on to 25

I promised to wake up and write. I haven’t written in a while, I’ve been dealing with a lot of things. Not to mention losing all my world cup games. Ending a chapter in life not knowing where the next road leads to. I woke up at six, in my pair of shorts and a round hat over my head. Nothing seemed to be coming from my sleeping posture, I decided to let the cold sting my legs so at least I could think. I started turning my phone and laptop inside out - looking for a writing prompt. Sometimes the mojo goes away. It disappears to God knows where and you can’t think. And even if you think something tells you “that won’t be appealing”

Two doorsteps away a padlock is receiving a beating of its life because its owner probably lost the key at the counter of a pub. He is not a bad guy because he beats the padlock while talking to it. He’s amazed how he chose himself a worthy padlock. At the window opposite someone angry from his sleep is peeping to see who on earth speaks to a padlock at 6 am.  Finally the padlock makes a huge cry like the one Messiah made on the cross and said ‘it’s over,’ the curtains of the house burst open and the dark house swallows him whole.

Some music starts to play in a low volume.  An imperturbable music; Oceans where my feet may fail by Hillsong. Followed by majesty by Martin J Smith, then back to home to Kik ikala by Florence Robert. The songs somehow give me a flashback of the day we were out of gas in the middle of Elephants- infested Meru forest at 9pm. I actually didn’t know I could speak in Meru till then.

I have never woken up away from my father’s compound on a 25^th December. I feel like age has just caught up with me when I was least ready. Messiah’s birthday just caught me in a foreign land. Unaware and unplanned.

I feel like I should have been home. It’s strange, I’ll wake up that day and feel like it’s nothing really. It will be quite a struggle to convince myself that I’ve grown and I should get ready to start dealing with certain changes – like being more of a dad than a son, being more of an uncle than a brother, such is life. I won’t wake up to find a huge dough waiting to be rolled, cut into pieces and thrown inside a frying pan. I won’t wake up to see my mum sitting on the orindi in the kitchen outside with a lesso tied around her waist. At the door step there will be no chicken tied by its legs or restrained inside a nest with some grains to keep it a little busy for an hour or two.

There will be no those late night stories, some people will be sleeping in Oruba others will be sleeping in Kinoo. A whole 380 kilometers apart. Gone are the days when at a such a time we would be making endless trips to the room at the furthest end of the house to ascertain that our Christmas clothes have not been swallowed by the wardrobe. Just the other Tuesday we were cleaning the compound to welcome dad home from the National exams marking. My sisters would get their nails fast cleaned of the cutex, ‘the nail polish’. This cutex name sounds weird and old right now. My dad didn’t believe in such things. Not for his kids. I want to think of all these when I wake up on 25^th without getting offended that so many years have elapsed just in one sunset. A boy is turning into a man. And a man is turning into a father. And the son too will one day turn into a father. And a chapter of life shall have been closed. Time is a bustard.

I refuse to be idle on 25^th I will go eat chapos with some kids at a children’s home. I will go hang out with someone. I will go to Moi Avenue and buy a random street child food.  I will call friends, tell stories and burst my mouth laughing. Whichever comes, either or all! It’s the 25^th December that will cross me over to 25 and perhaps something bigger than just being 25.

News from the village says that car keys are working wonders. Anything you point at with the car key, you shall possess. But I think gone should be the days when a car was a measure of wealth. Anyone with me? You wake up holding your car keys. In a short, sandals and your ka small kitambi you walk around like a commander inspecting a parade. You walk down to the banana farm to mark the ones that are most appealing to you. You don’t want any muddle or mix up come 3^rd January when you’re traveling back. You want to mark the location because when you come back you only need to point it with the car key and someone will carry it to your car boot. They only don’t know that when you get back to the city, a huge bill awaits you from the car hire.

I didn’t tell anyone not to buy a car and if you see me with one next year don’t say I lied to you. Just ask if it’s mine or a borrowed one. As we close another year, I don’t want to get offended that so many years have elapsed in 24 hours. The focus is to make our ambitions, goals and desires work concurrently with the speed of time. Merry Christmas good people!

Avoid drunk drivers even if its yourself. Avoid those people!

Happy Holidays