Posh Date
Posted by Social Matters , Tuesday, February 15, 2011 10:57 AM
The Posh Date by Mary Muthoni Kariuki
And it was valentine. Unlike all the other valentines that had managed to pass her by, all the red flowers, chocolates and red dresses, maybe some cheap wine but finally it was her turn to celebrate what was an ‘otherwise’ lonely festivity, for all the women who didn’t have a man to cling on. Anita smiled at what seemed to the one thousandth time at her reflection, the pretty little strapless short red dress that she was wearing, and let out a wide grin from ear to ear, her lightish brown face actually glowed from the overhead electric bulb.
“Perfect.” Wairimu who had a leso wrapped around her waist, standing next to her sister seemed delighted. “Now all you need are my black heels, my fake…” she stopped with a wide grin on her face. “Very fake diamond earrings, where do they mine diamond in Kenya? She asked.
Anita cleared her throat. “Nimo can we get back to business, I need all the help in the world.”
There was a sense of urgency in her voice, as she gave her sister a wide stare.
Wairimu feigned surprise, it was her younger sister’s big day and she wanted to make sure every single detail of it was a complete success. “Have fun, remember money is not your problem, and enjoy every single minute of it.” She handed her sister her black purse next to the twelve red rose stems and a box of really expensive chocolates, on the king-sized bed which they had shared ever since they were little. “Sawa?”
“Sawa.” Anita smiled trying to rub of some of the red lipstick on her lips.
The bumpy road seemed not to affect Anita’s well choreographed movement as she made her way to the bus stop, it seemed like all eyes were upon her every step with desire or envy, perhaps both. She swung her hips as she walked as though dancing to the sensual beats of the midnight African drums, but on her first valentine it didn’t matter, it felt great to celebrate a holiday that had seemed so far away from her grasp, that was until she met Mark only a couple of weeks earlier, he happened to be the guy seated next to her as she travelled back home on a very noisy matatu that didn’t seem to defer him from making his move. His father was a Commercial Attaché, and though she did not know what actually that entailed, it actually sounded posh just the way Wairimu had taught her. Mark was now working for a firm that belonged to his father, apparently his Mercedes Benz had only been stolen a couple of days earlier but he had already ordered for a Lexus which would be arriving in a couple of months because it was being shipped to Kenya.
No sooner had Anita gotten into town than had she boarded a Taxi to the luxurious restaurant, at a glance the little polished wooden hotel didn’t seem at all that sophisticated but Anita seemed to have changed her mind the minute she had stepped in with Mark walking over to meet him, the clear windows that revealed the hilly terrain with a picturesque view of the sunset, they had spent the first half of the evening debating on whether it was actually real or painted, only to end up racing outside to see it for themselves.
Mark was hoping to spend less that after spending a considerable amount of money on twelve stems of roses only, though he had spent like half an hour trying to explain to the florist that he was entitled to more than just a box of chocolate and flowers, He felt his pocket as he played around with his beautiful date, it wasn’t as much as he had anticipated.
“Oh.” Anita seemed to remember as soon as they had sat down again and also after noticing and angry short taxi driver walking into the hotel “I owe 2000 for the taxi.” She said it as innocently as a dove. Mark shifted uncomfortably in his sit under no circumstances ha he encouraged his new girlfriend to use a taxi, though he had suggested he would refund her transport. “Here you go.” He feigned a smile, really forcing himself to withhold the question of how a short distance from the city centre could actually have cost him such an outrageous amount of money.
“Let order something to eat.” He suddenly felt the urge to finish off the date as quickly as he could, but Anita did not seem to notice as she readily took the menu and quickly perused through it. “I’ll have this.” She pointed out to the waiter, tried to read it loudly a couple of times only to come to the realization that she might actually be embarrassing her posh date.
The name of the dish sounded sophisticated and too hard to pronounce, that had a reason as to why she had wanted to sample it.
Mark took the menu unsure of what his date had just ordered, as he nervously felt his pocket. “What did you order?” He asked trying to sound as casual and pleasant as he could. The last thing he wanted was to ‘chonga viazi.’
She smiled cheekily. “It’s a surprise.” She whispered leaning forward. “Order your own.”
It sounded queer for a man to want to order the same meal as she had the thought scared her a bit. He pretended to smile back but he could feel a lump in throat, as he turned to look away. “A glass of wine please.” He almost chocked on his words.
He hoped it did not amount to the price of gold, though in the face of defeat he was still determined to walk away with his head held high.
“Not that hungry.” She leaned forward towards him.
But not even the cleavage of a young untouched woman seemed to arouse the man in him, as he nodded rather too quickly, wishing his nightmare would come to an end soon. He feared that the restaurant was not as cheap as his friend had suggested, and now it was like he was in the middle of a bad dream.
“Thanks for the chocolate and the flowers.”She remembered.
He just agreed with her not knowing what she had said to him. And the food did not help him identify what sort of dish it was, the only thing he could tell it was that it was meat dish, one that he was definitely not familiar with. His mood changed from bad to worse as Anita spoke about her inability to find a job and how she would have liked to work at a firm like his father’s. The only time he seemed to jolt back to reality was when waiter had placed their bill on the table. He quickly took and gave it a quick glance letting out a surprised gasp.
Anita pretended not to notice as she took the last spoonful of her chocolate sundae. “Can I call the taxi driver to come and pick me up its getting kind of late?” She stared through the dark window.
“I thought you were spending the night at my place.” He toyed with her as he stared at the remaining three crispy notes in his wallet. She did not reply. “You can call the taxi but I am planning a surprise for you tomorrow in my house while planning everything I forgot my wallet that has all my credit cards.”
Anita hoped that he at least had money to pay for their dinner. “You pay it and tomorrow I will give you double.”
She thought about it for a while, it actually sounded good, she shrugged and called him. “Plus I need to go to the salon.” She said in matter of fact kind of way, with an air of entitlement.
“Sure.” Mark smiled holding her hand for the first time in the evening. “Anything for my baby.” He kissed her hand gently causing her to blush.
‘Blush’ he associated not with his charm but the allure of money, lots of it which seemed to drive the woman right in front of his eyes mad. For a minute he felt like a drained out ATM machine, yet the high maintenance woman was trying to squeeze everything she could from him.
Mark waited patiently for Anita’s taxi ride to arrive before he began walking towards the direction of the stage in the dark. “I will call you as soon as I get home.” He had promised as he gave her a rather awkward hug. The waiter and not returned his change of fifty shillings probably tipping himself to Mark’s dismay. He had waited long and hard for it, as Anita asked for transport money from town to her estate.
No sooner had the Taxi pulled away than Mark started on his long walk home.
“He never called back.” Anita placed down her phone a couple for days later, after being unable to get a hold of him.
“Maybe he lost his phone.” Wairimu suggested, before sitting up quickly on the sofa. “I thought you wanted him for maintenance.”
“I wish he would have lost it after refunding me my 2000.”She said rather disappointed. “And of course I liked him.”
“Oh.” Wairimu almost burst out laughing. “Never clean sweep a man you like.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
Anita just rolled her eyes and fell back on the sofa.
“Yeah.” Wairimu rolled her eyes. “Next time if you only live in a nearby neighborhood use public means and you don’t pay such an amount unless you are traveling out of Kenya.”
Wairimu gently touched her sisters ponytailed black long hair. “And ‘taxi money’ is not taxi money.”
“Next time.” Anita closed her eyes wishing for only a moment she would stop thinking about man. “ Oh well, I must have learnt from the…”
“Best!”
“Nooo, worst!”
THE END
