Fiction: A puncture to remember

Julian, a well educated lady and an aristocrat by right was having a corporate meeting at Gltega Serena Hotel when she got this rare call from an old friend they drilled with at Harvard University. She is elegant, eloquent and above all, graced by beauty. Being a Chief Executive Officer in one of the government parastatals, she commands respect in both public and private circles. The call came when they were having a short tea break before proceeding with the high powered corporate meeting. “Am Bertha your former colleague at the Harvard doing law, remember me?” asked the lady caller from the other end. “Certainly I do. How can I forget you dear and more so because you used to top me all the time,” answered Julian amid loud laughter. “Well, am on a brief visit to your city from the Comoros, I work with the United Nations,” Bertha said. “I’ve learnt you work here from our friend and former colleague too by the name Ciiru,” she added. “Ooh, that’s great! And where can we meet before you leave?” Julian inquired. “I am at Stipp Hotel and my flight is scheduled to leave in the evening,” Bertha answered. “I will try and catch up with you before you leave; right now I am tied up in a very important meeting,” Julian said. “I know you must be by the nature of your work. I’ll be waiting for you then,” Bertha replied and hanged up shortly. The afternoon session ended in good time and Julian had ample time to go and meet with her old friend or so she thought. No sooner had the meeting ended; she rushed to the parking bay to find her sleek elegant Mercedes Benz and zoomed off to Stipp Hotel. However, on her way to the Hotel, she suffered a flat tyre! Something she had not got for quite a long time. In fact she had even forgotten how to fix it let alone where to find the spare wheel in her own vehicle! “God-damn-it! This must be negligence of my mechanic Bani. He’s such an idiot!” she cursed as she pulled the car over to the side of the road. Still in shock and not knowing who to call or what to do, a young handsome lad came from nowhere jogging. “Can I help you madam?” He asked the confused Julian. She hesitated to answer the stranger. “Open the car bonnet I fix it for you madam. It will take only a few minutes.” Added the lad before Julian could even answer him. Perplexed and foreseeing no other quick help in sight, she flung the bonnet open for the boy to proceed with what he already seemed to know quite well. The boy was fast enough and in a few minutes, the spare wheel, jerk, and the wheel spanner were all on the ground and he was ready to commence on wheel change. Julian was impressed by his speed and stepped out of the car to supervise the exercise. The lad removed his t-shirt, threw it on the side of the road, picked the jerk, placed it underneath and started single handily lifting the wheel to be changed. The better part of Julian’s life had been on books. She concentrated so much on her studies that she ignored other but equally important matters in life like marriage. Yes, she had befriended some boys before but considered all to be none consequential, true to the saying you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. “Geez! Look at those muscles!” Julian mattered to herself as she watched the lad’s sweaty chest heaving as he worked on the wheels. This provoked her mind and she flashed back on the lovers she had before and the romantically charged moments she had experienced. Her mind roamed to and fro and before she knew it, she had a strong crush on the boy working on her wheels! Cupid’s arrow hovered in the air.Her sleepy romantic sagging eyes gazed on the busy boy as her thoughts were lost in a foreign love land. “Come on babe!” She muttered audibly. “Come again, madam,” requested the busy boy and Julian out of shame looked at the other side mumbling some incoherent words. The boy was swift, true to his words and was done with the wheel change only in a few minutes. “Am done madam,” he said as he wiped his soiled hands with a rug he had picked from the bonnet. “Come get your tip for the good work inside the car,” Julian requested the handsome lad who hesitated at first but later shyly agreed. Julian didn’t want to eyeball him once he entered the car lest she being a public figure misbehaved in public. She flipped some cash from her leather wallet and gladly gave the lad. The lad grabbed the cash and thanked the heavens for that rare opportunity. Julian took advantage of his jovial mood. She got hold of him, squeezed him against her body tightly and kissed him on the lips before letting him go. She had momentarily forgotten where she was headed before that short bliss. She zoomed off to Stipp Hotel soon after she returned to her senses to meet Bertha her old pal. “It takes a minute to have a crush on someone, an hour to like someone and a day to love someone - but it takes a lifetime to forget someone” skangongoi@yahoo.com