The BATHTUB

When I first moved in to my campus hostels a few years ago, as a more cleverer individual than I am now(my grades drop every year), I was very impressed. It’s not the girls who impressed me, or the large multiple of roommates I had (and the fact that some of them talked about everything in terms of cash, like soda bottles), or the fact that I had been allocated a room near the administration block.
I remember the day well; it was that day of registration. I had spent the whole day squeezed between two huge guys in the queue. It’s not a good day, when some parts of a dudes anatomy are hovering about some parts of your anatomy in the queue. Furthermore, since I was traveling from upcountry(my editor suggested that I use that word, even if I had been traveling uphill for most of the journey) I had bought a lot of drinks , which I had imbibed. I was pressed by the time I was been allocated a room, and first place I headed to was the washrooms.
That was when it struck my eyes, for a moment I was dazzled. I even forgot I was pressed, and stood looking at it. All the good times we would have together flashed in front of my mind.
I could not think of anything else that day. Even sleeping was a problem. I was looking forward to the next day, when I would finally get the chance I was looking forward to, a chance of my life.
Then I woke up, in the middle of the night, or so I think, and went for another pee. As I passed by the desire of my dreams, I found a drunk dude , vomiting all over the object of my dreams. My heart felt like it had been stabbed in a thousand places. I did not even go back to sleep, I just couldn’t.
In the morning, it was even worse, I found another dude washing his muddy shoes(I think I saw even much more than mud, and there was that faint, but distinguishable stench from them) in there. Just as he left, a stupid idiot passed by , and deposited the remains of his last meal there.
I had to go use the showers, to wash away my dreams. How could I use the BATHTUB, seeing how it much it was a rubbish dump to others. Since then, the BATHTUB has seen a lot more than just this, and I understand that in Kenya, maybe that is what they are made for.

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Dennis Kioko

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