For the Dream of 5 Years: Chapter Eleven: Beautiful Curvy Black Girls

Dan stayed in the woods, bracing for the cold and hunger. He stayed the day, the night, and another day, sipping only a drop of his water whenever he felt thirsty. He didn't sleep most of the time. He stayed under one tree for a long time and kept warming the ground, leaning on the tree, and lying down from sunset to sunrise. He did not keep track of time or switch on his phone; he was thinking about his girlfriend. The beautiful girl fit his description of a wife. That surpassed the beauty of the girls he pinned on the wall in his room—big girls, curvy, accomplished, and older. Dan thought about how those women drove him crazy whenever he saw them on the TV screen, read him the news, smiled at him, and dressed just the way he wanted them to; decent and sexy. He knew when they would come on air, just when he was ready to sit down and listen to them; he liked that they kept time, looked beautiful, and changed their clothes daily. He loved his women clean and made up. Just when he was getting a hard time deciding who to make wife, boom! Michelle showed up. Gorgeous woman, well read, worked from home, accomplished, and very curvy. She was better than the women on the screen because she was real, unaltered by brushed photos or filtered videos. If things went as he wished, she would read him the news in the house and dress for him as he would pamper her with love, shower her with affection and spoil her with money. She would never have to farm again; she would only work on her laptop, make money, and look beautiful. He was so much in love with Michelle. When he saw her on voting day, when his heart sunk, something told him that it was his responsibility to protect her. He knew that he wouldn't let her face any harm. He gave up on Boaz's money, failed to show up, and risked being punished by Boaz or the entire gang. His life was in danger, but for a good cause, his future wife, Michelle. He had read somewhere about paradigm shifts, positive declarations, meditation, keeping one's vibration high, manifestations, and many things in between that would make the universe grant one their wishes. So, for many hours, he meditated, declared that Michelle was his, commanded the universe to hear him, and shifted his paradigm. He would come out of the woods a changed man, be nicer to Michelle, worship and protect her from the world, Boaz, and Dave. He had made peace with the fact that he wouldn't have a mansion, that he wouldn't have a fleet of cars, or become a billionaire. However, things had started to change for him; with paradigm shifts, meditation, and positive declarations, and with Michelle, he could have anything he wanted, become anything he imagined, and live a much more fulfilling life. He was elated with his achievements. He had just two months to complete high school, join a good college, and become something. As a successful man, he would propose to Michelle, Simon Kabu’s style, during one of his wife's birthdays, but with a much better car, a rough terrain monster car, a jeep gladiator. He had seen the screen saver on Michelle's phone, and there was no doubt this was her dream car. He would drive it from the showroom to Michelle's school, where she would still be taking her Ph.D., to her homestead, at her mother's home during one of the holidays she would be visiting. Either way, it would draw attention, and Michelle would be happy for the first time in her life. Dave hadn't succeeded in fulfilling Michelle's dreams. If he had, Michelle wouldn't be working on her mother's farm; she would be driving her jeep gladiator, enjoying life. According to Dan, Dave was not the right man for Michelle. He had failed to make her happy. There was one problem; Boaz would be looking for Dan. He tried thinking of how he would go about school with Boaz baying for his blood. Eliminating him would be out of the question; one, he was not a murderer, and two, he had so many men working for him, and there was no way of eliminating every single one. Additionally, he wouldn't do anything that would risk him going to prison and messing up his chances with Michelle. So, he planned to run away and go to the city to save his life and start afresh. ******* Boaz wondered where Dan could have gone. He had searched for him, sent his men, and turned the village upside down, but there was no sight of him. He had disappeared into thin air. Nobody had seen him at the bus station, meaning he was still in the village. He hadn't returned home; his room was still a mess. Michelle had made peace with her decision at the polling station; she had worked on her emotions and apologized to her mother for being rude. It was the African culture for a child not to get angry, let alone direct it to the parent. She had whispered a yell to her mother; it was God's miracle a slap didn't land on her face. She had thought about it so much. Was it because she was a grown-up? No, she had witnessed her sister being beaten. Was it because she was married and a mother? That could be it! Still, that did not give her the right to put her mother on the receiving end of her frustrations. She had no hand in it. She had also considered that she was already monied and contributed significantly to her mother’s expensive lifestyle. She had laughed so loudly at that thought until her eyes welled up with tears. Her stay at home was smooth, but there was less activity on the farm. She had thought about Dan a few times and wondered why he hadn't called. The last time they talked was while hiding in the tea plantation. She felt indebted to him for saving their lives. Someone had come to their home because the chicken coop and Dodo's hutch had been left open. The animals were missing, they either strolled away or they were stolen. What would have happened if someone found them home if maybe they hadn't been locked up to protect their possessions? However, she also needed to understand how Dan knew there would be a danger. She had tried calling Dave in vain, all her calls going to voicemail. She had left him a dozen messages and was growing impatient, even though Dave had assured her that he was okay. "What if something bad has happened to Dave, Mom?" She asked her mother. "Michelle, you don't need an air ticket to reach Dave. Take the bus, and go to your husband. The voting is over, right? The political atmosphere has cooled down. What are you still doing in my house?" Her mother asked, looking her straight in the eyes, demanding a response. She had been asking Michelle to go back. Michelle had wanted to several times but needed to say goodbye to someone, Dan. "Okay, mom, tomorrow," she said. The following day, she packed her clothes and left the house. She didn't go with Mike; she would come back for him in two weeks. She needed one more reason to come back. "I need to know Dave is safe before bringing Mike home," she told her mother. She alighted from her taxi at the local centre, to buy airtime, even though her mobile money app was loaded. She wanted to see if she could see Dan. She didn't. The journey back to the city was long, with no one to talk to, no one to call, and no one waiting for her in the city. She would have to cook her meal this time. She wondered whether she would find the house out of order because Dave was unaware of her coming. She pulled her phone out of her bag and tried Dan again. He was still off, and she didn't leave him any messages like he did Dave. She turned on her music, plugged in her earphones, and selected some songs that reminded her of Dan, put them into a playlist she titled "young heart," and listened to them back to back. She rested her head on the seat's headrest and smiled through some songs, teared up through some, and played some beautiful memories with Dan through her head. She started wondering why Dave had not made her emotions erupt in such a manner lately. She wondered when last she cried just for the thought of Dave like she was crying for Dan's. She questioned why she hesitated to return to the city after the elections were over but wanted to stay longer just to see Dan. She did not love Dan, but she developed something for him in the last few days that made her pray he was safe. Something that made her alight her taxi to see whether he was somewhere. Something that made her leave her son behind so she would have one more reason to return. She wanted to see Dan more than she wanted to see Dave.