My parents plot to kick me out of their house

 

I was just about to continue to update you on my plan with Raila Amolo Odinga when I remembered that I did not introduce myself to you according to the African customs. If I were doing this to my grandfather I promise that this rude behavior would not have allowed me to survive this long, also partly because I have not bought him a good cup of Mursik for a long time now. I am not planning to give you my picture yet but I would love to use your imagination to keep you glued.

I am the most handsome guy in Maili Kumi and also the most intelligent and reputable too. I dress decently with a checked jacket and some khaki green shorts. Many people always have their eyes on me when i walk to the market and I am sure I have the appeal to just make the whole country to vote for me in an election. This is one of the reasons why my wife Kanini quarells with me in these days of the election. She is afraid that Raila might win the court case and chose me to join him as a running mate then all eyes will be on me.

I do not blame her. I blame myself.

Before I met Kanini I had been looking for a wife for a long time and during this time I was staying in baba Marlon’s house, my father. My parents had tried to push me out for a long time but they had not succeeded. I was even paid to be having Saturday tutorials despite my deep level of knowledge. This was not successful because Mutula Kilonzo, then the minister of education, made it illegal to have these tutorials and again I was back home. I used to have an eye on Nyambura the beauty queen of the village. I hope Kanini never finds this out because I even had plans of marrying her. Don’t tell.

Back home I used to go to the market in Kibogyo still in Maili Kumi and assemble the children there and teach them a lesson of science all day long. I did not allow lunch breaks just short breaks to the toilet and back. My interest in Chemistry started long back. The kids there did not like me only Kweku who was a brother to Kanini and a family friend that I did not know of. I promised him and used him as an example of the only students there who would succeed and become like me.

I never brag. This is why I went to Kweku’s home frequently to update his parents on his development. My parents somehow found out that I had an “eye for Kanini“. I never understood that expression and worse still I had never seen any Kanini in Maili Kumi. They also found my letters that I wrote to Nyambura but never sent to her but they thought these were meant for Kanini. I did not know how they even understood what I had written because they could not even read and write themselves. I guess this goes beyond just “Love is Blind”.

“Kisongo, we are going to have a family reunion at mama Kanini’s house and then we will let you sleep over” baba Marlon remarked one evening.

I was disillusioned because I did not know what was going on and I understood well enough that my father never takes questions. I just followed that night but I decided to head to the latrine when we got to Kweku’s house. When I was heading back to the main house I overhead a discussion;

“Us visiting this day is to give off Kisongo to your daughter. He is clung to us like a child we would do anything to give him off.” Baba Marlon said.

“Ok we will make Kanini serve him and then we will leave them alone” Kofi, Kanini’s father said.

That is when I learned that Kanini lived here and also that she had been brought form the village miles away for this give off. I got into the house and they all walked out leaving me on the couch and a young thin lady entered, introduced herself, and served me. Kanini  is beautiful but nothing close to Nyambura. I mean “You can tell a ripe corn by its look”. I hope Kanini never knows this. I am not a man of many words and surely this time round I had managed to get a girl to like me without saying much. I guess my few words were too sweet that any addition would have probably spoiled the broth. This is one of those reasons I ended up as a doctor and not as the president of Kenya, drinking root soup every night. Also, this marked the success of leaving my parents house because it is abomination to live with your wife in your parents house.

Kisongo