“Henry! Are you at home?”
“Yes Dad. Why?”
“Turn on the TV to Citizen.”
“What for Dad?”
“Just watch it Henry!”
“Fine!” Henry lets off with a sigh and hangs up. Henry reaches out to the coffee table for the remote. “What the hell is this all about this time?” he grumbled as he turned on the station. “Welcome to season 5 of Slimpossible…”The TV show host went on.
“Dad! Unbelievable!” Henry was upset, yet a bit tickled. He shook is head in laughter and irritation at the same time. Slim possible is a weight-loss TV show and Dad was calling Henry fat again.
“I am a grown man who makes my own decisions. Why in the world is my Dad telling me it bothers him indirectly?”
Henry sunk into the couch and flipped to other channels. His mind began to wander, that was the fourth person in one day who was nagging him about his weight.
When Henry woke up that day he never magined he would be forced to pay for two seats in the Matatu ride to work, no one wanted to sit next to him. He protested in the first Matatu and alighted. Then the second, then the third, then finally the fourth, he bit the bullet and paid for two and comfortably sat on his seat. He was upset and stressful situations triggered hunger.
He got to work and as he eased into his chair it broke, the back of the seat fell off.
“You will have to pay for that and get your own custom made chair Henry.” Henry’s supervisor called out, causing the whole floor to stare at him. Some with eyes of pity, others fighting laughter, others frowning with disgust written on their faces. Henry was so embarrassed he left the room and went to the roof to get some air. That hurt. He felt hungry again.
He looked at his watch and it was half past noon, he had spent his whole morning on the office roof top. Henry went down the street from his office to his usual restaurant. The only person who wasn’t bothered by his size; Muhia, the owner of the restaurant offered him a savoury meal. He padded Henry’s plate as always. Henry felt better after his meal, but he felt so bad. He hated himself.
After lunch while walking back to the office, toothpick in mouth, his blissful lunch break was soon shattered by, “Ka-fatty, sonko! We! Cheki ki simu slim possible mpya.” The hawker brandished a counterfeit Samsung, it was pretty obvious, it was called Samnung. Could Henry’s day get any much worse? A hawker calling him fat as well, was there a conspiracy to make him feel bad today?
His day was crowned in misery thanks to Dad. Now Henry was on his couch pensive and miserable, he stopped for a moment, pulled out a weighing machine and looked at his weight, he was 170kgs. Henry stripped his shirt in the mirror and looked at himself, he felt a sense of self loathing. He walked away, shirtless and into his room never to walk out again.
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