but he was not. He wished that this dream he was having could clear away from his mind but it couldn't. He stood there like a zoombie,like statues that are erected on designated points on major roads in town,depicting heroes and heroines who fought for the independence of our country. When they realized his presence,they quickly tried to locate on the bed where they had thrown their clothes when making out and when they could not locate them,they run for the bed sheet which they both used to cover parts they thought that He was not supposed to see. Cate looked at her lover with condemning eyes and he in return looked at the intruder at the door both fearfully and grudgingly for having interrupted their happy moments.

On that same bed He and Cate had so many times slept and made love,she had allowed another man to do the same to her. He thought of how much he had loved her. How much He had foregone happinness to to impress his love. "Ingrate!", He shouted and stormed out of the room. He had thought of doing the unthinkable to both of them but he did not let emotions control him. He walked,not knowing where he wanted to be and for what reason. He just kept on walking. He finally found himself in his office and surprisingly, the flowers he had bought were still in his hands. He looked at them and with so much pain as he threw them in the office dust-bin. He tried to work and concentrate on his work in the excruciatingly hot temperatures of the afternoon but his mind failed to obey his commands. Thoughts of betrayal and hate for his wife took a better part of his mind. He thought of the many things they had accomplished together,the vows they had always made to each other and the scene He had just witnessed. All these,threatened to blow his head up like an explosive device. He stayed in the office for long enough lost in his thoughts not to discover the falling dusk. When he glanced at his wrist watch,it was 8 p.m. He quickly shut his computer down and closed his office and when he started walking,his legs carried him away from his home. To a place far away where misers like him,society rejects,call girls and all those considered evil dwelt.

He was lost in his thoughts when the waiter,tired of calling him too many times,with a detectable anger in his voice asked "Are you deaf ? If you cannot communicate then leave. This is not a place for the hearing impaired!"  The Old and tired voice hit his ears so clearly that for a moment he was startled and almost fell off the comfort of his 'sina taabu' seat. He then raised his voice high enough for the waiter to hear amidst the drunk voices and the loud music and said "One bottle,KIIL MI KWIK,Please".

"We don't offer alcohol for free as if this is a church,where is the money?", the waiter retorted.

The man reached his pockets and removed a few notes which were not old and handed over to the waiter. The waiter hurried off and took more time before delivering the drink as opposed to his arrogance of asking for the money. He however waited patiently for his drink. When it finally came,with a thirst that would only be likened to a person who had travelled for a day in a desert without water,he gulped the drink down his throat. He held to the bottle so tightly as if it was the dearest thing he had in his whole life. After no time,he was done with the first bottle of "KIIL MI KWIK". He then signalled the waiter for more and more and more.

In such drinking escapades,so much happenned in the bars. Now and then the waiter could be seen quarreling with a client who had either broken a glass or his bottle of booze,at other times fights broke up and men threw drunk punches at each other and in some serious cases,the ladies in the bar also fought accusing each other of "stealing my man". Stealing as if the one being stolen was a helpless item which could do nothing to save itself from the hands of the thieves. He painfully contemplated these thoughts and again,holding the bottle tighter he said in a low tone as if he was talking to himself "Ingrates!".

Once in a while he got off the chair and stood to dance to the Pop Music which the DJ was playing. I wanna dance with somebody by the renown American Pop star Whitney Houston played and sure enough,he too,wanted to dance with somebody: not only dancing but feeling love with somebody who really loved him. He sang along to this song and danced as if he was the composer. The song was talking to him. He needed somebody at that time. He then sat down and emptied as many bottles as he could and when he could do it no more,he stood and staggered out of the bar. He did not look at his watch but the cold at that time assured him it was wee hours. As he walked in the town, people had grown fewer than when he was walking to the bar. Only prostitutes standing at the corners of the streets ruled the town at that hour. In his drunken state he tried to avoid them but he wasn't sure for how long he would be able to avoid their advances.

At this particular corner,there were about ten of them. Old and young. Beautiful and ugly. They man-marked their weak and drunk target and there was no way he would go past them without buying their services. That they were sure of. Infact most of their customers,comprised of drunk men. "Customer,karibu",each one of them invited him. They came close to him and while some held his hands erotically,some went for his pockets and other for the nether region. "Customer please, nitakutengenezea bei", some pleaded. All this while he was silent and they did not know what he was thinking of. All of a sudden,he pointed at the one who looked youngest among them all and beautiful and told her "You!". The others defeated in their persuit of their customer let go grudgingly.

Where these sellers stand,the lodges are more often than in close proximity:just like a fruit never falls far from the tree. They walked holding hands like two love birds. As they did,the seller whispered nice words to his ear and he could not wait to get in that room and prove his 'love for her'. They finally reached their destination. At the entrance of the building,they found a counter and the attendant  asked them to pay two hundred shillings to use the rooms. The man,as he was the one in need of the service,dug deep his pockets for the money and paid the cash. The lady whom from experience knew this building like the back of her hand,led the man to the room they had been 'allocated'. They climbed the spiral stairs slowly,now and then the lady having to hold him as he was too drunk and he seemed as if he would fall anytime. They finally arrived and she stood on room number 215. The lady opened the door and led the man in. The room had nothing much but a small wooden table and a medium bed. White sheets were spread on the bed may be to spice up the activities that went on in that place.

The experienced woman did not waste her time. She knew what they were here for and she also knew that while  she was in that room, she was losing on other customers outside. She put the purse she was carrying on the bed and slowly but teasingly started unbuttoning her purple blouse. All this while the drunk man was seating on the table and with his legs crossed, staring at the woman. Still unbuttoning,she slowly approached her client and touched his lower lip with the index finger. She at the same time bit her lower lip suggestively while looking him in the eye. She with so much expertise started unbuttoning his shirt,from bottom to top. She carressed the bush of hairs on his chest like it happens in movies. At this time,he felt hungrier to make love like he had never felt. He searched for her mouth in the dimly lit room and when he found it,he kissed it with so much vigour like a hungry child suckles it's mothers bossom. He held her breasts firmly in his hands and caressed them. He did it in a way that showed that he was an expert in making love. He moved his tongue from her mouth and landed it on her nape. He could tell from the lack of emotions from the woman that she was more than used to these activities. She was an old dog in the business and it would be hard to teach it new tricks. He however was determined and did not stop his advances at that point. From the nape he transferred all his energy to her chest. At this point, she seemed a little bit moved though in his drunk state he could not tell whether she was acting or she felt it.

One scene led to the other. At the end,his quench to take revenge at his deceitful wife had been quenched. He felt that he had fulfilled his mission but another part of his soul judged him harshly for his stupid action. Alcohol and revenge had led him to doing the unthinkable,with the unthinkable. When they were done,he paid the agreed levy and the woman started dressing to go and hunt for more customers. She started with her knicker which was on the floor and then put on her braisellie. She then pulled down her micro mini skirt and finally put on her top. She looked beautiful. At least he would judge since he had sobered up a little bit. The lady removed an expensive smelling cologne and applied it on important parts of her body. When she applied it, he started feeling some light headedness in his head. A vomiting feeling engrossed him and dizzinness. He slowly went asleep.

When the room attendants came cleaning the following day,they found his naked and lifeless body lying on the bed. The man had been stripped of his dignity and everything he had in his pockets had vanished with his call girl. Whether the killer wuld be caught or not,time would tell.

Among the ones who came to view the body in that fateful room 215 was Cate,his wife. News had not taken long before reaching her. She stood there,guilt judging her. She convinced herself that she had forced her man away from her with her infidelity and instead of judging the man who lay there lifeless for having cheated on her with a call girl,she judged herself so harshly that she could not forgive herself. Warm tears dropped down her face. She made way through the crowd which had gathered around the door and the corridor of that room and with a stong will,climbed down the stairs. She hurried to her house. Her steps were taking her slower than she intended. At some point she ran and now and again slowed her pace down. She had made up her mind and nobody was going to stop her. Instead of anger,her mind was filled with happinness. She had to fulfill her mission. KIIL MI KWIK.