Subtle Bribery

I was at work when the dealer called. Apparently someone had bought me a car and he wanted me to pass by so that we could work out the finer details before delivery could take place. At first I said no, partly because I don’t accept expensive gifts as they usually have strings attached. I was about to hang up when i decided to find out who had purchased the gift for me. When he told me who it was I changed my mind. After work I went to his place of business, filled the paperwork, picked a colour and a few days later it was delivered. I still had not gotten over having a brand new car when my neighbour called. She informed me that there were two vehicles belonging to a private security firm outside my gate and they had been there a while. It was time to leave for home anyway so I did just that and in a hurry. When I got there, a man in a suit got out of one of the cars and proceeded to explain the situation. The security was also courtesy of my new benefactor it turned out. I just let them into my compound without a word.

Exactly a week later a real estate agent came to see me at the office with documents relating to a townhouse and before I could digest that, the bank called. Someone had transferred a substantial amount of money to my account. I decided I had had enough and was bout to pick up the phone when I remembered something. My benefactor and I had a history. We dated for a quite a while when we were younger. That was before she became rich, before she got married. I know quite a lot about her; how she started out and how she made her money. I know for a fact that her first deals weren’t straight forward, they were illegal even. That and our sex tapes, which I still had, must be the reason why she was being so generous. She had joined politics. She was a recently appointed assistant minister even. It appeared that she was pre-empting a blackmail attempt. After my reverie I decided to enjoy the free stuff because after all I had not asked for them in the first place. I signed the townhouse documents then called the bank and lied that I was actually expecting the transfer but it had slipped my mind. I eventually called to thank her. She didn’t say much but promised to make time during the week for dinner so that we could talk. We have a lot to talk about, I thought to myself.


© james wamathai 2009