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| A Vehicle on the highway |
God willing, on Monday morning my dad will wake me up so
early. The 4:00 am kind of early. He is a
fervent believer in the early bird/ worm ideology. I will complain that i
warned him against waking me in ungodly hours and that i had set an alarm that
would wake me up with the sweet encouraging voice of Christina Shusho. He has been doing
this since i was twelve- only then i used to wake up to study. 'Dad am all grown up now.' He will
walk back to his bedroom whistling like
a soldier arriving from a war he has won. I will slowly pluck myself from bed,
left leg first; having seconds thoughts about living my warm comfort zone for
the grudgingly cold outside. My head is still foggy, am not thinking so i will
end up hitting the wall right next to the door. I will hiss cusses, then my
sister will be chocking in laughter under her sheets. Even though am upset i
will hold out the hope that God will avenge me and few miles down the road of
life, i will be the one laughing at her.
Now awake as a lie detector, i will walk to the kitchen
while gently massaging my forehead to avoid a hump. By 5:30pm, breakfast will
be ready. And by 7am, i will be poised
for my journey. Ready to spend the week around four people that i love most in
the world. And i will start with mother dear.
My hair will be well plaited. This is pertinent. In my
village, people who stay in 'Ilovi' are held in high regard and this comes with
expectations. That one has to look like they stay in the city under the sun
where there are opportunities to make money. Am inadvertently a prisoner of
these expectations so i have play by the unwritten rules. And that is why i
will be extra extra immaculate.
At 7am i will throw on my back the bag carrying some fruits
and few other things i bought for mother dear and set for Eastern By-pass. The
Eastern By-pass is the fastest route to get to Ukambani nowadays- (ooh! bless
you president Kibaki, you were truly send from heaven!) It's jus 7am and i
desperately need to save my money- since i have a long week ahead of me! So
instead of taking a bodaboda to the bus stage i will walk. It will be dusty,
and with the heavy bag on my back i will feel like am climbing mount Kenya, anyway it will also be good exercise as lately
i have turned my back on exercising so i won't mind; drops of sweat will start
oozing from my forehead and my armpits will be hot. I will be like- 'Jesus
thank you for my Rexona roll on'
Some of these by-pass matatus are old, the kind of old where
when the matatu suddenly stops, your seat could literally slide forward! Unlucky
me i will get one of the oldest. With the noises its engine will be making, we
will take twice as much time to get to our destination. We will be lucky if it
does not stall altogether. The conductor will emphatically compel me to pay
extra charges for my copious bag. Like a good Kenyan, i will refuse to pay and
complain of extortion. I will not relent and if lucky, another passenger will
take my side of the argument. If the conductor will play the- "kama hulipi shuka" card i
will tuck my tail and give him his dues.
When you actually think about it,
there is no loss in disembarking such an old snail, but with my heavy bag i
will choose to toe the line. From Kangundo road, i will take another matatu to Thika
then to Matuu; my final jump off point to home.
When you don't own an automobile , there are only two modes
of transport here- an old matatu or a motorcycle and each has its pros and
cons. All matatus are fourteen sitters, but you will be crammed with other
passengers that breathing will be a problem and the odour wafting in the
vehicle will be good enough to be used as mosquito a repellant. To increase
chances of survival, you ought to sit next to the window. Where there is also
the risk of being pricked by branches of trees by the road side as the driver
swerves on the rugged dusty road. When you chose a motorcycle, you are likely
to arrive with a blocked nose and a broken back thanks to dust and the bad
road.
I will quietly lament and murmur complaints that maendeleo
chapchap has not benefited us, then i will board the matatu. I will need some
space for my legs and my bag, so i will pick the seat right behind the driver. Women
who had come to restock groceries for their kiosks will also board the vehicle.
They will caution the rest of the passengers against leaning on their kiondos stuffed with; tomatoes,
avocados, cabbage, potatoes and onions. Careful not to throw myself in the
radar of the big woman next to me, i will sit like a robot- i won't fidget to
try and make myself comfortable lest i crush her tomatoes which she will be
glancing at every two minutes. That place is meant to carry three passengers,
but there will be five of us. I will literally be sitted with one cheek of my
butts, which by the time i arrive home will be frozen and painful. My shoes
will be melting from the heat dissipated by the engine, sweat will ooze from my
forehead and tears will collect in my eyes as i gallantly fight the discomfort
on my soles. My silver lining will be the fresh air coming from the window on
my right. Even though the dust will make my eyes uncomfortable as hot hell, i
will be reminded by a sticker on the driver's seat that am not in my home!-
"Ukitaka starehe nunua gari
yako!" After a forty five minutes uncomfortable drive, i will alight
and at that moment i will feel like a human being again!
The discipline mother dear has instilled in me could not
allow me to eat anything being hawked in matatus except the water i was carrying
in my handbag, so i will be so famished. Luckily, she will have prepared
mouthwatering chicken to be accompanied with ugali. Every time we go home, one
of her chicken has to part with its life! After a quick wash-up, i will descend
on the plate full placed on the table. I will tell her stories of what i have
been up to in the city. I will tell her everything, including how i witnessed
mob justice!
I will stay home for two days. In the two days i will help
with house chores, farm work and feeding the chicken and cleaning their shed.
The only thing i will not get close to are the cattle- they don't like me much
and the feeling is mutual! So i always
keep a safe distance. I will also prepare all the meals. Mother dear will be so
happy. I will promise to take more breaks from city hustle and visit her. After
the second day she will say her blessings to me, bid me goodbye and i will be
off to my next destination- Masinga! There i will be visiting my big sister and
two of my favorite people in the world. My five and three year old nephew and
niece.
The journey to Masinga always gives me the creeps. The
matatus are always overloaded and are driven at an ungodly speed. The constant
beeping of flying proboxes ferrying miraa from Embu to the city makes the
journey more precarious. I normally pray throughout the journey. Before taking
off, i will shop for; chocolate, chips, cake and popcorn- my nephew called me
two days ago and spelled out a list of the things he needed me to bring him and
his sister!
It will be a sixty minutes nerve wrecking journey. But i
will be grateful to God for journey mercies. My sister will be exhilarated that
am around and her house help will be off
duty. I asked if she could give her some time off so i could take care of the
kids and bond with them.
I will wake up at 3am for some QT (quiet time) and writing.
At 6:30am, i will wake my nephew to ready him for school. He will complain that
he is so sleepy and doesn't want to go to school. I will plead while making
mostly empty promises of getting him new toys and allowing him to have more
time for games on my phone and cartoon. I will even give him a shilling for
sweets on his way to school! (Darn!Even toddlers loooove money!) I will feed
him breakfast, wash him and dress him up in school uniform. We will take
selfies on our way to school, but i will neither post them on Instagram nor Facebook,
i would rather he decides later in his life whether he wants his photos on
social media or not! Being a great aunty, I will offer to carry him on my back,
but he will retort- "Mimi ni
mwanaume!" (Kid has no chills menh!) He will hold my index finger
tightly as we walk, oblivious that he just broke my heart! At the school gate
he will let go of my finger, look at me and say- "Nikimaliza class unikujie?" I will assure him that i
will be at the gate to pick him when the day is done. i will tell him- "Nakupenda!" Then he will wave
at me with his little hand, pacing up to join the other kids, at that point i
won't be able to take another heartbreak so i will assume the wave means- i
love you too auntie!
Back home now to the other bunny! When i get to the house
she will still be fast asleep. I will use that window period to catch up with
trends on social media. A soft voice asking- "mummy ako wapi?" will pull me from the social media
world. I will explain that mummy is out working to bring home a big beautiful
doll and chocolate. That flimsy explanation will put her heart at ease!
Breakfast is never really her thing, so it will take empty
threats and promises to get her to finish it. After few minutes of watching
cartoon she will beg me to apply make-up on her face. As i assemble the tools,
her face will be beaming with excitement and perhaps showing confidence in my
skills. I will start to fill the pressure coz i know am not so good! She will
pull her tiny pink seat close to me and surrender her face first then her
little toes and fingers- i will do my best!
When am done, she will be so exhilarated
and will ask me to take photos of her. I will not post them on Facebook
attached with lame #hashtags! But i will remember that my twin sister is in the
city grinding her job and books in preparation for an exam. Being the good
person i am, i will pull a seat in WhatsApp and camp there, sharing the photos
with her; incessantly reminding her that am having fun while she is sweating
and biting her nails!
When the princess falls asleep, i will take time to catch up
with the trends on social media. There won't be much on Facebook except a
friend flaunting her brown weave and another a new dress. All of them
accompanying there photos with profoundly annoying #hashtags. KOT (Kenyans on
Twitter) will be venting over news that billions of taxpayers' money have been
lost to corruption! After that i will read Richard
North Patterson's- 'Devils Light'.
After two hours the princess will wakeup, we will play
foot/handball then have lunch. By 3:30pm, the other musketeer will be home from
school looking like he was diving in a sea of dust. As i wash him up, i will
inquire of the interesting things he learnt in school. Between the a and c alphabets and my praise he will retort- "wewe sio mwalimu wangu!" (What a
good feeling that teacher has, to have such a loyal student!!). Either way i
will commend him for doing great in school.
After feeding we will seat to do the homework, which he will
hurriedly do to join his friends outside for fun! I will explain that he should
learn to commit to one thing at a time- life lesson; but who am i kidding? He won't even be listening!
When the day is done, the youngest one will request- "aunty tafadhali nibebe nilale"
She will lie peacefully on my thighs and rest her head on my left arm. She will
take slow gentle breathes as sleep overtakes her. And i will watch her, and
wonder whether there could be anything more adorable. Burning with jealousy the
other will demand i put him to sleep as well. I will put her on her bed, then
kiss her goodnight. I will then carry my nephew to bed and lull him to sleep.
When he is sound asleep i will slowly leave his bed and pick a pen to write
about my amazing day with my nephew and niece.
I will repeat this schedule for four days!!
What a worthwhile mini-holiday it will be!!
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