The window cleaner

The Oath

It had been seven days since Siin had  visited the  Crystal tower  on a failed mission that had set his life on a new path of shambles . Since then, not even for  once had  Kaltumis ghost appeared to him again.

"Perhaps she was now scared of me ,or  Maybe she wasn't  pleased With me for going  out in search  of her "  Siin thought , in his worried mind. All these  thoughts stormed his psyche with overwhelming force and he came to terms that once again, he  had  failed in life. He felt he couldn't even uphold a friendship that had been his sole motivation to keep cleaning windows under the scorching sun and the violent winds ,that were capable of causing severe accidents at the slightest mistake. As tedious and  risky as the job was ,the wages that accompanied it was nothing short of meagre and it could only afford him food and a detoriated shelter with an addition of old clothings and nothing more.

It was no sooner than later that he began to feel depressed about life itself. There was little or no drive for him  to go to work any longer, infact, the motivation to keep living  was slowly diminishing by the dawn of each day as the overwhelming Sadness and loneliness which he once felt during his days at Congo had returned on a higer scale. This time around , it was accompanied with a broken heart and the pain was very much unbearable for Siin.

All day while at the Seventh floor, he will wait for hours staring eagerly at all the windows of the Crystal towers. And not for once had he been lucky to catch a view of kaltumi again. Weeks after weeks and his state of mind grew from bad to worse. He felt weak and helpless to do anything as his life was tasteless and devoid off fun.   If kaltumi had been murdered, he felt he owed her justice by trying to expose her killers , yet he knew that all heroes had  helping resources that aided them in achieving  their missions. Some could fly and others were greatly strong. Some had lots of money and others were highly intelligent.  But here he was , finding it almost impossible to provide  three square meals for himself. He was always busy from morning to evening, wasting off his youthfulness under the scorching sun without a plan for life  and this made him feel  helpless to himself and even more  helpless to Kaltumi.

Siin felt like a looser and soon, he had began to contemplate taking his own life as a remedy to curtail the pain, shame and loneliness he felt.

He held himself accountable for the  calamity that had befell him as he felt that if he had not decided meet Kaltumi in person , then perhaps she would have still been his friend and the joy she brought to his heart would still be alive. But now she was gone and the slightest ounce of joy in his heart had faded away .  It was only in rememberance of  a folktale about a great Hunter who had lost both of his eye sight due to an accident that occurred in the thick forest while hunting for game . Since blind men could not hunt, it became impossible for him to cater for his wife and children. They were at the point of starvation when his close friend who had just returned from a long journey ,paid them a visit and vowed to help them. He provided them with food and money for upkeep , he also secured the service of a great healer who was clearly  stated that the chances of the hunter, to regain his sight were slim.

One day after many years of treatment with no avail. The blind hunter who had silently sat on his wooden chair, that was placed under the acasia tree in the middle of his compound began to pick some shades of light . He wiped his eyes vigorously with with the  sides of his palms and to the mercy of the gods he could finally see. The medications of the great healer had afterall proven to be effective. At first, he had wanted to shout and jubilate in joy but then he decided to surprise his wife and best friend , who had been his pillars of support all through his ordeal. The speed and caution of a blind man was still much inherent in his motions as he walked to his room almost in a tiptoe to break the good news to his wife and friend who he felt had been discussing on ways to improve the welfare of the family, but low and behold upon reaching near the door of the room he began hearing moans that could only emanate from a pleasurable union between a man and a woman. Still surprised and schocked he gently shifted the curtain of the room and saw his best friend and his wife having an affair. They were so engulfed in their act of sin that they didn't notice his presence.

Wisdom was scarce but not for this Hunter , he quietly retreated to his wooden chair under the tree and had a short thought. If he raised an alarm, his wife and best friend would be attacked by the public and they may be lynched by the village youths , thus leaving him with no helper as not only had the accident caused him his eye sight, it had caused him his health. Still if he confronted them in person, the shame would be too much for his wife and Friend who had been nothing but good to him , to runaway in shame , thus leaving him with no helper and no means to Carter for himself and children.

Finally he realised that , the return of his sight was rather a curse than a blessing to him. He took his walking stick, headed to the kitchen and picked a needle. He then pierced his two eyes and became blind again. He wiped off the blood from his eyes and headed back to his wooden chair with the help of his walking stick.

" I never saw anything" he said as he reached for a tobacco cigarette which his good friend had bought for him , lit it , smoked it thoroughly before reaching for the delicious delicacy his loyal wife had cooked for him from the money his good friend had given to her . He ate the food with much gusto , feeling pleased with his wisdom. He lived happily ever after with his wife and best friend.

It was only in the rememberance of this story that Siin found strength . He realised that what the human eye saw was just an illusion of what could either make one Happy or sad, which all hinged at how one chose to see it. He realised that to earn justice for kaltumi, he had to be strong in will and much stronger in wisdom. Instead of seeing what would be detrimental to his happiness he then concluded it was time to see it from a different perspective that gave him a chance of being happy once again.