THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE

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Her husband had just died and the mourning period over. She had shed all the possible tears and it was now time to claim her husband’s benefits from the company he had worked for. She was expecting a huge sum of money to help her support herself and the children.

As is usual with any calamity, most of her friends had shunned her and left her to her own means. The only attention she attracted was from several men, who were interested in replacing her husband. This made her lose a good number of female friends, who considered her a threat to their relationships.

“I don’t want that woman to come anywhere close to my husband. She might want to snatch him from me.” Jennifer her long time friend was heard saying.

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She had been left with four children to take care of. Her husband’s hospital bill still waited for her, because no one had assisted her financially, to clear the bill, despite the fact that tears had endlessly flown from the mourners. In fact she had been left poorer than she had been.

There was also the problem of her in laws. They wanted her to be inherited by one of the brothers in law. They had grabbed everything which belonged to her husband. This was meant to frustrate her into agreeing to their demands. 

“Once you are through with mourning, you should join me in my house so that we can have a good time.” Josphat one of the brothers in law – the one who intended to inherit her - had told her, as he took away their only remaining cow. These words had cut through her heart like a sharp knife. She even wished she had followed her husband to the grave.

She had then vowed to stand her ground. There was no way she was going to be forcefully married to a man she never loved. She was prepared to go against the demands of her culture. No threats from her in laws about numerous curses which could befall her if she did not agree to their demands could make her give in.

Her misguided in laws had also gone to court, to prevent the company her husband had worked for, from paying benefits to her account. Instead they wanted the money paid directly to them

Since the people handling the case in court were equally short sighted, just like her in laws, they denied her the inheritance. There was a conspiracy between the in laws, court officials and the heads of the company where her husband had worked. It was even said that money had changed hands in order to make the authorities turn a blind eye to the plight of the poor widow and her children. The children were even regarded as outcasts, just because their mother had bravely chosen to walk away from oppressive cultural practices.

Yes! That was the turn of events for the poor woman. Her name was Victoria. Even though the name implied that she was victorious and at the peak of her success, she was far from victory and she had sunk to the lowest point in her life. She was struck by devastating poverty. Her children dropped out of school. Justice had eluded her because of corruption and bribery. She wept out of bitterness. Neighbours and friends tried to persuade her to agree to be inherited. It was hard to believe how the world had suddenly turned against her.

‘Am I not a human being? Why am I suffering for no fault of my own?’ She thought.  And true enough, her husband’s time had expired on earth and he had passed on. So why should her fortunes change just because he had died? Does it mean that her happiness in life depended on the existence of a man in her life? Tough questions indeed! Not even her brothers in law could answer them.

Wise men say that blood is thicker than water. Yes! Even though the whole world may turn against you, true relatives stick by your side, even as you go through thick and thin. Have you ever wondered why even a thief or criminal always has someone to weep for them, by their grave side when they die? You now know why. This is the reason why when things went from bad to worse, Victoria gathered the little she had left and she began the long journey back to her people, together with her children.

They could not believe the misfortunes that had befallen their daughter. They welcomed her back where she belonged. There were tears in her eyes, but this time they were tears of joy. At long last she had not just a shoulder but shoulders to lean on.

Her relatives came together and raised some money for her to start a business and at long last she was beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. 

The business grew beyond her expectations. She started with a shop, expanded it to include cereals. The shop gave birth to a salon and a barber shop, which gave birth to a butchery and a cyber café. Before she knew it, she had moved into transportation business. Her enthusiasm, which had been overpowered by too much sorrow, came back. She now walked with her head held high, full of confidence and with new spring in her step. Her children went back to school, not just any school, but the best school in the province. Besides that, she was able to single handedly clear her late husband’s medical bill.

Because of her decision to leave her husband’s place, her in laws had cursed her and spoken ill of her. They branded her a prostitute and even disowned the children, but surprisingly their curses had been miraculously transformed into overflowing blessings. On the other hand her in laws were not having a good time. They had claimed her husband’s benefits, misused them and were left poorer than they had been. As if that was not enough, they had added salt to injury by selling her husband’s piece of land at a throw away price, but instead of getting richer, they had sunk deeper into poverty. They had by passed justice, but had not benefited in any way. In fact their lives were full of regrets.

While all these things were going on, the country was also going through a number of political changes. A new government came into force. It was a different kind of government, which brought in a lot of unexpected changes. First it was a new constitution, which was then followed by vetting of all senior public servants, to weed the system of corruption. Those who were found to be corrupt and unsuitable for public service faced the full wrath of the law. This served as a wake up call for Victoria. She knew that the new government would hear her cry.

She went to court again, to sue her in laws for misusing her husband’s property. This time she won. The in laws had no money to give her, because they had misused the money they received. They begged her for mercy, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. It was time to teach her oppressors a good lesson. Their pieces of land were reclaimed and sold by the government, to compensate her. This time she had no mercy on them. It was payback time and she came back with full vengeance, for thus is the wrath of a scorned woman.

THE BOSS’S WIFE

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Our almighty boss was feared more than he was respected. He was the branch manager of the organization I worked for and he called the shots at the work place. He was capable of unleashing terror in the office, whenever things were not going on well. We all tried to be in his good books, but the fellow was as stubborn as a mule and was also very hard to please. We feared him because a word from him could send you packing.

He had a way of finding fault in everything we did, from the way we dressed to the way we smelled. One minute he would be smiling at you, the next minute you would find yourself begging for mercy in his office. Our only consolation was that this man was not God; otherwise, I do not know what would have become of us.

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One blessed morning the boss came into the office with a swollen face and black eye. The bruises on his face could have been mistaken to have been caused by a hungry leopard. He claimed that he had been attacked by robbers. We went into his office one after the other, assuring our boss that we were very sorry about what had happened, although most of us were shedding crocodile tears. But something was amiss, the fact that our boss neither reported the matter to the police nor went to the hospital. We let the matter rest at that, despite the many questions lingering on our minds and moved on with our lives.

If you thought that those were the last injuries we saw in our boss, then you are terribly wrong. He came again to the office with a dislocated arm and a swollen face. You would have thought that he had been assaulted by an Olympic boxing champion. He again claimed that he had been robbed. We patiently waited for him to report the matter to the police but it was all in vain, but at least we were relieved when he visited the hospital to have his arm straightened. I could not understand why our boss, who always breathed fire in the office, could be so lenient on violent robbers.

Another cloudy morning he was late for work. He had not informed any of us that he would be late or absent from work, not that we cared anyway. It was only that some of his business partners had arrived and they wanted to see him. We tried reaching him on the phone without success. Two of us were dispatched to go and look for him. I promptly agreed to go because it would at least keep me off the pressures of the office for some time.

Just before his house came into view, we heard some noises, of someone groaning in pain. Finally, the house was visible and from a distance, we saw our almighty boss, being disciplined by his wife. The wife was armed with all manner of crude weapons and she looked like she wanted to dispatch him to the next world. Since we were men and we did not want to hurt his ego, we could not let him see us, so we retreated back to the office and arranged for another appointment with his partners, though we could not give them a satisfactory reason why they could not see him that day.

The boss later arrived at the office, with a swollen face. He confidently blamed the robbers again for the umpteenth time. We could not betray him, since we could not risk losing our pay slips. In fact we tried to be as sympathetic as possible.

The next Monday morning, the boss arrived at the office, very early, which was unusual of him, especially after a weekend, full of mischief and teenage like adventures. He looked happy with himself. He was also in a good state of health, since his face was not swollen.

Everyone found something to keep them busy and the office environment was relatively calm and peaceful, but we did not anticipate the storm that was to follow. The door to the reception area was pushed violently and in came her highness the wife of the boss, breathing fire.

The woman was huge and muscular. She looked like she could swallow two goats and still ask for more. She went straight to our boss’s office and I definitely knew that she was not there for any honeymoon like business. She descended on the boss with slaps, blows and kicks, while demanding an explanation, as to why her husband – the boss – did not spend the weekend at his matrimonial home. She was one hell of a fighter and to say the least, our boss was taught a good lesson on how to behave in a war zone. It took the intervention of two guards and three other men to free him from her. Even after being freed, the boss kept on screaming and begging us not to let her go. “Please, don’t let her kill me.” He screamed. We then knew why his face was always swollen. There was a more senior and mightier boss than him at home.

THE KIDNAPPERS

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It was a chilly evening, just as children were being dismissed from school. Children from Mawindo Primary school were scattered in all directions, as they went to their various homes. Among those children was Gladys, the daughter of John. She walked eastwards alone in the direction of her home. Just as she was turning round the first corner towards the shopping centre, on her way home, a car sped past her, then stopped, a short distance from her. The car was a beautiful Subaru Legacy and it distracted her a little. She had always day dreamed of how she would like to buy such a beautiful car when she completes her studies. She swore to herself that if such a time came, she would take her beloved parents for a trip, to wherever they liked.

As these fantasies were racing through her mind, three men tiptoed behind her. They grabbed her from the behind and dragged her towards the car, which had stopped a distance away from her, the same car she had admired. They forcefully pushed her into the car as she protested wildly. She tried to scream, but they gagged her mouth using a soft cotton wool, then she was blind folded as the car sped off. Gladys was filled with fright and her whole body shook violently.

Later on in the evening, John was sitting on the couch, in his house, whistling cheerfully. The day had been good. He had received a letter at the work place. The letter had informed him of his promotion. The better part was that the promotion was to come with a salary increment and extra privileges. This jovial mood was short lived though, because at that moment he received a call from a strange number, which although it looked harmless, it left him with chilling fear. The voice from the other end was hoarse, thunderous and uninviting. In fact the caller had no courtesy to salute him or introduce himself.

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The strange caller claimed that he was holding his daughter hostage and a ransom of five hundred thousand shillings was required. He also warned him not to try anything stupid like alerting the police, if he wanted to see his daughter alive.

On receiving the news, John let out a deafening scream, which attracted the attention of his wife, who was at the time cooking a delicious meal in the kitchen, while singing along to ‘Kuna dawa’ song, which was playing from her mobile phone. She rushed quickly into the living room to find out what had happened. “Why are you screaming at night like a small child?” she asked sarcastically.

John explained what was happening to his wife and she was shocked. She almost collapsed. It was now her turn to scream, like a toddler. “Please my dear, don’t panic, we need time to think about what to do.” John consoled his wife, who remained as mute as a doorpost. 

John thought of many things. He thought of informing his neighbours, friends and relatives about what had happened, but he dismissed the idea. The kidnapper had warned him not to try anything stupid. He also contemplated involving the police in the matter, but then, the kidnapper must have studied some bit of psychology. This was because just as he was ruminating over the idea of calling the police, he received a message from the kidnapper, which read, ‘I know your stupid head is contemplating informing the police about this matter, but I assure you that if anything happens, we shall kill your daughter and we shall also help you dislodge your head from your neck. Get it? Cheers!” This message really scared him to the core. He now knew that the kidnappers meant business.

Another call came through, which was from a different caller and a different number. This particular caller further warned him of dire consequences, if he attempted anything stupid, then he instructed him on where to drop off the money in exchange for his daughter. John sat on the couch with his wife. His hands were on his chin. He thought of how he had struggled to save the little money at the bank and now the kidnappers wanted the whole of it. The sobs from his wife kept on interrupting his train of thoughts to a point of irritation. Despite the fact that they tried hard to rest, sleep evaded them that night.

Morning finally came, a day when John was to meet his adversaries face to face. He woke up early. His wife prepared him breakfast, but he could not take it. He was nervous. He was thinking about the duty ahead of him. He was not sure of how his encounter with the kidnappers would be. He left the house hurriedly and headed for the bank. He got there before the bank was opened. He could hardly wait. He kept on pacing anxiously outside the bank.

The bank was finally opened at nine o’clock and he went in. The teller served him, while wondering why this man was withdrawing a lot of money that day. Once he was through, he headed for the place where he was to drop the money. The kidnappers had instructed him that they should meet by the side of an isolated road, away from the shopping centre.

Meanwhile, the kidnappers received a call from John, informing them that he had done as instructed and that he had the money with him. The kidnappers got up from a two roomed shack where they had been keeping the girl. They walked with the girl towards the place where they were to meet her father. One of them was armed with a pistol, which was well tucked in his trouser, beneath his untucked shirt. The other two were armed with sharp knives. They were very careful not to attract any unnecessary attention. They even forced Gladys to smile, in order to fool any curious persons.

As the kidnappers approached, John saw his daughter with the kidnappers. The kidnappers had not seen him yet, but his daughter saw him and pointed in his direction. This distracted the kidnappers and since Gladys was not tied up, she ran quickly across the road. The kidnappers tried to pursue her across the road, but a car with criminals inside, who were being pursued by the police, swept them off their feet, killing two of them instantly and critically injuring the other. John and his daughter walked away as if nothing had happened, while trying hard to hide their excitement.

WHEN ELEPHANTS CAME CALLING

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We woke up one morning in Mwerevu village and were greeted by shouts from somewhere in the bush, close to Mwerevu primary school.

“Peliot! Peliot!”  came the shouts from the bush, comprising of male and female voices.

Human beings are known to be curious and it was only natural that everyone would want to find out the reason for the shouts. This was why immediately, people moved in masses towards the place where the shouts came from. It was on a day when cows were normally herded to the local cattle dip, to get rid of ticks, which explained why there was a traffic of cows, along the road, bulls charging at other bulls, calves struggling to suckle their moving mothers and rogue adventurous bulls looking for a golden chance of putting some female cow on heat, in the family way.

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We finally arrived at the scene of the commotion. We approached a young man who was part of a larger crowd.

“What is happening?” someone asked.

“There are four elephants who have strayed into Mzee Busara’ s farm and are mercilessly feeding on the maize cobs.” The young man replied.

“And where is Mzee Busara?” an old woman asked.

“I heard that he has locked himself up in his house, he is too sad to speak to anyone.” The young man answered.

The place was a beehive of activity, with people trying all manner of tricks to drive the elephants away. First it was the drum, being beaten loudly by Mzee Busara. So Mzee Busara had not locked himself up in the house after all? His antics though failed miserably. The elephants were not amused by his drum beating habits. Mzee Kazi brought his power saw and tried scaring the elephants away. The reason for using the power saw was because; someone had said that loud sounds and smell of petrol and smoke could scare the elephants away. Well! The experiment failed miserably.

Meanwhile, Mjuaji had gathered a small crowd around himself and was narrating of his encounter with elephants.

“Weee!” he was saying. “Elephants can outrun the lion and the cheetah. If I had not run faster than Usain Bolt from Jamaica, I would have been killed.” Then looking around proudly, he added, “I am sure if you had been in my situation, most of you would have been caught.”

Looking at Mjuaji, with his enourmous belly, it was difficult to comprehend how he could outrun a snail, leave alone a cheetah or an elephant.

An old man from the crowd explained that the elephants were attending an engagement ceremony in a far away land, only that they seemed to have missed the route they had always been using. Now that was a new theory. Engagement? Did the elephants pay dowry? In what form? Yes, the old men and women in the crowd seemed to buy his story, but most young men and women, the ones who had read a lot of books, considered the theory, outdated nonsense. All these things went on as the elephants munched away at Mzee Busara’ s maize cobs, while he watched. It must have been  a very difficult situation to be in Mzee Busara’ s shoes. It was obvious that the projected yield of his farm would be less that year. We could only sympathize, because most of us were yet to learn the art and science of empathizing with a fellow homo sapien.

It was amazing how much the elephant could eat. They practically never stopped eating. They would use their trunks to pick maize cobs and put them in their mouths. They camped at Mzee Busara’ s farm for three hours eating continuously, as the rest of us watched helplessly from a safe distance.

Some adventurous, but misguided, half foolish young men decide to get closer to the elephants. They even had the audacity to throw stones at the elephants. One of the elephants could not take this lying down. It trumpeted angrily and charged at the misguided youths. The young men scampered for safety, narrowly escaping by jumping over the fence. Phew! They were lucky to escape unhurt.

The elephants, sensing that their private space was being invaded, relocated to the neighbouring Mzee Sonko’ s farm and continued munching away at the maize cobs. Mzee Busara felt relieved, as he wiped sweat from his face, using the back of his hand, shaking his head in disbelief. Mzee Sonko on the other hand almost wept, remembering what the elephants had just done at Mzee Busara’ s farm. To say the least, it was not amusing to be in his current situation. 

The chief, after much deliberation, decided to inform the authorities of the visitation by elephants. He must have been worried about the ignorance and the self destructive behavior of the villagers, which made them expose themselves to unnecessary danger. The villagers went on following the elephants, oblivious of the possible injuries or even death, but did they care? No, as far as they were concerned, it was a God given opportunity to see with their own eyes how elephants looked like.

The news on the presence of elephants in the village continued spreading like wild bush fire. Farms were left unattended as more people arrived and vowed to witness the drama to the very end. Everyone wanted to be as close as possible to the elephants, regardless of the impending danger.

The commotion in the village, captured the attention of a drunken woman, who came around and walked towards the elephants, who went on plucking and eating maize cobs as if nothing unusual was happening. The woman claimed that, the symbol of her clan was the elephant and so she would not be attacked and that if she talked to them, they would quietly goes away without causing any trouble. This was the highest level of ignorance displayed so far. People shouted at her to move away, but she was as stubborn as a she goat on heat.

The ignorant woman went on yapping, “My dear relatives the elephants, please go away, don’t finish our food.” The chief had to literally drag her away as she wildly protested, claiming that the chief was a foolish young man, who knew nothing about the ways of their people. The chief, a university graduate, labeled her claims, ‘cultural nonsense,’ which had no concrete basis in the world of science.

Later in the evening, policemen and the wildlife service personnel arrived armed to the teeth. That sight attracted more villagers who were expecting to see a replica of a war zone in the village. They tried to scare the elephants away using explosives, but they were not successful. The elephants kept on trampling upon the crops as people left for their homes. The elephants later left quietly at night and no one knew where they went.