For a woman of the night who operates in the 24-hour booming economy that is Mtwapa, the sight of a foreigner is always inviting, since most are said not to be as tight-fisted as the locals.
And if the foreigner has a car, his premium rises because the hustles of getting into a matatu early in the morning or in the middle of the day are eliminated. Besides, they pay lavishly, including taxi fare, and are not unknown to throw in a decent meal and drinks. Even better is that they could fall in love and sweeten the deal with a wedding ring.
But for one sex worker, the foreigner she met turned out be more than she had bargained for, causing her to flee from lady luck in her birthday suit.
“I readily agreed to his offer. I got into his car and we headed for a nice hotel past Mtwapa,” said the visibly distraught woman to the tuk-tuk operators who offered hercomfort after her ordeal.
The night had been ‘dry’ for her so the pick-up had taken place past 6am, meaning that their entrance into the hotel was noticed by the workers streaming in for their daytime shift and those leaving. Being the norm at these hotels, no one paid much attention to her skimpy dress, understanding that for her, it was just another day at the office.
“About 15 minutes after their entrance, we heard a woman screaming from somewhere inside the building,” said a front-desk attendant at the hotel.
But before they could act, a naked woman bolted down the stairs and sprinted past the reception screaming, her clothes and shoes in her hands. She did not stop running until she was outside the hotel compound.
“Then a white man came out in his underwear, stood at the reception, looked at the running woman and burst into loud laughter,” said the attendant, who had checked-in the tourist the day before.
“In response to the curious glances from hotel staff, other guests and a few beach boys who were around, he said, ‘But I had not even started’,” the attendant conferred.
Meanwhile, the woman was at pains to explain what had transpired back in that expensive room to taxi operators outside the hotel. A small crowd had also gathered out of the blue, with the journalistic oriented amongst them using their mobile phones to capture the image for posterity.
“I have been in this business for more than ten years but I have never encountered what I saw inside that room. That man is too ‘big’ for life!” she said amid gasps of air.
“If I had not run away, I would have been dead within minutes or required stitches to repair the damage. Hawa wazungu kweli si mchezo (these white men are no joke),” she offered as the crowd went wild with laughter.
She, however, had no intention of refunding the tourist, saying she needed to be compensated for ‘shock’.
Crazy Monday
