SHE IS THE ONE

CHAPTER ONE

One Sunday afternoon, on his way back home from church, Dan told his driver to stop at a local market because he wanted to buy some fruits. Mr. Joel the driver stopped the car and Dan rolled down the car windows. Women and children who were hawking fruits ran to the window to persuade him to buy their fruits. Dan decided to take some mangoes from an old mama who was seated in the hot sun, as she was too old to run from one car to the next. Dan gave his driver some five hundred shillings to go buy all the mangoes the old mama had in her tray. He also bought some oranges from a middle-aged school kid who was not in school maybe because it was on a Sunday. When they were about to take off, a young beautiful lady arrived with some bananas in a small basin. “Twenty bob banana, twenty bob banana.” She kept shouting while approaching the car. When she reached the car, she stopped shouting and went close to the window. Joel started the car engine to drive off but Dan told him to wait. “Good afternoon sir, we have sweet bananas here at 20 shillings only.” She said to Dan. Dan didn‟t hear what she said, he was in his own world. Dan kept staring at the lady without saying anything. He seemed so confused and shocked, his thoughts were past the bananas the lady was carrying on her head. 2 The lady thought Dan was looking down upon her and was not interested in her bananas since he was not even talking to her. She decided to go away. “Excuse me Madam, how much for bananas?” Dan called her back. Mr. Joel started laughing, he had never seen Dan that confused before. “Twenty shillings for three banana pieces sir.” The lady replied. “How much all of them?” Dan asked. “Sir, are you sure you want all of them?” She asked. “Is it a crime if I take all of them?” Dan asked. “No sir, you can have them all if you wish. That should be 200 shillings but I will give you a discount of 20 shillings for taking all of them, sir.” She replied. Dan told her to put them in a carrier bag, then he took out one thousand shillings from his wallet and gave it to the lady. “Keep change,” Dan told the lady then they drove off. They drove for about 10 minutes without talking to each other in the car but Joel kept looking at him in the driving mirror. Dan was so restless and confused in the car “Sir, are you alright? You seemed so uncomfortable back there.” Joel asked him. 3 “I don‟t know Joe, I can‟t explain how I feel,” Dan replied. Dan used to call his driver Joe, not Joel. He was very friendly to him and they respected each other very much. Joel was older than him and so Dan respected him like a father. On the other hand, Joel gave him maximum respect as his boss. “You will figure it out soon enough sir. This is the first time I heard you telling someone to „keep change‟, that was so kind of you.” Joel started laughing at him. “Please don‟t start it, Joe, I don‟t know what you are talking about, today is Sunday and we are from church remember,” Dan replied laughing. “Copy that sir, just know that I will always be there when you need any help,” Joel replied. “Can we please talk about something else? Who was the best friend to Jesus Christ? I wanted to ask the pastor that question but I forgot.” Dan replied. They both laughed so loud in the car as they approached the gate. When they got home, they found his mom and dad sitting on the veranda. Dan got out of the car then carried the bag with the fruits to the house. His parents were shocked because Dan had never gone back home with a bag full of fruits. 4 “Son, what is going on? Were they giving out fruits in the church today?” His mother asked. “No mom, I bought them at Ndori market,” Dan replied. “I have not checked the meal timetable, are we taking only fruits for lunch today?” His father asked humorously.