LOST AND FOUND LOST

LOST AND FOUND LOST

Josephat S. Hema

This long vacation had been a nice one."It has been a long time",he thought as

passing through a narrow pathway touching wet grasses along its sides,feeling the

 comfortable warmth after a long time heavy rainfall.Coldness could still be felt,he had his blue 

sweater on.

The narrow road was the old one.It had two separations,the left one to the market

 place and the right one to his once Primary School.He had a sweet history with the right one,those 7 years of success,joy,friendship and love.He had been using it

 joyfully everyday,Morning and Evening.He was a very fond of School.He remembered the time 

when he wanted to go there even though he was too sick.He smiled as

 he watched that right roadway and turned to follow the left one.Her mother had

ordered him some vegetable even though he knew how poor he was at choosing the nice ones.He

 never made it right and so he knew this time it just had to be him

 because no one else was at home.Time flew with the family togetherness,his big

 brothers and sisters had gone away to find life elsewhere and some had already

established their own families.The old Father left early to his long time working place as the senior 

accoutant,left him at home with her Mother,a Tailor.

As he approached the Market he noticed a young mother carrying two little babies,

the babies looked so much alike and they were so beautiful,he glanced them until the mother looked 

up after picking the vegetables of her choice from a table.She looked him on the face and looked

 aside suddenly,looked dismayed as she turned around

sharply and left.

"Linda",He opened up his mouth to call her but no voice could be heard.He wanted

to run over her but she had already dissappeared into the crowd.He stood up

dissapointed,wondering why she even didnt want to greet him,after a long time of

 missing each other.The last time it was when he was leaving for his Secondary

education to one of the prominent Boarding Schools in the Country.Linda was not

 selected despite her smartness in class,He was very sorry for her.She wanted to cry that evening 

when he was saying goodbye.And so he left her,came back after he

finished his Secondary education.Heard some stories of her forced marriage and the

like,of which he never wanted to believe until he realised how Linda used to avoid

 him.And how she never replied even a single letter from him.

He felt like crying,just remembering how beautiful their friendship was,the friendship which they

 wanted to turn it into marriage,if God had wished.He remembered how

they used to joke over each other that when they will be married,they would want to get twins.

                    **********

It was an obvious fact that he was very fond of her.That Beautiful Linda,the girl

 whom the whole small town talked of both her obvious and invisible good deeds.

He was not sure of what he exactly wanted from her the time when he stopped her.They had gone to 

fetch water from the Community pipes.

He greeted her and she replied,some stories came in between,it was all about School and especially 

about the new Head Teacher and how strict he was.His mind was too busy to listen,he wanted to tell

 her something but all the words he prepared had

already gone nowhere.He wished that the book he read yesterday was close enough

 that he could revise those beautiful phrases he cramed to tell her.He wanted her to be his girl,just 

being with her most of times,going to school together and church of

course,talking to her most of times especially during break time,doing assignments

together and probably sharing the desk.

She was talkative and now she dominated the talk while he was just hearing her

 sweet killing voice from afar.He just was busy remembering how he wanted to

speak to the extent that he was counting the birds flying behind her,up high to the

 cloud.He counted the trees and ripen mangoes,he counted the bicycles and all the

 kids playing around.He was enjoying how foolish he suddenly turned in-front of her.

Her sisters who were as beautiful as her called her and she said goodbye and left as he saw his old 

brother laughing at him over his fears talking to a girl.He called him coward in a loud voice.Linda 

turned back and smiled as her sisters were laughing and talked to each other pointing at them making Linda feeling annoyed and shy.This

childhood acting was cool.That time,how a girl could balance well a bucket full of

water on her head an walk hands free was one among the characters of a good girl.Linda was a 

prototype,she had a combination of all adorable features.She was walking slowly and surely,beautifully balancing all the necessary forces to let her hands

bucket-free and moves majestically swinging.How pretty she looked.This is what used to kill Him 

thousand times,let alone how neat and smart she was at School.All

teachers and students admired her well ironed uniforms and pretty plaited hair.She

 also used to be intelligent than all girls in the class,let alone how disciplined she

was,decent and full of

 respect.She was just perfect.All boys admired and feared her,all girls were

jealousy over her.

"It's your turn,push it",his brother told him while showing him their old wheelbarrow with 6 buckets of water.The wheelbarrow had all its tires punctured with no repairs.It hardly moved,it needed extra

 strength.All his friends laughed at them on their ways with it every time. He pushed it ignoring his 

brother who kept laughing and joking all the way home about that day's scenery.

After a long time of plan and falls,she became her best friend,although it was the

last year of their studies at Majengo Primary School.But he at least made it,their

friendship was fruitful,they studied together and passed many exams,they went to

church together.They promised each other to be friends forever.This was before the

final examination came,the time when Linda was secretly informed by her aunt that

 she had to be married after the final exam so that her parents would pay a huge

debt to the Bank from the Bride Price.This confused her and made her less

concentrated to exam preparations and as the result She didn't make it up.But He

passed and told her that he will fight for her,study hard for her and finally marry

her.She said she would refuse to be married by any means.

Time flew and all these happened.

                      *******

"She is still so beautiful",he said resisting his tears which forced to come out and

 succeeded.He wiped them with his handkerchief while finding a preferable place to purchase the 

vegetables mother ordered.The day turned grey.