Casablanca: My tale of forbidden love

I watched a movie that got me to realise that I actually do well as a good person. It's also goes without saying that I have real impeccable taste in movies because Casablanca blew my mind. Micheal Curtiz made a masterpiece in 1942 that just resonated with me. And as I was taking it all in, I remembered of something that gave me that scene from Morocco feel. It was set in 1941 during the Nazi occupation of France. Although it is important for you to know that Casablanca was in unoccupied France. I think the French colonies were referred to as that. Okay, I digress but for you to really feel me, grasp the essence of this story, then indeed to give you the plot to this great, love story.

Rick is a businessman in Casablanca who runs a prominent night club called Rick's Café Américain. It also happens to have this "Don't ask, don't tell" policy such that it is a place where all illicit dealings go down. A state of emergency is soon issued. Turns out, some Nazis were killed and papers of transit were stolen. High ups are called in and any suspicious characters are rounded up. Somewhere, somehow...these papers land into Rick's hands. And that's when things got interesting. A former lover of Rick's, Ilsa and her wanted husband Laszlo happen to land in Casablanca and need these papers to go to go to Lisbon from where they'd escape to America. Well, past love is rekindled, but then Rick lets Ilsa go just so that she might have a shot at a real life with Laszlo even when she offers to stay with him. He would never let her live a life where she'd be on the run. It would be an unfulfilled life. Or so I felt he thought.

Now my story is in the setting of 2009. I always saw this girl pass by my hall of residence. She had a good body shape, plum as they get. She always seemed to have a manga type hair do, one usually seen in the pictures of Aaliyah (R.I.P) where one eye is covered. She was so graceful in the way she walked yet she gave off this vibe that she could live dangerously.

So one day I decide that I won't only stare. I decide to get bold. I move up to her and ask what her name is....OK, I am not that bold, I asked around. Her name was Rachael. Her name still is Rachael. That really confuses me, it's a story in past tense but her name is still the same. Ooops, i did it again. I will try not to digress. Can't make any promises more concrete than than. Anyway, she turns out to be exactly what I thought. She was a bit of a wild card. Loved people, was funny, loved sport...she was my type of girl. So we get to know one another, I go to her place, we hang out. It was bliss in a twilight zone.

But life is not perfect. I got a text from an unknown number and it read, "YOU ARE MESSING WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S WOMAN. BACK OFF" Personally, I thought it was a message sent to a wrong number. So instinctively, I asked who this person was. The belligerent response shook me off balance. It made me wonder, maybe I need to know if this person might be talking about this sweet, sweet creature I was seeing.

So I asked Rachael if she is seeing someone behind my back. To which she responds, rather candidly, that she was using me to get back to her boyfriend apparently they had broken up, but there love or relationship was the on and off type. I was the fling in between. That cut me bad, it felt like I was a pawn in a game of chess. I had been used. But she happened to say that she had fallen for me, mildly though. And was willing to learn to love me if I really wanted to pursue something serious and not the usual varsity relationship that was bound to end in six months at best.

In that moment, it occurred to me that we both wanted different things. She wanted a relationship that was about the forever story. On the other hand, I wanted a daredevil for a girlfriend. So I told her (of course it was a lie) that I am not the kind of guy to get between two people who seem to really have something bigger than them going. So I agreed to let her go, because admittedly, she still really loved this boy.

They happened to make up, and actually got married two years after we were done with school. their's has always been a lovely story. However happy the ending is/was, Rachael remains the Ilsa to my Rick. It also beats me how it possible it it that I never got to know this boy's name. Sure I asked, but when no answer came, i let go of it. See that is a problem I suffer with since I seem not to have an eye for detail. Hope it materializes soon. I remember I was once put in Charge of overseeing an exam room. Turns out the kids in this room had all cheated. I was taken aback by my incompetence as an invigilator and how possible it was that all this happened right under my nose. Oh, sorry...I did it again. Anyway, we'll just call the boy Laszlo.

And they are living happily after her Andrea sabbatical. It serves me well to know that because I let go, two people are living the life. One that is fulfilled

A shot at Fiction

An epidemic of the mannequins has come over us leaving contamination in its wake. I consider myself to be a man in my prime age and considerably important. In fact, I cannot think of anyone more important than I am in my circles. Well, my boss and a few after him in hierarchy are not to be scaled here. So it still beats me, how small minded and pig-headed anyone can be if I made them aware of this notion and all they have in retort is, “Grow up”. I sometimes have the courtesy to reiterate, and this is usually met with jeers and sneers. I hate it when I have to make the same statement a third time. Usually I am left alone then. It is a good thing I am all grown up; I had zero tolerance for these slow minds.  

You are probably wondering why I am in a rather standoff-ish mood. It’s not that long or even interesting a story. I went to see a young lady, notably late, at a Makerere hostel and got into a fight with a gateman for not letting me in. But before this, I had tried friendly, smooth then kittu kidogo…nothing worked. I mean, this guy should have considered himself lucky to get pocket change from an affluent member of the community. So you can imagine how not amused I was when he still said “NO”. So I became a jerk. Flashing out my blackberry and calling Becky out in the cold, I made some hurtful remarks towards the askari, in passing of course. But that is not why I’m telling you all this. It beats me how much I cannot battle a simple mind to reason.

Same scenario about four years ago, I was the best. I have the feeling that if I had put my mind to it, I would sell a kabiriti(promotional low grade phones) to myself and God knows I hated those phones. I had the technique where I would throw this guy off course by talking about how these girls make us do crazy things, probably showing off a new pair of shoes and revealing how much I spent just to borrow the car I had rolled up with. After a few laughs I would be let in with a warning, “I’m giving you only ten minutes” and we all know how that would go. But that is not the case with the new me. I have a company car (thank God) and I do not spend that much on it. I have some classy but not new pair of shoes on and I do not know why, but I seem to have lost my charm when it comes to the lesser folk. Call it the battle of the classes and in this one, my far superior class is losing.

But I don’t need that. I decided she should come down and see me instead. She did. But due to my very aggrieved mood, I in many ways drove her back to her room so many points were not made clear. That only means one thing, I have lost my charm with the gate-men. Big deal. But the girls too!?! I find this most disconcerting. I am a good guy, why is this part of my life not working out much as planned? I do believe in karma but still do not get what I must have done to disgrace the powers that be. So as I sped off that night all I could think about is how lower than the simple people I felt after all that. I needed some gin in the system before I could shake off these feelings. I headed to Mango Groove in Bugolobi, got light headed and finally had a bit of fun with myself. But one thing is certain, I have lost my edge over the smaller men and I seriously need it back.