Payback: Men behaving badly.

Jack has never needed a job before with this kind of enthusiasm. His wife had just given birth, and the expenses related to delivery squarely rested on him. Being upcountry, no job interview was in the offing. Numerous phone calls to his Nairobi city friends bore no fruit. As a father figure, he direly needed to feed his family and care for the wife, Sally, and newborn son.

As luck would have it, his long time friend and neighbor, Mathew, came home to visit his family. They bumped into each other one evening at a local pub. From the outside look, Mathew’s appearance spelled a man whose job seemingly ranked him to a Senator; his jacket had a raw metallic tinge – which gave him the class, his blue jeans had an aura of dynamite, his shirt had a mellow orange magic – like the ones that magnetize girls, and his cheeks had the shape of moneybags – like a smiling cheetah’s! Phew! Did I say he smelled of Yu perfume?

It was the perfume that sent Jack’s mind into overdrive. “One day,” he muttered to himself, “I hope to carry such a class with me wherever I go.”

Mathew ordered drinks as he engaged Jack on childhood memories and fables. So many things had changed since the last time they were together. As if they were celebrating an anniversary, he offered to give Jack a treat of his choosing, and Jack simply decided to drink just to enjoy anything that’s brewed to go with the good times.

But as the booze was making him tipsy, he began to rant like a mad parrot. He confides to Mathew that as a family man, he felt webbed between a hard rock and an anvil. “I can’t even provide for my wife and 3 month old son,” he whined.

Mathew, usually an empathetic guy, offered to go with him to the city, where he could look for a kibarua (job).

Jack discusses the issue with his wife, Sally. And as humble women do, Sally submitted to her husband’s request to accompany Mathew to Nairobi, from where he will be able to send money back for her and their son’s upkeep.

Nairobi, here we come!

In Jack’s own submission, Mathew’s legendary three-bedroomed house in Kilimani estate is a collection of heaven’s gifts. On the wall – white and chalky – are large pictures of mountains, bridges, lakes, animals and people he is aware will never be a reality on his side of life. The carpet, patterned to mimic a seductive environment, communicates a family in joy. The furniture had a 21st century workmanship – made with glossy Formica and hard timber. His wife, Rosa, is a glass full of beauty – from her eyes, the warm radiance of hospitality is overwhelming. His 4-year-old daughter, Roma, is a happy little cutie. How else can you characterize a general manager of a prestigious five-star hotel?

For a long agonizing minute, Jack’s eyes are glued to the swirling fan above him. Clearly, he was at a place he has never been to before. He remembered the only threadbare rag in his house upcountry, compared it with the carpet-mat he was resting his feet on, and realized why he couldn’t afford a perfume yet. While still in that whirlwind mental state, Rosa welcomes him with tea – the kind reserved for those called ‘Sirs.’

Usually, such hospitality comes to her as a hobby. Soon, Jack is at home.

Nairobi’s lifestyle is unforgiving, as Jack would find out. He has to wake up each morning and go all the way to Industrial Area, sniffing at every snippet of information about where jobs are probable. Occasionally, he was lucky to land on something, however menial it was.

On a ‘good’ day, he would earn Ksh. 250, from which he managed to save some and send Sally every Saturday. Because he did not have to worry about paying rent and buying food, that helped him in saving more for his family.

A couple of months later, Jack missed his wife so much that he requested Mathew to allow him invite Sally for a visit.

“There are several women in Nairobi bwana,” was Mathew’s response. But Jack was not wavered by that statement. He still fantasized a visit from Sarah. “A reunion with the love of my life is worth the price of my skin,” he assured his soul.

Later, Mathew agrees with Jack’s proposal and allowed his family to come.

On Sarah’s visit, the gravity of their sexual intimacy characterized a couple who have missed each other for so long. Like habitual drunkards, sex became their daily hobby – just like two excellent tennis players who loved bouncing the ball at each other with such determination for a trophy.

If your guess was right, Sally’s visit takes longer than she anticipated. A week turned into two; like the proverbial giraffe who requested only to put his head into the tent to hide from the sandstorm, only to end up squeezing the whole of its body and push the owner out.

However, Mathew and his wife did not mind. “You can stay as long as you want. It is not an inconvenience at all,” Mathew told Sally. Really?

Hospitality is a dice; you just have to cast it right.

Sally’s hunches detected something in Mathew’s voice as he extended his hospitality but it was too amoebic to be grasped. Therefore, she did not bother. At the back of her mind, ethics and morals dotted her freedom to stay with Mathew’s family.

On various occasions, he had noted that Mathew was ogling at her. Seductive looks that begun from the breasts and lingered on her lips was commonplace at the dinner table. As faithful as she was, Sally discussed this with Jack. Unable to control her fury, and unaware of how to protect herself, they agreed to let her go home for some time.

While Sarah was away, Jack used the opportunity to look for a stable job. Having made few connections, he was sure he would be lucky some day, and then he will bring his family back again. But until then, he will persevere under Mathew’s roof.

One Friday evening, Jack returns and finds Mathew hadn’t come back from work. Rosa was seated pensively in the living room, confused about her hubby’s latest drinking behavior, coupled with the uncertainty of whatever could happen to him.

Jack eyed Rosa for a long minute and redesigned the situation to suit his lustful needs. As if nudged by an angel, he realizes that the joy that has been a photo-show between Rosa and Mathew could be lacking in the bedroom. An experienced man knows that such women miss the warmth and affection from their men; and the smell from a man is enough to water every resistance a woman may have in her reserves under such emotional moments.

That is what Jack offered her; an embrace. He sat down very close to her, offering a smooth enveloping embrace. The soft whispers from Jack, “It’s okay. Don’t worry, my dear. You are so beautiful and Mathew should know how lucky he is,” numbed all her senses.

A few tears linger on her cheeks. She returns his gesture by embracing him, feeling his manly smell transfuse her hormones into her romantic vesicles with such urgency that she even forgot her daughter hadn’t been put to bed.

For reasons best saved on a diary, she begun looking for his lips – the lips that had shaped those soothing words that had torn into her heart. It satisfied her when Jack responded by playing with her hair – a clear sign that this was a new story, adding another episode on an already lengthy chapter on the big rivalry between Mathew and Jack.

When Jack’s kiss sank into her warm lips, the die was cast. She bundled all her senses and let them concentrate on only one part of her body. The movement from the living room to Jack’s room took a record time. The thrust of her lust partly catapulted from the fact that Jack was so simple and ‘natural’ and partly because she was ovulating.

As if they had rehearsed, Jack removed his shoes with the art of an actor, one leg stepping on the other; his grey socks showing. Rosa was confused beyond all else; she just allowed Jack to do whatever he cared to do. Barely 10 mins passed before the intensity of their lovemaking reach the same proportion of their level of anger at Mathew.

When the fire finally stopped, Jack told Rosa, “Thanks. You have been so kind. I will miss you.”

She was so shocked that Jack was leaving. “I got a better paying job. I have a new house, and I can afford to pay rent and feed my family. Sally is coming next week,” he explains.

As he left the next day, Jack left Mathew a note saying, “I came, I saw and I conquered!”