He walked into the showroom, packed with customers and distributors alike. His shoes made a sharp clacks on the wooden floor, causing looks to be turned toward him.
A woman stepped out of the mass and addressed him, "What would like today, sir?"
"I wonder if you have a skincare range for men?"
"Here, let me show you," leading him deeper into the premises. All around him he saw groups of people huddled over glossy brochures, listening to one person or in one-on-one discussions. He was attracted to the energy on display here. People were selling cosmetic products from Scandinavia, and teaching others how to do the same, in the process creating 'teams' of salespeople. The more people one brought in and showed how the multilevel model worked, the more one benefited from the output of their 'team'. He felt deep in his bones, however, that he could never be a part of this kind of thing. His admiration for the energy and excitement therefore fell off on this admission.
At the far end of the large hall the young woman led him around a corner and showed him to two ladies at a round table, two of whose four chairs were vacant. He was shown to one of them.
"Thank you," he said as he sat. In those brief seconds he became aware that the two ladies were very much alike. The second thing he realised was that both were looking at him intently. Looking from one to the other, suddenly a revelation broke upon him. In the same instant, the two also had a revelation.
"Nick!"
"Kate!"
"Lynn!"
They recognised each other from their childhood days instantly. He was on his feet immediately, as they all stood. Kate was nearer him and reached him first, hugging him tightly. The youngster who had brought him stood to one side, without knowing what to make of this scene. Nick drew a little away from Kate and regarded her seriously. Then he remembered that Lynn was present. Turning to her he threw his arms open to her. She came into his embrace, which proved to be as warm as Kate's. He pulled Kate back into the hug holding both of them and looking from one face to the other.
"How wonderful to see you both again!" he gushed. "I had only come here to pick up some items, and look how fortunate I have been!"
"How have you been since we left the village?" Lynn asked him. "It has been...what, seven or eight years?"
Nick's brow furrowed in concentration. "I think I left eight years ago after finishing school at Kenton." His voice became soft as he remembered those idyllic days on Kijabe Hill.
"I finished at Kijabe Girls' the following year while Lynn finished a year after that," supplied Kate. "Then we each came to the city to join University."
"Even then I thought my parents suspected there was something between us," said Nick. "By the way, where is Tina these days?" He had remembered the third sister.
"She is now in South Africa where she is studying Medicine."
He sat in silence as he remembered the escapades they got up to in their young days.
**********
Kijabe sat on a shelf in the northern wall of the Rift Valley. The slopes were heavily wooded and some of them very steep. The little village sat isolated from almost anywhere else in the heart of this peaceful paradise.
Kate and Lynn's parents owned a large farm on what some called the saddle because it nestled between steep walls on two sides. They had a small herd of cattle grazing on their pastures. The milk from these animals would normally have been taken to the dairy, but the truck broke down so often that Ronald van Cloete said exasperatedly to his wife one morning, "Away with the money! Even when the truck comes, they take ages to pay us. I will sell my milk to my neighbours instead."
The girls' mother agreed with her husband wholeheartedly. They, the little ones, enjoyed the abundance of milk and its products on days it did not sell well. They were given the duty of delivering small quantities to near neighbours who paid monthly. One such was Florence Carey the teacher, and wife of the only railway driver known to anybody in that whole district. That combination of occupations was the envy of the villagers, giving the couple an aura of respectability.
Kate and Lynn favoured this delivery more than all others. Mrs Carey gave them little snacks when they came to her door every two days. She had a store of such goodies for her own children, brought home by their father on his trips to places far and wide. Locals rarely saw these as they were of a kind not available in the local shops.
One day little Lynn asked her mother why they did not attend Kenton.
Jess answered, "First, because I am the only one employed; your father is a full- time farmer. Second, I am a government nurse. There are so many of us that the government cannot pay us enough to send our children to schools like Kenton."
The girl looked confused by all this. "Don't worry my daughter. One day you will all meet in employment and compete over the same jobs."
Kate and her sister Tina were listening to this conversation.
