SHE GAVE ME THE AIDS IN (PART ONE)

"You are so hot,  I will let you give me AIDS" I wink and she bursts out in a fit of infectious laughter. Her laughter is loud and careless and attracts the attention of other customers. We are in Java house, Eldoret town. "Seriously, you are so hot... it is worth it!" this sends her screaming in extended laughter. She is one of those humans who run away from the point where the joke was cracked while laughing.  A waiter signals us to keep it down.
"Chochi you should be a comedian!" she wipes her tears. It is my turn to laugh.
"You know I do stand-up for a living!" I punch her playfully on her shoulder and she punches back. she is a joy to be around. Her name is Viola and she has HIV and AIDS.

"Viola" is the name she told me to use in our interview. Its is also her stripper name. She broke the news about her HIV status via a text message, "Hey Chochi, I want you to publish my story on your blog. And I have AIDS". That's it. And I have AIDS.  That is how she put it, hard and cold.
" '...and i have AIDS'? Really?" I asked her.
"When you break such news several times you stop beating around the bush and just drop the bomb. I am used to all types of reactions..."
"How many people know?"
"Those who need to know." she sipped her second cup of coffee. I liked the way her pink lips kissed the mug.  It had been close to two years since I had last seen her back in campus.
"So where do we begin?" I try to be serious because we are loud and people are looking at us disapprovingly. "I mean,  since how long have you had it?"
"I have known for eighteen months now. Your friend gave it to me... "
"You have to stop dropping bombs like that! " My heart was literally beating in my throat. It is a bit disappointing that all my male friends crossed my mind and I suspected 99 percent of them.
"You know her quite well too. " Another bombshell.
I was speechless. A few seconds pass before I realize I am staring at her, looking into her eyes the way a certain 2022 presidential candidate looks at a land he wants to grab.  "Dude! You ain't fun anymore... "
I suddenly see in her eyes what she is afraid of, the reality of what she has in her. She has made it this far by taking it all lightly and laughing it off. In this dead moment I can see pain written in subtle wrinkles under her eyes. The pink lipstick covers a tiny sore that can only be spotted if you are looking for it. She sighs heavily and a hint of brandy hits me from her breath. For a brief moment there she hasn't got it all together as she would love the world to see and think.
"Are you still dating that nasty girl who does not know how to dance?" Viola asks, changing the topic and returning me back to the room.
"I left her" I smile halfway
"It's the dancing, isn't it?" Her careless laugh joins mine. When the laughter dies I realise we cannot look at each other with the comfort we began this date with.
"How did it happen?" I tap my pen on my notebook
"Well her dancing was so horrible you left her! " She laughs so had she starts coughing uncontrollably.
"Go away! You know what I mean! " I ignore the coughing.
"Well, my house was locked because I had not paid rent for two months going into the third month. I lacked a place to crush so I slept at a night club for a couple of days... That's where I met your friend. She bought me a meal and a drink. We talked about you for most part since it was the only thing we had in common. I waited till I was high enough to tell her about my accommodation situation and she was more than happy to help me out. That bitch! " There was pure hate and anger in her voice and written allover her oval face was pain. "She abused me emotionally, physically and sexually. Just because she had taken me in...  And she gave me the aids. " She said this looking straight in to my eyes. It felt uncomfortable. I felt she blamed me. I don't know why. I wanted to look away but it felt  unfair to look away, like i owed her this gaze; just as it felt unfair to ask 'How did she give you AIDS?'

To be continued...