Oh, my sweet Lavenda!
How I reminisce about the good old days I shared with a gorgeous city girl who literally swept me off my feet.
Both Lavenda and I were in our formative years when she rendered my heart captive and left me helplessly in love.
On a number of occasions, when daylight bade us farewell and sunset crept in, the beautiful aroma of my mother's food was enough bait to entice me into the kitchen.
There, I would remain perched upon a small chair salivating at the prospect of devouring a delicious meal at the dining table later that evening.
Mum enchanted me with her engrossing stories as I patiently waited for something to distract her, albeit for a few seconds.
And the very moment she turned her back unknowingly, I would tiptoe up to the cupboard and scoop some cooking fat, then like a cunning cat, stealthily snatch a few pieces of meat that lay idle on the table waiting to be fried.
Before mum knew it, I had disappeared into the thin air with the loot in my pocket, only to resurface in one of those dingy corridors a few yards from our humble abode.
There, my sweet Lavenda sat graciously like a queen, her dilated eyes sparkling in the glimmer of the flickering moonshine as she waited patiently for her hero to return with meat plundered from the kitchen.
Lavenda lit up the fire using some tiny bits of dry wood we had gathered earlier. She stuffed them up so neatly in the middle of three small stones and within no time, the red meat had been scorched to an appetising brown hue in the sizzling hot oil.
Heartily, we dined the sweet delicacy while whipping up the utopian fantasy that our mimicked family set up would one day turn into reality.
My relationship with Lavenda blossomed at a time Safari Rally dominated the headlines. In our neighbourhood, the boys would create toy cars from used tin cans and improvise tyres using old and dumped flip flops.
We would then get down to a showdown to imitate the great Safari Rally championship. Guided by a couple of older boys, we navigated vast stretches of land. My sweet Lavenda was there right by my side urging me on throughout the rough and tough terrain.
Our greatest joy came when we had an opportunity to watch our heroes in action and crane our heads earnestly to catch a glimpse of Kenya's finest, Patrick Njiru.
Those who grew up watching the Safari Rally will definitely agree with me that it came with an exhilarating effect amidst a succession of ecstatic screams as the beasts roared into life. Unfortunately, the deafening peal of thunder surrounding the event is no more.
Safari Rally has a special place in my heart, so when I heard about the event, I promptly called Lavenda to keep her abreast and asked her if we could link up and relive our memories in Naivasha.
