It’s a nice Sunday afternoon am walking in town with my handbag on one arm, food bag on the other arm clutching to my mum’s calendar as I try to hurriedly make it to the stage to pick a bus and go meet my family at my sister school for her visiting.
And an unexpected event just happens, the man walking ahead of me drops an envelop and the man walking besides me swiftly picks it, he apparently makes an effort to call the man but as he’s bit far and too preoccupied by his fast bounce he clearly doesn’t take note of what just happened and he walks on.
My walking mate lets call him Mr.Q turns the envelop the other side and walla money peeps through the clear address portion of the envelop, there is a small note attached to it and he opens it while I the avid spectator looks on in total dismay. The note is clear, it allocates money from different towns in the country and I figure it must some collection from a bus or matatu fleet perhaps being taken to the owner.
The two strangers - Mr.Q and I - who have ‘struck gold’ in this lovely day keep on walking and Mr.Q says its 40,000!! he does some quick math and he says the he will keep 25,000 since he is the one who picked the money and he will give me 15,000 since I was a witness in the whole saga……my hearts skips a bit and there is sheepish smile that I hastily hide am wondering haa is this my lucky day or what 15,000 I didn’t even think there was going to be any splitting here!
The 'gold strikers' keep on walking not looking behind least we look suspicious, we make some small talk I say am going to kencom and l learn that he is going to commercial, Mr.Q asks how and where we are going to do the split and am like that’s easy lets just enter the nearest coffee house do our thing and head our separate way, Mr.Q starts acting jittering he’s like no lets go somewhere that isn’t so crowded since that’s a lot of money and we don’t want to raise suspicion, that reasoning doesn’t make a lot of sense but I agree. There some public toilets right ahead of us and Mr.Q is like I will give you the envelop you go to the ladies and take your cut and you bring back my cut, then I think for a minute and tell him no you to go to the gents and he responds by saying that the gents are not so private then I recall the urinal kind of things and I tell that’s fine bring the envelop.
Mr.Q in his uneasiness starts asking questions, first he asks how much I have and am like am not sure maybe 1000 why? He says just to be sure I don’t mix the money then he starts giving conditions things like please don’t call any one and betray me or run away with the money and I begin to get really impatient since am running late and this deal should be as good as over!
Thoughts start criss crossing my head and I ask myself how comfortable would I be spending someone else's hard earned money? Haven’t I done my monthly budget which if am disciplined enough it will last me till end month? Does manna from heaven fall just like that in this day and age? I have just come from reading about the oil tanker explosion and those who met their tragic and painful death in what seemed like an opportunity not to be missed, a struck it rich moment gone terribly bad!
Mr.Q asks me to switch off my phone so that he can be sure that I will not call anyone once I go with the envelop to the ladies, am now getting annoyed, impatient and this is beginning to look crappy n shoddy at that point I tell him you don't have to share with me anything....keep the money am fine and I walk away and he goes his way. What would you have done?
So I talk to my friend and he thinks Mr.Q was indeed a conman and I share the story with my family and they are like thank your guardian angels because you would have come here tearing after being swindled your little money and other belongings. Looking back I never suspected him to be a conman - how i forgot my mother's advice of not talking to strangers!!
I left because I thought I wouldn’t be very comfortable spending another man’s sweat and I believe the days of manna falling are long gone and we are only rewarded by the hard work of our hands.
Greed is vice which makes many fall into similar traps and it should curbed by all means. In time of crisis and trivial situations it’s what we believe in and our principles that will help us. For me its another big up to my guardian angels!!
‘Better is little with the fear of the Lord, Than great treasures with trouble’
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