tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66080644969249607902024-03-05T11:46:41.600+03:00Flashes of ViceFlash fiction stories at a glance ...Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-17530901525920830742022-09-28T07:07:00.003+03:002022-09-28T07:07:30.265+03:00Confessions of an Indecent Angel<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHMrNT69GlXJyvxC2SeVMZYiJA7VC-i7pTPjxuq6tBMbo9uCAiYSUq-dAn23LFogmJlFmW67LgXH35AT0qYIEOBVVFkzWr6ijRFaSGQ9aPmEuONM9ca8DxO9els3NkYBefZdJt7ugtuoMdGhjCg7J1yM3pgADotNPxnOar8mjaU_zt795wOE7iqPp/s505/indecent-angel-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="505" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHMrNT69GlXJyvxC2SeVMZYiJA7VC-i7pTPjxuq6tBMbo9uCAiYSUq-dAn23LFogmJlFmW67LgXH35AT0qYIEOBVVFkzWr6ijRFaSGQ9aPmEuONM9ca8DxO9els3NkYBefZdJt7ugtuoMdGhjCg7J1yM3pgADotNPxnOar8mjaU_zt795wOE7iqPp/w640-h462/indecent-angel-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">My mother thinks I live in
a secluded rustic-cabin convent in the remotest part of Karen, Nairobi.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">She slaughtered a chicken
for me when I was awarded a partial scholarship at an obscure Catholic-sponsored
university. The fact that even my father was not allowed to escort me to the
hostels told her that she had nothing to worry about. I was protected from
university corruption and debauchery. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“God answers prayers,” she
quipped. “God loves you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">When I finished high
school without a scandal, and scandal here means being spotted with a boy, she
recited the rosary, prostrate before the image of the Madonna and the child.
She repeated the joyful mysteries in earnest. At times like this, she wished
for the virginity of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, but the Lord had blessed her
with open legs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A month later, she still
called me for hours in the evening to remind me how much God loved me and that
He had told her I would be a nun. It was one of these evenings after she had
hung up when the girl next door talked to me for the first time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Look at you, wishing mama
was here to breastfeed you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Why do you care?” I
asked. “Ever heard of ‘mind of your own fucking’ business’?” I used the lines I
had wanted to use all my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Oh, she is badass, a
bitch! <i>Kumbe</i> it’s all meekness for
mama. Do you wanna grab a drink? It’s contraband, I know, but that’s what
smugglers are for,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> That night, I met my partner in crime, my
confidant. Sharon had seen through my fakeness and called me to it. When we
drank all her two six-packs of Guarana, she didn’t complain. When I French-kissed
her, she blamed it on the alcohol. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzCluALcyKtCnX7nLm1IZrhQ10kiFJemBLy1JVFK346av6gwpcaOrb20sGs_30RvpOI2MyX6TCYR9E5tFC3J2EtH-LunDPxp5RXi4x1yTY22wgfp6vxcjE8zIqMEtpxJZ-ufraffYyIKmA4pZ8PqJWhhs9aUzZf6plN0FWVmiWmEQ0lb_WkAATwo1/s888/pexels-victor-santos-2263189.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="888" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzCluALcyKtCnX7nLm1IZrhQ10kiFJemBLy1JVFK346av6gwpcaOrb20sGs_30RvpOI2MyX6TCYR9E5tFC3J2EtH-LunDPxp5RXi4x1yTY22wgfp6vxcjE8zIqMEtpxJZ-ufraffYyIKmA4pZ8PqJWhhs9aUzZf6plN0FWVmiWmEQ0lb_WkAATwo1/w462-h640/pexels-victor-santos-2263189.jpg" width="462" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #dfdfe0; color: #7f7f7f; font-family: PlusJakartaSans, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", Ubuntu, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: -0.24px; white-space: nowrap;">Photo by VICTOR SANTOS</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The maximum security Catholic-sponsored
university was not as secured as I had thought. Every night we made money
exposing fake cleavages and shaking fake asses at Club Seen in downtown
Nairobi. We sat on swivel chairs, uncrossing and recrossing our stockinged
legs, giving men flashes of black or white G-strings, sometimes the pussy. The
drinks would keep flowing, which, on most occasions, we poured when the drunken
sods left for the washrooms. In their state of intoxication, the money was easy
to get by making them believe they would have the night of their lives only for
us to disappear on them or lie we were on menses.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Downtown Nairobi was not
ideal for the life I craved. Sharon was just comfortable in the gutter, but I
wanted more. When I suggested we try clubs in Westlands, she did not approve or
disapprove. Club Galileo’s was the perfect place for the middle class, but I
still wanted more. You know the saying, ‘You date whom you interact with?’ I
wanted the crème de la crème. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That’s how I found my way
to the international franchise Billion Club (B-Club), where the media said
champagne washed hands and Lamborghinis dropped guests home. Once, social media
was awash with receipt photos of bills of five million Kenya shillings spent on
drinks only by the president’s son. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Sorry, Madam, you can not
enter dressed like that,” said a muscular, friendly bouncer. No, scratch that.
In these places, they are not bouncers. They are security. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Against Sharon’s advice,
whom I had thought had the grit to do what it takes to live this life, I raided
my meagre savings and upgraded our wardrobes. Investments are about taking
risks. Next time, we were granted entry without a fuss. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">When you enter the
compound, you would be forgiven for thinking aliens live amongst humans, what
with machines and gizmos brimming with futuristic allure you only see in sci-fi
movies—a stretch Lincoln limousine, a Tron bike rumoured to cost over 50
million Kenya shillings, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Rolls Royce Phantom. A long
stretching red carpet, which gives a sense of importance to everyone visiting
the club, welcomes you. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I, we, felt out of place,
like a nun who has stumbled into a brothel. A smartly dressed server spotted us
and saved us the embarrassment. She showed us around, asking us whether we had
booked in advance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“That’s the VVIP section,”
she said with syllables falling in place like magnets. “Victor Wanyama, and his
brother McDonald Mariga, had booked it for a party with family and friends.”
The Kenyan international professional football stars were in Kenya to celebrate
their signing with Tottenham Hotspurs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“And that’s the VIP
section,” she pointed. “The Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs has booked it
for the evening. He will be coming in any time.”<i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In the regular area, men
looked sharp in their designer suits, their women Barbie dolls. I spotted the
youths who had made it to the new government, keen on pushing the youth agenda.
The just-appointed Youth Fund chairman was at the VIP upper area. Four of the
10 nominated youthful members of parliament were in the regular area. <i>Gawd? The regular section is the VVIP of
most clubs in Nairobi.</i> And the buggers were all about representing the
youth? <i>Wajinga sisi!</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">From where we sat, we had
an unobstructed view of the guests entering and leaving. Cashless, I, the
brains behind this endeavour, was still figuring out how to proceed when the CS
for Foreign Affairs entered, accompanied by the grossest man I had only seen on
TV. His vast belly swung into the room, draped in a smock-like garment that
only extraordinarily talented tailors could make and fail at. Folds swagged
over his neck, and his feet seemed forced into his shoes. He scanned the room,
and the mottled curtains of his cheeks swished back as he nodded and smiled at
us. No, <i>me.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I knew what that meant; he
had chosen me. But no, thanks. He was a well-known serial polygamist. <i>Do I look like I could be a seventh wife?</i>
I did not move.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“He wants you,” Sharon
nudged. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“If he wants me,” I
retorted, “he should come for me.” I know beggars are not choosers, but I did
not want to appear desperate. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He seemed to read the mood
and crossed over to where we were. He thumped down on the banquette opposite
us, removed his handkerchief, and mopped his face. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“I suppose you would love
someone to buy you a drink,” he said when he had settled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Thank you, that would be
lovely.” I still had manners.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“What’s the most expensive
champagne?” he asked the waiter. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“It’s—” she began to say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Just get it,” he said. “For
the ladies, and Macallan No.6 for me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I avoided his eyes just in
case he saw the hunger in my eyes and changed his mind. The Macallan was an
obscene six hundred thousand shillings. When our champagne was brought, it was Armand De Brignac Ace of Spades Brut Gold
Champagne, a staggering Ksh.70,000. <i>Okay,
Uncle Awiti. Wanna spend that National Social Security Fund (NSSF) money, I
will help you.</i> I don’t think there is a woman who isn’t prepared to hawk it
when she spots a certified billionaire. I wasn’t about to let the womenfolk
down. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Take it to the VIP,” he
told the waiter. “Let’s go,” he said, heaved himself up, and waddled ahead. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He was physically
repellent, yes, but there was something about his confidence that got to me. He
believed in himself, or rather, in what the NSSF squandered money could get
him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">When wealth courses
through your bloodstream, it becomes poison. It changes you, your posture, your
walking style, and the way you talk. From the moment we stepped into the VIP
section, there were handsome uniformed men and porcelain-skin beautiful women
to do everything for me, even holding a napkin to sneeze in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">All the men, no matter how
ugly, fat, foul-smelling, or unsightly, had a beautiful girl by their side, the
girls draping their arms around the men’s shoulders or pregnant bellies. It
seemed B-Club wasn’t the place men took their wives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A fast learner, I read the
ambience. The girls laughed coquettishly at the men’s humourless jokes, and touched
them inappropriately on occasion, but the men didn’t mind the fake public
displays of affection, creating a force field around their man so no other girl
would penetrate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg5QTtKxjW3luf-JHlVUFUips_sQRpMkbULtEdfSJ9LmTQ_pA4hqeQs9F7j_vO8_gJdGY9ValNEWLUDWiPYyUdNY6KD_aZVuH0onHaMsYqt8fmBFDN64z6B-p7_tgrNbTcX35NS1eh6LXbBKvcu7ydvWp6_Q8cqunM6DVMJ-l5spXjgJCS_KZVoKV/s1142/indecent-angel-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1142" data-original-width="874" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCg5QTtKxjW3luf-JHlVUFUips_sQRpMkbULtEdfSJ9LmTQ_pA4hqeQs9F7j_vO8_gJdGY9ValNEWLUDWiPYyUdNY6KD_aZVuH0onHaMsYqt8fmBFDN64z6B-p7_tgrNbTcX35NS1eh6LXbBKvcu7ydvWp6_Q8cqunM6DVMJ-l5spXjgJCS_KZVoKV/w490-h640/indecent-angel-2.png" width="490" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I forgot about Sharon. Our
moments of complicity belonged to another world, to populous, sweat-drenched,
squalid downtown Nairobi nightclubs. At B-Club, we had climbed to the next tier,
which meant strategising how to remain in the grace, never to fall to the grass,
an intelligent girl’s smart career move—don’t let the accoutrements distract
you. </span><i style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I’ll either get a ring on it,</i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I
decided, </span><i style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">and be the seventh wife to this
corrupt yet generous chairman of the NSSF, or I will become his exclusively.</i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
After all, business is business, and men are creatures of comfort, so they
cherish exclusivity.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That night, when Awiti
called it a night, he left me with a wad of cash. ‘You never count your money,
when you’re sittin’ at the table, there’ll be time enough for countin’, when
the dealin’s done’, Kenny Rodgers sang. Back at our filthy hostels, I found out
he had left me with Ksh.100,000. So did he the subsequent nights, without ever
asking for the value of his money. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The saying goes, ‘There is
nothing like free lunch, especially from men’. I wondered what this old sod
wanted with me. He never indicated he wanted to pop my cherry, or perhaps he
just wanted someone to talk to, which I was good at as I created my force field
around him, so no other girl dared think of attempting to penetrate. The more I
received his money, which I used to upgrade my life and save the rest for the
inevitable rainy day, the more anxious I became. Why was he not hitting it?
Sexual satisfaction was not my concern, but the concern of what he would ask me
to do when he came collecting his debts. So, I decided to be upfront with him
one day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I let the alcohol sink in
and gave me the guts I needed, then asked, “Awiti, how much would you pay me
before you fuck me?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He was astounded and
glimmered with disgust like I was his daughter suggesting incest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Stella, I don’t pay for
sex.” He said and looked at me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Instead of asking why he
was giving all that money, I apologised. “Sorry for thinking ….”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“It’s okay. I get that a
lot,” he said and continued drinking his favourite Macallan, laughing
boisterously with his friends, spittle flying all over the place. Before
leaving, he asked me how I felt about shopping in Dubai and left a bundle of
Ksh.300,000. <i>I will take Sharon with me.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">With his signature slob
look, he was waiting for us at Dubai International Airport. We went to the upscale
DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton Dubai on Jumeirah Beach. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“This is lovely,” I said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He had booked two separate
rooms, with doors opening to balconies overlooking the grand private beach. Whatever
he had in mind, I hoped he knew I had no intention of sharing a bed with him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Do you like it, my dear?”
he said, reaching for my hand. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">My dear? Here we go now. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“It’s beautiful,” I said,
avoiding being touchy-touchy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“I bought you this.” He
produced a package, which, when I opened, was a sheer negligee. “For later,” he
added. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Gawd! </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">No matter.</span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">When I exited the bathroom
that night, he was spread out on the bed, looking like an inflated toddler, his
weight a challenge for the mattress and bed. For the first time, I had used <i>mchele</i> on him. Sharon had ground eight
tablets of Midazolam, just in case his
big body did not feel the effect immediately, and I had poured the powder into
his drink during dinner when he took a bathroom break. The drugs were taking
long to take effect.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I looked at his streaked hairy
belly. <i>I’ll have to lift a skirt of flesh
to get to his dick. Does he even have it?</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Come to daddy, darlin’,”
he said. I forced myself not to chuck. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXkyrZshB3KPJLLeI9sPyjkI1KkAMy4nzaA7hL3d0-Q5fU8ebWtmGvbkipn4FKWJ-uMQC8zFIiZmfbN28XFNlYV4EdcOYPAEmBPJayV1uUehkuIqyYQWI-1QGAqT1qUf2pxJMTw0ch8DTg_1fP3dkccDO06sq8HzE6i3_qWsDy41ae97VFJK-Tww4T/s576/indecent-angel-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="357" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXkyrZshB3KPJLLeI9sPyjkI1KkAMy4nzaA7hL3d0-Q5fU8ebWtmGvbkipn4FKWJ-uMQC8zFIiZmfbN28XFNlYV4EdcOYPAEmBPJayV1uUehkuIqyYQWI-1QGAqT1qUf2pxJMTw0ch8DTg_1fP3dkccDO06sq8HzE6i3_qWsDy41ae97VFJK-Tww4T/w396-h640/indecent-angel-1.png" width="396" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I removed the negligee and
played with the nipples of my tits for him, climbed on the bed, and put my
hands on the flaps of fat around his body. I had massaged my vagina with Fatush
Miski oil. The perfume wafted like smoke all over the room. I tried to go 69, not
for simultaneous cunnilingus and fellatio, but so he could see my pussy split
into two by the G-string. His dick was a two-inch stub poking jauntily from a
thatched cushion of flesh. Try as he may, there was no way it could get into me.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Hardly had I taken his
dick in my mouth when I heard an unmistakable locomotive roar. <i>Thank God.</i> The drugs had taken effect. I
dashed to the other bedroom, took a long shower to wash away the memories, and
climbed into bed into the arms of Sharon. When she flipped her tongue on the
inner lips of my pussy, I screamed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">When Awiti did not appear
for breakfast, Sharon looked at me with a wink. “Last night must have been
awesome,” she said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I gave her a disgusted
look, and she raised her hands in surrender. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I knew something was wrong
when he had not woken up by noon. At 2:00 p.m., I started to worry. What if he
was sick and couldn’t get up? I decided to go and check on him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">His body was immobile,
with hollow features and no sign of vitality. Though he could have been in
slow-wave-sleep (SWS), where you are almost as dead, he didn’t appear as though
he was sleeping. He just looked dead. If there are any skills I ignored
learning, it’s first aid. But I had watched enough movies to know how to check
if someone was dead.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I shook him—nothing. “My
love, wake up. Babe, wake up. You have not eaten—” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I placed two fingers,
index and middle, on the side of his neck. Nothing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“Fred,” I hissed, trying
to control the thumping of my heart. “Fred!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And I knew. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I went to the bedside
table and picked up the telephone to call reception. Perhaps they have an in-house
doctor or medic. No sooner had I thought of it than I stopped in my tracks. He
had booked the two rooms in his name, using his passport. He had not mentioned
us anywhere. No one knew about us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I would have to be there, oversee
his body shipped back to Kenya, and answer questions from the media and his
family. The Kenya government pathologist will conduct a post-mortem and find the
<i>mchele</i> we, I, had put in his drink. That’s
manslaughter. I will go to prison for a long time. If I’m lucky, my sentence
might be commuted; if not, I die in prison. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I froze and sat down at
the foot of the bed beside his thick-nailed feet sticking out of the sheets. <i>Think, Stella, think.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-6613171167472056402022-05-30T20:17:00.000+03:002022-05-30T20:17:04.794+03:00Deaths of Right - Part II<p><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdG78GHeFEBXRFdQ8jh4pQ8UGYkJgSIWTSUjyPpkBjgj-4O6jQO1iP26yacPMsl6m5XaoQZTnKiOxvCIksqXj_AHUT0lPW28SZUul8VJmY1gCE5SF6UmKeHYami1qzUEdLhwSl0Hau0JYyToy_21UApU6Ea1J_fKE_WKobV2tusUb5TP50mcaX9Lll/s1920/jr-korpa-IZm1NrpxxdM-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdG78GHeFEBXRFdQ8jh4pQ8UGYkJgSIWTSUjyPpkBjgj-4O6jQO1iP26yacPMsl6m5XaoQZTnKiOxvCIksqXj_AHUT0lPW28SZUul8VJmY1gCE5SF6UmKeHYami1qzUEdLhwSl0Hau0JYyToy_21UApU6Ea1J_fKE_WKobV2tusUb5TP50mcaX9Lll/w640-h426/jr-korpa-IZm1NrpxxdM-unsplash.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@jrkorpa?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Jr Korpa</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Take care of my children.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> His voice never left me. There were nights that I dreamed in such vivid
detail that when I woke, I was confused, forgetting, for a fraction of a second,
that I was in my bed. For the minutes that followed, the grief washed over me
for the loss of a friend who had had my back, the uselessness of my life
fighting for the imperialism of a country that didn’t care for me. Part of me
wondered if the dreams would change, if one day they would be the same
monochrome shadows of before Somalia.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Wesonga’s widow
moved like a clockwork soldier, especially when she made the umpteenth trip to
the Unit. She said it was for her children; no one else would follow up on her
husband’s benefits if she gave up. Being taken round in circles by the Welfare
Office didn’t stop her. I once asked her what they tell her, and her face fell
into an expression I had never associated with her features before. Under that
resilient personality was a woman more sorrowful and hopeless than I could have
guessed. The Fafadun attack had taken more than her husband. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">In the half-light
of the breaking day, I waited, breathing slowly. My fingers were almost numb,
the cold biting, the air acrid with the stench of what I was about to do. I
wondered if killing the enemies of the society was enough, if it would right
all the wrongs, if I would be taking care of my friend’s children. It was as if
the act was abstract, convincing myself that I was doing it for my friend, but
how can killing be a solution to corruption? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">I squinted through
the telescopic sight. The cross-section of the telescopic sight rested on the brigadier’s
forehead. My finger coiled around the trigger. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do unto others what you’d like them to do unto you, sir.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">My hands became
damp. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This is the moment.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The dark red blood
made its way out of his head. It gushed forth as a rivulet. My vision became
blurrier as I watched his shirt turn darker through the scope. Each drop of
blood slowly took away the life in him, leaving him motionless on the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">I’m taking care of your children, Bro</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The senior military
officer got off his car and headed toward his house. It was three years, and
Wesonga’s benefits were yet to be processed. There was no hope for tomorrow;
his widow was full of sorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Jambo,</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"> Sir,” a voice
called. “Turn slowly and look at me, General.” The retired one-star general,
who was now the Defence Forces Medical Insurance Scheme chairman, was startled.
He came to an abrupt halt, befuddled at the security breach in his home. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“When are you
planning to process Senior Private Wesonga’s benefits for his family?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“What’s the
meaning of this?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“I am sending a
message to the others. The rot and the corruption in the DEFMIS will end with
you if the rest get the message …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“You won’t get
away with this!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“You have
mismanaged the insurance scheme that’s supposed to cushion us when we leave the
army. You’ve refused to process my dead friend’s benefits for his family …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Son, there is no
need for this. Put the gun down.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The soldier had
obeyed every order so far—march, shoot, eat, sleep—but now was not the time. After
all the trappings of military command—the authority, the security details—were
stripped away, the chairman was vulnerable and insecure like everybody else.
The soldier, no matter how corrupt he considered the system to be—and no matter
how much he believed killing the corrupt would cleanse the system of the
corruption—he had second thoughts sometimes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The chairman
cowered, facing him with hopeless eyes. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You
think, you die. </i>That’s what they said in the Special Forces. Every time something
told him not to pull the trigger, he convinced himself he was doing it for his
dead friend, running out of options—shoot his former Brigade Commander,
threaten him or scare him. None of them good options: the first would be making
him a killer, the second and third equally dangerous. But perhaps the first one
was the least awful of the three. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">And that’s how the
killings started.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQl7KCWkoAKkCwl-GY2CoOMlD1mW7MVkoeE_n599TnbMXjpkIUAaWJuqHi5RyaS_TP8yyOp8zFp8VXdUL-lQVIBfkU1Z3ntZSBqtepyDHi8pJqf7CgakFsN4jF8HvXOqBsKBBE5tvNNMwunvXzIoLHNdixsRfkxISPdspqCjWTj8KUiyozpg6NvJ3/s1920/lacie-slezak-gHwOUe9OLwE-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="1920" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMQl7KCWkoAKkCwl-GY2CoOMlD1mW7MVkoeE_n599TnbMXjpkIUAaWJuqHi5RyaS_TP8yyOp8zFp8VXdUL-lQVIBfkU1Z3ntZSBqtepyDHi8pJqf7CgakFsN4jF8HvXOqBsKBBE5tvNNMwunvXzIoLHNdixsRfkxISPdspqCjWTj8KUiyozpg6NvJ3/w640-h426/lacie-slezak-gHwOUe9OLwE-unsplash.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@nbb_photos?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Lacie Slezak</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"><br /></span></p>Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-81307173897257078892022-04-29T22:19:00.000+03:002022-04-29T22:19:14.174+03:00Deaths of Right - Part 1<p><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Growing up regaled
with chronicles of humans who willingly compromise their comfort and stand
guard, put their lives on the line, to protect the country, I was not insane to
admire the military. I have been a certified military brat ever since I opened
my eyes, and I’ve never entertained the silly thought.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm_VinudJ4gw_qzB5Z8QPVbeAOMbtiPBZWoY-zfpRE8ZNj_6UMCkj0jG3DtYaP5HF6fkQ658u-zYbfJ1nlBlS0YOv8X2rmPM1hehnPVfl_83SYRfXj7T7tCAI4oKTDO3u_sCVZ6HNPS3ePtbWQT6Nnh3bWPOWN-7L2Eor7T7TzUiCSRWiI2EE0eQFy/s3126/service-duty-sacrifice-kdf.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2084" data-original-width="3126" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm_VinudJ4gw_qzB5Z8QPVbeAOMbtiPBZWoY-zfpRE8ZNj_6UMCkj0jG3DtYaP5HF6fkQ658u-zYbfJ1nlBlS0YOv8X2rmPM1hehnPVfl_83SYRfXj7T7tCAI4oKTDO3u_sCVZ6HNPS3ePtbWQT6Nnh3bWPOWN-7L2Eor7T7TzUiCSRWiI2EE0eQFy/w640-h426/service-duty-sacrifice-kdf.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">My father knew all
the faraway lands more than his family as his father did. Once it hit
me, I asked them “why”, to which they smiled and replied, “so you could live a
better life”, which I did. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The army biscuits,
corned beef, the CamelBaks, military rucksacks, Swiss Army knives I stole to
show off to kids at school, and the military T-Shirts were the evidence of a
better life. Not to mention the truckloads of food Father came home with. Soon,
Mother opened a kiosk.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">And that was my
epiphany, which made me realise the pain behind the good life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The soldier’s face
was impassive in the hot afternoon sun, waiting for the light to turn green. When
he moved, he was as agile as an Olympic gymnast.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">On the rooftop of
Sheria House, he had a clear view of the Parliament building. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guarding the MPigs while they loot.</i> He
moved into position, looking through the scope. The looters and plunderers of
the nation were busy going about their business, passing laws that protected
them and increased their perks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Then the woman
stepped out of the building, her horrendous Brazilian ‘human’ hair weave a
lion’s mane around her face. ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our Members
of Parliament earn peanuts’,</i> he mimicked her voice in his mind. Her
bodyguards led her to her bullet-proof limo. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bullet-proof my ass.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">She fell before entering
her car, never aware of what hit her. One minute she was safe; the next, her
security detail was scampering for safety, trying to locate the shooter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“The Director of Criminal Investigations is working round the clock to
get the killer. Preliminary investigations show that the killer is one of the
Administration Police officers who provide security during parliament sessions
from atop nearby buildings …” </span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">the newscaster said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Five suspects were
already in police custody and were assisting the police with investigations.
Another stone that the police were going to turn. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“What do you
think, Senator,” the moderator said. “Could the MP’s death be linked to her
Bill, which sought to increase salaries for MPs …?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“It’s too early to
say. The investigations are ongoing,” the Senator said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">5 Years Ago<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Fafadun, Somalia<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The muezzin’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adhan</i> for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fajr</i> pierces the cold chilly morning silence. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Do you hear
that?” I ask my friend. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“What? You’re
always hearing things.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Listen, vehicles
approaching our defensive position. Al-Shabaab are coming.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Mi sisikii kitu.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Wesonga wachanga usingizi.</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"> You can’t hear the roar of a vehicle driven in low gear? It’s coming
here. From the East.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Ahmed, it’s not
possible to drive in that terrain without lights.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“I think we should
alert the others …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Come on, about
what? Don’t be an alarmist. Remember what the Platoon Commander said. Ascertain
first …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Out on the
skyline, about 500m away, a lance-like ray of orange-white light shoots up into
the approaching dawn. Others shoot up from different directions around the
camp.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“We’re
surrounded,” I shout.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">No sooner I say
this than a blinding flash, like sheet-lightning, and a massive ball of varicoloured
fire, belches 200m upward from our position. The fireball flattens and then
spreads to form the mushroom head of a column of incandescent gases.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxg1mRR5Ye39Vjgb1qZhXKkVUMDg1C9-jH5W3AxdDL-wq8jBSdVdP0u2I2c5WMOcg764upWeF4IcmtddfJoDEk4r49y8Df46gzm2GCg3gHIF3_mS_oF8ytcwjV4E6hC5iwPi11O4aOksE5UvC2cyPDd0dL6XkPNf3kHpMhhZ2Dc_Dhw6sFcCBXMFk/s640/pexels-pixabay-417070.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="640" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFxg1mRR5Ye39Vjgb1qZhXKkVUMDg1C9-jH5W3AxdDL-wq8jBSdVdP0u2I2c5WMOcg764upWeF4IcmtddfJoDEk4r49y8Df46gzm2GCg3gHIF3_mS_oF8ytcwjV4E6hC5iwPi11O4aOksE5UvC2cyPDd0dL6XkPNf3kHpMhhZ2Dc_Dhw6sFcCBXMFk/w640-h426/pexels-pixabay-417070.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">www.pexels.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">From nowhere, like
a stealth fighter jet, the vehicle comes. It’s headed straight at our position.
Machine gun fire roars from the next trench. Wesonga grabs the Rocket Propelled
Grenade launcher next to him, lifts it to his shoulders, and fires. I can’t
hear anything for an instant, but the target is down. The vehicle swerves and
falls into the trench 100m from our position. And explodes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Shrapnel rains
like confetti, and the faux overhead protection of the trench cast red dust and
projectiles into the dawn air. Everyone in the trench lies on the ground,
hoping the anti-grenade/bomb drill works. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"> Shouts emanate from all directions. Gunfire follows. Bullets whiz
overhead. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The acrid smell of
gunpowder and cordite envelops my nasal cavities. My mind is on the verge of delirium.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Flashbulbs of the Elade attack go on in my mind. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We’re all
dying. Perhaps it is a good thing. At the very least, I’ll leave this
nightmarish dystopia. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">*<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">War cries rage
amid <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Allahu Akbars,</i> machine-gun fire
roars like a raging river, bombs engorge smoke rings as they shoot into the
sky, turning to dark smoke in one moment and belching flame and crackling with
lightning the next. As I look around, all I see are stray limbs and dead
creatures—once fine young men, no longer recognisable—others splayed like rag
dolls on the morning dew.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Ah ... Ahm …
Ahmed … tek … take care of … my children …” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Wesonga, don’t
say that. Fight, man …” I say as I reload my rifle. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">When I turn to
look at my friend, he is slumped to the ground, his brains spattered around
him. Kimani, too. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I can’t fight alone …</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The mujahedeen are
almost breaking the defence. I go against all the teachings, the directives,
the threats and get out of the trench … and run.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">I’m not a super-soldier</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">, I say to myself, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yet not a
coward. I’m just not ready to die. </i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">I run to where I
think safety is. Tracers whiz and swish past me, and muzzle flashes in the
centre of the position are the light at the end of the tunnel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Ahmed, what are
you doing here?” the Company Quartermaster says. “It’s cowardice to abandon
your position …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“I’ve not
abandoned my position … I’ve changed cover.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Go back to your
trench and fight from there. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unafanya
nini kwa</i> tent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ya</i> Colour? Get out
of here …” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The burly man
lunges at me. He pushes me out, and I resist. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">“Get out, or I
will shoot you,” Colour says. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">Why does he hate me so?</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Sitoki!” </i>I say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">He grabs me and pushes
me out of the bunker I helped fortify. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">A lump blocks my
throat. “You’re afraid of me because I know that you sell ammo and rations to
al-Shabaab, and that shop of yours in Garissa <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ume-stock vitu za</i> Kahawa … you hope I will die today …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">He steps away from
me and points his weapon at me. I fire instinctively. The bullet leaves a
gaping hole where his right eye used to be. His body plunges to the ground and
lies thickly over the dry ground, garish scarlet flowing and congealing around
him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">I feel a great
weight was lift off my shoulders, and a sense of satisfaction wash over me. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I have rid the system of the scumbag. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">*<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">THE BURIAL WAS a
fortnight later. The mourners, drawn from the army’s rank and file, swarmed in
numbers to offer their heartfelt condolences. The Unit was mourning the dark
days for the army. It was a death worth mourning, the life of a soldier snuffed
out too early by the terrorist’s bullet.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJJSs0RgaDOO5xXx6rjc-JrsJpFYEPwXIIkmmlILDDeHurcaK3_WZGe1RMmTXsLr0TbZOMygfVy0SO2BMSywYPXdYLP7sig4bSRa2mElksIgHrXvOWOd-0q9G4lBlCug6-83hei1zSko2CxJQHqraPoCdk_ShiITV9ov5INZP6iez04xRo9We8kXIv/s720/af596ccc35acb8dd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="720" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJJSs0RgaDOO5xXx6rjc-JrsJpFYEPwXIIkmmlILDDeHurcaK3_WZGe1RMmTXsLr0TbZOMygfVy0SO2BMSywYPXdYLP7sig4bSRa2mElksIgHrXvOWOd-0q9G4lBlCug6-83hei1zSko2CxJQHqraPoCdk_ShiITV9ov5INZP6iez04xRo9We8kXIv/w640-h336/af596ccc35acb8dd.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: tuko.co.ke</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">The media swarmed
like locusts, asking questions they were never going to get answers to, keeping
count of the funerals to do their own tallying of how many soldiers had died in
the attack. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;">When the firing
party marched from the grave, a dark cloud descended. The family was left with
the memories of their deceased and promised to get the compensation within
months.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-35187210907599992102022-03-16T20:14:00.001+03:002022-03-16T21:41:46.131+03:00Imara Angani<p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">The crew room
at Laikipia Air Base was a flurry of activity and a cacophony of telephones
ringing off the hook. Fighter pilot Major Ahmednasir Ramah sweated copiously
inside his flight suit</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> as he
waited anxiously beside the telephone, glancing every few seconds at the
crew-room clock.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Deep in his bones, he felt
that either this mission would pass as a blip in his military career or it
would be his last. Ramah held the telephone handset tight, raised it to his
ear, and listened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Interdiction mission,” the
voice on the other end said. The Air Force Commander never issued mission
orders to pilots, only through the Chief of Operations and Ops Room. But this
was not a regular mission. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Yes, sir,” he said. Of all
the times he had been on ‘Red’ standby, nothing had ever happened for him to
respond. He held the receiver with both hands, but still, it shook.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">At the cockpit of the F5, he
felt trapped, restless, and angry, and it seemed hours between each pre-flight
check. When he lowered the canopy over him, he saw a speck of carbon directly
in his line of vision. Instead of calling the chief engineer of the crew
responsible for cleaning it, he cleaned it himself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Under full heat up and with
the driving thrust of the afterburners hurling him aloft, Ramah informed base,
“Simba Moto airborne and climbing.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgU_8rYg_NdaPNIqhzz5pKoWqgf5P6uDoN_ILqNs8Tez3vh94oZFczT0VFPRoOJ-2PphC5Iw7izEaMWw8oBh9vZuuF05EM0U4uNmSqC2K8NERorqiZx1EAE44aakwWwXHJpSzFLlbf2F1dxlt6JNpg7XDDzyJzk5FIhhAonLlwuJMYGTaRGkeEMD2PL=s758" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="758" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgU_8rYg_NdaPNIqhzz5pKoWqgf5P6uDoN_ILqNs8Tez3vh94oZFczT0VFPRoOJ-2PphC5Iw7izEaMWw8oBh9vZuuF05EM0U4uNmSqC2K8NERorqiZx1EAE44aakwWwXHJpSzFLlbf2F1dxlt6JNpg7XDDzyJzk5FIhhAonLlwuJMYGTaRGkeEMD2PL=w640-h422" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: warsheekh.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He established communication
with the surveillance mission monitoring the enemy movement inside Somalia. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“No activity at Echo
November base; no weapon nest detected.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He communicated with his
escort. “Malaika Two, we are going to initiate attack plan Sungura. Attack plan
Sungura called for a low-level stalk. The ground clutter would obscure the
enemy radar and conceal their approach until they were in the position to pull
up into an attack vector above and behind the target.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">They flew low-high-low, lifting
and falling over the undulating knolls and vegetated areas, so low that the
herds of Somali cattle, goats, and sheep scattered beneath them as they zoomed
in on Jilib, al-Shabaab’s strategic base that the AMISOM forces had not been
able to capture. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Approaching the target,” he
announced. “Pull up in ten, nine, eight …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Leader, this is Malaika
One. I have suspicious movement—”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Malaika One, say again …
pulling up now.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And he pulled the throttle. Above,
the sky was a dark, unnatural blue, yet he hadn’t located the target. It was
down there, camouflaged.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgf7OtTbeHr1poXpmOGfMImgRMKPOY40LKnsJhiH7fcQ77DkCrx6DLAFFu5zxvnkPpnOFUpMjEJHwUGk_u8yxM7kLQb_t7YzaUYRg-n6igktS-kZTXCltVkYvobUa2M7pXpw-01MfBpI_3IOKshdsUqoOUReGSpIdvpBrg9GmIZTPz55h5CiZsHR8Jw=s660" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="660" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgf7OtTbeHr1poXpmOGfMImgRMKPOY40LKnsJhiH7fcQ77DkCrx6DLAFFu5zxvnkPpnOFUpMjEJHwUGk_u8yxM7kLQb_t7YzaUYRg-n6igktS-kZTXCltVkYvobUa2M7pXpw-01MfBpI_3IOKshdsUqoOUReGSpIdvpBrg9GmIZTPz55h5CiZsHR8Jw=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: www.wired.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Leader, incoming;
surface-to-air, eleven o’clock!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ramah eased back on the
controls and went up in a brutal climb, the anti-missile alarms screaming,
evading the missile.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Simba Moto, this is Malaika
One,” the surveillance command leader shouted in his headphones, rapidly and
urgent. “Abort mission! I repeat, abort. Target hostile. Detected three SAM
nests all aimed at you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Malaika Two, break off and
regroup for an attack,” Ramah ordered his escort. He switched to the closed-command
net and spoke to his escort pilot. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Malaika Two, this is Leader.
We approach again for the attack.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Negative! I say again,
negative! Target too hostile!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiR7xuVE_74jw2jyU0UT49Ob-9QoWcV2DAcrLRjIRCK8JH66cz5lEODL2QUiJYoYLW6-RoSId8hJOxc7PUpS-afhel-3SVZsy4Mz71nkr795ai9onBTIScEsNK8loOGia4U6_QD-2Rplb9jTsuqUTSnm55Nyn23jF_UsxpcWMRDnxVAmxPZmRuQpnj6=s602" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="602" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiR7xuVE_74jw2jyU0UT49Ob-9QoWcV2DAcrLRjIRCK8JH66cz5lEODL2QUiJYoYLW6-RoSId8hJOxc7PUpS-afhel-3SVZsy4Mz71nkr795ai9onBTIScEsNK8loOGia4U6_QD-2Rplb9jTsuqUTSnm55Nyn23jF_UsxpcWMRDnxVAmxPZmRuQpnj6=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: quora.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Remember what they did to
us, our brothers. They massacred them. This is a revenge mission,” he shouted
into his mask. “Conform to me!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There was a brief silence
before his escort said, “Malaika Two conforming.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Let’s kill them, buddy,”
Ramah yelled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Al-Shabaab had attacked the
Kenya Defence Forces base in Afmadhow at dawn, just like they did in Elade in
2016. This time they were ruthless—no one survived. When the contact report was
sent to the Ops Room, they could not respond until the Joint Operations
Commander cleared them, who preferred to send in army aviation first. All the
helicopters were downed. Not ready to commit more air assets, the air force remained
on ‘Red’ standby only. While the authorities debated strategy and played
politics, the enemy was escaping. And when they had finally been authorised, it
was not to support their fellow soldiers on the ground six hours later. There was
no need. Instead, they were to target the enemy’s strategic base, Jilib. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ramah had heard it in the air
force commander’s voice: bomb everything. He intended to decimate the enemy,
even if it meant flattening the whole of Jilib. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Move to Pull-up-Point Mwewe
and approach,” Ramah ordered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">On their second approach to
the target, the enemy fired at him from three locations. However, he spotted
the missiles a little too late. He pulled back with all his strength against
his joystick, but he felt himself fighting gravity, the F5 opposing his efforts
to control it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ramah tensed every muscle in
his body, trying to make the F5 resist plummet. He whirled aloft, trying for
the advantage of height. His vision narrowed, blurred, and he couldn’t see
beyond the cockpit. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh, shit. I’m hit,
and I’m losing blood.</i> He was struggling to hold his right hand on the
control.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">His throat became dry and parched with agitation,
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>horror, fear, and grief. His efforts to
salvage himself was pantomime deceit, and he said to himself: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I should have aborted the mission. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Down below, he saw the whole of Jilib coming
onto him head-on. He saw another missile rising in his peripheral vision, and
he knew that he was a goner. His anger and thirst to avenge his slain brothers had
worn his nerves and strained his judgement. Still, he was not going to go down
that easily.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He reached for the throttle using his
left hand and hurled the F5 into a hard turn, but it got the cockpit canopy.
The fighter jet tumbled, and it lost life and flying capability. He groped for
the ejector seat handle and hauled it down, blind, but when he pulled it,
nothing happened—it did not hurl him free of the doomed F5. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The F5 plummeted with suicidal force,
losing height rapidly, the earth swaying through his line of vision. The
realisation he was crashing in the enemy territory crashed his heart, for, at
that moment, the new reality sank in, the pain of failure and separation from
loved ones.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Even as he resigned himself to his fate,
he let down the landing gears. Below, he saw where the fighter was headed—a
rocky ground, sparse green vegetation, haphazardly laid-out buildings. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He could see men, women, and children
stop and look up at him. So close that he could see their shocked and
apprehensive looks. He saw armed men emerge from the sparse vegetation and
point their rifles and guns upwards. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">All fuel corks closed, all switches off,
and he braced himself for the final crashing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When it hit the ground, the F5 sheered
through, disintegrating piece by piece. Rocks cut through metal, wings broke
away, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the fuselage cartwheeled in
the open ground with Ramah trapped inside. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ramah could not feel his body, but his
sense of smell was still strong. He smelled the pervasive reek of JET-A1 fuel,
and he knew it was a matter of time before it exploded. He had a decision to
make—stay in and be obliterated to nothing, or get out and be captured by
al-Ashabaab. However, when death is imminent, only survival instinct rules.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He released the straps that held him to
his seat, lifted the steel canopy breaker, and began pounding the perspex dome
above his head. He could hear the pinging and tinkling sound made by white-hot
metal as fuel fell on it. Summoning his last efforts, he tore an opening in the
perspex just as a ruptured fuel-pressure line somewhere in the shattered
fuselage sprayed a jet of JET-A1 high in the air. It fell in a heavy drizzle upon
the canopy, into his face. It drenched his shoulders and the front of his
flight suit. In the distance, he heard voices: one distinct voice was calling
him home, and the others were shouting Allahu Akbar.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7GbvsIwOJfr7pE3lhNUTPPesadpeGYCs9rJ1vFbVEMw5tIMRBrx01VYCOMQC0rUxsHRWBtCDKNbxqwhZ8mx5QXHtDbcHRP2NfuuRDBZiX0SldTsq_VMJkAwAHU0trV9WMKdE8Yb7HAIIoLYW-fB5_hc8D0ibv4B-KZ1ks04me8979jQGfRnUmWtzo=s620" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="620" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7GbvsIwOJfr7pE3lhNUTPPesadpeGYCs9rJ1vFbVEMw5tIMRBrx01VYCOMQC0rUxsHRWBtCDKNbxqwhZ8mx5QXHtDbcHRP2NfuuRDBZiX0SldTsq_VMJkAwAHU0trV9WMKdE8Yb7HAIIoLYW-fB5_hc8D0ibv4B-KZ1ks04me8979jQGfRnUmWtzo=w640-h400" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: kahawatungu.com</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For the first time in his military
career, he knew that dying for his country was not vai. He had lived by the
Kenya Air Force motto: Tuko Imara Angani. And to his last breath, he had
remained steadfast in the skies, protecting Kenya’s airspace from external
aggression by taking the war to the enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He was still alive when al-Shabaab
dragged him out through the opening in the canopy. Not even his mangled body
could hold off the terror that the dastard terrorists intended to rain on him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Allahu
Akbar! Allahu Akbar!</span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> They chanted.
Allah <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">They let his body fall face down on the
dusty ground, and thousands of feet stepped on him. When he lifted his head, he
saw women and children running from all directions to where he was, each
carrying a weapon, anything they could lay their hands on. The voices were
shrill but faint, and the words were in Somali, Arabic, Somali dialects, and
Swahili. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He didn’t know they were singing from
Quran 2:91—Kill them wherever you come upon them and drive them out of the
places from which they have driven you out. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Na
wauweni popote mwakutapo, na muwatoe popote walipo kutoeni …</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Even
Kenyans have come this far in Somalia?</span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">
Hands grabbed him, each wanting a pound of his flesh. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Allahu
Akbar! Allahu Akbar! <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Blood and lymph bubbled from his
nostrils, his body writhed and spasmed, and unbearable agony hit him as they
dragged him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Oh,
no! Killed and my body dragged in the streets of Jilib!</span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">
He moaned, and he breathed his last.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-40461605687196534502022-02-19T02:53:00.000+03:002022-02-19T02:53:56.367+03:00Kutupwa na System<p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Major Stanley Ekuton sat ramrod straight
on the senior passenger’s seat in the Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) manoeuvring
along the winding motorable track eight kilometres beyond the Kenya-Somalia
border, his throat dry with agitation. His Commanding Officer’s last words were
still fresh on his mind: OC, do not cross that border!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIRUyN68JBAAL880ArbZE9VZ4jJAyEXRCaafWsfeg9-dN8gqm6dT61maelVuOYLe0qlzbJo11N5AB-vth_AgW8ziq2CD_aqPTK3iJOWbyWz7uwB9Fh3vVD7RaCo4LzGn6kDPqiEpHHK14Q4LMIZGTuQShSkMy6Njh2AZ_Sn21Xb0a0af3P3kD7jtaY=s960" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="960" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhIRUyN68JBAAL880ArbZE9VZ4jJAyEXRCaafWsfeg9-dN8gqm6dT61maelVuOYLe0qlzbJo11N5AB-vth_AgW8ziq2CD_aqPTK3iJOWbyWz7uwB9Fh3vVD7RaCo4LzGn6kDPqiEpHHK14Q4LMIZGTuQShSkMy6Njh2AZ_Sn21Xb0a0af3P3kD7jtaY=w640-h420" width="640" /></a></div>(Source: intelligencebriefs.com)<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Ahead, through the dust, the enemy was
escaping.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We should not be sitting ducks in the
camp when al-Shabaab come to attack us,” he had replied. “We, too, should take
the battle to them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And with that, Officer Commanding Bravo
Company, 80 Airborne Battalion of the Kenya Defence Forces, imposed radio
silence on his battalion tactical command headquarters. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We are pursuing the enemy to the depths
of hell if we have to,” he had told his platoon commander. “Order the platoon
to cross the border—”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“But, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Afande,</i> we are not supposed to cross the border. The rules of
engagement—”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Officer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adui ni yule unamwangalia akitoraka.</i> Are we going to follow the
rules of engagement without reason?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“No, sir, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ni vile naona inaweza kuleta shida.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“In case of anything, I take
responsibility, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sawa.</i> Na <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ni mimi naongoza.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Yes, sir.” The platoon commander had
ordered his platoon to follow the OC.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">His warrior spirit was awakened; only the
decimation of the enemy mattered. He saw the dust ahead rising, swirling up. He
would no longer follow the rules developed by idlers in air-conditioned offices
swinging from ergonomic chairs in Nairobi. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ati
</i>troops operating along the border should never cross into Somalia! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To kill for his country, to defend his
motherland, was his duty. He was not going to let the enemy go. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Al-Shabaab had killed many a soldier
from his company, and his not being able to do anything had worn his nerves and
strained his command. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Where are they?” he asked his driver.
“I don’t see the dust ahead.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGugAqz_nw3xSY2Ys6ZftSsJR2A7kHC4hCXqPgxtUCWuT0iMykjNgd3BcezhuleWLZ3x3665P9w1knqjZQG9uT4FMhyngFPXJrZcfFuz_wtJGMIQrSuXqPCIDhmkdaKs_oeOf21HYABFoRCEsMVt7YRIMceTqz0hFqTCfPd92qcOc-139Gd04BJSlD=s640" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="640" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGugAqz_nw3xSY2Ys6ZftSsJR2A7kHC4hCXqPgxtUCWuT0iMykjNgd3BcezhuleWLZ3x3665P9w1knqjZQG9uT4FMhyngFPXJrZcfFuz_wtJGMIQrSuXqPCIDhmkdaKs_oeOf21HYABFoRCEsMVt7YRIMceTqz0hFqTCfPd92qcOc-139Gd04BJSlD=w640-h356" title="(source: jamestown.org" width="640" /></a></div>(Source: jamestown.org)<br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Hardly had the driver answered when he felt
a sense of fatalistic dismay as an RPG projectile appeared in his sight, headed
at the senior passenger’s side, aiming at him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">His eyes narrowed to slits, sweat
sliding down his face and drenching his face veil. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Swerve to the right,” he yelled.
However, it was a nanosecond too late. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Before hitting the 20mm-thick
bulletproof windscreen, he winked, the projectile exploded, and he ducked. The
APC lifted off the ground, overturned airborne, hit the ground, rolled, and
stopped. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Thousands of shrapnel penetrated his
helmet, body armour, and struck off his limbs. Hot wind raged through the infernal
war machine as the explosion burned, his skin smeared from his shoulders, and
his body disintegrated. He tried to haul himself blind out of the doomed APC, but
nothing happened.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-eNZ4w43HVSlBRNEHq74JDRK1xa-SBF1nDs9KPjkbDkmpFW6ib9EhbguX7WGxXtyudgdgy3lOzuXnxiIBpzUUwqfL9uQSQ_bpcczmxj7ufI764WtFgwVAvC7ZK1eC3jh0tXbvOLKWo3CqVtLvkLLeh-XUJcmiShhIbWZG8n73zZXN1m89QKq-8Eq3=s1280" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-eNZ4w43HVSlBRNEHq74JDRK1xa-SBF1nDs9KPjkbDkmpFW6ib9EhbguX7WGxXtyudgdgy3lOzuXnxiIBpzUUwqfL9uQSQ_bpcczmxj7ufI764WtFgwVAvC7ZK1eC3jh0tXbvOLKWo3CqVtLvkLLeh-XUJcmiShhIbWZG8n73zZXN1m89QKq-8Eq3=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div>(Photo: courtesy)<br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">T</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">he
medivac medics took one look at Major Ekuton’s charred and scorched body and
nodded at each other in silent agreement: it was a VIP.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When the Y12 aircraft landed at Moi Air
Base in Eastleigh, medics first attended to the injured and wounded—sitting and
lying cases—moved them to the waiting ambulances ready to take them to the Base
Medical Centre and others to the Defence Forces Memorial Hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When it came to the dead, the VIPs, one medic
realised that rigour mortis had not yet set on one of the VIPs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I’ve got a pulse,” she shouted. “One of
the VIPs.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Medics swarmed to the plane and loosely
swathed his body in blankets, put it on a stretcher, and transferred it to the
Huey helicopter that was about to take off for a mission in Mombasa. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Huey touched down on the helipad at the
DFMH, and a medical team was ready for him. Within no time, they took him straight
to the burns unit on the hospital’s emergency wing, into a quiet and secluded world
where everybody wore masks and long green sterile robes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">However, Major Ekuton sank in a dark
bottomless pit, not knowing that morphine was helping him stay there. He only heard
the distant, quiet voices of the masked figures as they worked over him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It’s third degree, fifty-four per cent—”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Can’t be cleaned now, not until it stabilises.
It will be days before we can clean it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The head surgeon will advise.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The pain was an endless ocean across
which the waves rose and fell, the surf breaking at the shore of his soul.
Major Ekuton smelt burning gunpowder, petrol, and skin with the pain. Sometimes
he felt the prick of a needle, drugs fighting infection fevers, and a burning
thirst no amount of liquids could quench. Whatever he was going through, the
pain and hell were twins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He crawled out of the pit one day and saw
eyes peering over white surgical masks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“He has come out of it,” a voice
emanated from one of the masks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But then, he drifted off again into the slough
of nothingness. The next time he opened his eyes, he met friendly, cheerful
faces, men and women proud of resurrecting the dead. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“He can now be moved to Elgon Ward,”
said a youngish surgeon whom he wished he could know his rank. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Yes, sir,” a nurse in army uniform
beneath her white coat said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Ekuton, you are going to be fine. You
are out of danger now,” the surgeon told him. All he did was node. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In Elgon Ward, he was assigned his room.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Sir, I’m Senior Sergeant Wavinya. I am
your assigned nurse. You are going to be fine.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“How long have I been here?” He asked,
but he did not recognise his voice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Six weeks. But when they brought you
in, they thought you were dead. You are fortunate to be alive.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Major Ekuton glimpsed the depths of her
compassion. “Thank you,” he replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">During ward rounds, the following day,
one of the doctors, a brigadier, said to him, “Ekuton, we did our best to save your
life. You are once more a viable human being, though you lost a lot. We had to
do skin grafts and numerous surgeries to save your eyes, but your ears can be
reconstructed. For the face, you will never look the same again, and you will
live with some shrapnel in your head. It’s not risky, though.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Yes, sir.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">After the ward rounds, Ekuton asked
Senior Sergeant Wavinya for a mirror. Despite her protestations, he insisted.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The face that stared back at him did not
have eyelashes and brows, the eyes round and startled, with clumsy lids and
puffed dead-looking flesh beneath; the scalp was burned away and had a tight
lipless mouth. The skin and flesh was a patchwork, joined by seams of scar
tissue drawn tightly over his cheekbones; the nose a shapeless blob; and the ears
small bulges as though they were fastened haphazardly to the sides of his head.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When he moved his mouth to talk, it twisted
briefly in a horrid rictus and then regained its frozen shape. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I
can’t talk without straining. </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He
didn’t know he had said that aloud.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“No, sir,” Wavinya said. “You will have
to be more of a listener.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The first visitor he got was a military
police officer, a lieutenant colonel loathed and infamous for his blind
obedience to authority disguised as abiding by the law to the latter. The
lieutenant colonel did not bother with niceties; he took the seat beside Major
Ekuton’s hospital bed and opened the file he had. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Major Ekuton, Commander Kenya Army has
issued instructions for the formal resignation of your commission,” the senior
officer started, and Ekuton stared at him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I don’t understand,” Ekuton mumbled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“This way, you will go home with
benefits.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When he joined the forces, he wanted to defend
his motherland; kill, not die, for his country. Resigning his commission was
not part of the plan. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“And if I refuse?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Then you will be court-martialled for dereliction
of duty, breaking the rules of engagement, insubordination, and disobeying your
CO’s lawful orders.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I see,” Ekuton nodded. “I don’t have a
choice.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We both know how the court-martial
works. You will be found, you are, guilty as charged. Termination of commission
without benefits.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ekuton did not reply.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Here are the necessary documents.
Please sign here, and here; your CO and Brigade Commander have already signed.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ekuton weighed all the options—he was
toast. He took the papers and signed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sawa,</i>
Officer.” The lieutenant colonel gathered the papers, placed them in the
folder, and rose to go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ekuton’s heart tightened and sank to the
pit of his stomach. “So, system <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">inanitupa
sasa juu nime</i>-cock …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The lieutenant colonel stopped, stared at
Major Ekuton, his expression altered, and his cold eyes became portend. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Officer, you are responsible for the deaths
of ten soldiers and destruction of two APCs, weapons, and ammo; disobeyed your
Commanding Officer; broke the rules of engagement; and displayed lack of sound
judgement as an officer,” he paused and drew a deep breath. “Military Police recommendation
was that you be tried by court-martial and that the prosecution is instructed
to ask for the death penalty. But thank God <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">uko
na </i>wire<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> mrefu,</i> Officer, and these
political times are volatile. The Deputy President himself intervened, and that
saved you. So, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">badala ya kuongea mbaya
hapa,</i> consider yourself very fortunate.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">And with that, the lieutenant colonel
left; his footsteps cracked on the floor and the pathway outside as he left
Elgon Ward.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-84799273138979748882022-01-27T21:30:00.004+03:002022-02-20T22:00:58.798+03:00Isolation in Intimacy <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifNSHA11-wLbf4oubsKSKsMX6LZMHojJVf4QoX_tQ9Gpx48rND-ukHvAW3p0nL7Ql0XKT-nsCLDSIHgnRlUQ-8F2DUzC5kV9l_NZcXzo07n8yLAg8rh0e5rPVcsNjDemLbzFLo-q6cIyVxZVuSqKQzSCauM5BO5iKuvPHxVWB_wVycpmlct6bwdCfW=s5184" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifNSHA11-wLbf4oubsKSKsMX6LZMHojJVf4QoX_tQ9Gpx48rND-ukHvAW3p0nL7Ql0XKT-nsCLDSIHgnRlUQ-8F2DUzC5kV9l_NZcXzo07n8yLAg8rh0e5rPVcsNjDemLbzFLo-q6cIyVxZVuSqKQzSCauM5BO5iKuvPHxVWB_wVycpmlct6bwdCfW=w474-h303" width="474" /></a></div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Dear Love(s),</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I know you are hurt. If you
weren’t, I wouldn’t be writing this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It is painful not to be
loved back. I don’t even love myself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I am lying in bed drinking
in your smell, my nose laments on the scents it is unfamiliar with — lavender;
jasmine; and patchouli, earthy and musky smell, sweet yet smoky, a balance of sweetness
and romance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It’s barely two hours since
we made love. I took you to the stage. I kissed you amid calls by touts to board
their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matatu.</i> I watched you settle in, and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matatu</i> leave. I got back to
my apartment. It smelled like you. I stripped off my clothes and got under the
covers. I am sleeping in your scent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I am making love to you now,
more passionate than when you were here with me. In my fantasies, you’re a
goddess. It feels too real, hands on my skin, a hungry mouth, the warmth
between your legs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In my isolation, I love you
the most. Not when I am with you. I don’t touch you when we sleep, even when
awake, and no cuddling. Only when we make love. At that time, I feel like I
don’t need anything else. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I love you,</i>
I whisper. In the cold silence afterwards, I wish you say it back. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I lied I had to go to work,
so you could go back to our children and leave me to love you in isolation. I’m
writing letters to you, confessing how I love you when I am alone—surreal, but
not when we are so apart together. When you push someone so far away, are they
still your love?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Don’t get me wrong, love. I
still want us. But I have learnt you can’t force together on the wrong people.
They belong where they want to, giving exactly what they want. You don’t ask
together. Definitely not demand it. I don’t ask for anything more. Your hands
and the warmth between your legs are enough. Because, after the fact, I will
get more in my isolation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When I am angry, I fantasise
about your corpse. It suits me then, when I want you dead, for ‘till death’ I vowed.
But, I don’t love you alone. Our children do. I need you alive, that’s the
fact, for them, but the closest thing to truth is that I want you animated, but
not real.</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></p>I will see my other lover in
a few hours. I love her, but not too much. We don’t share continents, which makes it easier for both of us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
distance between makes our love strong and us in love. When I am with her, it’s
all cuddles, hungry mouths, explosive orgasms. I don’t fantasise about her when
she is away, only you with whom I wish for eternities of golden nights and
silver mornings. I touch her like a relic, and her juices anoint me like a king. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVwI65gVljvAd4n3C_9Sy9lhpaaqJvEFJ_xb2ntPORtDsG2wpMKsQzPnqTt0n0mJXscE2quLM56Bkzp05-9lXfpswaGuiAsfyu7RyN_EGU05kvMTHRT3zzYq-s4IROt-3pJ6qxDdXP1th_qXC-T3RaxlmRRaYlW_FiHh4kGAy7EmHrAM3XVAMoL0Q3=s6068" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6068" data-original-width="4896" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVwI65gVljvAd4n3C_9Sy9lhpaaqJvEFJ_xb2ntPORtDsG2wpMKsQzPnqTt0n0mJXscE2quLM56Bkzp05-9lXfpswaGuiAsfyu7RyN_EGU05kvMTHRT3zzYq-s4IROt-3pJ6qxDdXP1th_qXC-T3RaxlmRRaYlW_FiHh4kGAy7EmHrAM3XVAMoL0Q3=w516-h640" width="516" /></a></div><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I like her because she is a
free spirit. I don’t ask about the others with whom we share her because
something about it is seductive. When she leaves, the patchouli she leaves behind
lasts like a Somali perfume, and that’s what you smelt before leaving.</span></p></span><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">I like to look for new
lovers, but not for keeping. Just that moment I crave human touch. Like the one
who says I am her demon, her devil to worship. She tells all the boys—angels—no;
it makes her feel good. She knows I will never be hers. After all, who wishes
for hell, the devil’s abode? Ever since discovering places in her she didn’t
know existed, she is single-minded—her face innocent and yearning. Girls fuck
like that, desperate when you are their first. They think it is forever. They
demand forever.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I don’t believe in
forever,” I tell her. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I always miss you,” she
says. “Will you call me?” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">That’s what she asks. To
hear the devil’s voice. To keep her demon close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When we kiss goodbye, I hope
never to see her again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I miss you,” she texts
before she gets to the ground floor. Or bounds the stairs back up for another
goodbye kiss. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></p>Once upon a lonely time,
when Samantha (the sex doll) was a craze in Kenya, I researched male sex dolls,
with their almost alive still eyes and soft mouths, beautiful cold faces, and plausible
skin. Well, they were above my salary, and I didn’t want to take a loan for a corpse
to keep in my house; but I did get a sex toy, Fleshlight Pink Lady, something
that I had to dip in hot water to pass as an inanimate human vagina. It makes
little difference in the end, though, whether that body/vagina is flesh or
silicone. Either way, I’d be alone.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3soFrGfPxuqenfNieq6_xVUm2DUNZqxh4w6cNVIFJpzjrS-9kO9U3LvKklsMpLW8Cv2VTuNH7DITIjJ7f3YgrDaUOEqO_QamvyLxwEUSmooO8I7oY-SLvRvjrDVb8plb9PyXNBzAjjNQK5TJD4CrdvN4HfF1au3whCzV9rP8HPhZEFz5hPx_YgCkR=s992" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="685" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3soFrGfPxuqenfNieq6_xVUm2DUNZqxh4w6cNVIFJpzjrS-9kO9U3LvKklsMpLW8Cv2VTuNH7DITIjJ7f3YgrDaUOEqO_QamvyLxwEUSmooO8I7oY-SLvRvjrDVb8plb9PyXNBzAjjNQK5TJD4CrdvN4HfF1au3whCzV9rP8HPhZEFz5hPx_YgCkR=w277-h400" width="277" /></a></div><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When I was out of the
country for work, I met a Somali girl who told me that you are a bitch. You
don’t cherish what you have, me. Yes, I told her about us. She moved into the
space between my depression and happiness and saved me. With her, I was just
me. When I hugged her, I held her too tight I wondered what would become if I crushed her. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You’re the most beautiful
woman I have ever met, had, and I will ever have,” I told her. And I meant it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When she let me see beneath
her beautiful, underneath her burqa, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dirac,</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shash </i>lay my territory. When I
moved inside her, I called out her name: Maimun. Since she left, she has been my moon.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjjh1NL-doIwB4XF7RQa4VFZ-OrsY034aV21DpTJQFseSApZOSPPqmzXGjfWjuYzrYA3WzyGn83-3qlRrPtUvHRrfxo0xLFazIh30jQP80iDcGwQgyqlBZhjLXSmmX909yzxX9GUafJ3O7Qf6uI2gpFWfc4K_NOv01BEILDxVjFts6iiVr4PZk_PMP=s4426" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4426" data-original-width="2603" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjjh1NL-doIwB4XF7RQa4VFZ-OrsY034aV21DpTJQFseSApZOSPPqmzXGjfWjuYzrYA3WzyGn83-3qlRrPtUvHRrfxo0xLFazIh30jQP80iDcGwQgyqlBZhjLXSmmX909yzxX9GUafJ3O7Qf6uI2gpFWfc4K_NOv01BEILDxVjFts6iiVr4PZk_PMP=w235-h400" width="235" /></a></div>Don’t get me wrong, I am not
defending my waywardness. When I think of you, them, and the love I have for
you, them, my heart unfurls like flower sepals. My heart pumps it around my
body. I want to bring you all together and tell you I love you. Truth is, when
I am with you, them, all I want is to be alone, reliving. I want to be alone until the next time I crave <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your </i>touch,
which is a few hours later. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Love, I wish you are the one
to whom I direct my longing. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">They</i>
make me forget the continents separating us. When I lie naked in bed with you,
not touching your body and seeing only the fantasy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">them </i>that I’ve created, wishing you were there with me, I imagine
them on the scaffold of your flesh. I take a little comfort in the fact that
you share bits and pieces of yourself with me from time to time. Even though we are worlds apart, it matters, travelling continents of our bodies with lukewarm
fingers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Instead of being alone
together, I prefer this intimacy in isolation. It allows me to have lovers who
fill the blank spaces between us. I don’t know about you, but I resurrect when
we are apart.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-13705747589508735062021-01-05T18:42:00.007+03:002022-02-20T22:21:08.302+03:00The Dark Night of My Heart<p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">When the angel of death
plotted my death, he convinced me to be patriotic. I sat at a makeshift desk
and signed attestation forms and, months later, took the Oath of Allegiance. </span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In Somalia, the world floated
cloud-like upon the billowing smokes of explosions; my eyes stung from the
combustion of gunpowder. Scarlet blood seeped into the depths of the earth, and the bodies of my brethren-in-arms lay motionless, eyes eternally focused onto the
heavens. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiT-3d-G0svcFErAaU8qFMEpcd_Eb7_9_kPYdlDOTgGxmMaNTUKLT4F2maRrOl1mM8hFuR4AjFNm2mLutOFvClAIvSuizw6RaOUxiDpEx0k4tODRVteMTIsl1pryHdufXMfzsl3rjcDmaI7vcCOXfazkHHWhyd9WnXnfIYH14hdom56f-Aa72EtC8Q3=s502" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="502" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiT-3d-G0svcFErAaU8qFMEpcd_Eb7_9_kPYdlDOTgGxmMaNTUKLT4F2maRrOl1mM8hFuR4AjFNm2mLutOFvClAIvSuizw6RaOUxiDpEx0k4tODRVteMTIsl1pryHdufXMfzsl3rjcDmaI7vcCOXfazkHHWhyd9WnXnfIYH14hdom56f-Aa72EtC8Q3=w640-h360" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Source: nairobiwire.com)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the rain of falling bombs,
I crawled for cover beneath a body of a fallen brother, his blood the water I
desperately needed.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!”</span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> The cries were more of a benediction than a declaration. The attackers
were everywhere, killing the already dead who lay singly or in piles, pitiful
fragments of humanity. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Terrible,</span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> I
thought, and my stomach knotted more as darkness welled up from within me, a
resignation to the impending loss of my life. It was like the wings of a heron
enclosing around me to snuff all the life out of me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It is </span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Eid al-Fitr,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> and life has never been better in Somalia.
The last of al-Shabaab strongholds fell a year ago. Jilib is now a bustling
city, and our Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Operations have brought the
people closer. We were not infidels after all.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">This day, the Commissioner of the Jilib district invited us to celebrate </span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Eid<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> with them.
The AMISOM Headquarters in Mogadishu approved.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The garden is decorated with palm leaves and coloured bunting. In the
middle is a large marquee worked with national symbols in blue, white, and
green, the coat of arms of Jubaland, and two spears and ears of wheat and corn
for fertility. Beneath it, the ceremony would take place, a benediction for the
new Somalia. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Trestle tables covered with bright cloths and set with bowls of the
finest Somali cuisine—a cocktail of Arab, Turkish, Indian, Italian, and
Swahili menus;</span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Xalwo, jalaato,
basbousa—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and other delicacies stand crisp
and gay. There is no VIP lounge, only enough space for over five hundred guests, an open
room for dancing, and a raised timber stand hanging with Somalia, Jubaland,
and AMISOM flags. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Governor of Middle Jubba is expected, so are the Commissioners of
Bu’aale and Sakow districts. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">An army of waiters moves around, happy and merry. A platoon of armed
Jubaland Security Forces soldiers has been deployed at strategic points for security.
Besides these, we have our own security in plainclothes. It was decided that we
had to trust JSF and the Somalia National Army to provide security.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I am watching each waiter as they serve. The hairs at the back of my
neck go up just as I intercept surreptitious communication between the two of them.
The marquee is a cacophony of laughter and applause of the guests, all oblivious.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Without warning, a burst of automatic gunfire quiets everyone, just as
a stream of bullets slash through the bellies of whoever is in the line of fire. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“All soldiers are dead,” the
voice in my earpiece says. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">How do you fight an enemy
armed with automatic machine guns with pistols? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I ask myself as I drop flat on the ground. A hurricane of screams and
shouts and desperate cries joins the roar of the guns.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I see several of my soldiers in plainclothes respond, but they fire only
once before heavy gunfire sends them reeling back against a table or another
falling body. Bright blood spurts from the wounds, drenching their fine
celebratory garments.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Chaos is a constellation of a panic-stricken mob screaming, falling, crawling, and dying beneath the flail of the guns. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I have my pistol in hand, with so many targets to aim at but not sure
which one. I see one of the gunmen drop his machine gun, tear his waiter
clothes and reach for something inside the clothes he had hidden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He comes up with a grenade in each hand and
hurls one towards me and another to another crowd. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The grenades explode simultaneously, a twin blast of white flame and a terrible sweep of shrapnel. Women’s screams cut above the din, and another explosion
swallows their screams.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I hit the ground before the grenade explodes, just in time to see the
gunman poised to throw his next grenade, right arm extended behind him, both
fists filled with the deadly steel balls: </span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> His war cry above the screams of his victims.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">My body is a caterpillar, senseless, moving without bidding; I am numb, only
my elbows willing to crawl me to safety—beneath the dead or the dying.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgU7MZr-M1GiF9b0TiBc0J18sty1dFFwqrqR1kDiROHqOx8JuoXy4URe8NxW8skKxUxdRIeHCsPvcPCUvDjipdqA6D3hYwsCKTeKjEG45gc8TaQNIWaftssmOEhSEI3C2_l5yqfSnBsvXhNIAdhPjZlfgPOtQ694zd7ppNYi5RlJFYw6c-gg5VZA9se=s1240" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="1240" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgU7MZr-M1GiF9b0TiBc0J18sty1dFFwqrqR1kDiROHqOx8JuoXy4URe8NxW8skKxUxdRIeHCsPvcPCUvDjipdqA6D3hYwsCKTeKjEG45gc8TaQNIWaftssmOEhSEI3C2_l5yqfSnBsvXhNIAdhPjZlfgPOtQ694zd7ppNYi5RlJFYw6c-gg5VZA9se=w640-h384" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: https://www.theguardian.com/</td></tr></tbody></table><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“OC,” a voice said when I
came to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I moaned, breathless, seeing
nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Sir?” I asked, turning to
the direction the voice had come from. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Welcome back; we thought we
had lost you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I can’t see.” I commanded
the eyelids to split open, but they disobeyed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I can’t see!</span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> I groped
for nothing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It’ll be alright,” my
Commanding Officer said, and my heart shattered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Elgon Ward at the Defence
Forces Memorial was eerily quiet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The Governor and the Jilib
District commissioner died in the attack,” my CO told me. “Al-Shabaab wanted to
kill them for collaborating with AMISOM in liberating Jilib. We lost twenty
soldiers, and JSF and SNA fifty. You’re lucky to be alive.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“And civilians?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Over three hundred.
Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility; they want the 2020/2021 AMISOM Troops Withdrawal
from Somalia Plan effected. They say AMISOM lied to the Somali people, AMISOM
presence in Somalia is imperialistic.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The following day, during
his routine checks, the chief surgeon told me that they had removed the bullet
that had passed through my lung and lodged between the third and fourth vertebrae.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“My eyes?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“All your eyes are okay; none was injured ….”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“But …”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“There’s a tiny steel
fragment, certainly from a grenade. The optical nerves were affected.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Blind?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We can’t say yet, we will
conduct another surgery ….”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Permanently? Will I be
blind permanently?” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We will know when we remove
the fragment, but as at now, you have no recognition of shape, or colour, of
light or darkness.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">My stomach knotted a
thousand times. “Does my wife know? Mother?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Not yet, they are coming
today ….”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I want to see my CO.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We have scheduled a major
neurosurgery tomorrow to try to remove the metal fragment, but it’s not a
guarantee your sight ….”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The CO, please.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A while later, a voice said,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Afande, </i>CO<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> amekuja.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I heard the CO pull a chair
beside my bed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The others?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Two succumbed to their
injuries last night; the other is out of danger, so are you.” He paused. “But
you—”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I know. They told me,” I
stopped, my voice choking. “That’s why I wanted to talk with you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Your wife and parents are
coming—”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I struggled up to one elbow,
my face heavy underneath the bandages, my bound eyes blindly open.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You can’t let them see me
like this; they can’t see me ….”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“They are your family; you
can’t possibly expect me to send them away. They have been informed—”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Please … They can never
know I am alive. I have thought about it well, and this is my decision.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Mashujaa Home is like a
haunted house in a forested section of Embakasi Garrison. Every time I tap my way
around, I stumble into someone, and it reminds me that the home was geared to
sudden influxes of war on terror casualties.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Most of those maimed in
Somalia elect to stay at Mashujaa Home rather than their families. We keep vigil together all our lives in the eerie home till Mashujaa Cemetery,
bordering Kayole slums, shall swallow our frail bodies draped in the flag we
fought for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Every now and then, I think
of the conversation I had with my CO when I requested him to do all he could,
even to fake my death, so my family didn’t know I was permanently blind,
useless to them, forever a liability in their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgriO9eJAUt-OpqoPxnQ8qJIW44qwtZc-eAYsN1dReScAeF9E6HzG4JmAHHtvu5Mz1OY678Kmr4515b5NbX_iNvg5fGUZbQlDqhXtODuLzkY48lzJGyFGbpcC2Rr4Tb9GVBemmWUMhAMus/s1365/6086eq6i0fhsqajb9c0ilf2j7e.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="1200" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgriO9eJAUt-OpqoPxnQ8qJIW44qwtZc-eAYsN1dReScAeF9E6HzG4JmAHHtvu5Mz1OY678Kmr4515b5NbX_iNvg5fGUZbQlDqhXtODuLzkY48lzJGyFGbpcC2Rr4Tb9GVBemmWUMhAMus/w322-h367/6086eq6i0fhsqajb9c0ilf2j7e.png" width="322" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Sir, you see, it is permanent,
final, hopeless. I am, never to see again. I have gone into a dark world of my
own where nobody else can follow me. I have thought about it, and I am ready.
The sooner I made the decision, the sooner my wife started dating again without
feeling tied down to a blind man.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I think that’s your wife’s
decision to make, not yours.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“No, sir. This is my
decision. I will not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> her again,
even my parents. For them, I am dead. Tell them I was dead, it was a mistaken
identity, but they must remember me when I was alive.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I can’t do that, OC.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“You have to. Swear a solemn
oath to me. One soldier to another.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“If I do that, and that’s a
big IF, I will be failing as your CO. There will be boards of inquiry … you
will forfeit any salary or allowance you may have. You will be dead; your
benefits will go to your family as per the SOPs, the law. You will cut all
contact with your family for all days of your life. The care you will receive
at Mashujaa is not the same as what your family would give you. Is that want
you to want?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Yes, sir, that’s what I
want.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Why, but why?” the CO demanded
desperately. “Why do you reject your family? The system is not your family, you
know?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“I know I am altered beyond
all hope or promise. I know that what was before can never be again. I know
that I can never be to my wife again what she has a right to—she is young,
beautiful, she cannot endure; in a month, a year perhaps, she will realise she is
trapped, tied to a blind man. I can’t endure that. I can no longer be her
husband.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“What you’re asking of me ….”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Is mercy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There was a long bout of
silence, then he murmured: “Very well if that’s what you want, I will see what
I can do, though I don’t promise not to try to convince you to change your
mind.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Thank you, sir,” I said and sunk back in the bed. When I closed my eyes, all I saw was my wife: every
trace of the good times we ever had all gone, except for the lingering
afterimages of the fights, the distrust, the pain of living together, and the
last words she told me before leaving for Somalia: <i>We need more money, go to
Somalia like other men—</i>a parting gift. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The words swam and welled misty
in my eyes. Her fading voice was all I had left of her.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzwYp566avBkJQ5scFXxJNAFspYBiMWpZYMzdXfzBoWiDrSgLy-kLxxR_o6dpL5mMWNeXuU68d5NirGPtwu_gf_lz3IW7omxQyPWDBGsD3BKwhSyEdQxSUQKiFwGYjh3KejO4pHIDO1A/s1577/pngkit_anime-boy-png_700193.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1345" data-original-width="1577" height="505" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzwYp566avBkJQ5scFXxJNAFspYBiMWpZYMzdXfzBoWiDrSgLy-kLxxR_o6dpL5mMWNeXuU68d5NirGPtwu_gf_lz3IW7omxQyPWDBGsD3BKwhSyEdQxSUQKiFwGYjh3KejO4pHIDO1A/w640-h505/pngkit_anime-boy-png_700193.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-3695311431327167582020-04-17T09:07:00.002+03:002022-02-20T22:24:44.651+03:00God Answered My Prayer <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Against my better judgement and Mother’s advice, I followed the love of my life to the barracks. <i>Soldiers are never there for their families,</i>
she told me. <i>You were never there for me,</i>
I retorted, <i>and you’re not a soldier.</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Every time he leaves for
another mission in Somalia, I pray: <i>God,
let him come back alive. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Every time there is news of
another ambush, another IED attack, against KDF troops, I pray: <i>God, don’t let my children lose their
father, don’t make me a widow. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Today I woke up to a
thousand and one WhatsApp messages, Twitter and Facebook notifications, and
‘I-tried-calling-yous’ from family and friends: the worst of al-Shabaab attack on
a Kenya Defence Forces’ position in Somalia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I prayed: <i>If soldiers have to die, let him not be
amongst them. Kill others, but not him.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The gunfire goes off, <i>pop! Pop! Pop!</i> in synch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Fire!” the commander orders
the firing party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Pop! Pop! Pop!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The casket, draped in the
flag of Kenya, lowers into the grave. He’s no more, but <i>God answered my prayer.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A heart-piercing shriek goes
off like an alarm. A woman runs to the grave; she wants to be buried with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Mother! No,” I cry and rush
to her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Mother is devastated; her only son—my brother—died so
young, without a family; her hope, life, snuffed out by the bullet of the
dastard terrorists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">She will never come out of the hole she has sunk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">My brother is dead, but God answered my prayer: <i>God killed others, I’m not a widow, and my
children have a father. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-3978340473228874752019-10-04T10:24:00.000+03:002019-10-04T10:24:30.921+03:00Sky Wars <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Planet
Spyria,<br />
Spyria Year 4720,<br />
Spyria High Council meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
alien High Command took his seat. He looked at those present through his
compound eyes, his mouth a thin line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We
are the guardians of the galaxies,” his voice boomed. “The Multiverse is safe
because of us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Every
council member nodded in agreement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Our
artificial intelligence was granted to Earthlings generations ago, a mistake by
Her Highness the Most Supreme, I dare say. Humans now have made machines to
conquer the Multiverse and beyond. We can’t let them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“High
Command,” one of the High Council members said. “What does the Most Supreme
want of us?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We
must battle to save the Multiverse from aggressive take-over and annihilation by
humans. Everything humans do is detrimental to their Universe and ultimately
the Multiverse. Intelligence from the Inter-Galactic Intelligence Agency (IGIA)
indicate that prototypes are at advanced stages.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Their
aircrafts can now move between planets, their spaceplanes between galaxies,”
the Inter-Galactic Clandestine Operations Commander said. “We need to send in
saboteurs to make sure they crash after take-off.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yes,”
the High Command said. “Under the intergalactic law, no species are supposed to
move across the Multiverse, no matter how advanced or complex their
technologies may be. Yet humans are defying this law.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was not a discussion but a joint feeling they arrived at: either humans had to
be re-educated or eradicated. In their telepathic manner, they decided that infiltrating
aviation and space exploration agencies on Earth was the best course of action.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Send
to Earth the Inter-Galactic Clandestine Ops Squad,” the High Command ordered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Planet
Earth,<br />
The Year 2037,<br />
Earth Aviation and Space Council Meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
president of the Earth Aviation and Space Council (EASC) cleared his throat. “Our
aviation industry and space programs are the best in the multiverse. It is time
we conquered worlds beyond,” he made a sweeping movement with his hand and the
wall opposite him came to live. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“This
is Galaxtron, Boeing’s 787 MaxSprint Hybrid Spaceplane prototype. The plane has
hybrid combined cycle engines that can take off from an airport's landing strip
and fly straight into orbit. The engines would use turbofan or turbojet engines
to take off horizontally. Once airborne, the engine shifts to ramjet propulsion
and, as speed increases, adjusts into a scramjet engine with supersonic
airflow. At the scramjet stage, the hybrid spaceplane would enter hypersonic
flight in 'near space', the part of the atmosphere between 20km to 100km above
sea level. Finally, the spaceplane would use its rocket motors to push out of
near space and into orbit …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
paused. The men and women present looked at the president in awe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“…
What I’m saying is,” he smiled, “we can now go to other galaxies.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuAvf-GBx5ErkWQ1fyuyTpgo0KuyVej0FX_1Jkzb3Spti74YowmgJuLxg9CQozC42aVKEn2kkvwhuP_QOVRvoDcg8ENPYK6fPYHsx9PXbXqxv3DNm4YUi5XXpvq8YurmG83RBKzHMrcis/s1600/m16-017-e1501783046400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuAvf-GBx5ErkWQ1fyuyTpgo0KuyVej0FX_1Jkzb3Spti74YowmgJuLxg9CQozC42aVKEn2kkvwhuP_QOVRvoDcg8ENPYK6fPYHsx9PXbXqxv3DNm4YUi5XXpvq8YurmG83RBKzHMrcis/s400/m16-017-e1501783046400.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Boeing
Aerospace & Autonomy Centre,<br />
Kajiado, Kenya.<br />
Friday 13 May, 2050.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
flight engineer took the elevator to Basement 33 where the 10<sup>th</sup>
Generation Boeing MaxSprint Hybrid Spaceplane was being built. The spaceplane
was designed to fly into any galaxy, making stops at multiverses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
he made sure he was alone, he transformed himself into a grey-skinned humanoid,
four feet tall, bald, with black almond-shaped eyes, nostrils without a nose,
slit for mouth, no ears, and four fingers ready to make contact with the High
Command in planet Spyria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Avluk ah
Kutak,”</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
he said when he connected to the mother lode. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">International
Space Station,<br />
Same Day, Same Time;<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Commander
Edison,” the young female Science Officer called.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yes!”
the Commander responded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“There’s
a cryptic transmission from a Boeing Aerospace & Autonomy Centre in
Africa.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What
does it say?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The
message is ‘IT IS TIME’, nothing else.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Destination?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Not
yet established, but the DeciCode machine is trying to triangulate through the
Multiverse.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Earth,
<br />
Year of the Lord, 2060<br />
Earth Aviation and Space Council Meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
intergalactic spy chief, Director Earth-Space Intelligence Agency (ESIA) walked
up to the podium. He made a sweeping movement with his hand and the wall in
front flashed to life. Images of the multiverse filled the mega
floor-to-ceiling screen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Aliens
in the multiverse now know we have what it takes to grow into a multiversal
superpower,” he began. “Our aviation and space agencies have developed
technologies that would enable us to explore and conquer the multiverse …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
paused and looked at the men and women who made decisions based on what he told
them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Intelligence
indicate that aliens are wary of the 10<sup>th</sup> Generation Boeing
MaxSprint Hybrid Spaceplane …” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">His
hand made another sweeping movement and the screen showed images of
humanoid-like creatures gathered round a table. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“They
call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxies from Planet Spyria. In 2027, they
held a meeting where they resolved to sabotage our aviation and space programs.
They activated the Inter-Galactic Clandestine Ops Squad to infiltrate the Earth
…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Are
you saying aliens have infiltrated not only our planet but also our agencies?”
asked a diminutive Chinese astrophysicist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’s
what intelligence indicates. We believe all the aircraft accidents we have had
since the turn of the millennium are caused by the aliens; but just crashing
the aircrafts was not enough. They decided to be hijacking the aircrafts to
study our technologies and seep our knowledge. That’s why Malaysian airlines
Flight 370 was never discovered.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Come
on Finch, we both know that aliens had nothing to do with that flight’s
disappearance. The US of A knows and should tell us—”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’m
not a conspiracy theorist, I’m an intelligence officer. Those aliens who infiltrated
Boeing engineered the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)
which activates without pilot input and commands the aircraft nose down and
can’t be deactivated. That’s why the Indonesia and Ethiopian Airlines crashes
happened; and many others after that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What
you don’t know about the Boeing MaxSprint Spaceplane is that it’s capable of harvesting
energy from distant stars during its stops at multiverses expanding our
intergalactic control,” the President chimed in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
spy continued, “What aliens are worried of is that our harvesting this energy
will make the stars fall beyond the cosmic horizon and become unobservable and inaccessible,
thus limiting how much energy could one day be extracted from them. These
Guardians believe that they were sanctioned by God to protect the multiverses.
They don’t want us to get there. They believe that we will destroy the
multiverses if not checked.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">All
the eyes in the room riveted on him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Planet
Spyria is one of the most advanced civilizations in the multiverse. They understand
the grim reality of universal expansion, and they wouldn't just sit around idle
while our spaceplanes made multiverse stops capturing stars from other
galaxies, reeling them in and harvesting their energy and rendering them inaccessible
forever. Either we be educated, or eradicated. And they chose to eradicate us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That
explains why Boeing MaxSprint Spaceplanes have been crashing or disappearing
since their inception in 2030. Investigations point to sabotage from within or
auto-activation of a device that makes it undetectable by the radar shortly after
take-off before the aliens hijack it never to be seen.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-25552447803282723822019-08-24T15:45:00.000+03:002019-08-24T15:45:34.557+03:00UPCOMING RELEASE: NOVEL - Inevitable Desires: First Love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lovely People, Readers and Lovers of good stories; </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know I have been a disappointment this year; not writing as much as I am supposed. I'm sorry, I take the blame. But, I never forgot about you, about our unwritten pact that I should give you interesting stories every other day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have been busy making another baby, born of first love; and here she is: INEVITABLE DESIRES: First Love. It is a story you don't want to miss. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 14px;">Hedwig Sanzi Joe, aka Heddie, is an innocent high school girl when she falls in love with a reformed criminal working in the church. When she becomes of age and decided to give the man of her dreams her heart, she doesn't know that she has signed for the greatest hurt, betrayal, and confusion she would ever experience. S</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 14px;">keletons of her boyfriend's past decide to crawl out of the closet and all she ever believed in is shattered. She doesn't know that she is moving from one criminal to another when she makes the mistake of marrying the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance until she learns that her husband is the real criminal, not the boyfriend she let go.</span></span></div>
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This is Heddie's story, the school girl that Kennedy Maina meets towards the end of <i>Twisted Times: Son of Man.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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On 31 October, 2019 - that's when this story gets out and Hedwig spills the beans about her secret life. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><span style="color: red;">PRE-ORDER today to be the first to get the copy on 31 October, 2019. It's only Ksh. 600 (Paybill No. 909534 - Mystery Publishers LTD; put your name as the account number).</span></span></div>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-91630141726904234292019-05-06T10:59:00.000+03:002019-05-06T10:59:35.283+03:00Unbroken Happiness <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I woke up with a
start. The smell of burning flesh congested the air. I did not know it was my
skin singeing until I screamed in pain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I’m
dying. Oh God, please no. I can’t breathe. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My body gave to
unknown force, and fell into a dark abysmal hole, head first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“You left me,” I
heard a voice say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Love
killed me! <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Marline sat across from Eddah on the bed, the
bench, where they judged their friends, sentenced obstinate boyfriends to
death, gossiped about whose of their baby-mama girlfriends’ boyfriends was
deadbeat, and who was trying to snatch so-and-so’s sugar daddy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Eddah reached for the glass of tonic water
on the bedside stand and gave it to Marline.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Marline wiped her eyes with Eddah’s
handkerchief. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“He did not even care,” Marline said. “I
needed him, and he told me to leave.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Eddah watched Marline’s hand’s delicate
movement as she dabbed at her eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“I will talk to him?” Eddah offered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The worst part of it is that I couldn’t
walk, the pain was killing me,” Marline said. “It’s not like I was pretending
to stay in his house. I just wanted one more night for the pain to subside.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Men are dogs,” Eddah said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Marline said nothing, as if the silence
was the answer. As if she did not blame herself already. What troubled her was
not Finnly’s heartlessness, she knew, but the impact of what the man she loved
had done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Finn,” she said when I picked up. “I wish
you pretended you cared; that’s the least you could do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">That’s not what I expected her to say. She
couldn’t understand, see that I cared for her, despite how twisted my idea of
caring was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I exhaled heavily. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“I’m hurting because of love, my love for
you,” she said. “I have endometriosis for God’s sake. I just needed you to
care.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Her words were a slap to my face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I’m
sorry,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I wanted to say. But the silence was so palpable
that I could hear her heart beating and the tears dropping on her lap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“You’re not going to say anything, that
you’re sorry?” her voice trailed off. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“What do you want me to say?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">She drew a deep breath and blew her nose.
My heart grew heavy with sadness and grief, and, in hindsight, I hated myself
for making her cry. What mattered to her was not what I meant to do but what I had
done: me chasing her away from my house when she was hurting, the way I did not
care about her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">She got back to Marline’s
house in the middle of the afternoon. Marline was still in bed, her eyes red
and swollen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Marlee, dear!” Eddah
said. “Crying yourself to death won’t help.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When they hugged,
Marline’s body did not relax against Eddah’s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“I’m no longer
crying,” she said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Eddah watched
Marline curl up under the sheets, telling herself she was mistaken; there was
nothing to read in Marline’s tone. But it bothered her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">“I know it’s hard,
Marlee, but you need to forget him.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Yes, I know. When
love ends, life moves on!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">At that moment,
Eddah knew. She knew from the way Marline pulled the sheets over herself, from
the anger on her face, from the way her eyes narrowed at something distant, and
from the way her lips pursed, that Marline would do something terrible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Please, don’t do
this to yourself. Don’t hurt yourself. He is not worthy it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Marline sat up and
looked at her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Eddah would always
remember Marline’s expression, her feral portent eyes, her trembling lips, her
hands folding into fists and gathering the sheets and throwing them away;
Marline getting out of the bed and stomping out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Alone, I was
furious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Heartless,
an animal. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When I visited him,
I was surprised.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Why are you so
nice to me,” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">He said nothing. He
reached for me and smashed his lips onto mine. When I did not respond, he pried
them with the tip of his tongue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Why are you so
nice to me?” I asked him again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“I’ve realized the
error of my ways,” he said at last.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I looked at him, resentful
of his frail attempts at making up without saying anything, of how sweet it
sounded when he said, “You know I love you, Em,” as if his words were the
mortar that I needed to cement my life to him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I
don’t love you. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I
hoped I was not angry and that the anger won’t get back to him because I did
not want to pine. But I did pine: I always wore the locket he gave me, slept in
his T-Shirt, every day read the poems he had written to me, and listened to the
songs he liked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Why do you love me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Love has got no
reason,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">His words almost
changed my mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Heart,
you may feel; head, you may think, but Marline, darling, you’re showing this
animal the error of his ways.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Love comes first,
reasons follow, you know,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“What?” I looked at
him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“I’m sorry,” he
said. “Forgive me.” I rolled every letter in my head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My mind flashed into
the future, when he had hurt me again. I felt like I was piecing together the
shards of a broken glass only to have it shatter again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“I’m here, I’m I
not?” I said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When he went down
on me, he flicked his tongue over me but time did not stop like the first time
he did it. When he kissed me, I did not close my eyes. <i>I want to carry the look on his eyes forever. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The world did not
spin when he was inside me. I raised my hips, moved with his deep thrusts,
wriggled like a snake as if I was breaking free shackles off my wrists, exorcising
demons, freeing myself with the soft moans that escaped my mouth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I meant to hold her
and never let go of her. Yes, I had told her to leave my house, but it was
because I was scared, I couldn’t take care of her. I thought she was going to
die on me and complicate my life more. <i>Forbidden
love is poison. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Long after
midnight, serene in her sleep like a baby in my arms, I listened to her
post-coital breathing even out against my chest. She was back in my arms, I was
never going to hurt her; bigamy was a crime I was ready to be convicted for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Unbroken
happiness is a bore,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
the words of Moliere hang like a bad dream on my mind. <i>It should have ups and down.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I was happy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One minute I was
asleep, snuggled in the crook of his arm, his semen drying up between my legs. Another,
I stood over him, so gentle in sleep. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">You
don’t trifle with people’s emotions.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<i>No, you don’t get to trifle with my
feelings, my heart. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There was no
looking back. <i>Your goose is cooked.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For the first time,
I smoked, blew the smoke leisurely through my mouth and nose, and dropped the
cigar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The curtains caught
fire first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When he woke up, he
hunched over and clutched his stomach. Then he started coughing, moaning, and
screaming in that order. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I knew the kind of
death he would have, but most importantly, the last person he saw and the voice
he heard before he succumbed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-51172055249548398532018-08-19T06:31:00.000+03:002018-08-19T07:13:23.928+03:00Best Friend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Love was a problem for me. It was a complexity I tried
to convince myself that I didn’t need; a combination that had been denied to me
by my vocation. In my third year of theology at the seminary I was yet to
hear the voice of God calling me to serve Him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Professionally, I am a soldier. The Chaplains’ Corps
was the last army unit I ever thought I could be posted to after my graduation
at the Armed Forces Training College. Father wanted to be a military
ordinariate. The day he met my mother, he devoured the forbidden fruit and said
“Go to hell God with your call”. Remotely, he still believed that it was God’s
will he met Mother. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sister Elizabeth of the Order of Mary the Immaculate
Conception was passionate, outspoken, unwavering in her convictions. She
listened to no one below the rank of God, and delved too much into the service
of the church she loved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thoughts trundled in my mind like a train during the
ride to Sr. Elizabeth’s convent in Nairobi. When I saw her, my heart whooped.
She was in her seven-frilled habit, a snow-white veil swathing her head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sadistic, no, sexual, thoughts entered my mind. I
wanted to peel every layer of her holy dress and make love to her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I talked nonsense. Holy crap. The shock on her face
was a constellation of her eyes admonishing me and her lips quivering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You can’t just leave,” she said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“How’s so, Liz? I’m not going to live a lie for the
rest of my life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Victor, I can’t be with you. What you’re asking of me
is impossible …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Impossible as it may seem, but I know you too want
it. We both were not cut for this.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Remember I have taken my vows.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Temporary vows, Elizabeth. <i>Temporary.</i> That means you could change your mind any time.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’s trifling with God, Victor. You can’t play
trial and error with God.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I wanted her back. She had once followed me, she could
do it again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’s ridiculous, Victor.” Her lips were trembling.
Her face dull, devoid of emotions. Her eyes were like gunshots fired at the
soul of my soul. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What are you going to do?” I asked her when I
realized she no longer loved me the way I thought she did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Nothing. You know where I belong.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Let’s go then.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Where to?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“To where you belong, start afresh the life we left.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You don’t understand. I now belong to the Church.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I looked at her. “What?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You heard me. I am not leaving <i>with you</i>.” She paused. “People change. Life changes; but not for
life. Vic, you need to live, but not with <i>Sister
</i>Elizabeth.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Well, I would like to know now that you mention it,”
I said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What would we, no, <i>you,</i> tell people?” she stared at me with glaring eyes. “What would
you tell the parish, your family and friends, the Christians, and the Bishop?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You can’t tell people anything. They know too much
about you than you do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She faced me. “Isn’t this some sort of brewery for
sin, Victor? Don’t even try it. You are using the sword that would kill you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“God can’t kill me for leaving the seminary. Plus,
there’re a lot of things we do not know, Elizabeth. This is one of them. There
are others.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I don’t want to know about them, what they are.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“No, you don’t,” I agreed. “Look, what do you want? An
apology for telling you the truth? For telling you to break your vows? If I’m
sorry is that I have not told you to be sacrilegious, heretical, blasphemous,
or to curse God.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“This is never going to happen, not with me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Don’t walk out
on me, Liz.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Look, Victor. Your leaving the seminary means nothing
to me, and concerns me in no way. Everybody carries their own cross. Carry
yours to God and tell Him that you did not want to be a priest because you
couldn’t control your bodily desires. I have left my past. I live for today.
The bible says we forget the past, our sins would be forgiven for those who
repent, and our failures would be perfected.” With that she rose to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I stood up and blocked her way. “Elizabeth, stop being
disillusioned. This wasn’t part of our plan. You just shut me off when you came
here. What happened to us, Elizabeth?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What exactly do you want?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I want you. I need you because I love you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Were I firing a gun at her she couldn’t have reacted
such smartly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I am sorry, Victor.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A tight feeling rose from the pit of my stomach and blocked
throat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I am sorry too, Elizabeth,” I said, my hackles
beginning to rise. “You don’t see the depravity in your so-called church. Which
is better: live with sin or in sin?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’s not what you told me is why you’re leaving.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Well, it’s part of the bargain.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She said nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Elizabeth, stop playing naive and blind. You know
what I am talking about. You’ve seen it. All we’ve in the church is Romeo &
Juliet garbed in albs and cassocks and frilled convent dresses.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She was silent for a long period. “I am not leaving,”
she said at last. “Period.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I knew that her mind was made up. I took a step
towards her and she stepped back. I put my hand on her shoulder. She didn’t
pull it away. That encouraged me, but I didn’t pull her to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Do you remember that day?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“How can I forget?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What you told me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Everything is as fresh as morning dew in me, but it’s
all gone, Vic.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We were in the convent chapel. I didn’t care when I
kissed her. Her mouth was cold and soft. I smelt her hair, ran my hand through
it. I kissed her cheek, felt the softness, salty with tears I hadn’t seen or
known where they had come from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXDVtkdOhsQewiG8y4wKhAwf0WaQRkgBbc-KV8EjBSCEMW1mwm4xGUXVVNqXepronCWVxTzvln4Zs2zR_k4uIuFbR6XRY0l6tHvmMG1mxK0L335iP6EL2wb30QnXgyF-Vybxg5mnHf20/s1600/FEDERICI460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAXDVtkdOhsQewiG8y4wKhAwf0WaQRkgBbc-KV8EjBSCEMW1mwm4xGUXVVNqXepronCWVxTzvln4Zs2zR_k4uIuFbR6XRY0l6tHvmMG1mxK0L335iP6EL2wb30QnXgyF-Vybxg5mnHf20/s1600/FEDERICI460.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Slowly, she pushed me away; her hands between us where
I had felt the rubbery of her breasts on my chest. She stared at me, deathly
pale, disapproving what I had done. At last she pried off me without even a
word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Liz, who do you
think you’re? You don’t belong there. You’re just a fucking slut, not a nun.
You were never a nun. Not chaste ...</span></i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I thought as I
watched her walk away from me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You are going back to the seminary, Victor,” my
father boomed. “I am your father and I know what best is for you. You’ve got no
right whatsoever to question my stand on certain issues. My mind is made up.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Who the hell
does he think he is?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My heart palpitated as adrenalin coursed through me. I
stood up, halted before him and gave him a mock salute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Even my mind is made up,” I said, and with that I
about-turned and marched out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We were huddled in bed, cuddling. Mariah Carey was
singing to us <i>We Belong Together.</i> Her
cell phone rang and she picked it up pronto. Her expression changed as she
screamed in joy, laughing. <i>Whoever the
caller is must be making her ovaries go off like fire crackers,</i> I thought
as a pang of jealousy stung me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-pS-IpEaeqaEBZ1imxPHosifb5SoSysA5nMVVybBzknITMoUycWy6XqC-Bugh5IAbKORR8AVuIQw0XHdoNVNwcWh382PeHDFiUV7wib8__H5H1PGdpxeSe-oyejR8DazgSR1lbsByQM/s1600/black-couple-in-bed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="630" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-pS-IpEaeqaEBZ1imxPHosifb5SoSysA5nMVVybBzknITMoUycWy6XqC-Bugh5IAbKORR8AVuIQw0XHdoNVNwcWh382PeHDFiUV7wib8__H5H1PGdpxeSe-oyejR8DazgSR1lbsByQM/s400/black-couple-in-bed.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Guess what, babe?” she said when the call ended. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Honey, you know me. I’m not good at guesses.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Come on, babe. Try pleaaaaaaase …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s a trap. Never try it. So I didn’t fall for it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It’s Val, babe,” she said. “She’s coming over. She’d
stay for some time.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Wonderful. She’d even help you with the shopping and all.”
Being dragged to our wedding preparations was the last thing I wanted. So, the
prospect of someone else being there for her was my exit from the whole
brouhaha.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She giggled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“And watch her like a hawk, I am not ready to be
seduced by your best friend.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She gave me a light slap on my arm. “I believe in you.
You’re not that slippery. Moreover, Val can’t do that. I trust her, I know her
well.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Valerie was Elizabeth’s best friend. We all came from
the same ‘hood; grew up together. Valerie was the kind of friend parents warn
their children not to keep. ‘She’ll teach you boys,’ Elizabeth’s mother told
her. But Valerie and Elizabeth were inseparable. The beating and the
castigation didn’t separate them, then Elizabeth’s mother stopped trying to
keep them away from each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My father was a good friend of Elizabeth’s. They were
more than just business partners—they were <i>Brothers,</i>
had influence in the church all the way to the Vatican. Rumours had it that they
were Freemasons. Dad was a good friend of the Pope, it was the Pope who allowed
Father to marry. Insider information had it that the Pope was even considering
allowing priests to marry, but Dad was not patient to wait for the time to
come. For all he knew, it could be black smoke from the Sistine Chapel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elizabeth and I grew up together; our families shared
moments: birthdays, religious and national holidays, family prayers. When our
parents went to Rome on some church errand for the church in Kenya, they took
us with them. My most memorable moment was when Pope Francis took Elizabeth and
me in his arms; he was so strong for his age. I cherish that photo to-date. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elizabeth was her family’s candy, and the lily of our
family. Mom loved her so much that it hurt she did not have a daughter of her
own. When we came of age, Mom and Dad fought: she wanted me to be a family man,
to continue the family line, perhaps with Elizabeth, Dad wanted me to fulfil <i>his </i>military ordinariate dream. However,
I had set my eyes on Elizabeth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">After high school, Elizabeth went to the University of
Nairobi. Dad got me into the army. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It was the shock of my life when I was posted to the Chaplains
Corps, the first ever General Service Officer in the history of the Kenya
Defence Forces, all Dad’s doing. Priests join the army when they are already
serving priests as specialist officers and undergo a four-month basic military
training course. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Chaplains’ Corps sent me to the seminary. I said
goodbye to Elizabeth. She cried a river. “Wherever you’ll go, I’ll follow you,”
she told me. I doubted she would join the convent, but she surprised me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I was not meant to be a priest. Many are called, but
few are chosen. I had a serious chat with God. We agreed He could as well make
use of the ones who were joining it to make money. So, I left. I asked
Elizabeth to go with me—<i>wherever you’ll
go, I’ll follow you,</i> she had told me—but she refused. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So, when, a year later, she called me and told me that
she had left the convent, I welcomed her back to my life. I’d had other women
in my life, flings that didn’t mean anything, but none took me to the heights
Elizabeth did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Valerie and Elizabeth worked together at the Nation
Media Group: Val was an investigative reporter with the <i>Daily Nation</i>, Elizabeth
was an anchoress, with <i>NTV.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now that Elizabeth and I were about to wed and Val had
moved in with us, I watched them closely. There was something strange about
them: they did not seem get enough of each other. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the afternoon of this day, Elizabeth’s Buick and
Val’s Honda were in the garage. I cursed the senseless fiend for invading our
privacy. The front door was locked, so I used the back door. As I entered, two
floral bikinis caught my eye on the sunbathing decks at the swimming pool. Soft
music played in the house and I was immediately aroused. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Halfway up the stairs to the bedroom I heard low soft
moans and whispers. The door was ajar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I came to an abrupt halt and peeped, hypnotized. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeyzR3MY_NacsrmkzD2mB4tcGH8E6U0KJs2-crRVTYyHEagaXXYK7yKD8yUkFegsakmJ6uTmBZMzAaMFxqu4AuSJtduaTp4FpSl71Xb-6NXItMX-CbuYW7oWvh0ucNgb-gdGrMTkxoDCA/s1600/436498.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="471" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeyzR3MY_NacsrmkzD2mB4tcGH8E6U0KJs2-crRVTYyHEagaXXYK7yKD8yUkFegsakmJ6uTmBZMzAaMFxqu4AuSJtduaTp4FpSl71Xb-6NXItMX-CbuYW7oWvh0ucNgb-gdGrMTkxoDCA/s320/436498.gif" width="314" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I couldn’t take any more, and before I made a mistake I would regret the rest
of my life, I mentally counted from one hundred backwards. Stealthily, I snuck
out as I had come. I half ran half
walked to my car and drove to nowhere in particular. I needed to think. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">At last I made the decision: Val had to go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I ignored all
the signs, the signals. I’m such a fool.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When I arrived home later in the evening, Liz and Val
shone like diamonds. Dinner was served, and we ate, ambivalent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I wanted to go to bed early. Liz said it was OK. “I
will join you later, babe.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">No way. Not
today.</span></i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I wanted to be with her. I reached for her. <i>Time to go, babe.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Good night, Val,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Night too, lovebirds.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“And Val ... ahem … I think Liz and I need some privacy,”
I said. I squeezed Elizabeth’s hand. “I mean, give us some space because you
know we’re planning to wed soon.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Valerie’s face turned from bright to dull in a
fraction of a nanosecond, but I pulled Elizabeth before Valerie could say
anything and went to our bedroom.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’m coming back. I want to talk to Val,” Liz said
once we were in the bedroom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Not this time
round. I am the boss. </span></i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You are going nowhere!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What!? If that’s what’s in your mind, Val is going
nowhere.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My heart skipped a beat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“She goes, I go with her,” and with that, Liz stomped out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEineGu-l8yHeMSH-oMIbxuW_KXHq5UfMFy1NL9RCK1pZ_KXOF8VkleJgwNTslXpXT_CB2U7a6if1nyD48QGUI5be0TslyIHcqyU84TOWKy-pFMSX30SJsqfex-fPFp9NJwvux0Vfd56EM4/s1600/photo-1425421640640-64c4debea1b4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="750" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEineGu-l8yHeMSH-oMIbxuW_KXHq5UfMFy1NL9RCK1pZ_KXOF8VkleJgwNTslXpXT_CB2U7a6if1nyD48QGUI5be0TslyIHcqyU84TOWKy-pFMSX30SJsqfex-fPFp9NJwvux0Vfd56EM4/s640/photo-1425421640640-64c4debea1b4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-30105890125839271892018-05-18T09:18:00.000+03:002018-05-18T09:18:02.865+03:00Brown Sugar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="SW" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="SW" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The duty of law
enforcement is lawbreaking, a circle of silent assent. Constable Charles Luigi
Luiseno made the startling discovery too late. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="SW" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Despite being the
lead agency in the war against drug trafficking, the Anti Narcotics Unit,
established in 1983 within the Kenya Police, is like a cabal within the
Service. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The call
connected. “Go ahead, Charlie. Nice to hear from you,” her voiced mellowed on
the other end. “Any action?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Not really.
I’m calling to ask for a favour.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Why I’m I
getting the feeling that this is more than a favour?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“You always
were right about me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“But you never
worked hard enough for us. You and I …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Are worlds apart,
I know. It’d be strictly business, Cindy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">After a long
pause, she said, “Okay. When? Where?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“You tell me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">She chuckled. “You
have changed, Charlie. My house? After work.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Charles
surveyed the room when he entered her lavishly furnished living room, paced up
and down, his eyes caught by photos he had not left. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“How are you
two faring?” He asked pointing at a photo of a man who was stifling a smile
when it was taken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">She ignored the
question and sat opposite him after offering him a drink. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“So, what can I
do for you, Charles?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Cindy, I need
your help. I have been assigned the case you were working before you’re
promoted …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Yeah, I know.
What do you want me to do? I’m way past that, remember.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“I know you how
hate the streets. I am not asking you to go out there with me. All I want is
info, your sources, contacts, anything to give me a start.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">She pouted her
lips, looked at him. “The most abused drug is heroin, commonly known as Brown
Sugar. Cocaine’s there too, liquefied, commonly known as the White Wine, or
just whites. Heroin, the most abused drug comes from Afghanistan. Of late Kenya
is not only a consumer but also a processing hub, and the largest in East
Africa for that matter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglm6yCMlYQ137390e6aKaThLZhyphenhyphenktBZGrlE916LZG95H_hZxQpNjOC7y6tZYsbaJRBaFHaWRzjpKQYms1o4n7ZZwphsDKUWlEqhMmdW1ZKBgXDic9pOZT1rePOLqcGBAyJOKIbDehGkgc/s1600/heroin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglm6yCMlYQ137390e6aKaThLZhyphenhyphenktBZGrlE916LZG95H_hZxQpNjOC7y6tZYsbaJRBaFHaWRzjpKQYms1o4n7ZZwphsDKUWlEqhMmdW1ZKBgXDic9pOZT1rePOLqcGBAyJOKIbDehGkgc/s400/heroin.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Once this
heroin arrives, there’s this elusive drug syndicate in the city that we’ve
tried for quite some time to nab. The drug lord, too, is a ghost.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“I really
appreciate this,” he said and took a sip of his drink.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Something
else, there’s this newly opened Sugar Company in the city. Yeah, Bammy Sugar
Company. I have been checking it out. Most of its sugar is exported. Have you
ever seen it in our shops? That’s it. This sugar is exported mostly to Pakistan
and Mexico. Yeah, I know it’s not well known that Mexico is our business
partner. This company blends the heroin they get from Afghanistan with the
sugar. The Brown Sugar. That’s how the drug is muled out of the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“You’ve seen the
sachets of this powder drink called <i>Dextrosol?</i>
It’s Brown Sugar. Go to the slums and the bars and pubs there. You won’t fail
to see Dextrosol stocked. You’ll ask what the hell is Dextrosol, kids’ stuff,
doing in a pub? Just ask for <i>poppy</i> or
any other name like <i>kiketi</i> or <i>mzigo</i>. You’ll have your Brown Sugar. One
packet goes for around one hundred shillings, and can be taken by mixing with
drinks or injection.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When she was
done, Charles hoped that he would do his best, the little he could, to rid the
streets of Nairobi of drugs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Charles lay in
wait in an unmarked police car at the rear of a grimy street bar. The bar was
the place hedonistic souls thronged to be mopped on the face by different
shades of booty. Shapely girls in provocative lingeries, others at different
stages of undress, or completely naked, entertained the clientele gymnastically
on poles. It was also the place Brown Sugar was sold in wholesale. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A dealer would
go with several sachets, apart from those stocked in the bar, and stay at a
room that smelt of stale beer mixed with urine at the rear of the bar near the
cloakrooms. The dealer would go to the bar, take a customer’s beer order and
squeeze some Brown Sugar into the drink at his OR and then take it to the
customer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Through his
night vision binoculars, Charles saw a boy, not more than fifteen, go in and
out of the bar, come with a bottle, put something in it and then duck in again.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Charles
calculated his moves. He had to get the boy, or whoever it was, with the Brown
Sugar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Charles waited
for a few minutes and saw the boy come out of the bar again and make to his
operating room. The boy had a bottle in his hand, and a girl trailing right
behind him. The girl went to the ladies and a few minutes later emerged
coughing uncontrollably. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The girl went
back to the bar while the boy sat there in the dimly lit corridor that led to
the back door. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Charles knew
that it was time for him to move. He started towards the bar, whistling, with a
story in his head. As he neared the back door to the bar the boy was smiling at
him. “<i>Unataka kichuri</i>?” the boy asked
him and added, “<i>Hata gwai hiko</i>.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Hey <i>Mzeiya, mi nataka mzigo.</i> <i>Hiko</i>?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The boy got
into the room and told him to enter. In a black polythene bag he removed two
sachets of the drug and handed them over to Charles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Charles got
into his pockets as if to get the money for the cargo, but he fished out cuffs
instead. All he wanted with the boy was information. He would let him go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The subject
handcuffed and his bag of drugs with him, Charles hustled the boy to the
unmarked police car.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A year into the
Anti-Narcotics Unit and there was a </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">surge in drug seizures. However, it was not clear
whether that it was as a result of better law enforcement or an increase in
trafficking through Kenya. The drug lord was still a ghost, and there was an upsurge
of Brown Sugar abuse on the streets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">One the day he
joined the rank and file of those who do nothing but watch the system get
rotten, he was the second-in-command of <i>Operation
Kingpin.</i> At last the ghost had been gotten. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The commander <i>Operation Kingpin</i> gave the signal for
the Task Force to move in. Charles was in charge of the main raiding force. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hardly had the
commander finished giving his hand signals when Charles’s phone rang. He
glanced at the ID. Cindy. Dammit. But it was already late.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Hello, Cindy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Charles, we
need to talk.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“About what?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Brown Sugar.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Hey, what’s
the matter? We’re going to ...”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Corporal, tell
your commander to stand down!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">She hung up
before he could say anything. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-81205754312999208912017-12-13T05:52:00.001+03:002022-02-20T22:34:31.434+03:00Confessions of a Sexprenuer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When other
brains discovered nuclear energy and launched revolutionary mobile money
transfer systems in Kenya, I was thinking about sex. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Welcome home,
dear. You are tense and look tired,” Lilibeth observes. “Would you like a
massage?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMK7jfmPW_Nb2zP0Lo1lVk7_b4UTbBecG1vD2bEWaBNBe_Jme4Qe22cGxp97otAhqn2v2m2b5DnhnbcPGbfA1vICRNmfOuGX83HzldzGWWWQLwbRLokjm51WrPMs2hZCB02QUcWWTI2Vs/s1600/042315futuresex3_1280x720.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMK7jfmPW_Nb2zP0Lo1lVk7_b4UTbBecG1vD2bEWaBNBe_Jme4Qe22cGxp97otAhqn2v2m2b5DnhnbcPGbfA1vICRNmfOuGX83HzldzGWWWQLwbRLokjm51WrPMs2hZCB02QUcWWTI2Vs/w640-h360/042315futuresex3_1280x720.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Not now, Lily,”
I say as I lean in for a kiss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Of course,
sir,” she replies, and her status light turns from bright green to amber. She
goes to the kitchen and leaves me to my machines, the screen in front of me
showing the images of the son I never showed how to be a man and a daughter I
never protected from the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The emptiness
in my heart is like a tornado, the numbness pounds my brain, and tears cloud my
eyes. The sheer nothingness takes hold of my soul and threatens to engulf me
entirely. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One day I might
grieve for my wife, but first, I would have to be convinced that I meant
anything to her. But for now, I hold every memory of her back. Instead, I grief
for my heart and the pain she caused me, a hurt that snowballs as memories from
our failed marriage ambush me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Supper is
served, sir,” Lilibeth tells me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I come back to
earth and devour the scrumptious meal. The TV screen mounted high on the wall
in the dining room shows me what awaits me after supper, whetting my appetite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhow31apCY98uy0Ou_rd9YMrwEjwiSJDjfNe2soT-g6wJzXsyBSASC1B37Cp0gb9sf-MpLz3F1UNVAFBb2GAKnaxLbRhitgIpnIR7B7I46DIvrp7ljzv_AzX5ki5YAOBIL-QjH4TFCxmMA/s1600/sexy-robot-lady-750x500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="750" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhow31apCY98uy0Ou_rd9YMrwEjwiSJDjfNe2soT-g6wJzXsyBSASC1B37Cp0gb9sf-MpLz3F1UNVAFBb2GAKnaxLbRhitgIpnIR7B7I46DIvrp7ljzv_AzX5ki5YAOBIL-QjH4TFCxmMA/s400/sexy-robot-lady-750x500.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I wish she could eat.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I clear the
table after eating and let the machine do the washing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lilibeth is
waiting in the bathroom, the bathtub full to the brim. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Her hands are
like rubber on my back, every pore of my body coalescing into fluidness. Faint
and far away, I hear: “God, you’re so beautiful. I love your body.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I imagine my
wife saying such words. <i>Not in a million
years.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I want you to
try the new Rapture pill, G. You will like it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Then you’ll
remind me to contact my physician if the orgasm lasts an hour or longer,” I
say. “God, that’s not practically possible, Lilibeth.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Trust me,” she
says. When she leads to the canopied four-poster bed and pushes me down, I go
into a dream. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is where she gets real wet, incredibly wet, for me. </span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I issue the command ultrasonically and close my eyes for the ride. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hours later,
cuddled together like teenagers, I whisper, “I love you, Lily. Love you to
bits.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And she, “Feelings
are like temperatures: attraction is warm, curiosity is warmer, and anger is
boiling. Hate can torch, but it can also freeze. Love ... well, that’s a
temperature best left under neutral.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCzf21gsXUyyqmquyVJBcoHQ1xO_NB0wmqk5MCh0wqiyj77mv1rOqMiaSwbQXDXgBO4fRz0GkT2h19R39j5a6HUPjRVEuVmHo160rgBTuGtih1SQq7sqOhcMVnCC-sH65lJqHFfQih9pM/s1600/ex-machina-robot.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCzf21gsXUyyqmquyVJBcoHQ1xO_NB0wmqk5MCh0wqiyj77mv1rOqMiaSwbQXDXgBO4fRz0GkT2h19R39j5a6HUPjRVEuVmHo160rgBTuGtih1SQq7sqOhcMVnCC-sH65lJqHFfQih9pM/w640-h480/ex-machina-robot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lilibeth is my
creation. I created her from silicon. I customised her according to the traits
I found appealing, with pre-programmed personalities like shyness, adventurous,
wild, and others that I wanted. Put it blatantly: according to my idea of an ideal
wife. She likes what I like, dislikes what I dislike. She has moods just like a
real woman. She can be sleepy, conversational, or she can ‘be in the mood’!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And that’s how
my company, Maisha Raha Ltd., came to be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> “If a woman <i>(sic) </i>can have a vibrator, why can’t men have a sex robot?” I asked
one of the moral police crusaders during a live TV interview.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Because that’s
not the plan God had for man,” replied my opponent, a prosperity Gospel pastor.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“There are many
disturbing aspects to the rise of sex robots,” another one interjected. “Replacement
of real, human relationships, for one, but that’s not why I’m against them.
They portray subservient female traits; the rapey connotations of moving on them are the most concerning.</span> <span lang="EN-US">W</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">omen rights are under threat across the globe; men have moved from ‘grabbing
them by the pussy’, and now sex robots? It is women under attack here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeez, feminists will never lack feminist shit to say.</span></i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<i><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That’s the
same reason my marriage failed,” I said. “Women always think that men force
themselves on them. Until women realise that the pashmina that holds a marriage together, according to men, is sex, as men have known that women need
emotional connection, marriages will always fail. And it has nothing to do with
subservience ….”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I disagree
with you,” the pastor said. “If you base your marriage on bodily desires, it
will fail.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Sex is a powerful
union between two souls, a deeply spiritual act that bonds two people who are
committed to each other. It builds strong relationships, keeps our souls
healthy, and our self-esteem high. That’s what I yearned for from my wife, but
she didn’t give it to me,” I said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Let’s be
logical here,” I continued. “Even in the Bible, it is written that it is better
to marry than burn with passion. See, if Jesus didn’t think sex is important, He wouldn’t have had a lover ….”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Blasphemy!”
screamed the pastor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the conniption
cooled down, I continued, “I agree that these sex robots are not a mere fetish
or just another sex toy. Their emergence and increasing use point to something
darker and deeper within our culture, a retreat from the ideal of marriage and
the real reasons why a woman and a man decide to live together. Blame it all on
the wave of feminism and the so-called ‘women empowerment and rights’ that has
ravaged the world ...”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes, times are
changing, but an ominous sign of the doom looming for the era we are living in.
And many people aren’t weird or offensive until the free market gives them the
permission to be so. Gilbert, you were not like this before the evil idea of
satisfying your bodily desires consumed you, saw a ‘business’ opportunity, and
began selling your sinful products to your ‘sophisticated’ clientele to drag
them with you to hell,” the pastor was not stopping his pontificating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, what I
did not say then was that despite their increasing popularity, thanks to my
advertising, sex robots were alien to consumer culture, and many men would
rather contract STIs from prostitutes than buy my geloms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maisha Raha
aims to create sex robots as much of a physical likeness to actual women but
with more intelligence (albeit artificial) as technologically possible. My bots
feel human to the touch; they mimic the movement of a real body, get real wet, and
can talk to you more nicely than women nowadays. The good thing is that they cannot
break up with you or walk out; no independence or anything that may disrupt
the fantasy of total servitude. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-40495909463441552312017-11-13T05:35:00.001+03:002017-11-16T19:34:08.640+03:00Interview | It's time we told different African stories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Interview by Benson Macharia of the Kenya’s newspaper, <strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/artculture/Publisher-and-author-Vincent-de-Paul/1954194-4178414-9ujr7k/index.html" target="_blank">Daily Nation.</a></em></strong></div>
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Vincent de Paul is an author, editor and founder of Mystery Publishers- a self-publishing platform with editors from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.</div>
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He spoke to Nation.co.ke about his journey:</div>
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<b><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><i>What was your inspiration to become an author?</i></strong></b><br />
I developed an interest in writing while in high school. I was inspired by the urge to right the society and revoke vices through my writing thus I participated in national writing competitions. I wrote the article titled “Stop Child Labour, School is the Best Place to Work” for a competition that was organised by Centre for Law and Research International (CLARION) in 2003 and was among the top five winners. Ever since then, I have not looked back.</div>
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<b><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><i>How long did it take before you published your first book and what were your biggest challenges as an aspiring writer?</i></strong></b><br />
From the time I finished the draft of my first book in 2004 while still in high school, I spent seven years before I published it, <i>First Words,</i> in 2011 which is a collection of poetry. The book had won the 13th Nairobi International Book Fair Literary Awards in 2010, which were organized by the National Book Development Council of Kenya.<br />
The biggest challenge was to get a publisher to publish the book in Kenya.</div>
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I knocked doors of all main stream publishers in Kenya but they rejected the manuscript—they said Kenyans don’t read poetry and that they wanted a book they could sell to schools.</div>
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A year later, I gave up on looking for a publisher and a Facebook friend from the USA introduced me to self-publishing.</div>
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Read the full interview <span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #797979; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; word-wrap: break-word;"><b><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/artculture/Publisher-and-author-Vincent-de-Paul/1954194-4178414-9ujr7k/index.html" target="_blank">HERE.</a></b></span></div>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-24278579324427517832017-05-04T04:17:00.001+03:002022-02-20T22:44:07.580+03:00Late Night Shootout at Embakasi <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: xx-small;">www.krazyinsidekenya.wordpress.com</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">While on the battlefield, most soldiers fantasise about palm-fringed beaches, sex, and alcohol
when, and if, they get back home; not necessarily in that order. They watch
poor quality porn on their phones to remind them what they are missing and
what the female body looks like. That’s most soldiers, but I am not most
soldiers. All I think of is murdering my fiancée.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I have not
slept. Most nights, I don’t. I am thinking of tomorrow when I leave Somalia. AMISOM
13 is over. I am in the last batch of my unit to leave. Others went back piecemeal
since the 8<sup>th</sup> Battalion the Kenya Rifles arrived. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I stare at the wide panoply of stars and luminous darkness that rules the night from my sentry post. A loud shrill of the muezzin’s call for <i>fajr</i> pierces the pre-dawn silence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">It is the
dreaded hour. Al-Shabaab come at this time. Reports received yesterday
indicated that the dastard bastards were planning to attack a KDF camp in
Sector Central, none in particular. We are used to the fake reports by now.
Since we took over a year ago, they have been planning to attack a KDF camp. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">The guy who is
supposed to relieve me wakes up and joins me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“How is it,” he
asks. “Anything suspicious?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“No,” I say.
“These intelligence guys know nothing. They send us reports to keep us on our toes.
They just want to stay relevant.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Why don’t you
sleep?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“<i>Sitaki kushikwa kwa mkono</i> al-Shabaab <i>wakija,”</i> I say. “Did you see the photos
of those soldiers who were caught sleeping in Elade and Kolbiyo?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“But you don’t
even sleep during the day like most of us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well, I’m not
most of you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You’re a
strange man, Patoo. I wish I had your endurance.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">We sit in silence,
then he says, “What would you do when you get back to Kenya?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I feel like God
is sending an angel to warn me, but I tell him what I expect would happen: “I
heard we will be granted block-leave. I will go to build that house I had wanted
to build in the plot I bought before we came here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Afadhali wewe uko na</span></i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> plot,” he
says. “I’m still paying my sisters’ school fees. I don’t know when I’d be able
to acquire my property.”</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">At the mention
of the word ‘fees’, my stomach muscles go taut. I don’t want to comment on it; I
told my father to educate his children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Do you think <i>we</i> should leave Somalia?” he asks when
he senses my disinterest in private life talk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">“If <i>we</i> did not leave after the Elade attack,
<i>we</i> will never leave Somalia,” I say.
I was in training then, and when I saw the photos of the attack online, I almost
ran away from the recruit training school. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I don’t tell
him that I think the system is fucked-up, that nothing matters to me anymore,
and that I want him to shut the hell up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I spend the day
packing. Of importance is the belted ammo of my light machine gun. I make sure
I get enough; anything can happen along the way. Even after thirteen years in
Somalia, we still travel by road when direct flights from Mogadishu to Nairobi
resumed eight years ago. Most Kenya Defence Forces bases in Somalia have
airstrips, military aircraft could airlift us, but they don’t. They just come
for casualty evacuation missions only. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8GjpBXJD_twiX8nNs87EBTgmg_uHH_tFkiyGrftkLADFs7Oti9tDEQb3MHQXNmVpmTySl6tSVvUa1tCm-U-IGD3bKXvqoetwtwcSWFFHrfGh1aGst61BSJ6VJm1qAwakNabnG2BJZ2sQ/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8GjpBXJD_twiX8nNs87EBTgmg_uHH_tFkiyGrftkLADFs7Oti9tDEQb3MHQXNmVpmTySl6tSVvUa1tCm-U-IGD3bKXvqoetwtwcSWFFHrfGh1aGst61BSJ6VJm1qAwakNabnG2BJZ2sQ/s640/maxresdefault.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Belesqoqani
does not have an airstrip. We have to travel all the way to Garissa. All troops to and fro Somalia travel by road through Garissa, except those who go
to Kismayo and Mogadishu. It is the roads that are riskier—al-Shabaab ambushes
and IEDs everywhere.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">At midnight,
the Officer Commanding summons us. He says we’re leaving: surprise al-Shabaab. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">We arrive in
Garissa at around 1500hrs. The town hasn’t changed. We go to the camp, but I
leave immediately after. I want to extol the virtues of drinking and the warmth
between the glorious thighs of Somali women.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">DRC Club is the
home of soldiers in Garissa. The soldiers coming from Somalia, loaded with AMISOM dollars, are full. All the good Somali women are few now; women have
flocked to Garissa from the neighbouring Kitui County—from Mwingi to Thika—for
the dollar rush.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I throw money
around like a drug lord, spend it like it doesn’t mean anything. I am generous
with the ladies, and one of them tells me she doesn’t like her work. She would
love to be a housewife; I hear instead that she would like to have a house. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I get back to
the camp long after midnight, at unnerving three o’clock in the morning. I can
barely walk, and I am bleeding. I have received quite a beating: the bouncers
were not merciful on me for beating one of the women. Njeri was her name. The
bitch wanted to spike my drink. For someone who has spotted al-Shabaab
from hundreds of metres, I couldn’t let <i>mchele</i>
take me down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Guard Commander
at the gate throws me into the guardroom, pours water on the floor, and locks
me in. When I come to, my OC is towering above me. He is livid, and rightly so,
but he can’t leave me behind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I hastily get
ready and join the others. Our journey to Nairobi continues. Today we’re
painting the city red. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">When we get to
Embakasi, I defy the OC’s directive not to leave the camp without cleaning the
weapons and returning them to the store. I can’t wait to see my fiancée. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">It is not hard
to dodge the Company Sergeant Major. After all, I had bribed him severally to
look the other way when my conduct was unbecoming. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">My house at
Nyayo Estate is out of place, dusty. <i>The
bitch hasn’t come here?</i> I sit on the bed and think about the next twelve
hours. Later, I go to Tuskys and buy takeaway food—chips, chicken, and yoghurt.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I’m ready. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">Love killed me:</span></i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> I look at the
note I have written, signed Patrick. But on second thought, I decide not to
leave any.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">Long after
midnight, I unpack my rucksack. I take the binoculars that I borrowed from the
Platoon Commander’s runner. I switch off the lights and walk to the window.
Most apartments on the third floor of the block opposite mine are off, but the
one I want lights are still on. I can see silhouettes moving, but the
night-vision-enabled binoculars will show me everything. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I see everything for thirty minutes. <i>She’s always been
wild in bed. </i>As though to tell me they are just getting started, my fiancée
turns around, lifting her tight ass up to him. He enters her from behind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">So far, they
have done it in all styles and positions. I seethe with anger: towards him for
reaping where he did not sow, and her for taking me for a fool—for fuck’s sake,
I refused to pay for my sisters’ school fees so I could pay hers. I can’t take
it anymore, and I want to teach them the error of their ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I check the
belted ammo I had packed while leaving Somalia: 6,000 rounds. My beloved Negev
Light Machine Gun has never failed me, and I have a night vision telescopic
sight. <i>I won’t miss!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I open the
window and place the gun at an angle. I look through the telescopic sight, and
all I want is to end my misery. I synchronise with his thrusts and fire. A
burst. Blood jets from his neck, though I can’t see the rivulets with the scope.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I see them go
down. They couldn’t all be dead, but I want to make sure they stay down,
forever. I aim and traverse the gun in the room, on the two lumps I assume to
be them on the bed. And I don’t stop. Even if I don’t get them, ricochets will.
I can see the door out of the bedroom; it is still closed, now riddled with
bullet holes; if any of them survives, I won’t let them get to the door.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">A wave of
adrenaline passes through me; I ain’t letting go of the trigger. The <i>pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop! </i>of the
gun is not stopping. It’s like it has what we call ‘gun runaway’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I’m so
engrossed that I don’t notice the police armoured personnel carriers arrive and
the police taking positions in the parking lot. A moment later, a hail of bullets
hit my window. Soldier instinct kicks in, and I turn the gun on them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgYov_hmy5hyGAfVbkeZyE6X3e_YRFWvwrmUlfw-v300XCzdbpvLPkabj_5UoX2Ij4UiRYCvRfsjTQv8ljKPoDxBSO7ceNac_8VkF3aGm334EyehkW-ZF52RBOyvJPis8VEvs_EQyNX8/s1600/Recce.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgYov_hmy5hyGAfVbkeZyE6X3e_YRFWvwrmUlfw-v300XCzdbpvLPkabj_5UoX2Ij4UiRYCvRfsjTQv8ljKPoDxBSO7ceNac_8VkF3aGm334EyehkW-ZF52RBOyvJPis8VEvs_EQyNX8/s640/Recce.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: xx-small;">www.fichuzi.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">At this time, the adamantine faith to control my own fate is conceited deceit. </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>I have seen army trucks arriving after the police, if I'm not mistaken</i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">If I must die, I won’t die alone.</span></i><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> The gun barrel is red hot, but there is no spare. <i>I
must fight to the end.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">You’re told not to focus on the front and forget your rear on the battlefield. That’s
the mistake I made. An explosion goes off at my door and, before I act, the
dreaded Recce Company commandos barge in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I turn and face
them. I expect some kind of telepathic communication, to let them know that I
am one of them, to share my pain with them, but their portent eyes say it
all—their orders are to shoot to kill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I want to
scream <i>‘Allahu Akbar!’</i>, but I don’t
want to die a terrorist. <i>I’m a soldier.
Soldiers don’t surrender. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I raise the
gun, but I realise I can’t kill myself with a machine gun. Instead, one of the
Recce boys does it for me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">I fall into a
dark, bottomless pit, but what I see is Marya’s face and us kissing in the
moonlight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-74794109394913287172017-03-03T04:51:00.000+03:002017-03-03T05:00:55.863+03:00Born in Curse<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I have never
stopped berating God for plonking me in the middle of humanity as the only
child. You may think it is a blessing, but, when all is said and done, it’s a curse.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I look at my
mother with contempt. Her face is as withered as a flower left to waste, her
face clothed in wisps of white hair she has refused to conceal in those
horrendous weaves women don. To my eyes she represents everything I loath. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You have other
children, you know,” I tell her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“A male child
is the beacon of the family,” she says. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“A child is a
child …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Your father
would be disappointed with you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Not as much as
I was with him.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There is no
memory of my father that flashes in my mind. The old geezer dropped dead, literally,
on his way from work the day I was born. <i>But
he had it coming,</i> Mother told me when I was old enough to understand. <i>It was the alcohol.</i> He didn’t even see
me!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“How do you
expect me to go and live in my daughter’s house? The ways of our people don’t
…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Suppose I was
not born.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“But you were.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mom, you’ve got
to go live with one of them: Mueni, Kasyoka, or Mwende …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Over my dead
body.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I steal a
glance at her. She is just another woman beaten down by old age. Her porcelain
face has withered, her skin a frail layer, thanks to stressful migraines. To
her I am a soul lost to the shadows. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Why should I
be the only one to take care of you? My sisters …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Your sisters
have their own homes, husbands. Our culture doesn’t allow us to go live in our
daughter’s husband’s houses. Did you see my mother, your grandmother, coming to
live here? She did not even spent a single night here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Flashes of her making
friends with the other ‘inmates’, some toothless and blind, go on in my mind. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What do you
expect me to do? I have to work.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Why do you
think God gave me you only, no any other son?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Questioning God
is not something I do over breakfast, so I say nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“A son takes
care of his parents in their old age, perpetuates the family. Girls are married
off, they find other families, but a son takes care of his parents and buries
them.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I feel like
punching the air. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I asked ‘what
do you expect me to do?’ We’re going to Somalia in three days. You don’t want
to go stay with Mueni, or Kasyoka, or Mwende.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You should
have married a long time ago …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Not marriage
again, I want to scream. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I scroll
through my phone while she goes on and on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I want to tell
her that I have impregnated my Platoon Sergeant’s daughter, the one who did her
KCPE last year; that my ex faked DNA tests and came to the camp with a letter
from the Children’s Court and the CO didn’t listen to me when he wrote a letter
to DOD and told them to be deducting my salary from the source to pay for ‘my
child’s’ support. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“And have my
wife living in my mother’s house?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“All this is
yours. I don’t need it. My time is almost over. She will live here …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Marriage is the
last thing on my mind. Half my salary is going to that conniving bitch who is
stealing my money. <i>Ati</i> child support!
The other half is going to the Platoon Sergeant’s daughter. I hope she will
flush it, as we agreed, otherwise her father will take me to court for
defilement if he doesn’t kill me in Somalia and blame it on the enemy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I have made up
my mind. I want, no, I need, to go Somalia. African Union allowance is a tidy
sum, not to be sniffed at. I will be away from all the madness. I might as well
die over there and not worry of that gold-digger. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Then I will
take you to Nyumba ya Wazee …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What?” she
screams. She shuffles her unruly hair, throws her hands up, and begins to wail.
“In all my life I never thought you would insult me that way.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“How have I
insulted you?” But she doesn’t hear me. She is hysterical. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Did I take you
to a children’s home when you were born? I took care of you, nursed you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It’s not like
that …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Don’t tell me
what it is like. Now you don’t value me, your mother. You want to stash me in a
home for the elderly, suppose I took you to a children’s home, where would you
be today.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">She is almost
going berserk, and for an instant I fear she will drop dead, like her husband. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I don’t know
what to do, what to say. Instead of calming her, I recoil and watch her. <i>If I feel I’m not going to get out,</i> I
remind myself. I want to live free, happy, not a normal life. <i>If you’re not there life will move on,</i> I
affirm to myself. She will take care of herself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When I stand to
go, the first step is the hardest, but I take it. All I am thinking is I want
to get myself out of the curse of being her ‘only child’. My spirit is bubbling
from deep inside. It is that liberating. I will go and forget I had an elderly
mother. I won’t look back, I decide. Even when, and if, she realizes that
daughters too are children who can take care of their parents, I won’t come
back, I tell myself. I am getting away from the curse, taking back my life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-43635897765994070892017-02-16T03:28:00.003+03:002022-02-20T22:45:00.369+03:00NEW BOOK RELEASE | Flashes of Vice: Vol III<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGaLwn4kNNPPHjum7gR_g6YEhCWP1L8kAJs0OqUluvqLMmFp0IxSAteZqToalYPVk4LJQukTBDmiSq4iFDLadQKwYDGKZXXyREObcsBs0Z6rkQsW1qj4EXtFt_0Heqgd5TSxKTtt0otApf/s1600/Flashes+of+vice+front+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGaLwn4kNNPPHjum7gR_g6YEhCWP1L8kAJs0OqUluvqLMmFp0IxSAteZqToalYPVk4LJQukTBDmiSq4iFDLadQKwYDGKZXXyREObcsBs0Z6rkQsW1qj4EXtFt_0Heqgd5TSxKTtt0otApf/s320/Flashes+of+vice+front+cover.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Lovers of flash fiction stories, I have good news for you - I have released a new book, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://mysterypublisherslimited.com/product/flashes-of-vice-vol-iii/" target="_blank">FLASHES OF VICE: Vol III,</a></span> a collection of flash fiction stories.</span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #080808; font-size: 16px;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Vice and humanity are like butter and bread. I expose the vice in the society through flash fiction stories, just for entertainment. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #080808; font-size: 16px;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><br /></span></span>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; color: #080808; font-size: 16px;"><b>About the Book:</b> </span><span style="color: #080808;">Flashes of Vice: Vol III is a collection of flash fiction stories on terrorism, the distant near future, conspiracies, why aliens have beef with humans, and the scars of war.</span></span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"><br /></span>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">The stories begin and end without warning: like ‘Allah’s Open Letter to Terrorists’, or the story of the virgin girl who vowed never ever to have sex with terrorists in heaven. Or the serial killer military widow who kills her dead husband’s friends for revenge. Or the untold story of Jesus’s resurrection in ‘How Did the Dead Escape?’</span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"><br /></span>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">The stories take you into the future, a flash of alien invasion into the world, and the all-time-juicy conspiracies to make the world a better place. </span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"><br /></span>
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Read the press release <a href="http://www.tawkadiaries.com/2017/02/kenyan-author-vincent-de-paul-publishes.html#more" target="_blank">Here.</a></span><br />
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><a href="http://mysterypublisherslimited.com/product/flashes-of-vice-vol-iii/" target="_blank"><br /></a></span>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; margin-left: -13.75pt;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 3.25in;" valign="top" width="312"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://mysterypublisherslimited.com/product/flashes-of-vice-vol-iii/" target="_blank">EBook (PDF) - $0.99</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td><td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.createspace.com/6891043" target="_blank">Paperback - $7.00</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 3.25in;" valign="top" width="312"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Title:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"> </span></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Flashes of Vice: Vol III</span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Subtitle:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"> </span></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">A Collection of Flash Fiction Stories</span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Language:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"> </span></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">English</span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Publisher:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"> </span></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Mystery Publishers LTD</span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Format:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"> </span></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">PDF</span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Genre:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"> </span></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Flash Fiction</span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">ISBN:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"> </span></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">978-9966-100-06-1</span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">Date of Publication:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;"> </span></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">14 February 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Buy on:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://mysterypublisherslimited.com/product/flashes-of-vice-vol-iii/" target="_blank">Mystery Bookstore</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/703876" target="_blank">Smashwords</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</td><td style="padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Publication Date: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Feb 14 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">ISBN/EAN13: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">1542777402 / 9781542777407<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Page Count: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">160<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Binding Type: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">US Trade Paper<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Trim Size: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">5.5" x 8.5"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Language: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">English<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Color: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Black and White<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Related Categories: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Fiction / Science Fiction / Short Stories<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Buy now at <a href="https://www.createspace.com/6891043" target="_blank">CreateSpace</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr style="height: 18.85pt;"><td colspan="2" style="height: 18.85pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 459.4pt;" valign="top" width="613"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<b><u><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WRS517F/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487204005&sr=1-2&keywords=flashes+of+vice+vol+iii" target="_blank">Kindle Edition - $0.99</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<tr><td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 459.4pt;" valign="top" width="613"><b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">File Size: </span></b><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif" style="color: #080808;">3280 KB <b><br />Simultaneous Device Usage: </b>Unlimited <b><br />Publisher: </b>Mystery Books (February 14, 2017) <b><br />Publication Date: </b>February 14, 2017<b><br />Sold by: </b>Amazon Digital Services LLC <b><br />Language: </b>English<b><br />ASIN: </b>B06WRS517F <b><br />Text-to-Speech: </b>Enabled <b><br />X-Ray: </b>Not Enabled <b><br />Word Wise: </b>Enabled <b><br />Lending: </b>Not Enabled <b><br />Enhanced Typesetting: </b>Enabled <b> </b></span><span face=""Franklin Gothic Book", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></td></tr>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-72315147871764299552017-02-11T02:05:00.000+03:002017-02-11T02:08:52.054+03:00The Lysistrata Uprising<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5T5jvjMq1uaUosDBgyfEzkfFwbRBD0D2HQFZ_67APXUuXFwcrraPQUG3VNJv60YE7RQ8YrbqNMZieaoJBwEKih9eylR9XzQeUoo2hxnp0G_S_7a-wZRkbIcd1emlJwUgGfVl0E7YfSog/s1600/Lysistrata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5T5jvjMq1uaUosDBgyfEzkfFwbRBD0D2HQFZ_67APXUuXFwcrraPQUG3VNJv60YE7RQ8YrbqNMZieaoJBwEKih9eylR9XzQeUoo2hxnp0G_S_7a-wZRkbIcd1emlJwUgGfVl0E7YfSog/s400/Lysistrata.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“By the year
2080, our women were not marriageable,” I say, take a sip of the water placed
for me on the podium, and continue. “There was a wave of misandry all over the
world propagated by feminists, women leaders who instigated a revolution
against the man, and government systems that sided with the woman no matter
what. Women were the mouths that restored order and justice of the land,
prosecutors, and executioners. In their court, men stood accused, guilty, never
proven innocent. When one woman managed to create a synthetic sperm in a Petri
dish, men were no longer needed. </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lysistrata
Uprising,</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> they called it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I glance round
the hall. Thousands of black eyes, like holes on their white or grey beautiful
faces, stare at me, mouths wide open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“At that time
when men felt that they had nothing left to live for, they all joined the army.
Being a soldier, no matter what rank, was noble—at least you died a patriot, hero.
The war on terrorism had never been won, and the world was a battlefield. It
didn’t matter how many men died in the hands of the dastard terrorists; it was
much better than to live with women who hated and disrespected them. Fighting
against the <i>Lysistrata Uprising</i> saw men
dragged to court for rape and violence against women where punishment was
castration or death. Once able men were returned home in body bags, and female
soldiers, commanded by their female commanders, buried them. The ‘widows’ of the
dead soldiers were compensated immensely by the army, the heroes who paid the
ultimate price for their countries were soon forgotten. Those whom the
terrorists took as prisoners of war were never found …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That is how I met
her,” I say and the whole auditorium whooaaaaa’s. “She was like a fresh of
breath air. Ever since she has an unforgettable, special place in my mind.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There are
squeals, claps, and whistles. I look at the front row and spot her, thirteen
months pregnant with our first child. She smiles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What I do not
tell them is that I was an intelligence officer from the Directorate of
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (DETI) of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF). We
collected intelligence on aliens masquerading as terrorists to attack the
Earth. They would attack a military base, overrun it, killing hundreds of
soldiers, save for a few whom they took as prisoners of war, loot the camp, and
burn what they couldn’t take. I was among the POWs taken when terrorists from
al-Shabaab, Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS), al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hamas, and Taliban
attacked jointly African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) headquarters in
Kismayo, Somalia, on 15<sup>th</sup> January, 2081. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That night, we
were ready to be slaughtered like chicken by the terrorists because we knew we
would never be rescued. A group of terrorists came to the hall we were being
held and removed their <i>kaffiyehs</i> and
let us see them, a confirmation that the hour of our death had come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hail Mary full of grace,</span></i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> I prayed. <i>Pray for us sinners and the hour of our
death. Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I expected a
terse command, but then a sweet voice said, “We are sorry about your brothers,
there’s nothing we could do. But we’re going to save you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My eyes
widened. The terrorists transformed to tall, slender, beautiful female humanoids.
They had snow-white, and others grey, skin, and night-black eyes and hair. I
fixed my eyes on her, and when she looked at me, my heart melted. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“And no, you
don’t have a choice,” she continued. “After all, you’re dead …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">They turned
back to terrorists and hauled us to waiting Technicals and rode into the night.
We were taken past Jilib, al-Shabaab stronghold that AMISOM troops had never
been able to capture, into a forest where a saucer-like object glowed in the
night. Whatever happened next I cannot remember, it’s like the memory has been
erased from my mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Professor
Linzell,” a voice says from the rear, her mellifluous voice amplified by the
speakers. “Are all human males like you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The onscreen
keyboard on the podium blinks green with her name. “No, Tembi. They are not
like me, but if you mean to say are they all build like me, yes, they are.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“No, Professor.
I mean, look at you, all of you who live with us. You’ve love, imagination,
empathy, what is considered true intelligence in the intergalactic laws …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Oh, yes, they
are. Only that our women didn’t see it that way. They believed for years we had
been subjugating them. They believed that we were their number one enemy, and
they fought back …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When my lecture
is over, Lashaya comes to the podium and hugs me. Her stomach is still flat, but that’s how
women in Heubos carry pregnancy. The foetus will appear as a clot for most of
the pregnancy, barely recognizable, until the final days when the foetus is
connected to the mother via a strand of superconductive nanocells through which
she transfers energy and any knowledge she needs to into the infant’s brain,
and then releases an electric surge to start its heart beating. The baby is
born seven to fourteen days later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">No matter how I
try, I don’t recall how we left Earth. I remember waking up in a heavily
cushioned bunk in the spaceship. She was there, looking at me as though I was a
rare artefact, and the rest is history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The <i>heubonites,</i> inhabitants of planet Heubos
of the galaxy Taeria, are synthetic female humanoids—cellular-level cyborgs,
artificial beings that carry out most of the essential life processes and can
transform to any form. According to their historical records, their males were
all killed when their spaceships passed through a cloud of dust in the Earth’s
atmosphere. The males had been tasked by the Intergalactic High Council to
invade Earth because humans were destroying the planet through pumping toxins
in the atmosphere, waging wars and killing each other, and wanted to colonize the
other planets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Since all their
males were wiped out, by humans, the heubobites decided to take human males to
mate with lest they became instinct. The Intergalactic High Council didn’t
approve for fear that the humans would corrupt their galaxy, but the <i>heubonites</i> defied the IHC. They have
infiltrated world armies and terrorist groups. Wars are not ending any time
soon on Earth, and in the end they will destroy the Earth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Their motto is:
Open hearts, open doors. These women are well-versed in the art of love, and
they know that they need their males. They believe that males are providers and
protectors, and females are nurturers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">From the Earth
year 1992, soldiers missing in action in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia,
Libya, and other war-torn countries were taken by the <i>heubonites.</i> They have mated with them and produced hybrid
humanoids, <i>heumans,</i> and the first
generation is coming of age in three seasons’ time, on their 200<sup>th</sup>
birthdays. We humans have been engineered, we can now live up to 1,500 years,
and given heubonite names. <i>Huebonites</i>
live up to 3,800 years, but <i>heumans</i>
will be able to live up to 6,000 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I couldn’t be
any happier with life, at peace. I love Lashaya to all galaxies and back to
Taeria. It’s amazing having someone who doesn’t need anything from you, they
just love you, such a shame Earth women can’t know that unknown, beyond the
stars in many galaxies away, in other planets true love lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-68249599806013885352016-12-21T17:38:00.002+03:002022-02-20T22:45:16.231+03:00BOOK REVIEW ~ Flashes of Vice: Vol I<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGiJYqHZ4tT_JoZtf-EoewoUkktAnIUXDZvGDNThvqbNT1-LMYem-Cqd_k191FzF2oKgWv_7624JjLXFkYpZEWQbE4Wm7pEOire-1pZYAFP6oReUxFXaavhn3Plaoy6iQxupwENI1sCKM/s1600/Optimized-flashes+of+vice+3d+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGiJYqHZ4tT_JoZtf-EoewoUkktAnIUXDZvGDNThvqbNT1-LMYem-Cqd_k191FzF2oKgWv_7624JjLXFkYpZEWQbE4Wm7pEOire-1pZYAFP6oReUxFXaavhn3Plaoy6iQxupwENI1sCKM/s1600/Optimized-flashes+of+vice+3d+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGiJYqHZ4tT_JoZtf-EoewoUkktAnIUXDZvGDNThvqbNT1-LMYem-Cqd_k191FzF2oKgWv_7624JjLXFkYpZEWQbE4Wm7pEOire-1pZYAFP6oReUxFXaavhn3Plaoy6iQxupwENI1sCKM/s320/Optimized-flashes+of+vice+3d+%25282%2529.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><strong>Reviewer:</strong> <a data-mce-href="http://issuesmakumi.blogspot.co.ke/" href="http://issuesmakumi.blogspot.co.ke/">Tabitha Makumi</a><br /><strong>Book:</strong> Flashes of Vice: Vol I<br /><strong>Author:</strong> Vincent de Paul<br /><strong>Genre:</strong> Flash Fiction<br /><strong>PUBLISHER:</strong> <a data-mce-href="http://mysterypublisherslimited.com/" href="http://mysterypublisherslimited.com/">Mystery Publishers (K) LTD</a><br /><strong>LANGUAGE:</strong> English</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Thing is, it so happens that after reading one too many crime thrillers, they all start to look the same. A serial killer in a Jeffrey Archer novel is as twisted as one on a Lee Child’s thriller. Just as a pissed off detective in a Greg Iles novel has the same temperament as one on Kathy Reich’s Bone collection series. What am I getting at? Every now and then I am looking for something new… something fresh… something with a different kind of oomph.<br /><br />Found “it” in <i>Flashes f Vice</i> which is a collection of short stories written by Kenyan author, Vincent De Paul. <i>(Can I get a whoop whoop for our Kenyan writers!) </i>If you are looking for <i>“have been told African literature”</i> or <i>“I think I have read that before”</i> kind of stories, then Flashes of Vice won’t do it for you. Vincent De Paul (Don’t you want to know if that is his national ID name though? Or just a fancy pseudonym?) Point is, he writes as well as I can down a cheap bottle of dry red wine on a Friday night.<br /><br />His short stories won’t bore you to death. Short, entertaining and adopting that straight forward <i>Humans of New York</i> style of writing. Whether he is writing about hookers, terrorism, or love rigmaroles, he will make you appreciate raw and well written African literature. Plus, you will have more cred for knowing and having read more than two notable African writers. C’mon, who do you currently know of? Chimamanda? Ngugi? Wainaina? Well, add Vincent on that list.</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Read more at <a data-mce-href="http://issuesmakumi.blogspot.co.ke/2016/12/13th-president-of-kenya-stories-that.html#more" href="http://issuesmakumi.blogspot.co.ke/2016/12/13th-president-of-kenya-stories-that.html#more"><em>Being Makumi</em> (Tabitha's blog)</a></span></div>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-35092771083504197992016-12-01T16:13:00.001+03:002022-02-20T22:46:22.260+03:00NEW BOOK OFFER | Flashes of Vice: Vol III<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div data-block="true" data-editor="ee32c" data-offset-key="5m1r8-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiRSBpkikvsc1cGsNGcuTgBwSOknGrk0PvNWnBHjcpelfzdXrzU5pQm7xIcBxAlzgGGpRTWB_hDISmFAyVcz4klu95vFKpjdJsjUr9Pnuo5zt95knnMw2bOcjgBErYZ_UPzB1yd6cZwpQ/s1600/flashes-of-vice-3-01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiRSBpkikvsc1cGsNGcuTgBwSOknGrk0PvNWnBHjcpelfzdXrzU5pQm7xIcBxAlzgGGpRTWB_hDISmFAyVcz4klu95vFKpjdJsjUr9Pnuo5zt95knnMw2bOcjgBErYZ_UPzB1yd6cZwpQ/s320/flashes-of-vice-3-01.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5m1r8-0-0"><b>NOW, HERE'S THE DEAL:</b> I have a new book coming - Flashes of Vice: Vol III - a collection of flash fiction stories showing terrorists that the 72 virgins in heaven are a hoax, Allah Himself confirming there are no 72 (sic) houris up there, the untold stories of the secret military program that was the Egerton mosquitoes in Nakuru and stories of aliens planning to invade the earth amid conspiracies to control the world population through Zika Virus. </span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5m1r8-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5m1r8-0-0"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn4C1s4wzYlXhND5iYi-xQ0KF0rw8ebYp4F83wsUgzBrXx46YBp9vyefUJ49LBpq_0SMfVlQNvFn2MZBuUZaOfDA95wkQG67xGJ-X9ojj0lzmPcZKKs3E5QAqhWlE3kDoeopMh_HJNyKw/s1600/Optimized-flashes+of+vice+3d+%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn4C1s4wzYlXhND5iYi-xQ0KF0rw8ebYp4F83wsUgzBrXx46YBp9vyefUJ49LBpq_0SMfVlQNvFn2MZBuUZaOfDA95wkQG67xGJ-X9ojj0lzmPcZKKs3E5QAqhWlE3kDoeopMh_HJNyKw/w470-h640/Optimized-flashes+of+vice+3d+%25282%2529.jpg" width="470" /></a></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5m1r8-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span data-offset-key="5m1r8-0-0">The stories begin and end without warning: like ‘Allah’s Open Letter to Terrorists’, or the story of the virgin girl who vowed never ever to have sex with terrorists in heaven. Or the serial killer military widow who kills her dead husband’s friends for revenge. Or the untold story of Jesus’s resurrection in ‘How Did the Dead Escape?’.
The stories take you into the future, a flash of alien invasion on earth, and the all-time-juicy conspiracies to make the world a better place</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flashes-Vice-Collection-Fiction-Stories-ebook/dp/B01KR3T50K/ref=la_B00DR4LNBQ_1_6/166-3484648-5211250?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480596067&sr=1-6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3-0HPfdLBmFXdOaT8u4koD2dhn3hRzt72SYN8vEhYBL8qF3Rsk3IhlyWM81E-LaRig_O7ZpQ3ApWrBVwMxp9G1qV8fBNByt4s5NXoghxOOPsf-O7ya_nI9IMZ-e9lTy_nvZsSepNmRFA/w276-h400/Optimized-sized-05.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5m1r8-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
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<span data-offset-key="5m1r8-0-0"><b style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">WHAT YOU DO:</b><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> go to </span><a href="http://mysterypublisherslimited.com/product/flashes-of-vice-vol-ii-ebook/" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mystery Publishers LTD bookstore</a><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flashes-Vice-Collection-Fiction-Stories-ebook/dp/B01KR3T50K/ref=la_B00DR4LNBQ_1_6/166-3484648-5211250?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480596067&sr=1-6">Amazon Kindle</a> and </span><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">buy yourself a copy of Flashes of Vice: Vol II, read it, review it and post the review anywhere on the net and share the link with me mentioning which Sci-Fi story is included in the excerpt at the end of the book. </span></span><br />
<b style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></b>
<b style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">WHAT YOU GET:</b><span face=""helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a FREE eBook copy (digitally autographed) of FLASHES OF VICE: Vol III and a FREE HARD COPY of Flashes of Vice: Vol I. </span></div>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-71261945267275165252016-11-23T06:15:00.001+03:002022-02-20T22:46:51.817+03:00BOOK REVIEW | Flashes of Vice: Vol I<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a data-mce-href="https://mysteryebooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/flashes-of-vice-3d-2.jpg" href="https://mysteryebooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/flashes-of-vice-3d-2.jpg" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="flashes of vice 3d (2)" class="size-medium wp-image-109 alignright" data-mce-src="https://mysteryebooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/flashes-of-vice-3d-2.jpg?w=222" height="320" src="https://mysteryebooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/flashes-of-vice-3d-2.jpg?w=222" style="float: right; height: auto; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1em; max-width: 100%;" width="236" /></a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px;">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><strong>BOOK: </strong>Flashes Of Vice Vol I</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><strong>AUTHOR: </strong>Vincent De Paul<strong><br /></strong></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><strong>GENRE: </strong>Flash Fiction<strong><br /></strong></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><b>ISBN 13:</b> 978-1490332505<strong><br /></strong></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><strong>ISBN 10:</strong> 1490332502</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><strong>PUBLISHER: </strong>Mystery Publishers (K) Ltd</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><b>LANGUAGE: </b>English</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif"><b style="font-style: italic;">REVIEWER: </b><a data-mce-href="https://nancyoyula.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/book-review-flashes-of-vice-vol-i-by-vincent-de-paul/" href="https://nancyoyula.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/book-review-flashes-of-vice-vol-i-by-vincent-de-paul/" target="_blank">Nancy Oyula</a></span></div>
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<h4 style="color: #333333; text-align: left;">
<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Themes Covered in The Book</span></h4>
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<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">The author writes of infidelity in marriages, politics and blackmail.</span></li>
<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Land grabbing and the justice system (A very common narrative in Kenya).</span></li>
<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Violence and revenge for those oppressed</span></li>
<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Use of and effects of drugs.</span></li>
<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Lack of of education, poverty,</span></li>
<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Children who become parents at a young age and how it affects the life of the babies they give birth to, plus their future.</span></li>
<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Corruption in places of authority and how some individuals are treated better than others; Inequality.</span></li>
<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Rape. This is done by people who are not strangers. People we know and perhaps interact with on a daily basis. In one story a father rapes his daughter, in another a lady is raped severally by her disgruntled lover.</span></li>
<li><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Terrorism – how it has affected Islam as a religion. The role religion plays when terrorism acts happen</span></li>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #111111; font-family: Lato, sans-serif;" style="color: #111111;"><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Read full review at <a data-mce-href="https://nancyoyula.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/book-review-flashes-of-vice-vol-i-by-vincent-de-paul/" href="https://nancyoyula.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/book-review-flashes-of-vice-vol-i-by-vincent-de-paul/" target="_blank">www.nancyoyula.wordpress.com </a></span></span></div>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-32980397127969910312016-09-21T06:35:00.000+03:002016-09-21T07:03:03.350+03:00The 19th Nairobi International Book Fair Book Offer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6eQ6eSC6hdVrypTto6dU8V6Sef8I6g1dHBvX4rogQ8Gi0G_m5yZJug48jwIXatjqau5Qfn0BapTYfK9xEYKXX7qv2jBSlHuXPsKxABIGYIwAVkvASn4HGeQvX7UJNh-l7j_1P0tKEBRZU/s1600/19th+Nairobi+International+Bookfair+Banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6eQ6eSC6hdVrypTto6dU8V6Sef8I6g1dHBvX4rogQ8Gi0G_m5yZJug48jwIXatjqau5Qfn0BapTYfK9xEYKXX7qv2jBSlHuXPsKxABIGYIwAVkvASn4HGeQvX7UJNh-l7j_1P0tKEBRZU/s640/19th+Nairobi+International+Bookfair+Banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4IhYwMwZFSnM9YmXpGDUML6yZejEi_9I2QGiz2vuRUVus45mewuPYMpYb_eaXXYa3hw9QjfKnuyNQ48j3NZQzQetD8O0HkgGXquoqyzipjC2O7Au1QwmTgEXUCVshTMY4-m588LjP5hyH/s1600/Mystery+poster.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/AVvXsEh4IhYwMwZFSnM9YmXpGDUML6yZejEi_9I2QGiz2vuRUVus45mewuPYMpYb_eaXXYa3hw9QjfKnuyNQ48j3NZQzQetD8O0HkgGXquoqyzipjC2O7Au1QwmTgEXUCVshTMY4-m588LjP5hyH/s320/Mystery+poster.jpg" width="251" /></a>The Nairobi International Book Fair starts today 21st to 25th Sept 2016 at Sarit Centre, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya.<br />
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My publisher, Mystery Publishers, is offering an online free Kindle book promotion for books published by Mystery Books. To get books by Mystery Authors, click the following links to download for free Kindle editions of books by Mystery Writers:<br />
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1. Vincent de Paul click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vincent-de-Paul/e/B00DR4LNBQ/" target="_blank">Here</a> to go to the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vincent-de-Paul/e/B00DR4LNBQ/" target="_blank">Author Amazon Page</a> to access his books;<br />
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2. Gideon Mutai, click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Optimists-Creed-Opportunities-Hopeful-Outlook-ebook/dp/B015D4LH36/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474427688&sr=1-1&keywords=gideon+mutai" target="_blank">Here</a> to download his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Optimists-Creed-Opportunities-Hopeful-Outlook-ebook/dp/B015D4LH36/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474427688&sr=1-1&keywords=gideon+mutai" target="_blank">The Optimist's Creed</a>;<br />
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3. Famous Isaacs, Click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Collection-Micro-poetry-Famous-Isaacs-ebook/dp/B016WNDXHK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474428015&sr=1-1&keywords=Beyond+by+Famous+Isaacs" target="_blank">Here</a> to download his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Collection-Micro-poetry-Famous-Isaacs-ebook/dp/B016WNDXHK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474428015&sr=1-1&keywords=Beyond+by+Famous+Isaacs" target="_blank">Beyond</a>; and<br />
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4. Joseph O. Okewa, click<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Money-Music-Monarchy-Joseph-Okewa-ebook/dp/B01CKJOVWQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474428060&sr=1-1&keywords=Okewa" target="_blank"> Here</a> to download his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Money-Music-Monarchy-Joseph-Okewa-ebook/dp/B01CKJOVWQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474428060&sr=1-1&keywords=Okewa" target="_blank">Money, Music and Monarchy. </a><br />
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Visit Mystery Publishers stand at the Sarit Centre Expo Hall.<br />
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-36190509863072081912015-12-09T16:34:00.002+03:002022-02-20T22:47:43.220+03:00Our HOME is not yours<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Response to Warsan Shire's poem - <a href="http://seekershub.org/blog/2015/09/home-warsan-shire/">Home</a></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">galwaydailynews.com</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">No one chases visitors from their home unless<br />the visitors have overstayed their welcome<br />you only wish they were gone<br />when the morsel you had you’ve fed them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Your family starving before clouds gather for the next season<br />the neighbor you used to tithe<br />whose prayers made you gracious in the eyes of God<br />now feeds you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">No one chases visitors from their home unless<br />the visitors demand their share of the inheritance<br />breathing fire and eyes glistening bloody murder<br />it’s not something you ever thought of doing<br />until the AK47 and Machine Guns stares at you menacingly<br />and even then you rolled the anthem in your mouth like lollipop,<br />under your breath because you are patriotic, peace-loving<br />only throwing out their things<br />sobbing as each item flies over the fence<br />wishing you never welcomed them in to your home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">You have to understand,<br />that no one entrusts their children to a stranger<br />unless they have been touched by humanity<br />no one throws their food to the dogs<br />unless their kindness extends to animals<br />no one clothes the naked<br />unless they care,</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">no one opens their gates, no one risks all for strangers<br />unless it’s love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6GUhIq1xL3tqnrfD2u9jYXwHRmcBm1ORLcmyL7gCqzzAQ5nHTD9r8XQAqE6e5SgKK34tUk8SusZX4BRZxEPM1jrpwc2qRbTDfv4Ey8Pt9PS96ocLuuXJJbe_YdEKO7j0ctiOZlPzyh02L/s1600/507-kenya_somali_refugeesimagegraceblueflickrcc.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6GUhIq1xL3tqnrfD2u9jYXwHRmcBm1ORLcmyL7gCqzzAQ5nHTD9r8XQAqE6e5SgKK34tUk8SusZX4BRZxEPM1jrpwc2qRbTDfv4Ey8Pt9PS96ocLuuXJJbe_YdEKO7j0ctiOZlPzyh02L/w640-h456/507-kenya_somali_refugeesimagegraceblueflickrcc.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">womennewsnetwork.net</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">No one wants to donate their land for refugee camps<br />where nothing is left for their sons<br />unless they have been touched by the hands of an angel<br />because a refugee camp is safer and better<br />than watching them die in the wilderness<br />animals marauding them and vultures flapping their wings in celebration<br />because a strip search<br />is better than battalions of armed mujahedeen and rebels<br />whom you dined and wined with thirsting for your blood<br />no one would watch it, let it happen<br />no one soul would be so uncaring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36EjsRwON6YSw89IEZiT6HSvhRlKHsY6oYP9rEbZp21Nq9G4fuG3yWIc2AM7EvzILV1e9VcOH-EgUv7JI5sBdojXKU5ZpqPQFDGiVzIunsoGotC8us2XnB9jTMG9-RKpW21yYk9P_aylM/s1600/kenya-refugee.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36EjsRwON6YSw89IEZiT6HSvhRlKHsY6oYP9rEbZp21Nq9G4fuG3yWIc2AM7EvzILV1e9VcOH-EgUv7JI5sBdojXKU5ZpqPQFDGiVzIunsoGotC8us2XnB9jTMG9-RKpW21yYk9P_aylM/w640-h408/kenya-refugee.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">goobjoog.com</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The mantra:<i><br /> “go home blacks<br /> refugees<br /> dirty immigrants<br /> asylum seekers<br /> sucking our country dry<br /> niggers with their hands out<br /> they smell strange<br /> savage<br /> messed up their country and now they want<br /> to mess ours up<br /> how do the words<br /> the dirty looks”<br /> </i>sink in so effortlessly<i><br /> </i>maybe because the words are milder<br /> rebuilding the ruins of the homes you abandoned?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Or the words are tenderer<br /><i>“than fourteen men between your legs<br />or the insults are easier<br />to swallow<br />than rubble</i><br />than your children killing you<br />watching your wives and daughters torn to pieces by hyenas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Like the first time I had sex<br />I carry the memory of my father turning violent and chasing a stranger we had welcomed home and turned against us—<br />he wanted to sleep on my father’s bed with my mother, if not, my sisters<br />if not, he would kill all us all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I want you to go home,<br />even if your home is the mouth of a shark<br />your home is the barrel of the gun<br />because our home is not yours<br />and I will chase you from our home to the shore<br />to the border<br />unless your home is another planet<br />get your clothes across the border<br /><i>crawl through the desert<br />wade through the oceans<br />drown</i>die<br />be hungry<br />beg<br />let seventy-two men tear your legs asunder<br />your survival is not my problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwA8h9eOmGp74rid5gRIIF5UaPbzEhcq3gb1FbzLk3PkmPG-gma-omsBxJMnQkPglWfVxDcmSdO_loSk2Pp7O-f0rzucm81gVdKxVsk1l6rMkeIn0xPtjmduRZdQsLejMoNBxqRDZq0UjV/s1600/syriaref.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwA8h9eOmGp74rid5gRIIF5UaPbzEhcq3gb1FbzLk3PkmPG-gma-omsBxJMnQkPglWfVxDcmSdO_loSk2Pp7O-f0rzucm81gVdKxVsk1l6rMkeIn0xPtjmduRZdQsLejMoNBxqRDZq0UjV/w640-h429/syriaref.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">snopes.com</span></td></tr>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">No one chases visitors from their home until the strangers tie bombs around themselves saying—<br /><i>seventy-two virgins await me in paradise,<br />Allahu Akbar!</i><br />I don’t care where you will go<br />but I know that with you gone<br />I will have less to worry about.</span></div>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6608064496924960790.post-66320119735196687132015-09-25T06:05:00.003+03:002022-02-20T22:48:10.311+03:00Mira’s Love Affair - 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 17.3333px;">Sequel to <i><b><a href="http://flashes-of-vice.blogspot.co.ke/2013/12/miras-love-affair.html">Mira’s Love Affair</a>. </b></i></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PHOTO | hdwpics.com</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">Ever since I was
branded the newest kid on the block of Kenyan music, I have been making
headlines. Fame is like canonisation. I am a saint of sorts. The popes of
hip-pop(e) beatified me in front of the crowds
of boys who tore their shirts off for me to expose their dad bods and loyal, overly hormonal women who threw their thongs at me on the stage. But before
then, there are ups and downs, untold unsuccessful attempts at this noble
profession of gangster-wannabes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">Being a hip-hop musician, it’s romantic, brassy, healing
and rejuvenating. The rapping, rhythmic and rhyming lyrics endear you to young and older women. You are their fantasies come true, a god they can
worship and sacrilege with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">Mira was the best
of them all. When she bared her boobs during one of my performances at
Carnivore, my mouth went like ‘Whack!’ stopping me mid-lyrics. Her perky breasts
pointed to the heavens as though her bust was thanking the gods of beauty for such
a blessing. After the show, we went to my crib, where we stood the whole night
and the morning after, I told her I wanted her to be mine for keeps. She knew
the myriad ways of lovemaking, a woman so true to herself that I was a liar
before her eyes. Her beauty was beyond convention, defied description. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">However, Mira, the
truest free-spirited woman I had ever met, told me in words so plain that we
couldn’t be on our fifth date. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“I was hungry for
you, but now I think I don’t need you anymore.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Why do you say
that, Mira?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Because we both have
had what we wanted, there’s nothing more left to want.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Mira, I am sorry
about my impulsiveness and haste. You can forgive that, can’t you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Yes, I can, but
what I can’t do is have a boy with me.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">That stung, and I
took an exasperated sigh, wiped a thin film of sweat on my upper lip and
continued. “I’m afraid I love you. Hell, I love you, Mira.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">Mira’s mirth
defied decorum. It was a mockery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Come on, Dill, or
whatever you call yourself. You are too naïve. That’s why I said I can’t be
with a boy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“I said I’m sorry
for what I did.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“You are such a drool.
I have a family, for f*ck’s sake.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“You’re a big
girl, Mira; smart and intelligent. I am sure you know what to do.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“And then what?
Will you marry me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">I didn’t reply for
a while, then I said, “Look, I….” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">Mira stopped me
with the wave of her hand like a traffic cop. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“I have a family,
Dilman. I wanted a nice time. It’s over. Limp on. In my world, there’s nothing
like love.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“I can’t help what
I’m feeling for you. I want more….”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Listen, my
marriage may be on the verge of incinerating itself; I may not get what I want
from my husband, but he is still my husband, I’m still married. I love him in
my way, and he does love me. We love each other. I can’t just give up all that
to be with you. We wanted a good time, we have had it. Now let’s move on.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“That’s what I’m
trying to do, but something always comes out of the blue and gets to me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Don’t be stupid,
hip-hop boy. I’m not one of your female fans who throw their pants at you on
stage….”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“That’s why I’m
saying I feel something more for you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“I may have
cheated on my husband, I may be the cougar all the lot of you are chasing after
to further your music career, but I am not that vile. To be precise, I am not
the type of woman you shag for her husband’s hard-earned money, celeb boy, all
for carnal pleasure.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“What makes you
think I am not any better?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“You are behaving
like a schoolboy who has just had his first kiss.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“So, what was all
this about? We are going to be like it never happened?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“For Jove’s sake, a
woman needs to be safe. I am safe where I am. I can’t just throw away years of
marriage for stolen times….” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“God, Mira…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“I have a family, Dilman.
A husband and children I love very much.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Look, I love you,
and I want to be with you. I give you what your husband doesn’t---” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Yeah, drugs,”
Mira said, snorting. “You turn me to this fantasy girl I barely know. The truth is,
I love this girl. That’s what I want, but it’s not what I need.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">I touched her, and
she trembled. I wondered whether it was from the cold blowing from her car’s
fan or it was desire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Stop it! STOP! Nothing
more happens. This never happened,” Mira screamed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“But you just
cheated on your husband.” I wet my lips when I said this. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“Don’t you dare
blackmail me,” she said, smiling even wider. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">She knew
something. She had her secret wild card to play. “You, of all people, should not
be thinking of playing that game, especially when a career like yours is pegged
on business…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">I squinted at her, and
then everything tumbled on to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“That’s it,
celebrity kid. I appreciate you loving me, but boys love their mothers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">That stung like
hell, but she wasn’t supposed to know that much. Whether I had let my guard
down or she had spied on me did not matter. Dating a cougar who could further my music career was one thing, but that cougar knowing I was not just a
user of the drugs I used to give her to have multiple orgasms, was another
thing. She could talk. Women gossip every other day. Who knew whom she could
loosely speak to? Someone stumbling on such classified info could ruin political
careers. Heck, the government could tumble if it was revealed that a drug baron was running it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">A dirty bomb meant for one of my boss’s rivals was in my bag. It was too bad Mira had
to die, but there is collateral damage in war. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;">“OK, fine,” I told
Mira. “If you want it that way, OK. I will go.” But I knew I was not going
anywhere she was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I got
out of the car and headed to my house. As the gates closed electronically and
her car’s taillights disappeared around the corner, I dialled the number that was
to detonate the bomb. Mira’s car exploded. A fireball went airborne. It then
plummeted down. I heard a loud crunch, metal against the asphalt. </span><div>
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Vincent de Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07689443275989234524noreply@blogger.com0