As Ken headed to the gate, the environment he walked in was so tranquil. It seemed no one was in the compound. The trees along the footpath shook gently and showered him with fresh, cool, appeasing air. He appreciated nature. The greenish appearance of the grass and trees was so titivating.
On reaching the gate he stopped suddenly. He began looking confused and stranded. Why?
His reasoning was scarred by the question of which route to take and where to go. It was too early for him to return home and there were many places he could go.
As he stood by pondering the question, the gate exit was open. There was a whirlwind outside the gate at a nearby distance. It was proceeding steadily to the East.
Surprisingly, the whirlwind trend reversed as it approached the gate closer. It began trending to the North and pointing sheer the gateway. Ken was caught off-guard with his cerebration incomplete. He tried to pull the gate to close it, but it was immobile and seemed engaged on either end. The gatekeeper was nowhere and the whirlwind was progressing viciously, sweeping a lot of soil and carrying it forward.
"Eh? Is this dust devil or the devil itself pretending to be carrying dust?" He shouted fiercely, gazing at the whirlwind, and its strength ostensibly increased.
"Huh! What went wrong?" He shouted again, observing the gradual increase in the strength of the whirlwind as it pushed on.
The whirlwind was already at the gateway when he pierced sharply through it. He reached the outside of the fence and stood along the road that ran to the west.
Mr. Tim, the gatekeeper, was outside secretly watching him. He had moved to a nearby kiosk to buy airtime, and his arrival coincided with the whirlwind so he had to halt his movement. He laughed boisterously at Ken as soon as he saw him come out.
"I wish the dust blemished your clothes. You would learn to be sensible enough!" Tim jeered at him.
Ken arched his neck in remorse for his disputable behavior and began walking silently, bowing his head and facing down like a sheep. He hurried, stomping as if he did not see or hear Tim speak.
"Pretend that there is wisdom in your silence and yet disguising ignorance with stupidity. Huh! I have been watching you shout like a madman. It is fine, continue!" Tim shouted at Ken again.
The latter felt pissed at the teasing that he could not contain it anymore. He turned about abruptly, threw a frightening look at Tim, and asked, "Do you know who you are playing with?"
"Yes!"
"Who?"
"Ken!"
"Not only Ken, my friend, you better go and stay at the gate if you have hardly anything sensible to say. So, do you know who you are?"
"Yes, I know I am Tim. If you are drunk with alcoholic saliva in your mouth, please I shall not hold still for your behavior. You better go and find some alcohol to take or else you come and serve night duty here."
"Tim, what nonsense are you talking of?" Ken roared with his puffy reddened eyes fixed on Tim.
Tim just chuckled and replied humbly, "I have been joking!"
"You have been joking, eh?" You joked with fire, my friend. So, take a firm stand for its heat now that you enkindled it and it is burning!" Ken bellowed in a very deep frightening voice.
Tim became so scared and dubious about Ken agreeing to let go of the matter. He rushed in through the gateway saying, "Let me do my work. I am on duty my friend, if you are a criminal, come and we harmonize from in here!"
There was a strip of metal holding the gate which kept it immobile. He pulled it at once when he reached in.
Ken was standing just a few meters away. When he started returning very fast to the gateway, Tim pushed the gate at once and closed it. "Go well," he said, "we shall meet tomorrow."
Ken veered and began returning straightway to the road with heightened vexation.
He spoke to himself as he walked, "Everyone who meets me wants to tease me, why? What have I done wrong today?"
He was heading towards a swamp to wash his dirty white tie. He reached a road junction and turned to start following a road running to the north.
After walking a short distance, he heard the voice of a man, "Ken, where are you going? Do want to go and swim?"
He turned forthwith and looked behind only to see Mike come from a small narrow road running from the south to join the main road. Then he answered, "I just want to visit this swamp shortly. But, you, you left the facility very early. Where are you from?"
"I am from my small garden. I went there to check how the beans were and I found them flourishing. Indeed, I may get a better harvest this time if the rain remains inclined to regular precipitation."
His words astonished Ken and kept him nodding like he was in total agreement with everything said.
"The overwhelming quantity of seeds may even prompt you to build another store. It will be great if it happens so because that will be another great development at your home," Ken agreed. His voice was very dull and Mike felt he was not interested in hearing what he told him before so he had to confirm.
"It seems you are hurrying for something there."
"Yes, I am in a rush."
"Can I accompany you and we discuss?"
"No, not necessarily, but you can still wait for me here."
"My friend, I cannot wait. There is a property being brought from town that I need to pick from Miti Street."
Ken was at a distance. Just then he began returning to Mike out of the blue.
"Hey, Ken, you said you are in a rush. What is it again?" Mike asked, on realizing his retreat.
"It is fine," he answered, bowing his head down. "I would like to ask you for something." He added in a low tone.
"It is okay, ask!"
"Will you attend the Buzz bar tonight?"
"Will I…" Mike tried paraphrasing and halted suddenly. Then Ken completed the question, "Attend the Buzz bar tonight?"
"No, I shall not. It is good for you who are still single. Nowadays my wife is so tough on me. She doesn't even want to hear of my passing via that place. Two of our children are now in primary school and they need adequate support."
"So, is that why you have spent almost a fortnight without attending the parties?"
"Yes, that is true, I don't think I shall attend the parties anymore. Instead, I buy some little alcohol and take it from my house on returning home. Soon, I shall be quitting alcohol to save my family."
"Quit what, eh? My friend, why don't you just divorce that wife and make her move away with all the children instead of quitting alcohol? I think even the freedom you are deprived of will be retrieved! If you refuse, how will you feel when you see us sip this sweet liquid?"
As Ken asked these challenging questions, Mike's strength abated gradually and he only smirked.
Then he wondered contemptuously, "Huh! Why do you talk like you are drunk? It seems you carried with you some liquor which you have been taking from the clinical room."
"No, it is not like you think. I cannot carry any alcohol to the clinical room," replied Ken.
"Ken, is that true? Did you know that for the little time I sat in your office this early morning I encountered a strong odor of alcohol there?"
Ken was startled to look all over his body from the shoes he wore to the clothes on his chest in a blink of an eye. If it was possible, he would look at his head too. This construed with his holding aside the necktie he wore as he did not want the dirty marks it contained to be seen. Subsequently, he asked while trembling, "Hmm… are you serious?"
"Yes, I am very serious. You better change your ways if not, change will change you," replied Mike.
Ken turned abruptly and started walking backward towards the swamp.
Mike smiled at him and asked again, "Why are you shying away? Come back, you have a case unsettled behind here."
Ken turned deaf to the request and proceeded silently.
"Please stop! It is not the one you think of." Mike palavered him into stopping.
Then he asked shortly, "You are rich my friend, I see you have money and you have been talking about me divorcing my wife. Will you marry me another one?"
Ken could not stand to answer the question. He just rushed directly towards the swamp, and Mike just stood and watched him in amazement.
He reached the swamp and washed his necktie immediately. Later on, he hung it on the branch of a short tree that was directly facing sunlight and sat in its shade to wait for it to get dry.
He became overpowered by sleep soon. He dozed uncontrollably for almost half an hour before he could decide to lie down on the ground and rest. He pulled out a piece of cloth from his bag, spread it on grass in the shade, and lay happily on it.
He woke up at 7:30 pm and was shocked as the Buzz bar party which he wanted to attend always began at 7:00 pm. The place was dark somewhat, seeming peaceful though. The only thought that showered his brain was that of having thwarted ambitions for that evening.
"What has happened to me today?" He asked himself in dissatisfaction. His pudding face was twitching as he was so disappointed with himself.
He hurriedly folded his piece of cloth and placed it back in the bag. Then picked up his necktie, put it on, and later sprayed all over his body a sweet-smelling perfume tantamount to that of a jasmine flower. How would he smell if he had no perfume in his bag?
He had had a bath two days back even though he still was unwilling to clean his body from the swamp.
He looked into the mirror afterward, with the aid of light supplied by a torch that he suspended dangling from the branch of a tree.
Unluckily, he was made to run away before he could inspect the whole of his body. There was a beehive in the surroundings of which he wasn't incognizant. At first, he heard a buzzing bee. To be sure, it was attracted by the perfume. Could it be vetting him for a flower?
Bees began swarming his surroundings thereafter, throwing him into an unmeasurable suspicion.
When he realized that he could no longer withstand the increasing number of bees, he snatched his bag from the shade and took to his heels.
Ken's arrival at the main road collocated with the arrival of a boda-boda motorcycle which was being ridden slowly by a young man of his age bracket. He stopped the boda-boda man who later carried him to the Buzz bar.
Just before he could reach the bar, he branched to a nearby bank and used his ATM card to withdraw money that he had received earlier in the day. It was salary for the previous two months, and that day was the first of the new month.
Ken's heart and mind had moved to the bazz bar, leaving him behind, which made him wonder if it would end well.