18/08/2019
Back in the late 90's when some of us were at the puperty stage and mobile phones were not available. You get attracted to this lady, let us call her Xakiima. Xakiima was a charming and innocent young girl, a little shy. Probably a virgin.
You could only meet her on the road, perhaps you should master the art of pure timing since if you miss seeing her, you don't know when you would see her next. Without phones, you had to be very artistic on how to meet, and very patient. Your love will be tested to the elasticity limit.
Imagine Xakiima telling you, "Wait for me by the intersection of the road that leads to either Manyalo or Wajir girls Primary.. She will come there at 6 pm then come 6 pm she is not there.
You would wait, talk of having faith and hope! And sometimes she would show up at 8 pm! You have to endure cold weather, marauding police officers, sometimes rain all waiting for Xakiima.
Sometimes you would wait and she would not come, and there was literally no way of knowing why she did not come so you had to have faith in her and hope all was well since that could as well mean you had been rejected!
During those times you will make friends with small boys in the village so that you could send them to call girls for you. You would tell the boy,” Tell Xakiima this, Mandeeq is at the road waiting for her!”
The boys were very obedient and would say exactly that! Otherwise if they say Yahya is waiting, you would probably get her elder brother coming to s***k you a few slaps on your skull or to chase you away!
Sometimes you would go to the girl’s place and pretend to borrow water or ask for toilet, so the girl would see you and follow you secretly. You have to be very prolific.
So one day at noon, I bumped on Xakiima and we planned to meet at 7 pm. Before she left, thoughts of getting bored on the road arousing unnecessary curiosity started pricking in my mind. I told Xakiima I am going home but the thing that bothered me is how i was to know wether she had arrived?
After considering all options, we decided Xakiima should be the one looking for me. I told her when you get there, just pick a stone, throw it to hit the tree next to our house, I will know it is you and come out. Be careful not to hit the roof, i retorted.
So, I went home, I waited. 7 pm. No stone. 8 pm. No stone. 8:30 pm, still no stone! Almost at 9pm as I was giving up meeting Xakiima, I heard a stone cruise hitting the leaves like a missile, but it missed all the branches (Oh My God) and hit the wooden wall of our kitchen so hard. If that rock got my lil siz who was standing next to the kitchen, it would have ruptured one eye completely.
Abkey Gedi Axmadow (Who the hell is that now) my mother asked.
“Mum, let me go and check!” I said pretending to be the bravest man on planet earth so that I would go and ‘chase’ the fool who was hitting our plot with stones.
Another stone cruised and fell right at the middle of our compound! Me and my mum were standing outside..
She walked all the way to the road and I followed her. My mum looked around and saw no one. “Let us go home.” she said. “Let me check around and see if anyone is hiding in the bushes…” I responded.
Mum went.
I looked and looked and searched. There was no Xakiima She was gone. I walked several hundred meters looking for her but she was gone. She must have seen my mum and disappeared. And that is how I missed getting Xakiima that evening.
The love of early days was truly dramatic! These boys of infinix generation.. you're very lucky to court girls so easily. During our days, getting a girl who would wink for you was like hitting a jackpot. You would have struggled sometimes for more than a year to get the girl you want.
We endured rain, sunshine, hostile brothers, cruel fathers, hawk eyed mothers and sometimes beatings.
These days a girl is a call or SMS away. Who else misses the old days? I do.
