There are times when people tell you things and you just cannot believe them. The other week, a colleague told us that he had been robbed and everything had been taken—radio, plasma screen, laptop, kettle...

Knowing how most of us struggle to buy household items, I felt really bad that he had lost so much and I might have even said a ‘bad’ prayer for the gang that reaped from where they had not sown.

I was, therefore, surprised when just hours after sharing his misfortune, Jean started

cracking jokes and chatting as if nothing had happened. I know some people always see the glass as half full, but if I had just lost most of my prized possessions, I would be upset; even moody, wondering how in the world I’d go about replacing them. That is how I started doubting Jean’s story and as it turned out, I wasn’t the only one.

He’s quite friendly and a good number of us have been to his house for birthday and baptism parties. One thing I can say is that Jean’s neighbourhood is not bad at all. While I know thieves can break into any house, it’s hard to imagine how someone could sneak into Jean’s home and taking away all those items without being seen because there are three semi-detached units and his is right in the middle.

Since the alleged robbery happened in broad daylight, with the wife and children were home, as were the neighbours, someone would have seen something. Don’t you think so?

My fellow doubting Thomases are plotting a way to get to the bottom of this. 

We are planning an impromptu visit to ‘comfort’ our friend in the wake of this loss. I can’t wait to hear the wife’s version or the children’s for that matter. 

Here’s what I think happened. The past few months have been tough and Jean had no other means to raise the children’s fees so he sold off the items.

One of my cheeky friends, Jojo, has a more plausible explanation: She thinks that Jean has a new girl and is trying to impress her. With no money to buy her what she wants, a man is gotta do what he’s gotta do. God knows what he told his wife before taking the appliances.

Jean is not the only one with tall tales. Ritah wants us to believe she has millions on her account yet she can’t even buy her own lunch. We’ve gotten used to her moving around sampling people’s takeaways when a plate of food goes for just Rwf1, 500! I also find it hard to believe that a girl with that much money can’t get her hair done every other week or buy some nice clothes. 

Not to sound trivial, we all know how girls like to keep up appearances and some will beg, borrow and cheat to buy that bag or pair of shoes. Ritah could have different priorities and she’s probably saving to start up her own business, buy a car or invest in some other big project. Wish I could believe that.