THE FRUITS OF ILLICIT ADVENTURES

PHOTO: rguillem.blogspot.co.ke

It so happened that two teenagers, Samuel and Helena parted ways that evening, after school. The parting had been a long one, as they held hands and gazed into each other’ s eyes. Their gazes were full of excitement. Smiles were exchanged and a wink from Samuel, to seal the deal. You could tell that these two creatures, were really in love, or was it infatuation? Only time and circumstances will tell.

Samuel and Helena went to the same school, a day secondary school within their village. They were both in their teens and you know what that means? Yes you are right, a lot of trouble. They had recently developed a strong sense of attraction towards one another and were almost inseparable and from the look of things, they might have stolen one or two quick kisses, at one point in their relationship.

Being in the same class, the two love birds could not afford to pay attention in class. This was because they sat next to each other. They kept on whispering romantic words into each other’ s ears and exchanged short love note, while the teacher was looking the other way. One such love note from Samuel read, ‘My dear love, you are the flame burning in my heart. I cannot eat or drink without you. To which Helena replied, ‘I love you more than my own life.’ Several times, one or two teachers had spotted their behavior and warned them of severe consequences, but the law discourages corporal punishment, so they knew that nothing would happen, apart from verbal threats of severe consequences.

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This particular evening, they parted with a lot of excitement. They seemed to have a plan. A lovely plan indeed, for where else could this excitement come from? Samuel seemed very happy with the plan. Why had he not thought about it before? He pinched himself on the nose, “Oh yes! I am a genius,” he said to himself happily. Whatever the plan was, it was clear that they were up to no good.

It was on a Friday, this meant that no one would be attending school the following day. That day, they headed to their homes early. Helena’s mother was surprised that she had arrived earlier than was the norm, from school.

“You mean there were no remedial classes today?” her mother asked.

“Yes mum.” She replied, but inside, she herself knew she was lying.

Their love had blossomed like a flower or so they thought. In their narrow minds they thought that it was the right time to taste the untasted, sacred water from the biblical well. ‘After all didn’t the bible say that you shall drink water from your own well? And didn’t it also say that as a youth, you shall enjoy the desires of your heart?’ reasoned the love birds. Even though Helena had always objected to such ideas, this time she felt that she was as ripe as a red ripe tomato.

A ah! A plan was in place. A well laid out plan. Since Helena slept alone in her room, she was to leave the window open. This was to allow Samuel to gain entry without any obstacles. What about the dogs? No problem, their dogs could easily be bribed using a bone and besides, they recognized Samuel. He had taken them for hunting on several occasions. It was necessary for them to take care of the dogs, because their barking could easily attract the attention of Helena’s father.

Samuel could hardly wait for the sun to set. His impatience could only be compared to that of a thirsty and penniless drunkard waiting for a friend to buy him a drink. He could imagine the wonderful night full of love, ahead. Helena was equally excited, an excitement second only to that of a mother expecting her first child. She tried hard to conceal her excitement and somehow, she managed to suppress it. She did not want her mother to suspect anything, to avoid endless questions from her. You know, a mother’s instincts are very strong and any changes can easily be noted, thus arousing unnecessary suspicions.

Everything was progressing as planned and both Samuel and Helena were happy, then ouch! Something unfortunate happened at Helena’s home, which sent the day’s plans crumbling down like the walls of Jericho. Helena’s Aunt came visiting and as usual she never seemed to be in a hurry to leave. This only meant one thing. She would sleep over. So where would she sleep? In Helena’s room of course, this meant that Helena was to sleep in the living room. Helena prayed and hoped beyond hope that her aunt would change her mind and go back where she came from, but it never happened. It was too late for Helena to communicate the change of plans to Samuel, since it was already dark.

Time came for everyone to retire to bed and as expected, the Aunt slept in Helena’s room. Since she was too tired, she even forgot to close the window. She just got into bed and slept lazily like a sack of potatoes. About one hour later, it was time for Samuel to execute his plans. Getting past the dogs was no problem. His heart throbbed, loudly with anticipation, as he climbed through the window to Helena’s room.

Once inside, finding the bed was not a problem. He found Helena right there (or so he thought). Poor boy! He did not know that luck had deserted him. All the same, he started touching her playfully.

“Oh lazy girl.” He whispered, “Why did you sleep so early?”

He tried to kiss her, but she was facing the opposite side. He turned her around, until she was lying on her back, then he said playfully, with a soft voice, “Darling, I didn’t know you were so heavy, what did you eat?”

Then suddenly, there was an ear splitting scream from the occupant of the bed, which startled everyone in the house and left Samuel numb and tongue tied. He trembled, not knowing what to do. He could not even move an inch. This jolted everyone in the house, except Helena into action. There was great commotion, which aroused the dogs and they ran around the compound barking fiercely.

Helena’s father, a former soldier, jumped swiftly out of bed, picked his huge club and ran out of his room, into the aunt’s room. His wife followed closely with a four legged stool in her hand. Helena was confused, she knew that things were not going to end well; she covered her ears and pretended to be asleep. She did not want to be a witness to possible murder or manslaughter, as her father was known to be an extremely short tempered man, having had a stint in the army, before switching to farming.

Inside the room, Samuel was too confused to run. Helena’s father switched on the lights and gave Samuel a proper thrashing. In fact his military tactics came in handy and were employed in full force. He let his fists, kicks and the club walk all over Samuel’s body without any discrimination whatsoever. Helena’s mother was not left behind. She unleashed the full potential of the stool she was carrying. In fact she used the stool so well that one of its legs got broken, while working on Samuel’s body.

Well! Well! What can we say about Samuel? Nothing much, In fact, by the time he regained consciousness, he was on a hospital bed. You would be forgiven, for thinking that a truck had run over him. What with a black eye here, a swollen face there and one or two broken bones? Poor Samuel, he had courted trouble and trouble had responded in equal measure. He was even lucky that he was not jailed for attempted rape, though his parents were unhappy that excessive force had been used on their son, who was just struggling with the pressures of adolescence. They even blamed Helena for misleading their ‘innocent’ son.

 To avoid trouble, Helena remained mum about the whole issue, but her conscience was eating her up alive. She blamed herself for everything. Luckily, things were not so bad on her side. This was because her parents still believed that she was a very innocent girl, whom Samuel was out to spoil.

The blossoming love between Samuel and Helena came to a premature end. Samuel is currently behind Helena by one class, since he had to nurse his wounds for a whole academic year. He also has a scar across one side of his face, a painful reminder of that fateful day. May their ‘sweet’ love, rest in eternal peace.