My best friend and Campus roommate (Vincent) was in a situation where he had to choose between his girlfriend and his mother…
I first met Vincent seven years ago. We were both first year students at Moi university. We were young, naive, self driven and ready to expand our career horizons. Fate connected us and we ended up sharing a hostel room. Like any other uni students, life wasn’t easy. We juggled between long boring lectures, extremely difficult assignments and a fast paced social life.
Somehow we managed.
Vincent came from a humble family (If that’s the disciplined word for poor).
In fact, he didn’t hail from a poor family. He hailed from a POOR family. He always looked frustrated, but he believed on a better tomorrow. His HELB monies were sent wholly back the village to manage his mum’s blood cancer. His late dad had been their soul breadwinner, before he lost his life in a grisly road accident a year before Vincent joined secondary school. Synonymous to traditional African ways of doing things, Vincent’s paternal uncles took away the little piece of land that their dad had left behind. Rendering him and his widowed mother homeless, foodless, defenseless and painfully vulnerable.
But we all know the lengths our mothers can go to get us educated. Right?
Fast forward, Vincent did well in his law studies. He was hardworking, sharp and always going full lengths to get his grades up. By default, he became a darling to the university professors. Without a doubt, he was headed to greatness and it was only a matter of time and he’d be one of the country’s most sort after advocates, raking in a decent income. Decent enough to wipe away his mother’s tears of painful years.
Now, my guy Vincent had a girlfriend called Sandra
She studied business administration at KU though she was forced to drop out. Reasons? Fees.
She opted to defer her studies, go back to her home village and wait for Vincent to finish his degree program, get a job and perhaps support her continuation with studies.
Fast forward.
We graduated in November 2018. As it would be, Vincent joined Kenya School of Law to attain his legal proficiency. On the side, he landed a part time job with amnesty international. So definitely some monies began to come his way.
A dillema occurred.
Did I mention that Vincent loved Sandra? For reals he did. To some of us who were close to Vincent, that wasn’t love. That was obsession. He was crazy over her. He spoke highly of her. He fantasied of how she would mother his kids and upon her, he would build a solid foundation of his home. He made love look so simple, yet so real. Were we jealous of them? No, that’s an understatement.
Fast forward..
By the time Vincent was landing his first major gigs as an advocate of the high court of Kenya, his mum’s cancer was hitting stage 4. Her last wishes were that Vincent would buy some land, build her a decent house, a place for her final rest.
Vincent knew this wish.
He had it at the back of his mind. He endeavored to fulfill it. Come what may.
2 years into his flourishing career as the most sort after lawyer in Nairobi, Vincent’s bank balances became impressive! He won top dollar court cases involving companies and multinationals. And by his mother’s wish and desire, He called some of the city’s finest architects to begin designing his mum’s home.
Indeed it was a dream coming true for Vincet Old mum.
Elsewhere,
Sandra, Vincent’s love, heard of the impending construction of Vincent’s mum’s dream home and hell broke loose
Vincent received a call from her that shook him to the core. Sandra asked him to build her a similar home. At the same time!
What were the consequences of not agreeing? He would lose her. And did I mention that Vincent was overly crazy about this girl? Yes I did.
Vincent approached his bankers and requested for another top up loan to enable him build the two houses consecutively. Unfortunately, the bankers couldn’t accept as the amounts being requested were huge and his credit worthiness wasn’t as strong to activate such amounts of borrowing. He could only proceed with one house! So our good guy Vincent weighed his options. If he proceeded to commence the construction of his mum’s house without making similar arrangements with Sandra’s, she would leave him for ‘another well off guy’ willing to do so. He would lose her! He’d be very frustrated.
But if he would proceed with Sandra’s house first, he would finish it in time, and build his mum’s in just a few months. His mom wouldn’t know.
And that way, he would have kept them both. The two loves of his life. After all, it was only a matter of months apart. Right?
A ns o just like that, y friend Vincent stopped building his sick and old mum a house, and begun that of his girl Sandra
Sandra was happy. She couldn’t stop professing her undying love for Vincent. The house has several self-contained bedrooms. She’d bring her mom over to stay with her for a couple of months.
You and I can guess how much her heart was filled with contentment. Once in a while, Vincent would visit to see the construction progress. The two were happy.
Then something happened.
Vincent’s mum got wind of the home that Vincent was building for his girlfriend Sandra.
At this point, trust me, I also do not know how she got wind of it. Vincent thought the secret was fully covered.
The poor old lady could not believe her ears. A home? For some random lady her son had met at Uni? No. That wasn’t her Vincent. She knew her son too well. He wasn’t capable of such jokes.
But poor mama didn’t know how this generation Y sweethearts can be so convincing. She didn’t know how these loves could be so manipulative. And how they had mastered the craft of swirling even the sharpest of minds. Poor mama.
She didn’t ask Vincent anything.
She knew better not to. Because unless she saw with her own eyes, she wouldn’t believe. With the little money she had been saving, she decided to go and see the house for her self. She made her inquiries discreetly until she knew the exact location. She planned on her trip to the final details. On the said travel day, she prayed before leaving. Her ask of God was very simple. LET IT NOT BE TRUE.
And off she went.
At this point, dear reader, its important to note that this is the same day that Vincent had planned to go and see on the final finishing of the mansion.
He left Nairobi at around the same time his mom had left the village. Mother and Son on the road, travelling to the same destination, unawares. Yet on different missions! Vincent’s mum got to the site earlier. She found Sandra and a few of her foremen finishing on the final touches of the mega mansion. She introduced herself as a Jehovah’s witness who was there to pray for the house and dedicate it to God. She was welcome, food was served and Sandra Joyfully told her to wait for her husband, so that he too would participate in the dedication prayer.
Life!
Vincent’s mum would clearly see her son’s portrait photo hanging on the wall at the new sittingroom. Well built, handsome, happy.
To say that the poor mama was shocked will be a lie. Her world had stopped. She was in a mental turmoil. A haze.
She held herself not to fall off from her seat. Instinctively, she called on one of Sandra’s youngest baby cousins who Sandra had brought along to stay with her. She asked the little girl to show her the rooms of the mansion that she was to ‘pray for’. The little girl was 6 years old.. She gladly led the aged mama from one room to the next. Excitedly.
Outside the mansion, Vincent’s huge car had arrived. Sandra was happy to see the love of her life. She welcomed Vincent and announced that a Jehovah’s witness had come to dedicate the house, and that she was patiently waiting at the sitting room. Vincent too seemed excited. Upon Sandra enquiring what was making her man overly happy, he proudly said that his Bank had approved of his loan to offset the construction of his mum’s landmark home and that after his visit here, he’d rush to go see her. They hugged. A warm hug. They glowed with contentment.
At that moment, Sandra’s baby cousin rushed to them and shouted that the ‘Jehovah’s witness guest’ was at the seventh bedroom, playing with the little girl’s skipping rope.
Vincent and Sandra rushed upstairs, checking room after room, till they got to the seventh bedroom. They pushed the the door open..and BOOM.
Vincent saw his mother.
Her lifeless body hanging from the ceiling.. The skipping rope firmly tied on her neck
