Away from myself at the beach

“Most of us, I suppose, are a little nervous of the sea. No matter what its smiles may be, we doubt its friendship.” I was pondering on these words by H.M. Tomlinson as I lay on the sandy bed along Kenyatta beach, enjoying my cold cocktail and reading ‘Veronika decides to die’ a captivating novel by Paulo Coelho. My concentration, however, was continuously rudely interrupted by some young college boys and girls who were playing football occasionally making thunderous noise. It was a cool evening blended with some wind, a cool breeze coming from small but beautiful curvy waves splashing on the sea shores. Wind blew swiftly with palm tree leaves swaying rhythmically. At the horizon on the blue horizontal sea level, container vessels could be seen cruising at a snail’s pace. Their sizes relatively tiny compared with their gigantic size when at close quarters. By this time, most of the beach regulars were leaving especially those who were accompanied by their little loved ones. I particularly envied the innocence of the little ones who were soiled, wet and wore endless laughter. Interestingly though and as the dusk approached, I noticed that most of those who were left behind walked in pairs, a combination of few tourists and the dating lot. Unperturbed, I continued with my reading though the scenario brought back memories of an ex girlfriend who had just left me for another man a few weeks earlier. Perhaps that’s the reason I had gone to the beach on that particular day - to suppress my feelings for her. The night came fast making it difficult for me to continue reading my ‘Veronika decides to die’. I decided to do away with her for a moment and rather concentrate on my drink. From a distance, I noticed that the college fellows were curiously watching something which seemed to exceedingly excite them, behaving as scavengers around a carcass. Whatever they were watching, they did not want the few who were around to join in their exhilaration. Security personnel, however, realized that something was amiss and decided to draw near the thrilled youths. They were literally chased away from the scene and left a very disappointed lot. They did not vanish and seemed to want to go back to the spot. I noticed now with concern that the security personnel were behaving similarly as the college students did. I beckoned to one of them as I sought for clarity. “Drunken couple making love in public,” the student answered me and quickly disappeared. “They say love is blind but this is not funny anymore!” he murmured. Leaving the scene for the security personnel to handle, I walked away thinking that I had already seen more than I needed to distract me from myself! “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.”-Albert Einstein skangongoi@yahoo.com