They are just friends, but.......

What you need to know:

It is about a scandal that has left everyone at the Kijiwe shocked to the spine after a friend of ours, Juma was hospitalised after a terrible beating.

Revenge is sweet’ so they say but asI have come to realise of late, such missions can be suicidal.

It is about a scandal that has left everyone at the Kijiwe shocked to the spine after a friend of ours, Juma was hospitalised after a terrible beating.

Reason, he was caught in the act with another reveller’s sweet heart! It is still incomprehensible why a person would ‘do it’ with his ‘Shemeji’ yet we are spoilt for choices.

According to the Bongo culture, your buddy’s wife is your sister-in-law. For that matter, she is strictly out of bounds.

When I asked Juma, why he went on such a self damaging mission, he told me that he was just seeking revenge because he suspected his wife was cheating on him with that guy.

“Hiyo ni hatari! Did you ever catch them the way you were caught?” I asked.

“No, but they were so friendly. And as you know when you see a dog playing with a piece of meat in most cases it ends up eating it!” he said as he stretched his bandaged arm.

“Did you try to investigate? I mean, was there any evidence of compromising behaviour between them?”

“Can there be a friendship between a man and a woman?” Juma answered with a question.

“Aha, that is not the problem here, you said you were revenging. Did you have any proof to justify your actions?” I asked him.

“I have told you. How can a woman and man be close friends? I was just suspicious.”

“So tell me what happened.”

Juma sat up on the hospital bed and started narrating his fantasy that almost sent him to meet his creator. “I introduced this guy to my wife about a year ago. I was surprised that they hit it off almost instantly. The guy would visit even when I am not home,” he said.

“Then my wife started comparing me to the guy in almost everything I did.

She would comment why I did not buy trousers like his, why didn’t I start such and such project like him. I warned my wife about being too friendly with the guy. It was like I had added paraffin to the fire, she just wouldn’t stop!”

“A day wouldn’t pass without her mentioning the guy’s name and showering him with all sorts of praise. And soon they started a certain project. I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

He was lost and didn’t know what to do. So he sought for some advice. ‘Dawa ya moto ni moto,’ he was told.

“It didn’t take me long to find the gentleman’s wife and soon we were best friends, too. As the days went by, we took our friendship to another level and soon we became more than just friends.”

Juma paused and gave me a look.

“Well my wife and the guys’ friendship ended after their fish project collapsed. That’s when I realised that they had no relationship. I was sorry but it was too little, too late. By that time my relation with the guy’s wife was like a wild flame. We had reached a point of no return and none of us had the guts to put the brakes on when tragedy struck,” he said.

Juma had been beaten severely, a beating that left him bed ridden for several weeks. I left the hospital perplexed; feeling very sorry for my friend.

That is when I asked myself the same question: Can a man and a woman be just friends?

I think that isn’t a new question. I believe you have heard it before. Is it the guy you irrigate your throat with at the local pub ?

I do not know but believe me it’s dangerous for you brothers out there to become too friendly to your Shemejis.