He ruined our anniversary

By Susan Maina

On March 7, last year, David presented me with an engagement ring. We had dated for the last two years and we had come to the happy conclusion that we were meant for each other. I confess that deciding to date David was not the easiest of decisions. For one, my man is not the kind of Prince Charming I dreamt of in my teens and early 20s; he does not possess the basketball player’s height and neither does he possess the body of a rugby boy. My boyfriend does not like partying, does not dance….

I had looked around for a man who would possess these qualities and hold my waist on the dance hall for years without success. I would frequent dance halls, basketball training at campus and all the rugby matches at the Impala grounds. I prayed and fasted, gave my offering to the poor in the streets all as sacrifice for the man of my dreams. When I was about to give up, David happened! Handsome, soft-spoken, cordial, intelligent and smart — and nil of all I had dreamed of. So when I accepted to go out with him on a coffee date, it was largely because I had no plot plus why not? May be I might meet my dream boy among his friends, I reasoned.

Well, before I say the rest is history, suffice it to say that I am forever glad for that initial dream about a non-existent Mr Right. Were it not for him, probably I would have handed myself freely in the hands of a loser and never met my King David.

So last Saturday, the King and I went out — to celebrate our engagement anniversary. We agreed to make compromises. I would accompany him to a quiet place since he loves his silence, and later in the day we would go dancing. He chose the Resurrection Gardens in Karen and he led me through a kind of meditation on our love life. We reflected about our journey together and the end to which we both envision. We spoke about the children (two only) and the kind of environment we would want for them.

The devil

This was the first time I had had such a moment and you can be sure I will write about it again. I loved it. We had our packed lunch there and left about 5:15pm. We went to his house to freshen up.

Our next stop was a joint on Ngong Road that is famous for Mugithi ballads. With Mugithi, I was sure to have a night to remember. It never was. As we sat to order food, a drunken man staggered towards us in the dim lights. I only recognised him when he stood infront of our table. Paul had wanted to date me some time back but I had turned him down. Then here he was, not caring a bit about my company and trying to hug me; here shouting about how he was going to dance with me. David pushed him away, throwing him off balance to the ground. He left, and we had our meal.

It was now time to fulfil our plan and so I promised David that I would go slow on dancing so he could keep up. But Paul appeared, waiting for the opportune moment. He came close to us and started hurling insults at me. David wanted to ‘deal with him’ but I restrained him. He made it so uncomfortable for us that we had to get out of the place. My anniversary had been ruined.

Paul… Do men ever let go?