TOO LITTLE, TOO SOON.

TJ had grown to be a handsome two-year old boy. His little round eyes, bushy eyebrows, broad sharp nose and the big lips, all resembled his father. He was a perfect replica of his dad, thought his mother who was watching him. As TJ kept on struggling with a toy car trying to fix a wheel that had come out while playing with it, his mother was drifting in thoughts. Drifting back to when he had met Taheem. A young handsome and charming guy. Very ambitious and who seemed to know so much about art and music and who had ventured in a career of business.

They had met at a friend’s birthday party. She, Moriah, had been invited by Tanya. Tanya was the birthday guy’s girlfriend. Tanya and Moriah had been roommates at college. And even though they had been doing different courses and now were in different lines of work, they were still the best of friends. Taheem on the other hand had just accompanied his brother Jamal who was a friend to the birthday guy. The night had been full of fun. What with the cracking of jokes, food of all types that the guys could order and yes, not forgetting the drinks! There had been around thirty of them, friends and mutual friends. It was during the cutting of cake that Moriah had noticed Taheem stealing glances at her. At first she had had ignored him, but when she caught him staring at her again Moriah knew that the ‘stranger’ was interested in her. He had smiled at her making his already large lips to seem like a gibbous moon. She had smiled back at him.

Later that night when the music was on and people were dancing, Moriah noticed that Taheem was still seated in his chair. A bottle of Tusker in his left hand and his right hand rested on his lap tapping his fingers trying to follow the music beats. It was her turn to steal glances at him. She wanted to go over to him, and talk to him…..talk about what? Anything. Anything she could think of. Her eyes were glued to him. Moriah was fantasizing about how she would have held this guy, dancing to her favorite tune as everyone at the party watched them with envy. It was while she was lost in her thoughts, ‘their thoughts’ when Taheem saw that she was alone and decided to go over to her. She did not notice him coming.

“Hi..,” Moriah was cut off from her reverie and surprised to see her night’s crush standing next to her. She did not know what to say. She thought she had heard him utter something but could not make out what exactly it was that he’d said. She felt embarrassed.

“I hope I did not scare you.” Taheem had said.

“No. Not at all” She had answered.

“I’m Taheem,” he said while stretching his right hand to her, “but friends call me T.”

“Moriah. Nice to meet you T.” she replied with a smile while shaking his hand.

The room was by then thrown into a frenzy. People were dancing and shouting happily in drunk voices. Taheem then had asked her if she would love to go outside for a breath of fresh air and she had jumped to the idea. He went over to the makeshift bar and opened another bottle of Tusker for himself and a bottle of Smirnoff black ice for her.(He had seen her drinking that before and he did not have to ask) How observant thought Moriah as Taheem came back to where she was seated and together they had slipped outside. It had been a bit dark outside but after a while the moon came into view and the stars twinkled with excitement. They walked in silence taking in the fresh night’s air and finally sat down on the grass just a few metres from the apartment building. They sipped their beers in silence and the he had broken the silence. “It is beautiful. The sky is beautiful!” he said. She could not agree less. The moon was not yet full but it shone brightly and the stars looked dazzling. ‘So romantic’ she wanted to say that aloud but opted not to and “indeed.” Was all she could answer.

They talked about lots of things that night. Art, music, movies, religion, politics, education and even how hard it was getting an apartment in Nairobi. All this but Taheem had seemed to love talking about art and music. He had spoken so passionately about art and how powerful a tool it was to communicate what one could not express with words. ‘Art is a language of the heart’ he had said. Moriah listened to this guy who at first had seem so quiet a person but now kept on talking and talking like it was his last day. And she had listened taking in everything he had to say. They talked about their jobs too. Taheem as Moriah came to know was a marketing manager with a fashion magazine in Nairobi. The magazine was in the process of opening a branch office in both Mombasa and Kisumu and that meant he was doing a lot of travelling. Moriah realized that that’s where his love and fascination for art sprung from.  On her part, Moriah was in medicine. She had just finished her internship at the Kenyatta National Hospital and was waiting for posting from the ministry of health. Taheem had seem curious about her job, he had asked her a lot of questions about how she managed to do all that work. She felt happy that someone was interested in what she did. And not just anyone but this ‘someone’ was Taheem! It was a night to remember. They had exchanged phone numbers and promised to keep in touch. They returned to the house to find most of their friends passed out on the sofa some on the floor. Yet others were still swaying to the beats in their drunken selves. Jamal, Taheem’s brother was waiting for him. Taheem had hugged her and promised to call before leaving with his brother.

That night she had not slept but kept thinking of this handsome hunk she had had the privilege of meeting. And it was her friend Tanya who woke her up the next day not knowing when she had eventually slept. It was noon.

She had waited for him to call everyday and every night, but the call never came and she was hurting. She never talked about it to anyone even her friend Tanya who had noticed her friend to be somehow troubled. One Saturday evening as she was coming home from town, she saw someone standing close to her doorstep but with his back to her. Her heart leaped and she knew it was him! “Taheem!” she had called out loud even before reaching to where he was. He turned and Moriah could not help running into his arms. They had hugged for about three minutes each one not ready to let the other go. And finally when they did she invited him inside and they talked for a while, hugging once again. It was then that she learned of Taheem’s transfer to the coast as she put the flowers he had bought her in the flower vase. He was going to be the new branch manager in the new office opened down there. It was a bitter sweet moment. It was bitter because they were going to be away from each other at a time when they really should be seeing each other more often. But this was a promotion to him and she was happy for him. To add on top Taheem was going to be near his family as he came from the coast, a town called Kilifi which was just fifty kilometers from Mombasa. At that time Moriah was not sure where the ministry was going to post her. She really wished they took her to Mombasa to be near his love.

Taheem took her out for dinner that night before going back with her to his place in Ngong. It happened. She did not even second guess her actions as she went to his bed with him. It had happened so fast yet she felt like they had known each other for a long time. He had made love to her so gently and so passionately. The way he had rocked her body was like he’d spent all his entire life learning how to please her. ’This guy is a rare gem’ she had thought. And they had done it again and again until morning.

He had been given a one week leave before commencing on his new job in Mombasa. And the whole week he spent it with her. They stayed at both houses switching from his to hers and vice versa. She was happy. Actually she had never felt that happy since her twelfth birthday when her late mother had bought her the first mobile phone she owned. And during that week with Taheem, everything had seemed perfect in her life! The movies they watched together, the flowers he bought her, the meals they cooked together; it was all she had ever dreamed of. Finally it was over and Taheem moved to Mombasa to start on his new job. Distance did not matter that much as they kept on communicating via phone, emails and skype. And once in a while during weekends, Taheem would come to Nairobi or she would go down to Mombasa and they would spend the weekends together. She even went ahead and sent a letter to the ministry of health requesting to be posted in Mombasa. However, when the appointment letter finally came she found out that she had been retained at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Still they had kept on with their love.

Moriah was visiting Tanya one Saturday when she finally realized. Actually it was Tanya who noticed the bulge and increased weight in her friend that she asked. Apparently, Moriah had been too busy loving and working to notice that she was pregnant. And when she took the test, she realized that she was three months into being pregnant. She was happy but unsure how Taheem would react to it. But Taheem was even more happy than she’d imagined on receiving the news. After that events happened so fast. Taheem had taken her to his parents and introduced her to his family. They had loved her and she felt really welcomed. Taheem started coming to Nairobi every weekend to be with her and they spent the weekends together watching movies, playing scrabble, reading fashion magazines that Taheem would have carried with him and sometimes they would drive out of town for picnics. They were happy together. Taheem then sent her young sister who had just finished college to be with Moriah in Nairobi as she was now in her last month of pregnancy and needed assistance.

It had been on a Monday afternoon around three o’clock when she started feeling labour. Naima, Taheem’s sister drove her to the hospital where she had been admitted. Naima then called his brother and informed him on his wife’s condition. Anxious and wanting to be by his wife’s side when she delivered, Taheem hurried to the airport in time to catch the four o’clock plane to Nairobi from Mombasa. Forty five minutes later he was in a taxi to the hospital. God answered his prayers; he managed to reach the hospital before Moriah had delivered. The baby finally arrived at twenty six minutes past six o’clock after almost three hours of labour. It was a baby boy and Taheem decided to go against his family traditions and named his son after himself, Taheem Chicco Jr.

They had been discharged two hours later and Taheem drove his wife, son and sister back to the house. On reaching home, they called their families and friends and shared the good news with them.  He had stayed with them for a week before leaving for Mombasa. He had asked her to stay another week or so in Nairobi until the baby was fit to travel before they could join him in Mombasa. This time Taheem was returning to Mombasa by bus. That evening, Taheem had held his baby and kissed him before kissing his wife, hugged her sister and left for the bus station.

That was the last time they had all seen him alive.

The phone call came early in the morning. The bus in which Taheem was travelling had been involved in an accident with a trailer at a place called Mariakani. Taheem had succumbed to the accident. She had not believed it. She felt like she was in a dream and had pinched herself severally to wake herself up from the nightmare, but that was it. Taheem was gone.

Two years later and still she could not believe he was gone. She kept on thinking she would see him standing at the door every time she heard a knock on her door. Only memories remained, and the bundle of joy that God had blessed them with- Taheem Chicco Jr- or simply TJ, was all she had.

Moriah watched her son as he threw away the toy car after he could not mend it and started crying. She went over to him, plucked him from the floor and held him to his arms. “Do not cry my TJ; I am going to buy you another car. Okay? Okay Hun?” she consoled him as she wiped the tear tracks on her son’s face.