My first hekaya, poleni kwa majina magumu.
Ukhevi has two wives. Yea, he has had two wives since those days we used to dance in December parties. I can’t say one wife is younger than another. No. They are age mates. In fact, the one he married ten years later was rumored to be older than the first one. Ukhevi was neither rich nor poor. He owned a shop at one of our many shopping centres in the village. Besides selling consumables, he operated a sewing machine in one corner of his shop. Many people envied him. A man of means by local scales.
The first wife used to assist him sell things in the shop. She had been doing so for close to a decade before the second wife landed. She continued even thereafter. She was keen to ensure the shop business survived. And for good reason. Years later, the business paid fees for her children in secondary school. The second wife’s children were still in lower primary.
One day, Ukhevi went to Kakamega town on his Humber bicycle to collect merchandise. The first wife had commitments. She could not run the business in the absence of Ukhevi. Naturally, the second wife was given the responsibility of running the shop for that day. Her birthplace was in walking range of the shop. She sent word and her people came over to greet her as she manned the shop. For those who know my sisters from Ingokholand, her first family in order of priority is where she was born. The family she establishes with her husband is second. Okay, don’t make faces at me because because you age while at it.
Ukhevi’s second wife gave some “sugar” to her people ndio wasikufe njaa. Sugar in my lingo includes non sugary goods like material ya kushona nguo, shoes, beans etc. She reasoned that her family too needed to benefit from the shop like the first wife’s family whose children were being educated by the proceeds from the shop… to be continued. Nimepata wageni saa hii
Ukhevi’s journey to Kakamega was minus drama until he was on the way back with his Humber reeling under a load of assorted goods for shop stocking. He had covered three kilometers from town and was about to left-turn off the tarmac at Stendimboga when he engaged a mishap. A lorry coming from Kakamega to Webuye wanted to overtake him in the face of an oncoming bus headed to Kakamega town. The road was by then narrow. Too narrow to comfortably accommodate the three road users at a specific point simultaneously. The lorry driver decided to veer off the road to the left to avoid knocking Ukevi and bicycle. Ukhevi unknowingly went off the road in the same direction as the lorry. The lorry nudged him with his goods away towards the arriving bus. To avoid knocking him, the bus belatedly veered off the road to the right. Ukhevi’s bicycle connected with the rear section of the bus and that is why he found himself flat on the tarmac with a mangled bicycle and countless merchandise strewn all over the black tar in simmering afternoon heat. The two vehicles stopped and a crowd gathered to assist him salvage what he could. He managed to recover matchboxes, utensils, fabrics and a few exercise books. He lost sugar, salt, cooking oil, kerosene and sodas. Fortunately, Were who was coming from Kakamega helped in carrying the salvages to Ukhevi’s home, 15 km away. Ukhevi labored with the mangled bicycle home.
When the clock struck 3pm, Ukhevi was at his shop. He asked for a record of the day’s sales. The second wife had sold very little. But Ukhevi’s sensitive eye noted the many things that were missing. When he got the true picture of what had transpired, Ukhevi could not contain himself.
The name Ukhevi is derived from the art of circumcision. Those people who practice it generally shake their bodies involuntarily as they wait for the candidate. You can now understand why Ukhevi shook involuntarily with anger. When he remembered the near death encounter on the road, he could not contain himself… to be continued. Am sleepy.