Tuesday, September 3, 2019

When Greed Turns Into Blackmail...


One thing Juliana was so fixated with by the time she and boyfriend Andrew graduated, was she didn’t have the patience for him telling her how he would be loaded by the time he hits 40. She wanted him to mint ‘their’ money TODAY and not twenty years later.

To be honest, Andrew was rather dim not to figure out that Juliana had no desire to cohabit with him in a rented hovel in Naalya and play happy families while he builds up ‘their’ fortune. She wanted the good life immediately, and if Andrew couldn’t provide, she would hustle. However, she didn’t want to be known as a hussy who sluts it from bed-to-bed looking to snare a man to give her the good life.
By graduation, Andrew had found a house for them – in a Naalya estate and the rent was affordable – 300k-a-month which, his parents agreed to meet until he found his footing. He was, so he told us, in ‘temporary housing’. Of course Juliana sneered at the ‘temporary housing’ saying she “can’t live in a house that has mabaati for a roof.” So she gave him an ultimatum. “When you get your act together, let me know.” Ouch!


When he next heard from her, she was inviting him to her flat in Bukasa, Muyenga. He went over with an open mind bearing in mind he knew her job a lab assistant in a private hospital didn’t pay well. But when he got there, the flat was impressive enough – three bedroomed, tiled, granite kitchen and so forth. Quickly guessing, he estimated rent must be in the region of 900k + a month yet, she was barely earning 400k. He suppressed his thoughts as to how she was able to live in an upscale flat on her meagre pay.

On that visit, the flat was almost bare but on every subsequent visit and to plagiarize from the NRM Party manifesto, there were signs of ‘steady progress’ - a 40-inch curved Samsung screen, a six burner gas cooker, microwave, and stainless steel saucepans from Game Store. Again, he suppressed his thoughts as to how she was able to afford those luxuries on her pay.


Meanwhile, he was still incarcerated in the Naalya rental and while he had a job that paid 900k, he just couldn’t afford the stuff Juliana had in her flat. He still had to make do with cheap or second hand clothing from downtown. And shopping in Game Store for stainless steel saucepans, was out of his realm. He bought cheap ones from a roadside stall as he walked home from the stage.

Over time they began to drift apart. All updates on what she was doing, he got from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And when he saw the pictures, the haunts they used to visit while dating on campus because they were affordable, had been replaced by outings to swanky high end joints - La Cabana, Skyz Hotel, Jazz Safari in Munyonyo and wait for it, wait for it, securing herself an invite to Rajiv Ruparelia’s wedding anniversary bash – yet Rajiv and Juliana live in different worlds! But he still had hope in her because in the pictures, there was never a photo of a recurring man hovering in the background who might be her financier.


But all scams eventually unravel. Juliana wasn’t whoring around as Andrew and we, his friends suspected but, using her position in the HIV lab to blackmail clients into keeping their statuses under wraps. Obviously she got fired, was blacklisted and went underground. The last Andrew heard of what she might be doing – hustling in Hoima.

By the way, Andrew – so he tells us, bought two acres of land somewhere off Entebbe Road. He might just be true to his word of being loaded by the time he hits 40. 

Picture Credits: psychologytoday.com, differencebetween.info 
                    

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