After ile kisanga ya kuchoma ploti juu ya hasira za paka, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, we moved to a better neighbourhood.
Later tukapata kamboch kamBukusu kitu swafi. Nekesa was her name. At first hakunibamba juu ya vyenye alikuwa anajiachilia tu kihivi hivi. Mara amepita na kamisi ya yellow ikihang chini ya skirt na ati sahio ametoka kuoga, akavaa na akajiangalia kwa kioo, kidogo amebomoa nywele nadhani atachange style ndo huyo ameshuka tena matuta zake. As much as I was still a naive teenager hio singewesa. As time went by, she started kujipamba, kujipaka tumafuta tunanukia manukato na kuanza kushuka tu.lines a change from her old matuta crap, then ufala ya kuniita muchamaa pia akawacha juu ilibidi nimkataze. All over sudden I started paying some attention. Lust ikaanza ku develop, nikajipata nime change base from my room to dirisha ya kitchen hapo nje na si juu ya njaa.
Now just to help you understand the set up. Ours was a two bedroomed house with a small kitchen beside the main entrance to the sitting room and a small corridor at the back leading to the combined bathroom/toilet, the master bedroom and our bedroom being on the opposite sides of the corridor. Nekesa had to spread her mattress on the floor in the sitting room after everyone had gone to sleep, only reason given for this was that there were boys sleeping in the other bedroom and mum wasn’t ready to be called a grandma yet.
I suddenly developed the drive and motivation to ‘read hard’ late into the night (btw sikuwa the best of friends na vitabu) and what a better place to do this so as not to be tempted by sleep, of course not the bedroom. Thats how I ended up studying in the sitting room. One thing I noticed was that, kadem kalikuwa kana fall asleep as soon as kamefunika kichwa hata ukimgonga hashtuki making it kazi rahisi kumhaisa.
One day out of the blue, mzee Njoro (buda) akaniuliza how come nimekuwa serious na masomo hivo tu, as it was unlike Kush to stay awake late into the night especially where matters books was concerned. We had collided on several occassions juu ya hio masomo moja tu and the old man used blows on us boys, sio mambo ya mchipi. He always said, “mtu kichwa ngumu ni mwanaume tosha”.
Kuhaisa nilihaisa mara kadha bila rabsha until this fateful night. As usual after supper, nkachukua books zangu na kujiseti in my favourite position and got down to my usual fake seriousness while napiga matimings zangu tu mosmos. Mbuyu akapitia hapo akienda kulala nkamwish goodnight na kuendelea ‘kusoma’. Nekesa naye akamalizana na vyombo zake, akaosha miguu kutoa vumbi then akatandaza matress yake akajiwekelea. Hapo na mimi nkaset disco watch yangu. 20 mins kuisha hivi nikazima lights na kuslide ndani ya ‘bed’, right between the blanket and the mboch. Kawaida yake alikuwa analala chali so haikuwa noma kukuta vitu.
Nikiwa katika harakati za kushusha, ghafla bin vu stima ikawakishwa, before nijipange mdhama akafika. Alipigwa na butwa na mimi nkabaki na mshangao, nkaanza kujitetea kabla niulizwe swali. Nikasikia amewika, “Gai mwathani jeso, ní shaitani úrekú úyú … woooi!!!”. Nkajuwa hapo lazima mzee Njoro ataamka and that meant only one thing … KO. All this time mboch alikuwa ameamka just cussing why ‘andy’ as she used to call my mum, had to interupt a lovely session just like that. Mbuyu kukwom nama usingizi zake akadai niende nikalale hio kesi itamalizwa baadaye. You can imagine what a long day I had kesho yake.
Finally judgement ikafika and lucky for me I got away with a warning from my old man na madha naye akadai ataleta watu wa church niombewe huyo saitan wa umalaya aniwache. My old man alinikuta baadaye and told me one thing that, “nikitaka kuwa jogoo nitafute kwangu. Hatuwezi bishana majogoo wawili kwa nyumba moja”, but kimpango he was happy juu afterall his young champe looked promising. Kamboch kalijitetea na juu mzee Njoro ndo alikuwa na final say kwa hio korti kalisamehewa but kept under close watch. Later after kumetulia kalinikuta kakaniambia innocently, “aki muchamaa si wewe ni mtamanu”. Ati kalikuwa kanaskia poa hizo usiku zote nilimpandilia na aliogopa akiniambia nitawacha kumkula kama amelala. One month down the line Nekesa akarudi Bungoma.
