JIJI NDOGO: Mombasa trip sounds scary

Granted that we never went for one after deciding to cohabit, going to the Coast seemed like a good idea. Problem was, I didn’t think we had the budget for it.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sophia said. “I got it covered.”

I spent an entire day agonising over what she meant by that. Later, I saw a letter from HQ announcing a work retreat to Mombasa. Suddenly, it all made sense. When I confronted Sophia about it, she brushed it off.

“It’s the same thing, isn’t it?” she asked.

Now that the trip is finally here, I wonder if she has any other shenanigans in mind.

“One week in Mombasa, huh?” I say. “You think there’ll be enough time for us to honeymoon?”

“Of course, stupid. You don’t think we’ll be in conference rooms all day, do you?”

“I can’t wait,” I say wistfully. “I’ve never been to the Coast. Have you?”

She pauses her packing and sits on the bed.

“Promise you won’t judge me?” she says.

“Why? What happened?”

“Promise?”

“Okay, okay. I promise.”

Sophia then breaks into a story that makes me doubt if I want to go to Mombasa after all. Back in police college, she says, she met a guy called Kim, whom she dated for about six months. After college, he posted to Mombasa.

“I didn’t hear from him for a while after that,” she says. “A year later, I heard he had been shot while trying to stop a robbery.”

A short while later, Sophia and her mother went on holiday to Mombasa.

“Everything started well. We went to eat, took in some shows and went to the beach.

“On the third day or so, I went alone to a club. I’m dancing, having a good time, then from the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of a familiar face. At first, I don’t want to believe my eyes. Then I look again and there it was.”

“Who was it?” I ask. “Had your mother followed you to the club?”

“No, silly. It was Kim.”

“What? You said he was dead.”

“So I thought. He approached me and we got to talking. He said he hadn’t died. Like, duh, right? I mean, there he was. Apparently, he had been reported dead to shield him from the robbers who had escaped.”

“Wow. The robbers were after him?”

“Something like that. Anyway, we had a grand time together. We drank, we danced and talked about old times.”

Now I’m all in. “What had he been doing?”

“He told me he was assigned to a squad fighting al Shabab.”

“A promotion? Cool.”

“He was loving it. When the club closed, he asked me to go home with him.”

“Oh, I see.” I nod several times. “Now I see why you don’t want me to judge you. What happened? You went to the guy’s place, maybe had something to eat and you went to bed and made wild love all night, right?”

“No. We didn’t eat. We jumped straight at each other like rabbits late in the mating season.”

“Sophia!”

“What can I say? We had missed each other. But the real shocker was the next morning.”

“Let me guess. Wild rabbit morning glory.”

“Nope. When I woke up, I was lying on top of a grave, naked, my clothes folded carefully over the cross. You know whose name was on the cross? That’s right, Kim.”