(I first wrote this piece as a short story in March/April 2019. In the next two weeks I will tinker with it and expand it until we have a novella).
Peter is in Nairobi with his boss, Mwangoye. Mwangoye is attending the State of the Nation Conference at State House, Nairobi. Peter’s boss is an influential businessman based in Mombasa and is the proprietor of Pride Majengo Gems, a company that deals in precious metals and rare stones. He trades specifically in gold, silver, diamond, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. His clients are high end: foreign tourists, local businessmen, wealthy clergymen and politicians. Mwangoye also owns a chain of hotels in Mombasa and Malindi.
Mwangoye was a key fundraiser for the current President’s campaign two years ago, and he also lobbied most of the influential coast politicians for her. Many of them dumped the then ruling party Patriotic National Party for Hellen Lerose’s Democratic Resistance Party thus helping her to snatch the coastal vote on her way to presidential victory. Lerose had wanted to make Mwangoye an ambassador or a State House advisor, but Mwangoye refused. He did not want a government job. But while he remains without an official government role, he is still very close to the Republic’s first female Commander-in-Chief; she called him personally to invite him to the conference.
But unknown to the President, Mwangoye is also a certified thug with tonnes of money and a small army of goons at his beck and call. But he is also very religious, which is probably how he has managed to fool many people, including the President. He attends church every Sunday. He actually serves as a church elder at the Holy Ghost Manifestations Church in Kilifi. His conversations are usually flavored with words from the scripture.
Peter has been his driver and personal assistant for eleven years now. Mwangoye took him under his wing when he was just 19, a form four leaver with bleak prospects in life. He had scored a C in KCSE and having come from a poor background, college was out of the question.
*
Peter approached Mwangoye one Sunday after a church service and asked for a job. Mwangoye offered to take him as his personal assistant. He took him to driving school and also took him to an elite private security college where Peter studied VIP Security Management. Over time, Mwangoye has come to trust and respect Peter.
Peter is a born again Christian, but that does not deter women from pursuing him. Being a well-built young man with a macho look, a handsome face, and a sharp brain, he often attracts the attention of all kinds of women, young and old alike. So far he has managed to remain faithful to his wife and his Christian faith. But older, wealthier women present the biggest challenge to his fidelity to his marriage vows.
Once, a married female MP pestered him for sex for over a month. Things came to a head when they met in France. She and Mwangoye were on a Presidential Delegation in Paris. As was his custom, Mwangoye made private arrangements for Peter’s flight and accommodation, even though it was a state trip. Mwangoye cannot travel without his right hand man.
On the second night, after Peter bid his boss goodnight, the MP, who must have been stalking him, followed him to his hotel room late at night while semi-drunk. She tried to remove her clothes, but Peter forcibly ejected her from the room and shut the door. She threatened to teach him a lesson for humiliating her. Peter mentioned the matter to his boss the following morning, and Mwangoye promised to deal with it. The MP never bothered him again.
*
On the first day of the State of the Nation Conference, Mwangoye meets his childhood friend, Bishop John Nkanata. Bishop Nkanata and Mwangoye grew up in the same village in Kilifi, but the former relocated to Nairobi as a youth. He now runs a megachurch in Nairobi. President Hellen Lerose has been a member of the church since her days as a student at the University of Nairobi, long before she joined politics. She considers the Bishop to be her mentor and therefore consults him frequently on various issues. It is therefore not surprising that he got an invite to the conference. Bishop Nkanata is delighted to see his friend and invites him and his assistants for lunch at his church grounds. In addition to Peter, Mwangoye is accompanied by his secretary Jane.
The Bishop’s wife, Reverend Dorothy, joins them for lunch. The Bishop married Dorothy six years ago after his first wife Esther succumbed to breast cancer. Over the one hour lunch, Bishop Nkanata and Dorothy manage to persuade Mwangoye to abandon his hotel and reside with them until the end of the conference. The clergyman assures his friend that their home has an autonomous guest wing where he will have his privacy.
*
The Bishop’s residence turns out to be an estate rivaling Mwangoye’s own castle in Kilifi in both size and splendor. At least seven luxury cars are parked on the yard. Peter parks Mwangoye’s Range Rover behind a Bentley. As promised, the house has guest wings, not one but two, both autonomous. The servants’ quarters are a distance away and it is here that Peter and Jane are accommodated. The servant quarters are themselves small, one-bedroom apartments.
One guest wing, Peter learns, is permanently occupied by Dorothy’s personal assistant, a lively young lady known as Nancy. She is also in charge of hospitality both at the Bishop’s home and at the Church. Her job is to assist Dorothy in entertaining guests.
Nancy shows Mwangoye and his assistants their accommodation then gives them directions to the family dining room. When dinner is served, there are seven people at the table: The Bishop, his wife Dorothy, their young son Tony, Nancy, Mwangoye, Peter and Jane. Tony is Dorothy’s son. The late Esther’s children are all grown up. After dinner, Nancy excuses herself and says she is tired and needs to rest. The Bishop says he needs to go and pray, while Dorothy takes young Tony to bed. With the hosts gone, Mwangoye and his assistants also retire, with Jane taking a detour to her boss’s quarters as is her custom when they are on trips. Peter has always known that Mwangoye sleeps with Jane, but decided long ago that it is none of his business.
*
Peter is surprised when someone knocks at his door. He is not expecting anyone. If Mwangoye or Jane needs anything from him, they would simply call. He opens the door and is even more surprised to find Dorothy standing outside in a night dress.
“Hello Pastor, how can I help you?”
“Can I come in?” she asks, pushing her way in.
Peter is surprised. Surely, you cannot shut the door on the face of the owner of the house. Besides, she is already in. Peter shuts the door and meekly follows her to the kitchen where she is already brewing coffee on the coffeemaker. She serves two cups. Peter takes one and follows her to the sitting room, like a dog on a spell.
She sits on the couch and beckons him to sit next to her. He hesitates, then complies. Her femininity so close to him is intoxicating, and his guard goes up. She is a pastor. Her husband is a Bishop. Surely nothing can happen.
“Did the Bishop send you to me?” he asks awkwardly.
“Of course not. He is praying.”
“So how can I help you?”
He hopes he doesn’t sound rude, but her presence in the room is making him very nervous. Dorothy sets her cup of coffee on the table, takes his cup and places it on the table too and then wraps one hand around his body.
“Isn’t extra-marital sex a sin, Pastor?” he asks, trying to untangle himself from her.
She laughs scornfully.
“Pastors have needs too,” she murmurs, softly. “Come on Peter, we have about two hours before my husband finishes praying. Let us not waste time.”
Peter is hesitant. First, he wants to remain faithful to God and to his wife. But equally important, he is not willing to sleep with the wife of the President’s spiritual father. That is a man who can destroy him as easily as swatting an annoying mosquito. That is not all; the bishop is also friends with Mwangoye. If he sleeps with Dorothy and they are discovered, Peter knows that the retribution will be swift and brutal.
“But…” Peter starts to protest but Dorothy kisses him on the lips and starts fondling him. Peter’s body responds almost instantly; carnal fire instantly rages between them, and they quickly undress and land on the couch.
Just then, the door flings open.
(Continued Here)
Image by ArtTower from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/girl-female-woman-face-head-3274018/
*
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