Missed the beginning of Simon and Sandra’s wild weekend? [Catch up on Part 1 here] before diving in.
There is something eerily graphic about feeding time for crocodiles.
As the handlers grab large chunks of meat from the buckets and throw them over to the crocodiles, their large mouths open up so widely before snapping back together with such sheer speed.
It is truly terrifying!
“Wow! Babe, have you seen that?” Sandra said, clearly excited by the action.
Simon, on the other hand, was sweating profusely. As a strategy, he had decided to focus his eyes on a tree near the crocodile enclosure, but the sound of the swishing water and the snap of the bites was enough to force his mind into a vivid imagination.
How can anyone be enjoying this? He thought to himself.
“Yes. Eh, it seems the animals were hungry. By the way, I am also quite hungry. Maybe we can also go and grab a bite,” he said to her, eager for anything that would take him away from that apocalyptic scene.
“Waaa, not now Babe. We have just got here, and we are so lucky to find their feeding time. Let’s first enjoy this, then we shall go and eat.”
SNAPPPP!
The sound of a crocodile’s mouth echoed through the enclosure again to the cheer of everyone around.
Everyone apart from Simon.
He held on tight to the rail where he was standing and returned to his first strategy: looking at the tree. But the sweat was failing him.
“Kyoka, have you seen that brown one? He has already eaten, but he clearly still wants more!” Sandra said, looking at Simon clearly for the first time. “Eh, Babe, you are sweating heavily. Are you getting hot?”
“Ha… ha… ha…” Simon tried to force a smile. “Yeah, I am getting hot. But no worries. And you are right—the brown one is greedy!”
Simon hadn’t put his eyes on the crocodiles even once, but there was no way he was going to show that he was afraid. Not to his princess.
“Oh, we can go to the shade if you are getting hot; actually, that may give us a better view of the action!” she suggested.
“Oh nooo! I actually like the sweating. It is good for the body,” Simon responded quickly.
At this point, he realized that Sandra was too invested in the crocodile feeding and his first strategy of going to eat was not working.
It was time for Plan B.
He reached for his phone as though he was going to take a photo and quickly sent a message to Rodney: Code 4.
Rodney had been Simon’s best friend since high school in 2010. Their friendship had started in an equally eventful way. During Biology class in Senior One, the teacher had taken long to arrive for the lesson. Of course, most students saw this as an opportunity for kaboozi!
That particular day, there was a ‘debate’ about who was the best action movie star. An ardent Rambo (Slyvester Stallone) fan, Rodney was defending him as the best ever. “I am telling you, Rambo is the best action fighter. He doesn’t know Jet Li!”
Simon, on the other hand, was a diehard Jet Li fan. He got passionately involved in the debate. “Look at this one! Do you know Jet Li? Jet Li can even beat two Rambos at the same time!”
The debate raged on.
While other students took part, Rodney and Simon’s voices were undeniably the loudest. What the entire class didn’t know was that the Biology teacher had asked the class prefect to write down the names of the noisemakers. The prefect had informed the students to keep quiet, but to them, “No teacher” and “Quietness” didn’t seem like a logical connection.
About 30 minutes into the lesson, the Biology teacher, Mr. Walusimbi, finally walked in.
Everyone went silent.
“Good morning, class.”
“Good morning, Mr. Walusimbi.” The students responded almost in unison.
“Okay, if you know you have been making noise, please come to the front.”
Nobody moved.
“Last chance. If you come now, there will be no punishment for you.”
Still, nobody got up. Mr. Walusimbi then moved to the class prefect and stretched out his hand for “The List.”
“Now, if I read your name, you are going to join the cleaning team in slashing the compound on Saturday. Rodney Masiko. Simon Mwebaze.”
The other students let out a light chuckle. It was true; they were the loudest in the Rambo vs. Jet Li debate.
What started as a shared punishment with a slasher in hand grew into a lifelong brotherhood, seeing them through high school, university, and now, the unpredictable terrain of their careers and love lives.
Code 4 was their signal: a notification that one was in a situation they needed to get out of, requiring a call about a fake emergency—no questions asked.
Two minutes after the message was sent, the call came through.
Simon made sure to pick it up near Sandra.
“Hello? WHAT? NOW? RIGHT NOW? Is there a way it can wait? RIGHT NOW?”
His voice successfully captured her attention.
“EH! OKAY, OKAY!”
“Babe, is everything okay?” Sandra asked. “Oh, no sweetheart. There is a work emergency and they need me. Sorry, but we have to leave.”
There was no way Sandra would doubt the emergency after that Oscar-worthy performance. She simply moved with him. Simon worked at DSS, an IT firm that handled software and networks for some of Uganda’s biggest organizations, so a work emergency was not far-fetched.
As they moved to the car, Simon was silently relieved to be away from the crocodiles.
Seeing Sandra come with him—no questions asked, just offering support—made him appreciate her more. It was a selfless act that touched his heart deeply.
That evening, she sent him a message:
“Hey Babe, I hope you were able to resolve the work emergency. I know you are the best at what you do. Thank you for the good time we had at the zoo 🐊🐊🐊, even though it was cut short.”
Simon felt a pang of guilt. He loved her even more after reading those words.
“Thank you so much, sweetheart.❤️ I will make it up to you, I promise. The emergency was taken care of. Thank you!”
“Thank God for that! So, I can see your birthday 🎂 is a few days away. Let me tell you what I am planning for you so that you can prepare accordingly.”
“Wow! Thank you, sweetheart, I am already excited! Tell me, tell me!”
“I am taking you to Jinja for bungee jumping! ”
Simon stared at the screen in disbelief. His heart skipped a beat.
Bungee jumping!
The mere thought of it made his head spin. It meant willingly throwing his body into a freefall, relying entirely on a single elastic cord to snap him back before he smashed into the abyss of the Nile. For a man who lived a strictly calculated life, it was the ultimate nightmare.
On top of this, Bungee jumping was done over the River Nile. The River Nile was the home to the very creatures he had spent the afternoon running away from. If that cord snapped, or stretched just a little too far, he would be plunging into a natural feeding ground.
He had run from the zoo.
But love was now leading him straight to their actual home.
© An original Lapatutu Story.
This adventure continues every Wednesday. The good news? You don’t have to wait—Part 3 is already out. Just a heads-up: things are about to get pretty lovey-dovey on this road trip.👉 Click here to see exactly how the trip to Jinja goes.
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