The first time I viewed a dead body, I was very young and clueless but it marked the beginning of a month full of nightmares and the fear of darkness.
You know kitambo there was nothing like mortuaries. Burial was fast coz of obvious reasons.
This funeral was right across our fence and that particular woman was my playmate’s mum so I gathered courage to go and look at her, of course she liked us kama good neighburs so it was like an obligation to me.
There she lay, eyes white with no eyeballs and cotton stuffed in her nostrils and mouth, the body swollen and sweaty. She was clad in a long white robe, the coffin was open at full length so you could get a full view.
Didn’t look twice coz I felt dizzy. I left in a hurry, tears welling up my blurry eyes.
From that day I couldn’t be left in the house alone ama niambiwe nitoke jikoni niende main house usiku, alone. Never!
The place was engulfed in methylated spirit smell and there were a few of those big green houseflies hovering around.
That lady left two kids behind and the husband decided to marry a second wife, his late wife’s cousin, immediately to take care of the kids as he was away in Kericho, working in the tea plantations. That boy was in class four and the girl was in class two, below ten niseme.
Makosa!!
Mnajua home, watu huanza kuattend afternoon classes from std four. So my boy could come home for lunch, apate hajapikiwa and there’s nothing in the house and go back to school hungry.
Before he goes to school in the morning, atoe kondoo na mbuzi akafunge kwenye watakula mpaka saa saba. Akija hiyo saa saba, awapatie maji na awabdilishie location mpaka jioni akitoka shule, awafungulie wagraze kidogo ndio awafungie for the night. Meanwhile as you look after the goats, unatafuta kuni ya kupika usiku. Vile utaoga is your problem. This was the routine.
Sometimes, the kids could cross the fence and eat at my grandma’s and as the boy runs back to school, the little girl was taken care of. That step mom didn’t care whether they were home or not, wamekula ama hawajakula. At times, he would go and uproot cassava, apike na mrenda wakule na sister yake ndio arudi shule na achapwe for lateness.
That woman could cook when she felt like and these two children would fetch for her water, mpaka yake ya kuoga, firewood, wash the utensils and still she would beat them at the slightest excuse.
Most of the time, the kids would be at my grandma’s for days coz there was nowhere else they could go and she also felt they were safer with her. Their dad used to send money for their upkeep but it was useless, he could have been there for them instead. He had ruled out the idea of taking them to their maternal grandma and instead he chose to pick this monster of a woman from the same place as a replacement.
There’s a day the boy was sent to the posho mill akasiage goro goro kadhaa. Huyo mama alisema hana pesa so akampa three eggs, apatiane instead of cash. This habit was very common in the village anyway. Ilikuwa jioni kama kijana ametoka shule so he just rushed ndio arudi before darkness.
Alienda akapata kwa posho mill kumejaa watu so akapanga line na akaweka mayai hapo tu on top coz alitumwa na kikapu.
An idiot, stole the eggs and disappeared leaving the poor child in distress. Mwenye posho mill hakutaka kuskia, he refused to bail the boy out.
So akachukua kikapu akaweka kichwani and cried his way home. He knew what awaited him.
He went, explained himself while standing at a distance for safety then took his sister and crossed the fence into our compound. That woman didn’t catch him coz he had proved to be smarter but for sure there was no supper so he came to grandma, explained himself and got her reassurance that atampa pesa the following day ndio alete unga hiyo story iishe. Weee!
That following day was a Saturday. Kijana akasneak into the house, akachukua mahindi na akaenda akarudi na unga.
So he assumed the story was over. Wacha ashikwe!!
The woman tied both his hands with a rope, took him out of the house na akachomoa nyasi pale kwa roof na kiberiti akawakisha. She claimed the boy was a thief. As his hands were burning, he was being flogged.
Nduru!
His small sister ran to my grandpa and told him what was going on. That day grandpa had ordered five litres of puya(busaa), he wasn’t going ‘out’ na shosh hakuwa. Pombe iliisha kwa mwili pap!! He burst into the compound, akakimbilia mtoto kwanza ndio amalizane na mama baadaye.
What followed was a police case coz the chief couldn’t handle my wild grandpa after what he did to that bitch. Have you ever seen an old man crying in rage??
This is the guy I’ve been referring to as my cousin in my hekayas. Actually we were neighbours but grandma adopted them after this incident. He went through a lot, I’ll be telling you with time, I think I’ll bring him onboard one day.