3 Am Max

"Let me go sir..."

I tried to wrestle my hand from his grip but he just held on tight.

What was his problem?

***

I scanned him from up to down.

He was first of all light skinned. He had no trace of melanin whatsoever meaning that he was a foreigner.

Then he has these captivating mud-brown eyes and sleek dark hair that was shining in the sun. He really applied a lot of gel on his hair, which I have not mentioned, comfortably cascaded up to his broad shoulders.

Then he had a well-built body, slightly thinner than other average Kenyan boys but I could see the six-pack that lay underneath his tightly fitting sky-blue shirt with the words 'Jambo Kenya' beautifully calligraphed in yellow on the bottom right corner of his shirt.

He wore pitch- black skinny jeans and a pair of black and white designer sneakers.

He was slightly taller than me, let me say about 5'5.

***

"Hey miss. Why are you looking at me like that? Never seen a white guy before? "

" Just leave me the hell alone sir. Mind your own damn business!" I jeered rather loudly.

" Wow! Salty aren't you. Anyway, why would a girl as beautiful as you be running down the streets as if a pack of wolves were after you?"

" As I said, it is none of your business. Now kindly let go of my arm. "

I turned behind and saw Eric and his gangster friends approaching. I had to get away but this dude insisted on holding my arm.

Without thinking twice, I started running with the surprised guy still holding my hand. I hoped that he would let go but I guess he had a mental problem or something.

He was slowing me down. The guys were getting closer and closer.

"Sir, some guys are chasing after me and I need to get away from them. So if you will please do me a favour and let go, I will be very grateful."

Thankfully, he let go but surprisingly, he followed me.

"Why are you following me?"

"I am not going to let some maniacs follow you when you are alone. What is their deal anyway? Plus I need directions since am new here."

I just kept quiet and let him follow me like a fool. I almost told him that I myself was not conversant with the city but he had to pay for being nosy.

I cut several corners and constantly looked behind to see if I had lost them.

Finally, they gave up and stopped chasing after me, but the white guy was still behind me.

As I was really tired and panting heavily, I decided to stop for a rest.

***

I continued scanning the area.

"You lost us miss. Why didn't you tell me you barely knew the city? You are unbelievable."

" If you do not shut your mouth, I swear I will..."

I held up my fist to him. He backed away.

"Don't want to get beaten by a girl..." he mumbled.

I decided to let that one slide it else I would push him into the puddle of cow dung right behind him and I would not regret my decision.

"Of all days, why didn't I charge my phone today before leaving the house and why did I leave my chauffeur and decide to be an adventurer in a really new country. What bad luck!" He pouted.

I felt a little bit sorry for him but now was not the time to feel guilty.

"We are not allowed to bring phones to our school so am not sure how we will contact anyone to get us."

I continued looking around. I could not recognize the place at all. How would we ever get back home now?

"Hey! I can see a KFC over there. Want to get a snack? I am really hungry and I have some money with me."

As if on cue, both of our stomachs started rumbling really loudly, like a th

We walked into the restaurant.  People stared at us. We were covered in sweat and I was still in my school uniform.

***

"My pilau is delicious. What about your fries?"

"They are okay. Can I try some of that. It really looks sweet?"

" I told you to order this but you insisted to get the fries," I rebuked as I put some spoonfuls of the pilau onto his plate.

"Am sorry but I really just felt a craving for fries and since I did not know what pilau was, I decided to stick to the fries. It is really yummy especially with the soup."

"Here is the bill," the waiter said handing us our bill.

I took a look at it. I was glad that I had brought some money along with me today to school.

"You do not have to pay...mmh...miss. I did not get your name by the way."

"Am Linda. And it is fine. It is my way of saying sorry," I said as I took out a one thousand shilling note.

"Am Max. Nice to meet you anyway. Now about getting back home."

"Where are you currently staying?"

" We are staying in Karen, I believe. "

" Same. Now all we have to do is ask for directions on how to get there," I said rather cheerfully.

***

"Thank you so much," I told the waitress who had just given us directions after taking us to a bus stop so as to get a ride home.

"So, I have never been on a matatu before, but I believe all we have to do is pay the conductor and tell him where we were getting off."

We climbed into the small passenger vehicle commonly known as a matatu. It was so stuffy in there and smoke from some guy's cigarette almost choked me to death.

It was a really bumpy ride but we got to the gate of our estate in around thirty minutes.

It was starting to get dark and cold. I shivered since I had not carried a sweater to school.

***

"Lemme walk you to your house since you are not exactly familiar with the estate yet. Which house number is it?" I offered.

He reluctantly answered me. "Won't you lose us again? Anyway, it is number 12." He giggled.

" Hey!"I exclaimed surprised," you are the guys who moved in next to our house last week. Our house is house 13. How interesting!"

We laughed and made our way home, only to find police cars parked outside our houses.