Peek a boo. Now you see him, then you don’t. He beats one then two and poof, off he goes. He has quick light feet and they travel at the speed of it.
There’s a simmering sense of expectation once the ball is at his feet like something should happen like something is about to happen. And as a zebra remains true to it’s stripes, something often happens.
He gets you on the edge of your seat with your arms wrapped across your torso as if nursing a stomach upset. That’s his style, taut, tense and on the ledge like a man clinging to the top of KICC by his fingernails. This is Kalama. Andre Kalama. Showing out in jersey number 7. Seventh Heaven.
It’s all a game to him. Football. This sport the opposing team’s fullbacks seem to take so seriously. Football, is all a game to him because he never loses his wry smile, smirk and sneer that suggests
“I made you once and I surely will again.” He is a magician who time and again props up with an unseen ace up his sleeve. Always probing, always a step ahead, always proactive, the opponents defense always reacting, always playing catch up like men trying to clasp visiting apparitions. You have to be really keen to track his movements because he’s rapid, a blurry image. Chef Ramsey on a chopping board.
Yet it circles back to the smile. The kind a man heeding his calling wears. His raison d’etre. This joie de vivre. Jabulile. Jabulani. This human form of lightning that strikes and strikes and goal! Minutes 27, 54, & 87. Kalama on the score sheet,shots on target, the hat trick hitman.
Here and there he will offer reminders on his humanity. Glimpses of clay feet. Clutching on his knees to catch his breath. Losing the ball to a jink gone awry because speed can be reckless.
We are definitely getting bang for buck peering from the stands at Moi Air Base Stadium. Are our collective blood sugars and blood pressures spiked? Absolutely. But we aren’t complaining, are we? It is in these gossamer spaces between life and death that we feel most alive.
I’m here to see Kalama rev it up on the pitch but even more, I’m here to live my footballing dream.
For the dreams I was unable to realize I will live vicariously through others.
