Fiction: An encounter with celestial bodies at nyarugenge

A young mechanic from the Nyarugenge District was recently found dead asleep by the roadside near his garage. Andrew, the mechanic, is not one taken to drinking too much, nor is there a pub in the vicinity of his garage, and therefore his state came as a surprise to many. Fearing that he might have been unwell, those that knew him woke him up – only for him to increase their fears because he neither knew where he was nor where he had come from. After a glass of water, and later milk to bring him back to life, he narrated how it had all started earlier that day. For some reason, he had reported to work earlier than usual for a Saturday morning. It was around 6a.m as Andrew was opening the main gate to his garage when an unusually slick Mercedes Benz – at least for this side of town – pulled over. Andrew’s first guess was that someone was lost and wanted to ask for directions. He waited. To his pleasant amusement, a tall, slender chocolate skinned lady got out of the vehicle and started towards him. He was intimidated by her beauty. He had started adjusting his apron when she called out his name. She was not only out of this world in her looks but she knew him as well! Andrew thought to himself that this must have been the day when the gods remembered him. “Andrew, I just couldn’t wait to meet you,” she said. Andrew remembered how thrilled he felt because she called him by his surname. “I have heard a lot about you and that you are the best mechanic ever. So I kindly want to ask for your assistance. My driver is stuck along Nyabugogo road. He was driving my other car and it broke down before he could make it into Nyarugenge. Please, come with me and lend a hand.” Her voice was soft, almost seductive to Andrew. All this time as she spoke, Andrew just stared back at her, lost in her world. Without saying much, just a mumble or something, he hurriedly picked up his tool box and joined the lady in her vehicle without much ado. The next thing that Andrew remembered was that there was a very strong smell in the car. It smelt like a perfume bottle which had accidentally fallen and broke inside the car. Soon after, Andrew’s memories of the events that followed, whether or not they got to the allegedly stranded driver, become vague. Pedestrians were astonished to find Andrew sleeping unconsciously some few yards from his garage at noon. He looked confused and had some bloody marks on his body. Things had changed the moment he entered her Benz and he had no idea where he was taken to and was not even sure whether he was in mortal body or in the spirit. He said he had seen himself ascend from the bottom of the ocean to the clouds, into the jungle and back to the ocean. Foreign spirits had used him as tool to ferry un-describable materials from one point to the other and for unclear reasons. How he ended up laying down at that spot was a myth he wished someone would unveil. It was not a hard task for the villagers who had now gathered around him to explain the situation away as a jinni visitation to Andrew, who had previously been opposed to their existence. That saying is true, that not all those who wander are lost! skangongoi@yahoo.com