REGRET by Allan Deya (best ebook reader for ubuntu txt) 📕
Excerpt from the book:
A four part series detailing the origins 2 women a man and a child and the effects the choices each makes have on their lives.
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- Author: Allan Deya
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that devastating smile and potent charm. “Look if I pitied you I would have simply given you some money and walked away, my good deed done for the day; if I wanted to take advantage of you, I would have pretended to care and invited you to crash at my place until you were settled; and if I looked down on you I would have sent you to a shelter, where you would be provided for. Instead I have directed you to a safe house where you actually have to earn your stay at the house. Now if you despise your station in life right now you will take the offer and go make something of yourself, if not well you can let it be blown away by the wind while you bitch about how unfair life is. And just so you know, in the capital, nobody gives a shit.”
And just like that she had fallen in love with him. She might not have known it then but in retrospect, she now realized she had loved him probably before she ever met him. She might have stubbed her toe on it that first night, tripped into it when he actually went to check up on her after she had joined the safe house, stumbled a bit when she got to know him better and fallen face first into love when he had told her he cared. It had been a glorious 5 years; she had never known such complete peace, never dreamt of an all consuming love, never imagined that she could want to protect a bond that fiercely. But when faced with the option between the serene life she already had and opulence promised, she had made her choice; one that she now had to live with.
HiStory,
It had been a long time coming. It had been hard and at times impossibly bleak but he had persevered for the sake of his family, just as she had pushed him to realize his dream and his daughter had always been the inspiration he needed to scale the most daunting of mountains. He walked out of the house pockets full of gadgets, arms loaded with his supplies, English muffin clamped in his mouth. This was definitely going to be a tough day. It had been a while since he had gone out on a job himself but this particular client had been adamant that he was the only one to do it. And the call from his good friend and long time client hadn’t hurt either, so here he was about to juggle an 8:00am meeting with his board, rush all the way across town to work on a quarter acre piece of land that needed to be ready by midday and be in the office at 2:00 for a conference call with some potential strategic partners; and all this while attending to his regular duties. Not to mention that it was he was supposed to attend his baby’s first recital at 5:00pm and it was his turn to make dinner too.
Any other man would feel suffocated under all this pressure; most would run at the first chance. But he was not like other men, never had been. Where you saw pressure, he saw family. Of course it hadn’t always been like that. His most prominent memories were of the street side kids at the shopping mall. They had been the closest thing to a home that he had come into the world knowing. He had gone hungry more often than he had eaten. He had been beaten and robbed by other street kids whenever his scrounges in the Dandora garbage heap proved fruitful. So he had learnt to fight early; to stand up for himself- to protect what was his. But even then he knew that he was not going to be there for long; he had understood that he was but at a station in the journey of life. And that the destination he would ultimately arrive at, would depend solely on which direction he chose to travel. With that in mind, he had started collecting trash at age 13; after all, he spent most of the day forging in trash bins around town trying to find food- why not use the opportunity to dispose of the trash in exchange for a little consideration from the owners? After all it’s not like the city’s bin agency was any good. After 2 years he discovered the merits of recycling. That had more than doubled his daily wage.
He still remembered the day he had walked into the bank to deposit his first savings. He had gone to the city’s only river and taken a thorough scrub, not that that was saying much seeing how grimy the water was but beggars could not be choosers, put on the best clothes he owned with shoes he had found recently. He had walked into the banking hall and immediately drew the attention of the manager who after a brief word with the guards had walked over to him and asked him to leave. He could not understand at first; was it that they could not recognize him coz of the bath he had taken? Surely wasn’t he the one who had disposed of their trash 3 times a week without fail for the past year and a half? it was his first encounter with the ugly side of human nature; he knew that the manager did not want the trash collector to be seen banking in the same hall as his esteemed customers but he couldn’t understand it- wasn’t his money the same as any of the ones all those people in the line had? Why was it any different?
But it was also where he had discovered the beauty of the human soul. There had been a woman walking out of the hall around the same time as he was entering and she saw what happened. When Vincent walked out of the bank tears stinging his eyes, she was there waiting.
“Tell you what.” She had said, “Why don’t you give me that money and I will keep it for you?” he had been a street child all his life and so his trust of man should have been next to nil. But there was an honesty in the lady’s eyes, a sincerity in her voice that made him trust her. A decision that turned out to be the best he had ever made. Over the course of the next 3 months they would meet once a week outside the same bank branch, where she would take the money he had made and bank it under the account she had opened for him before taking him out to lunch where he would regale her with tales of his escapades on the streets that week. When he turned 17 she had asked him to move in with her, but only on condition that he would take the secondary school exam. “Yeah, in case you haven’t noticed I live on the street, I have lived on the streets my entire life.” “And…you think that would make me not trust you?” she had wanted to know and he was sorely tempted to answer in the affirmative. “I have never set foot inside a classroom since I was born; going into 1 now is not only pointless, it’s sad.”
“I have known you for 2 years now,” she had said “and in that time you have proven to be smarter than most graduates that I know.” That had made him smile; he had noticed that he tended to smile a lot where she was concerned. “You have a better command of English than most people I know, you speak better Swahili than I do, and you work wonders with numbers. With a mind like that I am sure Chemistry will be a breeze and you have on more than one occasion excelled at Physics.” That was met with a blank stare “All the appliances and contraptions you have either fixed or put up for me. Seriously Vin, all you need is just a little tutoring and you could go places.” But he still was not convinced and when she noticed that she was losing him she had offered a compromise. She would organize for him to get access her school’s books and facilities for a year and then sit for the exam at year’s end as a private candidate. In exchange he would get a roof over his head and an average of what he used to make while disposing of trash and selling recycle materials. “It doesn’t matter whether you pass or fail, just as long as you have the certificate.” She had told him, though they both knew that was a load of crock. As the principal of a prestigious academy, nay as an educator, there was no doubt that she wished that he would excel. Not that she needed worry; he had brought himself up with the mantra ‘anything worth doing should be done well.’ so there was no chance that he would let the system beat him. He opted to wait an extra year but she had given him his first real shot at life. And 16 years later she had gone and done it again; leaving him everything she owned.
“Honey?” his wife called from the door as he opened the door to his truck, “Aren’t you forgetting something.” He snapped out of his little reverie, dropped his baggage on the passenger seat and ran back to the door to give his wife of 2 years a long meaningful kiss. “Well, wow!”She breathed. “That’s not exactly what I was referring to but thank you anyway.” “Huh?” he asked. “Good luck at your presentations today.” She said. “Thanks babe.” he said already turning towards the car. “I swear if your head wasn’t screwed on…” in her hand she held both his palm pilot which carried his conference call details and presentation for the investors as well as a file that had the performance and projections for his board. “I knew I had forgotten something.” He said reaching for them; she pulled them out of his reach. “Ah ah boyfriend, if you want these, then I’m demanding payment.” And since there was a twinkle in her eyes, he pushed her up against the door and moved in close. “And what exactly did you have in mind miss?” he whispered as his hands roamed her back and his tongue explored her neck. “Stop it.” She laughed. “Not here, not now.” “Why?” He wanted to know ad dear God so did she. “I thought you wanted payment for them” “Um yeah…ooh, ah huh… right there. That’s not fair; you know my neck is sensitive.” She managed when she finally pushed him away. “I will settle for one of these and the promise of more tonight.” She declared as she slid into his arms for a brief kiss and a warm embrace.
Her – Story,
She waved at him until he turned down the street before going to get their daughter ready for another day at school. As she walked towards her frantic baby’s room she couldn’t help but smile. Who would have thought that Plain Jane from down the street would have tales more than ordinary for the rest of her life? She had grown up in a middle class home with working class parents; an auditor father and a school teacher mother, in a nice neighborhood and gone to respectable schools where she joined the expected clubs ad got acceptable grades. At 19, while participating in a track event she had seen herself becoming her parents. And as much as loved them, truth be told their lifestyle was drab. They never did anything notable, they didn’t even argue; her father would have been arch enemies with whoever depicted spontaneity and
And just like that she had fallen in love with him. She might not have known it then but in retrospect, she now realized she had loved him probably before she ever met him. She might have stubbed her toe on it that first night, tripped into it when he actually went to check up on her after she had joined the safe house, stumbled a bit when she got to know him better and fallen face first into love when he had told her he cared. It had been a glorious 5 years; she had never known such complete peace, never dreamt of an all consuming love, never imagined that she could want to protect a bond that fiercely. But when faced with the option between the serene life she already had and opulence promised, she had made her choice; one that she now had to live with.
HiStory,
It had been a long time coming. It had been hard and at times impossibly bleak but he had persevered for the sake of his family, just as she had pushed him to realize his dream and his daughter had always been the inspiration he needed to scale the most daunting of mountains. He walked out of the house pockets full of gadgets, arms loaded with his supplies, English muffin clamped in his mouth. This was definitely going to be a tough day. It had been a while since he had gone out on a job himself but this particular client had been adamant that he was the only one to do it. And the call from his good friend and long time client hadn’t hurt either, so here he was about to juggle an 8:00am meeting with his board, rush all the way across town to work on a quarter acre piece of land that needed to be ready by midday and be in the office at 2:00 for a conference call with some potential strategic partners; and all this while attending to his regular duties. Not to mention that it was he was supposed to attend his baby’s first recital at 5:00pm and it was his turn to make dinner too.
Any other man would feel suffocated under all this pressure; most would run at the first chance. But he was not like other men, never had been. Where you saw pressure, he saw family. Of course it hadn’t always been like that. His most prominent memories were of the street side kids at the shopping mall. They had been the closest thing to a home that he had come into the world knowing. He had gone hungry more often than he had eaten. He had been beaten and robbed by other street kids whenever his scrounges in the Dandora garbage heap proved fruitful. So he had learnt to fight early; to stand up for himself- to protect what was his. But even then he knew that he was not going to be there for long; he had understood that he was but at a station in the journey of life. And that the destination he would ultimately arrive at, would depend solely on which direction he chose to travel. With that in mind, he had started collecting trash at age 13; after all, he spent most of the day forging in trash bins around town trying to find food- why not use the opportunity to dispose of the trash in exchange for a little consideration from the owners? After all it’s not like the city’s bin agency was any good. After 2 years he discovered the merits of recycling. That had more than doubled his daily wage.
He still remembered the day he had walked into the bank to deposit his first savings. He had gone to the city’s only river and taken a thorough scrub, not that that was saying much seeing how grimy the water was but beggars could not be choosers, put on the best clothes he owned with shoes he had found recently. He had walked into the banking hall and immediately drew the attention of the manager who after a brief word with the guards had walked over to him and asked him to leave. He could not understand at first; was it that they could not recognize him coz of the bath he had taken? Surely wasn’t he the one who had disposed of their trash 3 times a week without fail for the past year and a half? it was his first encounter with the ugly side of human nature; he knew that the manager did not want the trash collector to be seen banking in the same hall as his esteemed customers but he couldn’t understand it- wasn’t his money the same as any of the ones all those people in the line had? Why was it any different?
But it was also where he had discovered the beauty of the human soul. There had been a woman walking out of the hall around the same time as he was entering and she saw what happened. When Vincent walked out of the bank tears stinging his eyes, she was there waiting.
“Tell you what.” She had said, “Why don’t you give me that money and I will keep it for you?” he had been a street child all his life and so his trust of man should have been next to nil. But there was an honesty in the lady’s eyes, a sincerity in her voice that made him trust her. A decision that turned out to be the best he had ever made. Over the course of the next 3 months they would meet once a week outside the same bank branch, where she would take the money he had made and bank it under the account she had opened for him before taking him out to lunch where he would regale her with tales of his escapades on the streets that week. When he turned 17 she had asked him to move in with her, but only on condition that he would take the secondary school exam. “Yeah, in case you haven’t noticed I live on the street, I have lived on the streets my entire life.” “And…you think that would make me not trust you?” she had wanted to know and he was sorely tempted to answer in the affirmative. “I have never set foot inside a classroom since I was born; going into 1 now is not only pointless, it’s sad.”
“I have known you for 2 years now,” she had said “and in that time you have proven to be smarter than most graduates that I know.” That had made him smile; he had noticed that he tended to smile a lot where she was concerned. “You have a better command of English than most people I know, you speak better Swahili than I do, and you work wonders with numbers. With a mind like that I am sure Chemistry will be a breeze and you have on more than one occasion excelled at Physics.” That was met with a blank stare “All the appliances and contraptions you have either fixed or put up for me. Seriously Vin, all you need is just a little tutoring and you could go places.” But he still was not convinced and when she noticed that she was losing him she had offered a compromise. She would organize for him to get access her school’s books and facilities for a year and then sit for the exam at year’s end as a private candidate. In exchange he would get a roof over his head and an average of what he used to make while disposing of trash and selling recycle materials. “It doesn’t matter whether you pass or fail, just as long as you have the certificate.” She had told him, though they both knew that was a load of crock. As the principal of a prestigious academy, nay as an educator, there was no doubt that she wished that he would excel. Not that she needed worry; he had brought himself up with the mantra ‘anything worth doing should be done well.’ so there was no chance that he would let the system beat him. He opted to wait an extra year but she had given him his first real shot at life. And 16 years later she had gone and done it again; leaving him everything she owned.
“Honey?” his wife called from the door as he opened the door to his truck, “Aren’t you forgetting something.” He snapped out of his little reverie, dropped his baggage on the passenger seat and ran back to the door to give his wife of 2 years a long meaningful kiss. “Well, wow!”She breathed. “That’s not exactly what I was referring to but thank you anyway.” “Huh?” he asked. “Good luck at your presentations today.” She said. “Thanks babe.” he said already turning towards the car. “I swear if your head wasn’t screwed on…” in her hand she held both his palm pilot which carried his conference call details and presentation for the investors as well as a file that had the performance and projections for his board. “I knew I had forgotten something.” He said reaching for them; she pulled them out of his reach. “Ah ah boyfriend, if you want these, then I’m demanding payment.” And since there was a twinkle in her eyes, he pushed her up against the door and moved in close. “And what exactly did you have in mind miss?” he whispered as his hands roamed her back and his tongue explored her neck. “Stop it.” She laughed. “Not here, not now.” “Why?” He wanted to know ad dear God so did she. “I thought you wanted payment for them” “Um yeah…ooh, ah huh… right there. That’s not fair; you know my neck is sensitive.” She managed when she finally pushed him away. “I will settle for one of these and the promise of more tonight.” She declared as she slid into his arms for a brief kiss and a warm embrace.
Her – Story,
She waved at him until he turned down the street before going to get their daughter ready for another day at school. As she walked towards her frantic baby’s room she couldn’t help but smile. Who would have thought that Plain Jane from down the street would have tales more than ordinary for the rest of her life? She had grown up in a middle class home with working class parents; an auditor father and a school teacher mother, in a nice neighborhood and gone to respectable schools where she joined the expected clubs ad got acceptable grades. At 19, while participating in a track event she had seen herself becoming her parents. And as much as loved them, truth be told their lifestyle was drab. They never did anything notable, they didn’t even argue; her father would have been arch enemies with whoever depicted spontaneity and
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