If you are new here and have not read the article on Frustration Galore, kindly do so as this is a continuation of the same. Find the article here.
Still sitted on that stone, you now use the words allegedly used by a famous Kenyan personality that ‘Today it has bite itself each other’ in Kiswahili though. You contemplate on whether to go back to the house and sleep or go for the important meeting that you were to attend. You decide to just go ahead and attend the all important meeting your lateness and appearance not withstanding.
35 minutes later, a matatu arrives and the conductor almost denies you access because in his words you look like one of those street urchins. You are able to convince him and finally board it. The journey to town is a long one and the matatu has no stereo system. It is so quiet and you are bored. You try striking a conversation with your neighbor of the opposite sex but they insert earphones and eventually ignore you. The boredom is killing you and so you reach out to your pocket to retrieve your phone but you remember that you left it at home. You contend with your condition.
Halfway through the journey, the matatu gets a puncture which the driver with the help of some passengers manage to sort out. Since you had all alighted, you now board the vehicle after the repair. Unfortunately, the vehicle’s door frame gives you a good one on the head. You groan in pain for a few minutes with everyone telling you ‘pole’. You can feel warm tears wanting to roll down from your eyes but are able to prevent them though your eyes are somehow red and watery.
Minutes later, you arrive in town. As you alight, you are very careful to avoid the kind of scenario that befell you with the door. Unfortunately as you concentrate so much on the door, you miss a step and land on your face with a thud on a puddle of mud. Some women scream while good samaritans try to help you up. Unknown to you, some are pickpockets who manage to remove your wallet/purse whose contents they empty and make away with the few coins plus a flash drive that you had in your pocket only leaving a handkerchief for you perhaps to enable you wipe your tears when you realize that the wallet is gone.
After getting up, you now head to the venue where your meeting is. Upon arrival, the guard looks at you with pity before frisking you. You now head to the reception where you are to register as a visitor and are requested to leave your Card. You reach out to for your wallet/purse and upon opening it, almost collapse on the realization that it is empty. You recollect on the events that transpired since you last had it and realize that it must have been emptied when you fell down in the mud. You plead with the receptionist who allows you in since you are a regular visitor.
You are heading to the 14th floor and so you take the lift. You press a button and in a few seconds, one of the lifts opens and you get in. You press the 14th floor button and it starts going up. It stops on other floors where people get in and others get out. While it is on the 8th floor, the last person alights and you are alone. As it starts to go up, the lights go off. The elevator becomes pitch dark. You panic. The elevator is stuck. You try to press all the buttons desperately but nothing happens. You resign to fate and sit down on the elevator floor as you wait for the worst since nothing surprises you as you have had it from morning.
Having resigned to fate, you now fall asleep. You are awoken by the gradual descent of the elevator. The lights are back but the elevator is set in a way that after such an incident, it goes back to the basement. At the basement, a security guard warns you to disembark from the elevator. Oh hell, now you have to use the stairs to the 14th floor. The elevators are now labelled ‘OUT OF ORDER’
You start your journey to the 14th floor. You get to your destination all sweaty from the stairs. You were to make a presentation before a group of directors of a blue chip company on how to increase the profitability of their company. You find them leaving the board room since they had waited for you for so long and their patience had run out. You plead with them but the Managing Director refuses. You give up before you reach for the stairs to leave. Having gone down a few stairs, a messenger is sent to inform you that the directors had decided to give you a chance.
One of them looks at you and asks, ‘Having a bad day?’ to which you answer ‘ I don’t even want to talk about it’ She then says ‘Don’t worry, you’ll do just fine’ She has given you the much needed consolation. The computer is set up for you to now make your presentation. You reach to your pocket and find that your flash drive is missing. You remember the fall and are sure that it was stolen at that moment. The Managing Director says ‘See, this is an unprepared person. A joker just here to waste our time’ These words hurt you because if he only knew….
You leave the office very disappointed. You walk all the way to Jeevanjee Gardens to cool off. You lay on one of the benches and fall into deep sleep. You are awoken up by the touches of people who enquire whether you are okay since you’ve slept for more than 6 hours. It’s 7p.m. and so you make your way to the bus stop to board a matatu that will take you home. You do not even have a single cent on you but luckily, you see a conductor who is your friend and explain your situation to him. He is understanding and that is how you find yourself home.
Upon getting home, you go straight to the landlady’s house to request her to give you the spare key since you locked your keys in the house. She traces them and hands them to you before telling you that you are late on your rent payment. You open your house and find your keys. You first change your clothes then return the spare keys to the landlady and get back to your house.
You get to your phone and find that your phone is fully charged since the power came back. However, you find 116 missed calls and 23 messages where 19 are from your lover. They tried calling you but couldn’t reach you. You read through their messages and find the last message written in capital letters ‘HAVE A GOOD LIFE. DON’T EVER CALL ME’ You throw the phone on the bed and now focus on what to get for supper. You ran out of gas so you can’t cook. You eat your left over food cold then lay on your bed.
You decide to listen to some music from your phone as you replay the events of the day. You even pray and ask God never to give you a similar day ever in your life. While still deep in thought on the events that unfolded on this day, you fall into deep slumber. Tough Luck indeed.
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