FREE AGAIN(JUSTIN LAGAT) Eldoret International Airport is not always very busy. Most days, the car park is almost empty the whole day, except towards the evening when cars seem to fill it all of a sudden as passengers arrive to board the two domestic evening flights to Nairobi, while other vehicles come to pick up the arrivals. Kim sat with a driver in one of the taxis at the parking lot. He looked at his watch for the umpteenth time as his excitement to meet a veteran athlete from the Netherlands grew. The plane was due to arrive in a few minutes. The athlete, a white lady, had sent him an email the previous day that she was already in the country and that she was arriving that evening at 6:50 pm. She did not yet have a Kenyan cell phone and the only way they could get to meet depended on Kim’s ability to recognize her from her Facebook profile photo.

From the information he had gathered on the internet, the lady had represented her country at various world championships. He wondered how a lady of such caliber could trust someone she knew so little about. He had decided to contact another white man from the same country to ask more about the lady and to confirm whether he was indeed expecting the real Regina. Sure enough, the man confirmed, and also expressed his surprise that the lady did not contact him instead of Kim.

When the plane finally touched down, Kim got out of the taxi. He entered the reception area and sat at a table where he could see the arrivals checking out. It wasn’t hard for him to locate the lady as she was the only one among the arriving white passengers who kept glancing around as if in search of someone, appearing somehow in contrast with the others who looked composed and sure of where they were going.

As she pushed the trolley from the arrivals’ exit, Kim moved towards her and extended a hand to greet her. “Hi. You must be Regina; I am Kim.”

“Hi! I could not recognize you!” She could not hide her jubilation as she left the trolley to hug and give him light kisses on each side of his cheeks.

“How was your Journey?” Kim asked as he helped push the trolley.

“Great.”

The taxi had by then moved close to the entrance of the building and as soon as they stepped out, the driver assisted them with their luggage. They entered the backseat and their journey towards Eldoret town began.

Kim had planned that he would let her sleep at a hotel in town just for that night so that they could do the necessary shopping the following day before she would move to an apartment, where she would be staying for a month as they had both planned in their correspondence. It had been a very busy day for him moving furniture to the new apartment and he had also used some of the money he had to pay a portion of the rent, hoping that the white lady would refund the amount as soon as she arrived. He had almost exhausted his money in preparations to receive the lady, because he had taken her words seriously that she was going to do the necessary shopping herself the minute she arrived.

However, when the taxi reached Eldoret town, the lady had no money to pay for it. Kim was also out of money! The lady promised she would avail the money the following day and Kim had to request the taxi driver to understand and bear with the situation till the following day. Thank God; the driver agreed to wait. Now, one problem was temporarily solved.

The second problem was on accommodation. The lady had no money, yet she was supposed to spend the night in a hotel. It was also getting late in the evening. Kim explained the situation to her and she lied that she had all the beddings she would need in her luggage. Looking at the size of the bag, Kim could only wonder whether she had a mattress which she could blow some air into to make it possible to sleep on! The same taxi driver agreed to still take them to the apartment after being assured he was going to be paid for everything the following day.

On reaching the apartment, Kim discovered that he still needed to do a little shopping before they could prepare supper. It had rained earlier in the evening and walking on the muddy dark road at night to the shops was not going to be easy for the white lady, so he requested her to stay in the house as he went out, but she insisted on going with him. The lady kept walking very slowly, often losing her balance, as though she was walking on a tight rope. Kim was beginning to get irritated and when they reached the first shop, he persuaded her to stay there as he went to the shops further ahead where he would find everything he needed. Perhaps because she was already beginning to get exhausted, she agreed.

On his way back after buying everything, Kim came to pick up the lady only to discover that she had also picked up more items from the shop. He was at a loss. He hardly had any more money, he tried to ask the shop attendants to return the goods, but they told him they did not want to annoy the visitor and that they would let the lady take the items and he was to come back later and pay for them. They began to walk back to the house.

Being a dark night and having no torch light, the lady almost stumbled on some donkeys which were standing on the road. She was a bit scared, but on learning that they were domestic animals, she moved towards them. She was about to touch a donkey’s hind legs when Kim pulled her away. It was beginning to dawn on him that the lady could be crazy.

At the house, Kim lit a stove and left it with her to prepare the eggs as he himself used a charcoal burner to prepared “ugali” which was to be served with the eggs for their supper. He was surprised to discover that the lady had simply cut onions, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes among other concoctions and just poured them together into boiling water with the eggs! Well, the lady claimed to have run a good number of marathons, and if that was the way she prepared her meals, Kim saw no point in interfering. They brought everything to the table and that was the night Kim saw the widest variety of food being eaten together: Milk, potatoes, carrots, boiled eggs, “ugali”, bread, bananas, avocado, etc.

After supper, Kim showed the lady where to spend the night and left for his own room. At some time past mid-night, he noticed that the lights were on and he came out of his room to find the lady vomiting in the sink. She was having a fever and a terrible headache. It turned out to be a sleepless night of persuading the lady to go back to sleep until day break so that they could seek the necessary treatment. The lady kept pacing about in the room at night and Kim could not sleep a wink; he had to telephone a doctor he knew to explain the situation. At the crack of dawn, Kim woke up and gave her his beddings to add to her own and the lady started to sleep peacefully and soundly making Kim wonder whether it was not the uncomfortable bed that had made her sick at night after all. She woke up later in mid-morning. Kim had already prepared tea while she slept, but she awoke and demanded they start again preparing breakfast because she was not going to drink the tea which had sugar and milk in it. After breakfast, she assured Kim that she was feeling alright and ready for a morning run and they changed into their running attires and went for a one hour run.

The lady started cursing and lamenting that the road was terrible and that she wished she had never came to Kenya in the first place. That was it! Kim started to get annoyed. He asked that they go back right then to the house and that the lady packs her things and goes to a place she thought was better. The lady seemed to realize her mistake and started talking nicely. But as they continued in their run, all that was on Kim’s mind was how to get rid of the lady before the noon of that day. They arrived at the house and the landlord met them to ask for the whole rent as was the policy that no tenant could enter the house without paying the whole amount. The white lady said she was not interested in the house anymore and that she was moving to another place. The landlord felt annoyed and they exchanged bitter words. Kim called a friend from the Netherlands, who was staying in Kenya, to organize another house for her at Iten, and he assured them that he was going to find a house before the end of that day and that they should start moving there right away. Kim had to call another of his friends to sort him with the fare he would need to get them to Iten. All he needed now was to get rid of the lady. He could later begin to think on how to get the money for paying for the taxi, the credit at the shop, and also persuading the landlord to refund him.

The lady packed everything, including the shopping which Kim had done the previous evening, and they travelled to Iten. The white man showed them the house where he planned for them to stay and Kim was stunned again, because the white lady had actually planned for him to stay with her there, without his consent! He told her that he was not going to stay with her, but she kept pleading with him without giving any good reasons. Kim could only tell her to await him the following day, just for him to, once and for all, get out of her presence peacefully. He explained to the white man everything, including the money she owed him, and requested him to assist her to find someone else to stay with her. The man was very understanding and even offered to pay for the taxi out of his own pocket! To date, Kim feels so grateful to the man for saving him from such a sticky situation.

As the white lady waved to him as he boarded a vehicle to return to Eldoret, he took a deep breath, waved back, and smiled, but for a different reason. He was free again!

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