Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Campus Life; Good Boy Gone Bad: #2-02……..Balancing Act!

It had been a week since Stella had reported to college. So far, there had been no drama and she did not know about Chema’s presence in campus.

Being the eldest in a family and without a father’s nod can be quite disturbing and that was Stella’s predicament. To be able to counter this, Stella would always head home during the weekends, and try to reconnect with her father.

“Rain, my dad is always busy! He does not get time for us,” she said to me, parking her bag.

“Stella, don’t worry I know he will make up time for his family,” I replied rubbing her back.

“No Rain, he is always on the move, business trips and when at home, he is fixated on the business channel!”

“How about your mother?”

“What about her? She is always indifferent and can easily be duped. You see my younger sister has started moving around with weird friends and mum says nothing about it.”

“Everything will be okay,” I said then faced her directly; her face lit up dimly with glint of home. With that we worked to the bus stage, where she took a matatu home.

“Have a nice weekend, and take care,” she said as the tout called for two more passengers.

“I will, you enjoy your time,” I said waving to her.

Walking back to campus, I dialed Chema’s number and she did not pick it. Later on, when I was in my room she called back.

“Hey you, why didn’t you pick up my call?”

“Rain, I was in the shower,” she replied.

“Why didn’t you call me we take it together?” I said jokingly.

“Whaaat?” she interjected, then continued: “You are so naughty. So where are you taking me this beautiful Saturday?”

“I have good plans for you, just come to my room when you are done,” I replied.

I had no plans at hand, but then there was no harm in being a little creative. In the sunny Saturday, her khaki shorts, were just perfect for the weather. It was sports day, so I thought a hockey match would surely thrill Chema. However, as we transversed the field, she was instantly attracted to the game of rugby and insisted that we watched it.

The rugby match was already in progress and it had a capacity crowd with a sizeable number of ladies in attendance. I had watched very few rugby matches and typically did not know the rules of the game.

“Is that allowed?” Chema grabbed my hand tightly as we witnessed a player being shoved forcefully by another. The referee blew his whistle, which irked one of the fans.

“Idiot referee, what foul was that?” he barked out, a Guinness bottle in his hand. “What was the foul?” he directed his question to me.

“I think it’s a knock off,” I replied having heard someone whisper something to that effect.

“What? Knock on you mean?” he snickered out. “Rugby is a contact sport please!”

“Charlie show them the stuff we’re made off!” the heckler shouted to one of the players. It took some minutes before I could realize it was the same Charlie; my classmate. I had never known that he played rugby.

The game continued with its thrill with half the fans drunk cursing at the opponent’s moves as well as the hapless referee. Very often shouts of “stool” and “scrum” would be chanted out. But even more was stirring was Chema’s constant grips and grasps. Every time a player would maul over another she would pinch my skin, and in the rough and rugged game of rugby, she shouted, laughed loudly, yapped and pinched me more throughout the entire second half of the game. Why did she do that? It felt good, even though I was trying to get the rules of the game and how scores were being counted.

Later on, I walked to congratulate Charlie even though I was not sure if his team had won or lost. I tagged Chema along, who was clearly elated by the whole event.

“Congratulations Charlie” I said.

“Man Rain, you made it to this game! Thanks, that was a tight game, we just tried to follow coach’s advice,” Charlie said then wiggled his biceps, Chema pinched me again.

“It seemed to have paid off!” I was cautious with my words, still unsure if they had won.

“You know what, we have a little celebration after this, you can join us,” Charlie said.

“Actually, thanks but no thanks. We have a little plan,” I replied.

“Come on, you can tag along the lovely lady,” Charlie said smiling to Chema.

“That would be okay Rain,” Chema said.

I was not sure joining the biceps wielding men of rugby was a very brilliant idea.

Campus Life; Good Boy Gone Bad: Season’s Premiere……..Welcome back!

“I am so happy that you came,” Chema said as we studied the long queue ahead of us.

“It’s the least I could do.” I said this then studied her face; lovely as usual. The queue was very long, and the university was still stuck in paper work and red tape, but it still boasted of excellence and utilization of information technology. With my impatience, I could not wait and had to go straight ahead of the queue.

I found Angie, the student leader, doing the registration.

“Hi Angie, long time no see! How have you been?”

“Rain! How have you been?”

“Very good, can you do me a favour?” I said pointing in Chema’s direction.

“Uh, she is pretty!” Angie said then smiled. In a few minutes were we done with the registration.

As we walked our way to the halls of residence, we saw various colourful tents with hundreds of dysfunctional organizations, each calling upon us. Chema was attracted to one, and she convinced me to follow her.

“Hi, the two of you!” a bespectacled lady started then handed us a brochures about their organization. “We are like the FIDA of this University,” she paused for a while then pointed to various posters on their tent.

“You are the ones who take care of women rights here?”Chema inquired further.

“Exactly, we ensure that ladies are comfortable and that they pursue their careers to the maximum,” she replied enthusiastically.

“How do you do that?” I asked.

She looked at me, adjusted her skirt then almost with a sneer replied, “Look at this pictures,” she pointed to photos of two young men. “This Peeping Tom, kept disturbing ladies at hall 4 for a long time by watching them regularly when they were taking a shower, when we swung into action, he was expelled from University’s halls of residence.”

“This other man,” she said pointing to the picture of a hapless dude. “He was brought in a girl from Koinange and they ‘did a combination’ with his roommates. We later discovered that the girl was actually one of our students and when we stepped into the case, the guy was suspended for a 1000 academic days.”

Their mandate seemed to spread wide and they would make wonderful lawyers and spinsters for that matter, but I just kept the comment to myself. Chema was so interested and signed in to the group. She also registered with two other groups, the SDA and another one which were giving out wristbands but whose name I can’t recall.

As we walked to her hostel, hall 15, Chema was still elated despite the strenuous registration process. We went straight to room 112 and we found that her roommate had not yet reported.

“I think, I should leave now,” I said.

“Well, we can hook up later, I also need to tidy up this place,” she said. We hugged briefly and I left.

At the gate the watchman, was enjoying groundnuts and listening to his transistor radio. It was important to create a good rapport now, knowing very well that I would be making several visits to hall 15, most of which would be at restricted hours.

When I took a corner to the left, hall 20 was now in clear view, that would be Stella’s hall and it was just one week before she would come to that hall.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Campus Life Good Boy Gone Bad #1: Let the game begin!

I was the fifth person in the line and it had taken a whole hour to serve the four students ahead of me. There was a long queue behind me but most faces were still exuberant of fact that they were finally in a University. I knew my way around the vast varsity, (having made several visits before) so when I was done with my registration I walked down to my room. I was the first in, so I selected the best bed and wardrobe. When I was done, I called my buddy Chris; because it was time for some community work and service to humanity.

“Hey Chris, so where do we start?”

“I think some five hundred metres from the women’s halls,” Chris’ voice came through from the earpiece.

As we strolled our way towards the women halls we were incessantly disrupted by chairperson of some nondescript organizations. In their River Road Suits, they promised us that once we joined their organizations, our lives in campus would be a state of nirvana. But we had done our homework so we dismissed them without a second thought.

“Chris, we can help this girl,” I said pointing out to a lass heavily-laden with her suitcase.

“No, for the game’s sake, she’s way below our league, but for charity’s sake; knock yourself out,” I decided to do it for charity’s sake.

“Excuse me, I see you can do with some help,” I said pointing to her luggage.

“No! I ndont want mboys!” She spat out, and then changed her course of direction. Evidently her mother’s warning was still fresh in her head. Chris immediately burst out into uncontrollable bouts of laughter, then all of a suddenly went mute. His attention was distracted by a 5’6” girl in a tight fitting jeans and a white top; the clothing sensually curved out her lithe-model figure.

“Now that is game bro! Let’s see how you rate on this one,” Chris was not even looking at me. I mustered enough courage and approached her.

“Hi, miss, are you lost or…something?” It was the only thing I could think of despite the fact that she appeared so confident and had a light suitcase.

“Thanks, I do need some help, first you could tell me where Hall 6 is,” She smiled, a smile if we had ten of those, we wouldn’t need the sun anymore.

“I am Rain and my friend here is Chris,” Chris extended his hand smiling, “What is your name?” “I am Stella. Imagine my Dad left me hoping I could just figure out where Hall 6 is!”

“That is such a sweet name,” Chris said as he took away her luggage. As we headed for Hall six, I figured out that this girl could just be the one to kick start my dating life. And she had some daddy issues! There was a gap to be filled, and the Rainmaker wasn’t going to abscond from his duty.

Campus Life Good Boy Gone Bad #2: A little dance hurt somebody

When I walked to my room, my ever-present roommate, Sila busied himself with what looked like calculus.

“Hey, are you revising high school stuff?” I asked as I turned the pages on his book.

“No, this is the assignment we’re supposed to hand in next week,” he replied then continued punching his calculator.

“Are you kidding? Is the timetable out?”

“Of course and we’ve had five classes this week!”

“I will catch up, the semester is still madam. Anyway are you going for Fresha’s Bash?”

“No, I got to finish this then head for CU.”

Stella, the girl I met on my first day in campus had agreed to be my date, and that Chris, my pal, too was to accompany me. Stella was exquisite to say the least. As soon as we hit the student centre, the place was almost filled up to capacity. The DJ on the wheels of steel was already spinning the best latest local music. Freshmen in the latest jeans in vogue as well as snow white Nikes gyrated their hips and every movable body parts in tandem with the beat.

Chris was not a dance guy, so he went straight to the counter. Stella was so eager to show me what she got. And her moves left me numb for a while as she whirled like cyclone on the dance floor. I was forced to muster all the dance moves I knew and for a moment, I matched her movements. However, because of my lack of practice, I was soon weary. We joined Chris at the counter, where he had an array of alcoholic drinks, but we stood our ground and ordered for soft drinks.

A moment later a dude in sagging jeans walked up to us and asked Stella for a dance. Stella looked up to me.

“Sure no problem,” And as soon as I said that, the Dude took her hand and walked her to the dance floor.

“I don’t like that guy,” Chris said as soon as they were on the dance floor.

“Don’t worry it’s just a dance.”

While watching the two on the dance floor they were like a perfect pair. They moved like a pair of Conjoined twins to the dance moves and when it came to Salsa they tangoed like they were the only ones in the world. Chris was just staring at me a little tipsy with that look that just said: “Told you, I hate that guy.”

When it was time to leave, the Dude approached me. Stella had gone to the washrooms “I know that this is your girl, but we've kind of connected and am sorry, I am going with her tonight.” “Are you crazy…?” Before I could complete the sentence, Chris had already roughed him up and thrust him on the wall. We administered a few slaps and when the security moved in our direction, we quickly disappeared. Stella was on the doorway and I held her as we swiftly made our way out of the discotheque.

Just at the entrance of Hall Six as I bid Stella goodnight, she gave me that look that so many men confuse with the signal. The signal that says: Hey so you think you’re a tiger? Why don’t you devour me? Actually the look that is accompanied by a long pause just meant: Rain I trust you.

Campus Life Good Boy Gone Bad #3: The sister actlage!

When she trusts you she will introduce you to the family. So one chilly weekend Stella invited me to their home for her sister’s birthday party. So first thing in the morning I was downtown looking for a gift for the faceless sister. This time, my accomplice, Chris was no where in sight.

Locating the gate number in the up-market suburb proved to be quite tricky. The gate was ajar and as I treaded on the well-manicured lawn I felt a little bit nervous. I knew her father to be hasty and dismissive so I knew expecting a rude welcome was quite in order. Stella appeared from the mansion and briskly headed to where I stood.

She was all over me with hugs and at that moment I felt manhood spring back to my already frail body. She led me to her mother who stood arms akimbo at the door. The middle-aged lady greeted me with indifference. A rotund fellow, whom I immediately recognized as Stella’s father was seated comfortably in a comfy sofa seat, while at the same time deeply engrossed on the day’s newspaper.

“Dad, this is my friend, Rain,” Stella said and simultaneously a cold sweat trickled down my armpits. The old man removed his glasses then grinned at me.

“Pleasure to meet you Rain,” he said while extending his sinewy hands.

“The pleasure is mine sir,” that was all I managed to say.

Inside the party room were 20 odd teenagers engrossed in selecting music from the stereo. Clad in the latest hippy clothes and talking to the latest slang, I felt a little odd.

“Hi people this is Rain,” Stella announced to the crowd.

“Wassup Rain,” they chorused before embarking on who was to be the DJ for the event.

“Rain, welcome to my party,” Stella’s sister offered as Stella temporarily disappeared to another room.

Stella’s sister though younger had a fully grown body, curvy thighs and the bosom on a great growth path. Anyway we involved ourselves in a little chitchat, she asking me how Campus life was and I telling her how much fun it was without parental restrictions and a little boost from the Loans Board.

Her birthday gift comprised of an MP3 player full of her favourite music and full page poster of Rihanna.

“I love this! How did you know?” she was ecstatic and I could see her entire dental formula. Of course I had done my homework, Stella used to mention all her favourites and they got stored into my subconscious. “Rain you’re so cool!” She extended a hug, which I weakly received it.

I don’t know why but everything that came out of my mouth, she was happy about it. Whenever she said something, which most of the time was stupid I could not agree more with it. Then she started this weird habit of holding my back, like I was some long lost cousin. When Stella came back we were in little bit of an awkward position.

“Hey, you guys seem to be making up!” It had to be Stella’s sassy voice .

“Siz, Rain is the coolest person in this party!”

“Yah, yah, you can go in now, let me and Rain have a little talk!”

Campus Life Good Boy Gone Bad #4: The ominous CAT!

In a healthy relationship there are ups on down. When I flirted with Stella’s sister, she got angry and dumped me for a week. After a few I am sorry, I did not mean any harm kind of talk, she took me back.

Whenever we were in high spirits it was total bliss. We were head over heels and it was like “mention the crime and I would be your accomplice!” So what would have been a nappy afternoon turned out to be my biggest daymare.

“Hi hon… are you free tomorrow afternoon?” Stella’s voice came through from the earpiece.

“I am always free for my number one girl…”

“Well, Rain I need a favour, you see we have this calculus CAT tomorrow and I am not prepared at all…can you..”

“You want me to do it for you?”

“Thanks babe…I knew I could always count on you….”

Just because I was an engineering student, Stella thought anything mathematical would be child’s play to me. When I asked Chris my pal about such an adventure, he thought for a while then uttered a single statement, “I wish you were doing it for money, love is so unquantifiable, one moment you will be so happy to have done it but the next time you will you will feel like the idiot of the century!” Of course I dismissed Chris’ thoughts; he had never fallen in love and was not qualified to talk about it.

Sila my roommate was apprehensive, “Did you read the Rules and Regulations? That will automatically lead to your expulsion!” Sila was one person who squeezed himself in between the rules, regulations, the law and whatever synonym you could think of.

When I entered the exam room, there were more than two hundred students and I knew that the lecturer could not obviously distinguish me from the rest. As I took the paper, there were three questions. I read through the first one, frowned, and then sought solace from the second question. It was just a wish as it was equally undoable so I sought comfort from the last question. Nothing ticked in my head. I flipped the paper to read the instructions again which still stood as: “ATTEMPT ALL QUESTIONS!”

If you want to dub effectively then: look right, left and then right again. Under extreme circumstances you might be forced to leap forward or slouch backwards. A bespectacled lady on my right was busy scribbling on the answer sheet while the dude to my right hesitantly penned down the differential equations.

“Hey, you sure of what you’re writing?” I whispered to the bespectacled lady to my right. She frowned at me, and then continued with her work. I took it as a yes so I edged closer to her, then right below her registration number and name, I scribbled everything that I could see. It was only the last question that I copied halfway as she hurriedly handed over her script.

“How did it go?” Stella called in later that day.

“It all went down well, you should expect a moderate pass.” What you don’t know won’t hurt you but it definitely would hurt someone else. My love did not need to know the devil in the details.

Campus Life Good Boy Gone Bad #5: I want some!

Friday evening for a college kid is an exceptional day. So when Stella asked me to her room, I was sure this time round I was going to have a taste of the cherry. Even when I entered her room there could be no better green light as her roommate had gone to the Estate for the weekend.

I don’t know why it was inculcated in Stella’s mind that she had to get approval on her food. Of course good food is an important ingredient for a wife material but right then I was not looking for a wife. It is said that the way through a man’s heart is through the stomach but for me then it had to be a little lower than the stomach!

From the new cooking utensils and the way she handled the coil and the sockets it was clear she did less cooking.

“How do you find the appetizer?”She asked as I sipped the soup. For an African man all he needs is a square meal because the appetite is usually there. But when you are in love you become the most sensitive and uxorious man.

“Wow it is so sumptuous baby; you surely must have been sitting with your mother in the kitchen while the rest were watching TV!”

“Actually it’s my grandma that thought me all this cooking!” She went on at length narrating her baby in the world of catering. I listened with rapt attention because I knew that in future a question could come up in that direction.

The main course then followed and the dessert which I complimented her for the finger licking food and she appeared like the seasoned chef who does not mind a compliment here and there. A comical movie then followed and as at some point she turned off the lights for a better experience.

It was then that I felt my tiger claws straighten out. Like a cat crawling towards its prey, I pulled the pillow to her side, eased closer to her then extended my arm over her shoulder. While the stand up comedian continued with his witty remarks, my body rippled with a need for a bit more action.

“Hey, are you sure?” she said as I kissed her on the cheek. I had no time for words so I just nodded; she blinked twice then gave me the signal. As I sucked her lips, my hands started making directional movements.

“Stop!”

“What?”

“I am not ready for that!” “It will be okay, just let me in..”

“No Rain, I am just not comfortable with it” she stood up and turned on the lights.

“It’s okay.”

I bid her goodnight then staggered to my room. Even as I slouched to my bed I could not help wondering whether I was moving too fast. We had been together for slightly over a month. When was the right time to taste it? After a year? After wedding?