CHAPTER ELEVEN

Chubaby took him out on a Saturday afternoon. She had taken him to the museum and he had been amused by how well she knew the place. She had served as his guide showing him round the place and explaining things to him. She had shown him the tree stump which had now turned half tree half stone. She then showed him things and clothes that had been used in olden days.  He had also seen cowries and many other things. He held her hand as they walked out of there to where animals were kept, they walked like prince and princess, they were adorable.

“How do you know about this place so much? Did you bring someone….?” 

“Come on, don’t be coy,” she cut him. “ I came here as a kid. My school, the secondary school I went to, Girls High School Gindiri, GHS for short. We were brought here on excursion.”

“As a kid? I thought you are still a kid? Dont tell me you've turned to an adult,” he teased her.

“Heyyy, look at me,” she touched her breasts and her curves. “Just look at me and again and if you tell me what you see is kid stuff, then I’ll know we are both kids. 

“Okkk, let me think out loud, well if I’m a little girl means that you should be arrested for engaging in child abuse, Right?” He looked at her feigning anger in his eyes and she looked at him too, with her hands opened at the same time playing with her eyes and mouth which suggested ' yeah, you asked for it.’

“Wow, wow,” he shouted the moment he sighted a lion. “Oh my God. I’ve not seen one before.”

“Remind me again, because it seems you must have been living in a village all this while before coming to this beautiful place. she teased. He smiled and playfully beat her hand. He watched the lion for a while before she took him to where he saw monkeys, baboon with their red buttocks and then to where he saw a huge python. She then led him to the rocks where they sat down.

“This place is beautiful,” he said.

“wait till you get up to the mountain side,” the view is wonderful and beautiful, she added.

“You are also beautiful,” he fired again. She didn’t know what to say, she smiled, hoping he would stop looking at her but he didn’t, then blushingly she looked down, when she raised her head up, he was still looking at her, this time she looked at him too, into his eyes and she felt her heart beating faster, love had set her on fire and she saw it in his eyes too, but she wasn’t sure what it was she saw her in his eyes, could it be he too was now feeling what she was feeling, genuine and pure love surging through her body or her naked body was what he was thinking of? It was always difficult to tell what's on a man's mind, difficult to tell with these guys, these boys are always full of surprises, one wrong move and before you know, shots fired. It didn’t matter to her though when he moved forward and planted a kiss on her forehead, she simply smiled when he moved back and sat down again. Then she brought out polythene from her bag and set it open, she brought out biscuits, cup cakes and juicy drinks from it and put them on the now empty polythene which he had spread on the rocks. 

“Did this polythene just come out of this bag?” He asked.

“Yeahhh,” she smiled. “You know what we call such bag? The slang word?  "spend the night out."  That’s the name of this bag.” comes handy with all the tools required for a one night out. He laughed and she laughed too. 

“Are you guys serious? Girls never cease to amaze us.”

“Don’t blame us, everything we do is to please you guys, the things we do to please guys...”

They ate, talked, played and laughed until Dennis checked his watch and realized it was late, they didn’t know they had been there for long, how time runs out for lovers.

“I better get you home before your brothers come looking for me.”

“I wish, I wish we’ll just stay here, away from the noise, the trouble, everything, just sit here and wallow in it’s serenity,” she said.

“Be careful what you wish for, babe,” he said smilingly.

“I know exactly what I wish for,” she fired back immediately. 

“I wish too, Chu, I wish but if wishes were horses, then even beggars would ride on them. Now come on let’s go.” He stood up and stretched his hands towards her, she grabbed his hands and he helped her to her feet. He opened his arms and she quietly walked in to them. It was a tight embrace which lasted for seconds and would have lingered on but they had to go, they had to go.

About a week later, Dennis called Chu and asked her to come over. The urgency in his voice made her leave the food she had set on fire, she had asked her friend to help her with it. The moment she knocked and walked into Dennis’s room, she had not sat before he began yelling. 

“What the hell is this?” he shouted.

“What is what baby, what are you talking about? Not even a hug, not even a hello.”

“Don’t give me that crap. Chundung, don’t give me nonsense.”

“Wow, Chundung? He calls me Chundung today. What is going on here?” she asked again, trying to stay calm in spite of his aggression and strange behavior. 

“You knew, you knew and you didn’t tell me,” he barked again.

“Know what? What are you talking about? Why don’t you calm down and tell me what’s going on.”

“You knew you were infected and you didn’t say a thing, you simply, simply...”

“Infected? Wait a minute, what are you talking about? Infected by what?” Chundung asked worriedly.

“Don’t play innocence game with me, you can’t tell me you didn’t know.”

“Dennis, I don’t like the sound of this, calm down and talk to me. You are the only one who knows what you are talking about, fill me in,” Chu was getting agitated.

“You have this STD and you didn’t tell me, you simply let me without warning, do you think I would do that to you if I were the one infected?” 

“Infected by what? Infected by what Dennis?”

“STD, Chundung,” Dennis fired back. “STD, I now have STDs and I know you are responsible.”

“Don’t you bloody put that on me, don’t you put it on me, you men, you men stick your thing where ever you find a hole and now you say it’s me, my friend, better find who’s responsible for what you are going through and stop putting it on me.” 

“Really? Really?” Dennis was shouting, “do you think that’s what’s going on here? About three days after we had sex, I noticed something was wrong, I couldn’t pee, my pants got stained at night, and just so you know you are the only one I’ve been with in a while. So I rush to this friend of mine who directs me to get a test, and what do I get? Gonorrhea. Listen, you can’t tell me you didn’t know, I’ve had it for what? Two days now and I’m going through pains and you’ve had for how long only God knows.”

Chu's head began to spin, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How had it come to this? A few days ago they were loving and loving and now this? She knew she had had sex before. She could count how many times she had had sex if she put her mind to it. Her friends had been so surprised when they found out she was a virgin. They had laughed at her and asked crazy questions but she held on nonetheless. It had been what? About a year now? She had met this boy in school, she was in her second year while he was in his third year. He had pretended to be in love with her but had only clinged to her because of her money, or her brother’s money. He had tried and tried until Chu finally succumbed. Then it happened again and again. She had been a novice and didn’t know all these things but had cut the cord the moment she knew he was a wrong person to be with. He had been the only one she had been intimate with before Dennis came. So that was it, that idiot must have gotten her infected and he hadn’t said a word. She had read and heard about how unlucky some people were with STDs. A serial shagaholic would go on for years without having an infection but just when a new and innocent member joins the party for the first time, bagang, there you have it, an infection. She had watched Dr Victor Dugga's play ‘ Mercy Kidnapping’ and had felt for Nkoyo, the lead character, a virgin who had been raped and infected with HIV. Now she who had just had sex with just a boy had been infected, maybe she had even been infected on her first attempt just like Nkoyo.