It’s Friday night. Our WhatsApp group is busy. Kris is reminding us to be early for our monthly dose of fun. It feels like a Kumbaya roll-call! The first to arrive wins ‘Merchandise’. Who uses such words on a Friday night, past 11PM? It sounds like a lonely cup of tea served with a flat potato.
Saturday 9 AM, we are all on time and moving. We discuss life goals. Rose wants to own and ride an ostrich. But the closest she can rear is a chic. Maybe pump it with steroids and watch it take over her kids’ bedroom. But she ain’t a nasty human so that dream is dead.
Moha wants a tent with an AC for our next camping event. Never mind it’s in the middle of who knows where. Lanes!! Won’t happen! He could carry a charcoal iron box, use it to heat up his room at night. But we are an environmental-friendly group. Unless he can find charcoal made from elephant poop, we aren’t allowing it. He’ll still show up. Trekkers are like that. They show up, nevertheless.
Shortly, we are in Lukenya. That name sounds like a chicken species…right? It’s Lukenya Gateway. Like a chicken prison break scene. A really nice place
Today we left our grown-up selves at home. We have one big agenda. Serious stuff in the league of world peace. We came to play childhood games.
We kick it off with a football game. There are rules. Even here. And big language. Like a trophy for the winning team. Trophies are good. They can easily give you an exaggerated sense of self-worth. So we will all work hard for one
Back in the days, the child who owned the ball dictated who played in his team. The game also ended when his mom sent for him, most likely for a beating.
But here we have to act like school helped us. So we toss a coin and make two teams. Shortly we are all panting. Within no time, it’s a draw. We do penalties, just for fun. So much randomness. Some people have two left feet. We love them still.
Second on the line up is bano, banta or marble. This game only makes sense on a dusty ground. There is something very intriguing about dusty feet and hair. Sort of a reminder that life is fleeting and you need to make friends with dust before it recalls you. People are shouting things like ‘no ponyoks’, ‘haramu’, etc.
Next in line is Police and Thief. Both teams catch all the thieves in few attempts. We could do government consultancy and catch all the big thieves.
We then find a thick-leaved tree. The lush type. The type that didn’t have daddy issues and has a high self-esteem. We lie on our torsos and play cards. (I’ve always wanted to use the word torso, especially if I could pair it with conundrum. I will have made it in life. Declare myself a keyboard warrior.) Kardi!! Someone has won the game.
It’s lunchtime. The dining/TV hall is full as residents watch the royal wedding in their fascinations. We walk in smelling hot royal sweat. All we care for is some royal lunch. One of us doesn’t eat meat. I am yet to fathom how one lives without meat.
Soon we are back to the breezy grounds. Pen and paper and it’s time for our next game: Start-Stop. Then we do two rounds of darts, someone hits the bull’s eye, and it’s a wrap.
It’s late. But we need to do a “Trek” around the area before we leave. Lukenya said we could catch some wild animals past sunset. The only animals we see are a herd of cows. Maybe they thought we are aliens and following a herd of cows as they poop all over is exhilarating. We can’t blame them. Kris’ second name sounds Khoisan. The ‘kh’ is not silent.
So it’s a wrap. We are all so proud of ourselves, feeling very accomplished, like conundrums. there you go.
We are tired. We had mad fun. We laughed way too much. And we are a little more fit. Exercise is good. “Exercise gives you endorphins and endorphins make you happy and happy people just don’t kill their husbands.” Did you ever watch the movie “Legally Blonde”?
As we drive home, once again it’s clear; life. “It comes down to a simple choice really; get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’.”
So, as for me and hubby, when it comes to The TREK events, we won’t have maybe, I’ll think about it, or no. We’ll just show up every third Sat. of the month.
Heck life is for living or we’d all have packed up by now.
