Woke up with a start. I thought I had been dreaming. A woman was screaming at the top of her voice. Woooooiiii!!! Wooooiii!! I tried to ignore. The screaming went on and on. It has been a while since I was woken by screams. In this part of town, it is not unusual. We actually call them natural alarm timers. Mostly it happens on Sunday mornings. Husbands and wives bear their dirty linen in public, for all to see. I finally pull myself out of bed and open my door so that I can have a glimpse of what is happening. A good number of my neighbors are already out, all of them with sleepy eyes. The women are in their night gowns, others with lesos only. Most of the men are in boxers. You can tell that a lot of lovemaking has been interrupted. I live on the third floor so I have a bird's eye view of what is causing all the commotion.The woman who has been screaming is confronting her husband who operates a Chapati and Mandazi business by the roadside. She is throwing all manner of insults at him. From what I gather bin the argument, she has helped finance the business and she is the one who is currently keeping the family afloat. The man on the other hand has been busy seducing young girls and sleeping with them, spending all the money he makes on them.Well, hell has no fury like a woman scorned. The woman spilled all the beans right there, in front of the multitude of neighbors. All the bedroom secrets were laid bare including the Man's lack of some very necessary techniques.
Well, this is what cut short my holiday sleep this Easter Monday morning. This would definitely give me a headache for the better part of the day.
I remembered some years back when I was still living in my mothers house. Something bizzare happened one day. Those days we lived in flats just as I am living in a flat today. Our house though was on the ground floor. There used to be a neighbor who loved his privacy excessively. He live in one of the houses that stood alone opposite the flats. Those had fences, but children still managed to cross over to his compound and play. He disliked that a lot. So unknown to the rest of the neighborhood, he secretly connected electricity to the fence. Why he did that knowing that children will touch the fence while playing, I will never comprehend.
On the fateful night on of the youthful neighbors was coming from town at night after partying with friends. When the taxi he was in reached near this particular house, it couldn't pass because it had rained heavily that night and there was mad all over . The young man told the taxi driver to drop him off near that house, since the distance remaining was very small. When the young man tried to pass near the house, he slipped and supported himself on the fence.He got electrocuted and no one was there to help him since the taxi had already left.
The following morning, as was my routine on Saturday mornings I seriously asleep. I was very far in dreamland, dreaming about the ugali and nyama I had demolished the previous night. Someone was shaking me vigorously. Dan!! Dan!!! come and see, there is a dead man outside!! I woke up with a start. It was my sister. I shook her off angrily. How can you wake someone up from a deep sleep and the first words you tell him are, come see a dead person outside. I warned her never ever to wake me up like that again.
Outside, the whole neighborhood was watching..... The young man slumped lifeless on the fence. The people were baying for the house owner's blood. What could be of more value than a human life that he was hiding in his house.
Drama has always been part of me...... growing up.... and now.
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