By Abraham O'Obunga.
Their two children were about three years old when they first divorced. That was in the fifth month of the year. Anna could not believe it when John broke the news to her one evening.
John was working as a manager. Anna was a secretary at a branch to the company John was working at. Before they got married, John had helped her secure the job. She was very tired that day. She found the twins playing on the floor with the dolls when she opened the door.
"Hi mom." they said in unison and ran towards their mother.
"Hi." she replied rather unconcerned.
She then carried them up one after the other. As she sat on one of the couches, she slowly let her back rest on it. She then placed both her feet on the glass table in front of her.
"Claris! Enda ita Auntie." she told one of the little girls.
Claris! Go call Auntie.
The kids were never allowed to call the maid by her name. Betty was in the kitchen preparing supper for the family. After a few moments, Claris came back to her mother.
"Auntie is coming."
Hardly has Claris joined Jenny on the floor than the father came in from one of the inner rooms.
"You were here?" Anna said shifting her eyes from her Samsung Galaxy phone.
"Should I put a placard on the door when I arrive?"
"I mean..." she replied while slowly removing her feet from the table.
"You mean what? Huh!"
"Nothing."
Anna swiftly stood up and dashed into the inner rooms.
"Betty?" John called almost shouting.
The maid came in half jogging, half running. She opened the door and slowly let it slam back behind her. She then genuflected and said,
"Yes sir."
Betty was a beautiful lady in her mid twenties. John was on a company-organized trip to Kampala, Uganda when he met her. Anna had given birth to the twins and they were hardly a year old. There was a real need for a babysitter. Three months after their marriage, Anna had brought a teenager from her village for a maid. Her name was Achie. Achie could abandon her chores and roam the streets with men. It was a clear indication that she won't be able to look after the kids if they came. While they were at a party, John's attention was shifted to one of the waiters who were very busy serving them dessert. She was strikingly good looking. Her hair was made into long curly extensions. John used his left hand to signal her.
"Miss, I would like to have a minute-talk with you after this." he whispered to her.
"Okay sir." she replied curtsying.
"Isn't anything ready for a meal?"
"Almost sir."
"Make it quick please."
"Yes sir."
While the maid was busy in the kitchen, John told Anna about the divorce. The children had stopped playing and were reading charts at a table at the room’s corner. Anna never turned up for supper that night. And she slept in the guests' bedroom. That was the third day of the month.
The following evening, Anna arrived home earlier than usual. She found Betty seated on the same couch with John. John's left arm was on Betty's shoulder. They were talking and laughing loudly.
"Greetings my people." Anna's grandfather said. "My people this young woman seated beside me is my only grandchild. She has been your son's wife for almost four years now. They were happily married till the sixth day of this month when she sent her back to us. We were surprised at her arrival. When we asked her what had happened, she told us everything. We will let her narrate the same story to you so that you don't say that we're bias, so that you hear by yourselves. Thank you."
"Greetings my people." she said after standing up.
"My people, my husband here..."
"Who's your husband? Huh?..." John sprang up and interrupted.
The gathering turned into a heated argument between the elders of Alego and those of Yimbo. The argument lasted five minutes.
"Let the young woman speak first. Then you can tell us your story too." the elders of Yimbo calmed John down.
"My people, when he returned from Kampala, he came back with a young woman about five years younger than me and said she would be our babysitter. All was well until one day, when I came home and caught them red handed in our bedroom..."
"Hey! Chira!" (Abomination) the elders of Alego shouted and jumped off their seats as if they had been bitten on the buttocks by the red ants.
Anna then continued'
"Two weeks later, he started coming back home from work earlier. On the day she sent me back to my grandparents, they were doing their things on the couch..."
"Yaye!" shouted one elder of Alego.
"Yawa!"Another one added.
Anna's parents had passed on when she was only ten. It was by a fatal road accident. It was then that her grandparents took to looking after her.
John was then convinced by the elders of Yimbo to just take back Anna as her wife. The elders of Alego also agreed to look forManyasi so that the committed abomination would be fixed up. The couple resumed their marriage. John relocated Betty. Three months later, a big wound which had just began as a scratch on Anna's calf appeared. Anna could hardly walk.
"These people are not good. I saw it when they came here. Nee, gikwanyo tie nyakwara." Direct translation would be; see they have picked the leg of my daughter. (They have bewitched my gdaughter).
When Anna's condition improved slightly, John called his in-laws and told them that he was going to pay the dowry in a couple of week’s time. Anna was then sent to Alego a week to the D-day.
On the awaited day; a Saturday, the John's in-laws of Alego made preparation as was the way of the Luo. Renowned cooks in the village were hired to help. What they couldn't afford to buy at the time was taken on credit. After all or (in-law) would pay the hired cooks and for the goods bought on credit. The bus stop was a stone throw distance from home. When Anna reached the bus stop, she saw the conductor offload two big bags. The conductor then helped Claris and Jenny alight off the bus and signaled the drivers to get the bus moving. Anna collapsed.
Abraham O’Obunga is a student at Moi University.
