NG’ENO:
HOW A CON KILLED MY DREAM TO OWN A ‘KASMALL BIZ’
ike
every teenager with a teenage dream, the thought of owning a ‘kasmall biz ’- not only a small one but
a hyped one enough to attract everyone including those ladies that my boys eyed
struct my mind. I was so enthusiastic and to kick start that business I needed
some computer appliances; CPU, monitor, printer, bla bla bla….. So, without
hesitation, I ran to my old man and asked him to lend me some cash. Weird enough,
my old man did not ask his usual trailer of questions about the breakdown of
the money. He went into his wallet and fished 80k.
Now
I had the money at hand and the biggest task was to take my beat in the streets
to look for the appliances. It was a far cry from what I thought, it was a
difficult task and I needed the help of another person. I told my good cousin
Sam about it and he immediately recommended Mr. Delvin who worked with Super
Computer Limited- he even went ahead to
give me his number.
“Why
didn’t you come to my life earlier?” I told Sam patting him on the back feeling
accomplished.
“Helo,
My name is Mr. Delvin of SCL how may I help you?” Mr. Delvin spoke.
“Hi,
my name is Ng’eno and I would like to make a purchase, I need computer
appliances?”
“Yes,
you just got the right guy and since you want them at a cheaper price it will
be convenient we meet at the Jebirish Food Court and talk, thank you and have a
good day!” The tone at which Mr. Delvin talked to me over the phone told almost
everything about his position as the head of marketing at SCL. Splendid, I hit
a jackpot.
We
meet as agreed at Jebirish Food Court and to my content, I saw a coupe of piled
up cartons besides the guy’s car trunk. The suit he wore was a French design
one of those my old man liked bragging about and kept the at the corner of our wardrobe yet he had been given when he married off my elder sister- Denise. After
a talk over ice cold coca-cola which in this case I offered to buy, I gave Mr.
Delvin his money and loaded the appliances into a cab.
I
was sure that my boys were sitted on the
couch I had bought anticipating for the boss to arrive with the new appliances
so that they would set the place running. I got anxious and excited ans as
first as I could, I fetched some streets boys to take the cartons to the
premises.
Unbelievable!
When one carton was opened, there were no appliances just plastics. My body’s
heat went sky high and restlessness took the better of me. I tried calling Mr.
Delvin but his number was switched off. How could not see that I was being conned outright? The fact that the transaction took miles away from SCL didn’t
ring a bell. The fact that there is always a receipt for every transaction but
with ‘Mr. Delvin’s’ there was none didn’t ring a second bell. My excitement
surpassed my extra-sensory perception and I overlooked the simple facts of the
con-art. “Ng’eno falls for a con-man” was going to be the headline of every
talk.
“Welcome
aboard son, your journey has just began,” was what my old man told me.
-OLIVER MUTAI.
EMAIL: oliverolliemutai@gmail.com
