Due to an overdue public demand, and in connection with an overdue public apology to a brother from another race @Jimit here comes an overdue hekaya. The following events took place in the promised land of Bukusu. Also, all the conversations here happened in the said dialect but englished due to the Siberians in the house. For those of you who have had the privilege of reading my previous hekayas on ghosts, I told you I’ve encountered them thrice. However, for the reasons that you would understand, I won’t tell you the third one. Also, for the sake of my brother who we might be sharing a father, @Slippery with whom English is a challenging lingua franka I will try to mix the languages. This is after he complained of a swollen eye after reading my last hekaya that I had written in pure gentleman’s language. Optical evidence is there bora aseme “ng’we”.
Now, history has it that my grandpa was once broke yet his first born son was in dire need of school fees. Since his forefathers said ‘what is yours is what saves you’, he cut a piece of his land and sold it for a quick fix. And indeed he fixed it. The part of the land that he cut was the one that he gave to his first born son, my father. My father built me a simba just adjacent to the building. The man he sold it to had a wife with no kids yet, so he used the kaplot to develop a building of two shops, one for business purposes while the other for residential purposes. Those days, building was mostly done manually. From shaping kokotos to carrying the sand from the river to the building site. And the woman was the donkey in this case. Any sign of laziness would invite a ruthless beating from the husband. Finally the building was erect and life started, but the beating continued.
One day neighbors woke up to the shocking news. At around 5 o’clock in the morning, they heard wailing from the building. What was amyss about the wailing was that it came from the man….something unnatural in our community and indeed serious. Upon reaching, they found the lady in the building….hanging by the rope. The man claimed she killed herself while rumors from sources, intimate with credible sources said that the man killed her, then hang her so that it would look like suicide. This brief history brethren is the basis of this hekaya. The man moved out and started renting the building. There were previous incidences that I heard happened before I was born but I will focus on the ones I witnessed and experienced.
The first one to rent the building was a guy with a kisiagi. Jamaa alifanya biashara yake bila tafash for at least two weeks then it started. One day nlichelewa kurudi home from obvious escapedes na vle nlikaribia njia ya kuingia boma nikaskia tinga inaanza kunguruma. Nikashangaa kwani uyo msee amekaa hii masaa yote saa sita usiku ndo anajisiagia unga ya sapa. Ama ni nani huyo huenda tinga saa kama hizi. The moon was competing the sun itself on this night. As a pioneer of the nyumba kumi initiative, I came to a conclusion to go check it out. Kufika kwa gate ya ploti nliskia upepo ikinichapa as if lorry imenipita kwa highway. Kumbe ni jamaa wa tinga ndo alikuwa anapita. Realizing that nikatupa rungu yangu cz ingenizuia kukimbia at my best speed. Morning came na jamaa akakuja na kikosi, kuingia kuangalia tinga imekunjana kunjana as if ilikuwa inagongwa na nyundo. Akaeleza venye alikuwa anadoze akaskia tinga ikigongwagongwa, kuenda kuangalia akaona spanner zinafloat kwa hewa. Moja ikamuendea ikamiss ikachapa ukuta. As if hajachapwa na bumbuazi ya kutosha, tinga ikaanza kuwaka peke yake….mind you tinga ni ya diesel na you understand venye hizo machine huzungushwa ndo ziwake. That’s when he decided to take the coward’s way out. Akaeleza venye alikutana na creature ya kutisha kwa gate akitoka mbio. I was in no position to explain that the creature was me….hakingeeleweka. hivo ndo hiyo tinga ilitolewa kwa building.
Second instance was the guy who rented the building for the purposes of busaa brewing. At some point I overheard him complaining ati busaa yake inampeleka hasara. Another time akasema ati busaa alikuwa ameeka kunywesha watu next day aliamka akapata barren iko empty. Akaanza kuskia fununu about the reputation of the building. He did not believe it until the day aliamka akajipata amelala in the next room of the building kwa floor. Kurudi kuangalia room alikuwa amelala akilala, alipata all his bedding soaked in the barrel of busaa….thats how we ended up missing the sweet taste of the precious porridge at a close vicinity.
The third one was a family guy who moved to stay in the building. I was first asleep when I heard a knock on my door, kuangalia saa ni 1 in the morning. For security purposes, before I opened the door, I asked ‘ni nani’ in Bukusu dialet. Otherwise naeza fungua kumbe ni vijana wa village wenye humezea system yangu. And by system I mean speaker ya mtungi yenye huwa natumia kutesa raia usiku. I don’t even need to tell you how many times the village liguru had visited me over the issue. Nampa 20 bob ya chang’aa na ananisaidia kuchocha venye wananionea wivu. Answering the question was a ladys voice. I jogged my memory, went through my medullary diary kuangalia kama kuna date nlikuwa naexpect but nikasahau. All searches came back negative. Upon further interrogation, I realized that it was the neighbor’s wife. Wenye walikuwa wamerent building. She was alone, where was the husband? Where were the kids? My conclusion was labda wamepigana and so the weaker one was seeking refuge elsewhere. I asked her to go aamshe mathe but akasema my mum was dead asleep hakuwa anaitika.
Upon opening the door, akanisho first nimsaidie kwenda kubeba watoto wake from the building. Nikamuuliza bwanake ako wapi akasema alisafiri. I obeyed but kitu ya kushangaza ni ati venye tulikaribia building she stayed at a measurable distance and so I went in and carried the kids nikampelekea. Tukaenda tukaamsha my mum na story nliskia ilifanya nijute kuenda kwa iyo building. Uyo mama alieleza venye alikuwa amedoze akaamshwa na redio ikiimba at top voice. Kuamka akapata taa ya kerosene imewaka, milango iko wazi, na vyombo zimeoshwa, sparkling clean. At first hakujua what was happening akazima taa na kurudisha everything in place. Kafiri ikakumbuka iko na bible na kuieka kwa kichwa ilalie. Aliamshwa tena na nyumba iko in the same state as before, bible iko kwa miguu. Akakumbuka kuna kitu inaitwa maombi, kabla aanze ‘papa katika china la Ye’…akaslapiwa na pillow. Akatoka mbio na kuacha watoto. My mum’s house and my simba are just 50 m apart lakini kutembea kurudi kwangu felt like 1000 miles. Hizo ndo time pia shetani alichukulia opportunity na kuangusha avocado from the tree kwa shamba. What I deed to get to my house faster needs no explanation. The next incident involved me directly……