Free to be me

I met a free spirit on a journey to western Uganda. She strode through the aisle like a model straight to the last row on bus and squeezed between me and a woman with two children. Having sat down, she fixed me a cheeky smile and winked at the adorable children on the woman's laps. 

Life's too short; be yourself and enjoy it

She then opened her brown leather handbag. It was the biggest handbag I ever saw; her arms must have iron weight to be able to carry that bag! Guess what she pulled out of that gigantic handbag? A chicken thigh that must have been a maraboustock's, for it was way longer than a normal chicken's. She made the sign of the cross and tore through it ravenously.  How she moved her jaws and smacked her lips! 

She was generous too; she tore off two pieces and gave the two children who had been watching her like a dog keen for a bone from its master's table.

Having eaten, Ms Free Spirit opened her handbag again and pulled out a green bottle with a long neck. She brought it to her mouth and galloped down its contents with wild relish.

The bus was playing a song by Mesach Semakula, and this lady easily sang along. In fact she sang like a balladeer to every Luganda song that followed, word for word. Some people turned to look at her singing and she didn't mind them at all.

I thought to myself, what a free-spirited woman this is! Then I remembered the words of my philosophical friend that "Life is too short, sweet but hard." This lady seems to know this and makes the most of life from the way she strides into the bus to how she munches her chicken and sings her heart out to the songs pumping from the bus stereo.