BLIND IN ONE, AYE?

Are they still called glasses even if the lens is plastic?

     I broke my glasses and …I cannot see without my glasses. Actually that is not true. I can see without my glasses, just not very clearly. The circumstances under which I broke them are just not clear. What I am sure of, however, is that I was not drunk nor high on drugs. It so happens that I was doing a *facepalm* when they broke. I think I hit them with my nail, or my knuckles or something. I don't know. It was just some bad luck. Scratch that. Bad luck is when they fall and you accidentally step on them or you sit on them by accident. What I had was not bad luck. It was like a spell or a curse. How the hell do you lightly tap a plastic lens and it breaks? Riddle me that.

I tried fixing them to the best of my abilities

     Now i have to fix them soon if I want to go on reading, and seeing as I am broker than splintered wood, I have to find a way of raising the money to fix them. Asking my dad for help is a waste of time. We agreed that in order for him to buy me glasses, I would have to never ask for glasses ever again. I agreed. In my defense, I thought that I would actually purchase specs that would last me till I got a job. Shock on me.


     The reason as to why I should never ask for glasses again is because of the price that these broken ones cost. See, before I bought them, I had these cheap dorky (no I do not mean geeky) wire frame thingies that just made me look like a mongoose with sore black eyes. They cost 1200 KenSh. They were not even correcting my eyesight but Dad said that I should use them for the time being before I got real ones. The time being a whole year. I had spoilt my eyes even more. So I demanded (begged through my mom, sis, and neighbors' house help) to get which ever specs I wanted. Like he had promised. I wanted frameless ones. The ones you wear and its not easily noticeable that you are wearing any specs. I set out to the optimetr-whatever to check them out. More shock on me.

Cartier frames. Yeah right.

      The frameless specs were more expensive than the framed ones, despite the fact that, by definition, frameless glasses should be cheaper. That should mean less material to make them and thus cheaper, right? No seriously are you getting my logic or is it just that, my logic? I just didn’t get it. He tried to explain. Frameless cost more because you cannot put glass lenses on them. Only plastic ones, he tells me. So now making plastic is harder than making glass. That is what I inferred he was trying to mean. my logic still tells me that should not be true. I concluded that the only reason they so damn expensive is because of fashion. Some famous people must have made the frameless look trendy and so even doctors are trying to rake in the bucks. Fuck you hip hop..


     My dad had promised to buy me my choice of glasses so I went on and decided to just choose a type and plead him to buy me. I have a problem with light and so the lenses had to be monochromatic. I use computers a lot so the lens had to have antiglare. Each addition meant more money. I asked the doctor what all that would cost. 13000 Kenyan fucking shillings. My jaw dropped. No way some dad I know would chuck 13 K on something he would never use. It was becoming clear that I would end up with the same dorky shit for ever.


     The doctor saw the disappointment in my eyes as he handed me the jaw I had just dropped. He asked me how much I was willing to spend. I told him 4 K. He showed me the specs worth 4 000. They had frames. I told him I wanted frameless. He looked left then right and beckoned me to come closer and then he whispered into my ear. He told me to meet him after work he would organize for me to get what I want at the price I want. Kenya.

Is that Cartier or Gartier?

    We exchanged contacts and true enough, I got my wantingS. From some downtown shops that sold the same frameless rims at a throw away price. All was left were the lenses which I guess he ‘took’ from his workplace. All I cared was I had glasses that I could see through clearly at a price that was affordable. 5500 KenSh. Trust me, frameless specs at that price is a bargain. My dad however could not get this. He had bought me glasses worth less than 1500 and was expecting the new ones to be around just as much. That is why I had to promise never to ask for glasses again before he could pay for these ones.


     And now I broke them. I have tried Cello tape but that changes the refractive index of the lens and I end up getting a head ache so strong you would think I was growing horns. I actually have to take them to Optica to get them fixed. I lost Dr. Mchoro’s number so I don’t think I can get a bargain like last time. The lens might cost around 4 K. I am not sure though. Will have to find out tomorrow. Till then, I will continue pulling and pushing my eyelids to get my eyeballs to squeeze close enough to make the image fall on the retina instead of before it. You see, I did not just sleep through my Optics classes. I actually learned something.