It’s Friday. You have been waiting for this day the entire week. The week usually is a snail but during the weekend, the snail boards a Lamborghini and before you know it, it is Monday again. That is life; you are accustomed to it anyway. Everything seems to be going ok today, you are basking in the enriching morning sun while surfing the Twittersphere and suddenly a notification pops up in the class’ Whatsapp group.
It’s him again. He never disappoints on Fridays. That annoying lecturer who for some reason chooses Fridays to cover up for lectures he missed during the earlier days of the week. You hate him. The entire class abhors him too. Mainly because during the week, he is spotted laughing his ass off in the offices. He is a serial gossiper. Grapevine has it that his wife went away with their two children because of his habit. His nickname is Baba Mboga. He gossips all week only to remember on Friday that what pays his bills is his teaching job.
It’s normal, though, there has to be that one lecturer you hate in campus, but for the sake of your grades, you bottle up your feelings and persevere through his boring classes, your motivated that one day, just one day, this will all be over.
You swiftly take a shower, grab your notebook and rush the dreaded class. After a series of lullabies later by Baba Mboga, the class ends. You can’t decide what upset you more, the fact that he arrived to class late, that he extended the class by an hour or that you comprehended a whole sackful of nada the entire lecture. He makes you feel like jumping out of your skin. Maybe one day you will.
An SMS beeps. It’s Mike. Mike is one of your crew, muscular like the hulk. He is calling you out for a snooker game at the student’s joint. The day is finally taking the trajectory it was supposed to. Calming music fills the air at the student center. This is coupled with the laughter of friends having a good time. Everyone seems to be savoring the moment, except for Peter and Jamo who are at loggerheads. They are the two drunken friends, alias “the villagers” who are always tipsy by the way. You wonder when they attend their lectures but that is none of your business. You overhear the subject of their argument that while Jamo went to take a leak, Peter gulped a fair share of his drink and diluted the remnants with water. You can’t get enough of these two and the drama is worth watching, like a trainwreck you can’t stop watching. Everybody gives them a blind eye. They will kiss and make up eventually. Not necessarily in that order.
You win the first game, and your friends ask for a chance to redeem themselves. As you prepare the pool table for the second one, your phone rings. It’s Brayo. Certain words come to mind when you see his call on a Friday; girls, booze, fights and sometimes drugs. Generally, he’s bad company, the type your mama warned you about when you were a fresher. “What’s up, ladies? Can you guys confirm your location? I can’t find you here in the campus salon…” Brayo jokes.
“ Johnny,Mike and I are playing pool at the student center, will you come over or you’ll rather blow dry your hair first before joining us?” you answer.He wryly laughs for a moment and then says, “Find me in my room in ten minutes, I’ve got plans.”
Brayo always has plans, every day of the week. You wonder if he finds time to study Law. His plans are not always good, though, but for some reason, you’re still his friend. You’re hoping he also has plans about food because hunger pangs have begun invading the depths of your stomach. It is a hot afternoon.
You find Brayo in his room in his briefs and sweating profusely. A pungent smell of God knows what emanates from the room. It always is. Ostensibly, the only time he neatens his room is when he expects visitors. Are we not visitors? You’ve always wondered…the ones he refers to, as you come to learn later, are those of the fairer gender. You don’t mind though, that is Brayo being Brayo.
You look in his bed and stacks of a thousand shilling notes strike your eye. You signal Johnny who in turn signals Mike. You are all awestruck.“Where did you get all these money man?” Mike poses. Suddenly Brayo’s phone rings. The caller has no identification. We glance at each other in fright. Your day has just begun.
This is the first of a three-part series on Black Friday. Visit the site for the next installment of the series.
This article was written by Capital Campus Correspondent Isaac Shiundu.
