STORY YA WAMBO

“Get in,please.Hurry up.”
“Still short of words,she took some steps back.”No…”
She couldn’t believe it was me and that was happening.
“Just enter,now”
” I’m sorry Xavier,No I can’t get in the car.”
“Why?”
It finally snapped.She thought…okay….
“No!No wambo… I can’t do that to you.I’m not here for that,I’m here for you,my student so please get in I can help you Wambo,please.”
The red light had started blinking amongst her colleagues some distance back.Hakutaka drama.To them I didn’t seem like a normal customer. Thank heavens,she yielded.Quickly but carefully to the other side of the passengers seat.She got in and he drove off.There was a definite thick cloud of silence for the first three minutes.It didn’t feel nice at all.Alot was going through my mind. All birthed by the disbelief I still had about Wambo,and her secret job. I had mixed feelings.  I wasn’t even sure how I felt.
All I wanted to ask is “How could you?Why?Is this real?”
I gathered courage to peep on her. Calmly seated,leaning against the window looking outside.I figured she was ashamed, too ashamed to talk to me. I mean i was her director and I had just found out that she was also a prostitute. How the hell would she live with that?
Or was I mistaken.
Before I could say anything, I discovered that she was fighting back tears.I suspected that if I’d opened my mouth to say anything, she would automatically breakdown to a series of sobs.I shifted my head towards the windscreen. Never have I lacked words like that moment. Nothing seemed to make sense at that point.  Without any warning, I heard one sob after another, sob after another. It must have been hard for her to hold back the tears. Moreover, the make up she had put on looked damn expensive . Hearing  her sob again and again made me feel like shedding tears. Mjango there is nothing as touchy as a girl crying. It made it even worse by the realisation that I had caused all that, I should have driven off and swept it under the carpet. She would have never known that I knew about her secret life. She would never live with the revelation thay I know about her and now she will never soberly and courageously stand before people especially in my presence. How will she perform in school and in drama?
I decided to man up and take this bull by its head.  I had to know why she ended up on the streets of Koinange. I believed that it must have been peer pressure and she could walk out of it just like she walked in.  I had to make her realise that what she was doing was not meant for a girl like her.She deserved better mjango.Though to ease it all,I’d make her believe and see that all is well. She was lucky to have had me find that out other than anyone else. It was safe with me. I would hold nothing against her, be it publically or privately.  I don’t blame her, I blame the society today.The good book talks of the end times? Yeah I think ndio hio.  So with that conviction, I was ready to talk her and my ow my, I had unconciously driven to westlands.
Wambo couldn’t look at me directly.
“Can I pull over so we can talk? …if thats okay with you. ”
She nodded. I was sensing salvation in the air. I pulled over at a gas station, slightly rolled down the windows.
“Would you like me to get you anything?” She took her time to answer as if she was downloading her voice back again.
She whispered something.
“Whisky?” She looked at me dissaprovingly and whispered again,”Water. ”
I quickly left and came back with a bottle of dasani, chilled. The big moment had come and I sighed. My heart was racing as she gulped and cleared her throat.The greenlight was finally on and I took.
 
” So Wambo my dear. I know you know me too well to be afraid of me . I’m  just concerned,  I have a right to be.  If not so, I wouldn’t have pulled over back there. Though I know I would never have lived with that kind regret. This is between me and you I promise. ”
In the middle of that she cleared her throat again and looked directly at me.A thought passed…”This beauty should be admired by only the guy who wilk work for it,not for every Tom, dick and Harry. ”
I suspected she wanted to say something. It was mine to realise that she had a lot to say.
“Watu wakiniona,wanaona kapunk, mtoto wa sonko. Its true, but not anymore. That was turned around ages ago.  My father was at the top of the food chain in Nairobi.  Runda was home. Money was available anytime we needed it.  My mom was a humble woman, so she was just a house wife. I had three siblings. I was and still am the first. When I was in form three dad fell ill.  It did not seem as serious at that time. I made it to form four but with the sort of pride that sprung from the well of money plus I never took my academics seriously; I failed and had to repeat form four. My dad was comitted to giving me and my siblings the best. At the end of my second year in form four, I improved slightly. Though I had not qualified for the course that I desired on regular intake. By that time, his condition had gotten worse,ever admitted in hospital which drained his finances. The insurance cover took a dive as well. He believed that even though things were not working out well for us,  we still had to study. He took huge loans to pay fees for my siblings and for my parallel course. I went to campus and things seemed to have stabilized. After I had just begun my second year…
She went silent all of a sudden,she looked away and leaned on the window. I was puzzled for a while until it hit me.
“Oh…my goodness,I’m so sorry…”
She dropped a tear or two. “His condition worsened and he was no more. Unfortunately all the debts were passed down to us. After his funeral, auctioneers came and did what they
always do, we were left with nothing. Mark you my mom doesn’t have a job. The pressure also became too much for her. My siblings needed to go to school. I’m still a student… I had no other choice, the burden was too much. Friends and relatives desserted us. Where my mom and siblings live, you don’t want to know. Do you expect me to live like that?
It was unbelievable.  Frozen on every part of my body.  I was literally  shocked and pitiful.  As if that was not enough…
She continued,  “Xavier its not as if I don’t get second thoughts about it. I don’t  like it at all . Supid men just come and want their loins to be entertained without pay . Other  cowards are just too roug,  it makes me feel like I’m being… Perverts want to do anything and everything they see on internet sites. And everytime it happens I promise myself never to go back again but when I wake up the following day and hear my bro is out of school because of fees or my mom is out of her meddo, I go back to it again and trust me,  its the only thing I could do right now.
“Xavier hakuwa na kitu ingine ya kusema.He initially thought he was going to convince her otherwise.He ended up being the convinced one, he let her be. ” said Indish
Mjango I was speechless, but I had reasons to ask,”So Xavier alifanya?”
“Aii,si alimrudisha tao akampea 3k na akaenda.Sasa nini ingine angefanya ? ”
I had nothing else to say.Indish boarded his Ronga fav and left me still in disbelief.