His beauty, her beast
OPEN UP OR I'M BREAKING THIS GATE DOWN...WOMAN!! “I regret ever marrying'' Kiriba bellowed amid hiccups and a burp that was shy of a throw up.
She pushed her bony structure across the hallway. This act was now a routine. The promotion at work got ahead of him. Kiriba in turn promoted himself to drinking and acquired a click of friends or was it fiends. Who to them drinking was not just a past time or an after work agenda but the only agenda. His family on the other side was promoted to misery and uncertainty.
Such a pun, promotion was.
Her nightie hanged on her shoulder and the dawn breeze threatened to strip her of it. Kiriba was out of the car and banging the gate vehemently. The children were awake as usual, peeping through the window. Shaky as her hands were, she managed to open the gate.
''WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!?I SEE IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU MEET MR.FIST!! Come here you idiot'', he shouted as he lifted his hand in rage.
She stood there. Wiped dew off her leathery scaled legs. The black eye was visible as well as the scratch on her neck. Smile, let alone laughter was a luxury. Not because she had nothing to smile about, but because the tale of her missing lower teeth was not something she wanted to tell…not now at least.
Her children, Amani and Pendo were her only hope. She woke up every morning for them. Her love for her own surpassed the ordeal she endured. Kiriba jumped into the wheels and drove towards the thin silhouette in front of him. Had it not have been for the ditch beside her, she would have had tread marks. Her silk nightie was however not speared as it was splashed with the murky water and it stuck on her as nylon on fire.
''We both know you can’t hide from me you BONES!!Where are you taking all the money I leave here in the morning? At least steal and buy yourself some food'' he cajoled cynically as he staggered into the kitchen. She was warming his food her long creased face contrasting the sumptuous pilau she was serving. With tell tale signs of once succulent high cheek bones and a soft forehead that had been occupied by a series of meshed wrinkles that gave the impression of a worn out sieve. The aroma from the food engulfed the stale lifeless atmosphere in the Mansion that paralleled with his chunked heavy snore that not only echoed the lounge but also sliced the deathly silence into a fusty rhythm.
‘‘Wake up my husband, your food is ready'' she spoke softly tapping Kiriba on the elbow.
''Uhm...aaaa…'' he responded.
The more she woke him the more he recoiled into fetal position and slept. It had become a common scene so she covered him, took the food away and went to their bedroom. For months now it’s been her room alone. He only used it to change in the morning for work. The sofa was his bed.
She ironed his favorite Black suit and the matching tie. Next was his pair of blue socks and a white handkerchief. Kiriba was always neat, infact the neatest in his firm. He was a renowned charismatic Attorney, but lately it had all gone down south. Booze dictated his thoughts, words and actions. He was more than a scare crow in a farm and in this case in his house. His children were petrified of him when drunk thus avoided him; he was unruly, paranoid and beat them up as he did with his wife.
Tumaini was a quiet woman. Despite hell being her headquarters, she always made sure her husband was feed, neat and punctual. Several times during her washing, she has found motel receipts with her husband’s name on them, lipstick marks on his shirts, briefs, handkerchiefs as well as lady perfumes all over his suits. On one occasion she confronted him. He went ballistic!!She had to visit a doctor for 8 stitches on her forehead. Since then silence has been her better if not best option.
Many times he emphasized that he was the man and could not be questioned. He viewed questions as rebellion, and as such it called for a beating. Every morning he would wake up, shower, take his breakfast, leave a thousand shillings on the kitchen cabinet and drive off to work without saying a word to anyone. Come evening, a repeat of yester night.
April 2nd 2010
Easter Sunday Kiriba came home as usual and to his amazement the gate was open. He drove in. Something was amiss. The house felt like a cemetery. Come to think of it, it was one.
''Tuma my wife, Amani...'' he was cut short by the sight of his neatly pressed suits, ties, polished shoes on the sofa.
Next to it was an envelope, and a grey letter pecked out. He pulled it out:
Kiriba,
I'm gone .Left for my parents home.
You remember our vows nine years back??
You swore to love and honor me but you changed my husband. From the Kiriba I fell in love back at our village-Umbe- to what you are now. I fear you. A beast you have become.
You picked a fancy of beating me up...not to mention your 'late meetings', lipsticks, receipts and other things I can’t even write here, Kiriba.
For the past three years, I hoped you would change.
Today, I took a step that I should have taken a long time ago. I choose to be the coward, to walk away, but then my husband, cowards live to see the next day. I want to live, to forgo this death spirit harvesting my happiness and hope.
You will find your suits ironed, they should last you a month.
Goodbye,
Tuma.
The letter was clear. She had had her share of pain and misery. He was alone. He thought he was dreaming. He slept over it. Reality still stared at him in the morning and the next days after that. He drank even more. He was later summoned to the Human Resource manager; his services were no longer required at the firm.
Amidst his hangovers and the emptiness of the house, he muttered:
'What will you do Kiriba?
Maybe she knows, knows about my escapades.
Or even about the tests?
Or about my condition?
Oh...maybe I…I even…infected her...my children…
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE KIRIBA??
It dawned on him that the solitary internment was taking a toll on him. He left his house, walked past the bar-a rare happening-got into a bus headed to Umbe.
"I will tell her the truth...I WILL..."
He kept saying this phrase all through the journey. The sight of Umbe stared at him, it accused him, it whispered on his back. It jeered at him. He was shaken.
He alighted.
The beast after his beauty.
