HIS AFRICAN QUEEN

Chapter 2

The days pass excruciatingly slow  as if someone is doing it on purpose but finally the weekend arrives. I have a short shift on Saturday morning and then I have to travel to see my family in the afternoon. My mum has been persistent in her efforts to get me to go home. And finally tired of her constant nagging and endless phone calls, I decided to go home.

Its no secret that I have been avoiding my parents because I know they'll bring up Marcus and I am unwilling to discuss that topic. Am aware they mean well as they are my parents but they have to understand that I will process this when am ready.

My shift went on pretty fast because of my anxiety. After getting off work ,I boarded a matatu (public service vehicle- Nissan) and made sure to  sit near a window. It gets really hot in this vehicles especially in the summer and we have two summers in a year.

I popped in my earphones and started listening to James Arthur's song Train wreck. I don't know why but I felt like this song resonates with me at the moment so I put it on shuffle. The music in the matatu was loud and awful and am thankful I didn't forget my earphones.

After an hour drive, I was one town closer to home. And this doesn't reduce any of my anxiety in any way ,as a matter of fact my anxiety levels are getting worse. I decide to go and get some shopping for my parents. My parents raised us to never go anywhere empty handed. It's rude.

That reminds me of  high school, when we closed school or had a mid term, I used to go home with a large loaf of bread and two kilograms of sugar. It started as a joke to me but it became a habit and now the more money I earned the more shopping I bought.

I enter Society stores supermarket located not far from my next bus station and its cheap which is an added advantage . I pick a shopping cart  found at the entrance and went searching for what I need. When I had everything on my list ,I rush to the counter to check them out and pay. Once I was done I went to find my next matatu that will get me home.

I got in ,payed my 150 shillings fare and waited for other passengers to fill the matatu. After 20 minutes we leave the bus station and start a 40 minute journey home. I keep my eyes out the window to check if anything has changed since I left.

The scenery is still the same, beautiful . My home is near Mount Kenya so we get a lot of rainfall and it's always green. I can see the cows grazing peacefully and I just smile. Some people are on their farm trying to uproot weeds to allow their crops to grow properly while some are watering their plants, like I said it's summer and it can fail to rain for like a week or two. Some women are fetching firewood for cooking their dinner. Just a typical day in upcountry.

I have experience doing all those things; taking the animals to graze, farming, fetching firewood, harvesting crops and carrying them home. But hardest task of all is taking the animals grazing. It's so boring, you can't leave or even take a nap, your forced to stare at them the whole day while the eat, so monotonous.

I remember the last time I took our cows out to graze like it was yesterday, I can't help but smile at the wonderful memory. I fell asleep while looking at the cows because like I insist its basic and boring plus having a full stomach didn't help the situation. So when I woke up I couldn't see any of the cows. So naturally I started panicking and running around everywhere searching for them.

" God please don't let them go to anyone's farm and ruin it, or get eaten by leopards. I'll be good ,I promise"

That was the only prayer in my head. Leopards are actually normal at our place especially when there's hunger and less rain .My parents are going to kill me then resurrect me only to kill me again. Yap, this is it, am so dead. After looking for an hour and not finding any thing ,I decided to just go home and face the consequences of my actions.

My walk home was slow , I was trying to drag out the inevitable as much as possible. I felt guilty and I knew that I would definitely receive a beating from my mum. Before I knew it I was standing outside our gate. I opened the gate slowly because I didn't want anyone to hear me coming in. When I turn away from the gate I am met with a miraculous scene, our stupid cows were resting on the grass in our compound.

Atleast they didn't eat anyone's crops and I let out a sign of relief before I noticed my mother. Standing behind them was my mum with her hands on her hips staring at me. I looked away from her furious face as I didn't want to see how angry she was and the fact that she hadn't said anything was worse.

" Zee stand right there! where have you been? " She asked.

"I was looking for the cows"

" And how pray tell did you loose the cows?"

" Mum I swear, I just turned to eat some berries for a minute and when I turned back they were gone"

" So this is the story your going to stick with?"

" Mum but it's the truth"

" When are going to learn to stop lying huh! You think am a child that you can lie to me"

" No mum"

" Just go and take a bath, we will talk about this later"

This was definitely not a good sign. When my mum postpones a beating it was going to be worse. I didn't wait for more yelling so I rushed inside the house and into the safety of my bedroom.

This is one of my happy memories of home. When my mind was back to the present ,I noticed that I was almost home. I stopped the matatu at my stage and alighted. With the shopping in one hand and my bag in the other ,I walked the rest of the way home. 

Enjoy...