He said, I love rocks, plants and soil but I don’t love them the way I love dogs and cats. I love dogs and cats in a way that’s different from the way I love chicken. I truly love chicken so much as I love pork. Though I love pork, I don’t love pigs! Then he turned and looked at her, a slight glint of pride in his gaze. He said, I love you so much but I don’t love your friends. You shouldn’t bring them with you next time I ask you out on a date. Then he reached in his wallet and pulled out four new notes of Ugx. 50,000. This warmed the cockles of her heart. He counted the four notes leisurely between his thumb and middle finger. She smiled. He paused and looked at her. She imagined what she could do with Ugx. 200,000. Her needs for the money led her to imagine how much she loved him. She smiled wider and said, “I love you babe” He whisked a pack of premium Dunhills out of his jacket pocket and tapped the top three times before pulling out one stick. She gazed at him. Money in the one hand, a cigarette and in the other-two prerequisites for death. On the other hand, he looked at the lighter seated smug next to the ash tray and imagined a beautiful girl and a lighter –two recipes to the demise of a man. He signaled to the waitress who danced to his side and lit the cigarette for him. With a slight nod, he handed her a single note of Ugx. 50,000. What is it that you were saying? He asked after the waitress left. She rolled her eyes and said, “I love you” but her love had reduced by Ugx. 50,000. The vacuum was instaneously replaced with jealousy for the pretty Muganda waitress who had walked away with one of the notes that should have been hers. I love you too. He said. Actually, I love you more than I love this country. But do you know why I love you? He then made haste to answer his own question, satire in his voice; I love you because I want to fuck you. She gauged him between her eyes and finding no reason to doubt him, she was even more resolute to get her A-game up. She giggled and whispered to him, “let’s light a shack out of here.” As they walked away, he smiled at the waitress and she seemed to drown in his essence. Fury and jealousy boiled in her mind. She fought the cocktail of feelings back with a single tear drop. For the sake of her need for Ugx. 200,000 she would fight to the doggy style to earn the money. They drove in silence. The stereo was off. He licked it that way. Beside the low whine of the AC system and the macho drone of his 3L petrol engine, the interior of the leather-soft car passed for silent. From the passenger side, she watched the RPM of his SUV raise and fluctuate with his twists and turns along the gleaming black bitumen streets of white-light district. His voice cut through the silence like a gust of cold wind on a calm moonlit night. He was blubbering about love again. He slowed down a notch, pointed to gorgeous girl standing by the bus stage and said, ‘She’s got a nice ass, don’t she? From her looks, she must be a Munyankole or A Mutooro.’ She remained silent as they made a westward turn at the helm of the street. ‘You, know,’ he continued, ‘I would love to fuck her-not because I love her but because I love to know how I would feel between her lips. The lips-the ones between those hips. Her hips.’ He concluded and chuckled! He adjusted his driving mirror and took a single look at her face before continuing with his monologue. ‘I told you earlier on about my love for chicken, right?’ As if he didn’t need a response from her, he continued. “ I love chicken because I love to eat it. Chicken! You on the other hand darling, love me because you love to spend money. Money I give you! Tell me, he said as he threw in the indicator to the left and brought the car to a crawl. The RPM dropped to less than 1000. “How much do you need for your rent?” His phone rang, he reached out, received the call and listened. She looked at him expectantly and said, Ugx. 200,000. He motioned to her to pick what she needed from the glove compartment. There was a pile of money in there and it sickened her to the pit of her gut that she had only asked for so little. He drove with one hand to the steering, held his iphone 6 s with the other hand. One of his eyes was on the road and the other was on her. When she finally got out of the car, she walked to her land lord’s house. He was waiting for her in a pair of Calvin Klein boxers. He smelled of fish, a mosque and money. She reluctantly allowed him to take off her clothes, her bra, her drawers…. He drove off wondering to himself what in essence was better-love or lust? Lust is SELFISH—the emphasis is on getting something. Lust demands immediate satisfaction. Lust says, "I want it for my own pleasure, I want it regardless of the consequences, and I want it now. Lust is the way forward. He had made his choice. No turning back now. He drove straight to the CBD, his 19In chromes lustrous against the rays of the dying evening sun. As the landlord screamed himself to his monthly orgasms that passed for her monthly rent, she imagined how long this true love she shared with this Hajji would last! Love is UNSELFISH—the emphasis is on giving. Love wants what is best for the other person. Love is willing to wait until the end of the month. Real love will wait for the right time and the right circumstances. Hajji was a patient landlord! The landlord rolled off her sweaty body and ambled to the bathroom. He opened the faucet and millions of cold droplets of water crashed off his broad shoulders and rolled down the rest of his body. He hoped his infatuation with this girl would last another month. Most infatuations did not last long, he thought. What does last is the bitter fruit of wrongdoing committed during the infatuation. When you are infatuated, you do not use common sense. Your romantic feelings are in control. When this happens, you can do some things that you will regret the rest of your life. Was he willing to regret for the rest of his life or collect this form of rent from her for the rest of his life? Allah was the judge of all men, not him, not his wives or even the Imam. While I lie on my bed writing this piece, I can’t imagine what kind of emotions and definitions of love this story downcasts on the dawn of the reader’s psyche. Others think that "love at first sight" is the real thing. Still others do not know the difference between lust and love, or between sexual attraction and love.