Bamboo Grove by the Brook

Part 4 - Evening at Peter's House

The day remained windy and overcast. Though there was no rain in the morning it began to drizzle after the sunset. Nikki was no stranger to the Mwangi household. The children were accustomed to spending the night at each other's place. When Nikki arrived in the evening it was raining harder.

The atmosphere at Peter's house was quite jovial with all the arrangements of a sleepover party in full swing. Mama Njeri and Peter's mother were busy in the kitchen while Wanjiru was arranging a tent in her bedroom upstairs. Music was in full blast. Peter was dancing wildly to the tune of I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

Nikki found to her delight that Logan too had arrived. She was an American girl who was born and brought up in Kenya. Logan was the most vivacious and most daring one of the lot. Her blue eyes  always twinkled when she smiled.

'Niks, Peter told me what happened. That's when I suggested that I should also be coming over.'

'I thought you kids were supposed to study for your exam,' Peter's mother smiled mischievously. She placed the tray of coffee and snacks on the table and plopped on the soft rug beside Nikki. 'Don't worry dear. Everything will be fine,' she gently placed a hand on Nikki's.

'Do you believe in these things, aunt Miranda?' Nikki enquired. She desperately wanted to hear her refuting it.

Aunt Miranda thought for a while before replying. 'You know what, I can't deny the existence of something just because I had not seen it, but at the same time I will not vouch for it either. At the end of the day I am not a skeptic, Nikki.'

The festive mood in the evening had relaxed Nikki considerably but as the clock inched towards night her fears began to creep back. The rain by now has become torrential but it was not stormy like the previous night.

'Looks like we have a flood at hand,' Peter's mother commented at the dinner table. 'I haven't seen so much rain in a while.'

After dinner everyone went upstairs except Mama Njeri. She sat on the carpet with her crochet works. She does this religiously every night before going to bed. Nikki sat beside her watching her hands swiftly entwining the threads around the needle and making patterns. The old woman smiled. 'You love crochet work, I know. I'll teach you how to do this after your exams are over.'

'Mama Njeri,' Nikki called softly. 'Do you think it is going to happen again tonight?'

She stopped her work and sat in rapt silence for what seemed to be an eternity. 'Will it happen again tonight?' Nikki's repeated question broke her reverie.

'I have no idea, to tell you the truth,' the old woman smiled. 'But, we are all here. So you have nothing to be scared of and you know what; I am going to sleep with you kids tonight.' She patted Nikki on the head and got up. 'Let's go upstairs. They are having all the fun.'

Nikki ran up the stairs, jumping two at a time, leaving Mama Njeri to switch off the lights. She stood at the bottom of the stairs looking at the receding figure. She shook her head. The old lady did not know what to tell this girl who was so sure that Mama Njeri would be able to solve her problem. All she knew was that she herself was frightened, very frightened, even more than the young girl. What she had seen in the late evening when children were busy upstairs left her shaken; only that she could not share it with anybody.

Mama Njeri had gone to the porch in the evening with a cup of tea. She was leaning on one of the columns enjoying the natural melody of the falling rain. Sprinkle of raindrops were soaking her wrinkled skin. Suddenly peals of laughter from Wanjiru's room drew her attention to the window upstairs.

Light spilling through the parted curtain illuminated the treetops. At first she did not notice, but then she saw a movement just outside the window. She took out her glasses from the skirt's pocket and put them on to have a better look. There was a thin wisp of greyish smoke. Mama Njeri squinted her eyes. 'Where is the smoke coming from?' she asked herself. It slithered and writhed; the tendrils reaching out and touching the closed window pane. What surprised her was that the smoke was not rising from anywhere and it was not moving away from that particular spot either.

It seemed to have a consciousness of its own. Her skin crawled when she felt that it sensed her presence; the thin swirling wisps turned towards her and glared with invisible eyes. She could not look at it any longer; she had to move out of the line of sight of that vicious scowl. A shudder had run down her spine. Mama Njeri went inside and closed the door. She did not say anything to anybody but whatever doubt she had about Nikki's experience dissipated completely.