The Gem and Your Dreams

You have probably noted your dreams down in a well decorated pad, in careful handwriting, one that you use only when it is something very important. You use a pen that was given to you as a gift or one that’s unique from all the other pens. You feel that if you use rare materials to write your dreams down, the faster they will be realized. You tear the paper out of the notebook, fold it and keep it under your pillow, where no one but you and God - who will help you achieve those dreams - can see. Sometimes, you get the paper out, and reading through it, you wonder, ‘How will I ever achieve these dreams?’ You are a man, and one of your dreams is to find the right woman who you will spend the rest of your life with. At some point in your life, you feel Karen is the right woman for you. But you know Karen will want to be with a successful man. A successful man is one who can make more money than his wife can spend. You wonder how you are going to keep Karen. You remember you lied to her, told her that you had so much money, that your father was a minister, your mum a doctor and that your siblings lived in the United States - but you live with your auntie, have no siblings and you never knew your parents. The other items on the list are, building a mansion, buying a car - a 2000 model Nolan to be specific - running a few businesses and not having to work for anyone again in your life. All in all, your dreams need money to be obtained. How on earth will you find that money before Karen runs away with another man who is able to indulge her every whim? You think of talking about your future plans with Karen. Maybe if she knows your ambitions, she might after all stay and support you. You call Karen on your katorchi phone and set a date with her, now, you’re all geared up to talk to her about both your futures. Your aunt’s place is in Buwate, Najjera, though she is usually up-country on official duty. It’s a two roomed self-contained house with a kitchen and living room, garlanded with different species of flowers placed inside cracked plastic buckets, running round the house near its green sadolin colored wall. Plants with tendrils emanate from the broken concrete on the verandah and cling onto the wall accompanied by ivy. On the inside, the floor is maroon in color with a few cracks peeping through. The living room is completely free of dust. There’s a large wooden chair that seats three and two others that seat one. Their cushions are maroon and white, complementing the floor. A wooden yellowish table set stands in the middle of the room covered with hand knitted cloths, an empty flower vase sits on the main table. Pictures are stuck on the walls with tape which has been worn out by air over time. You leave home dressed in the black trendy skinnies a buddy gave you and the red collared illfitting t-shirt you are fond of, which bears the words: I AM A BIG MAN. It’s a good luck t-shirt even though it sustained an injury through a nail hanging on the wall in your room. You cover it up with a jacket, pick something under your pillow and place it in the jacket pocket. You fit your feet into the sandals you always leave by the doorstep, pluck the key from the inside and make sure you lock the house on your way out.