01/12/2024
The next time Kīmùchù came to my shop after the unplanned tractor ride by Jogoo was on Tuesday at 3 o'clock. He was riding his long served bicycle. "I am around bwana Mwendia, how was the night?, he grinned from about two feet away. At the shop I was serving another female customer, who happens also to be my neighbor as well as Kīmùchù's, they have not talked to each other for almost a year now, her chicken had crossed over to his vegetable yard, and upon reprimand by Jogoo, she didn't concede, but rather asked him if the chicken has an ability to reason, and again, even his has once crossed over to her, tit for tat was a fair game, she said. This annoyed Kīmùchù greatly. The woman felt agitated the moment Kīmùchù arrived and started pushing me to speed up. "Harakisha Kidogo naenda!", she heckeld. I quickly gave her two loaves of bread, a chocolate powder, sugar and four Sodas. She fast left, ignoring Kīmùchù's presence and rapidly shaking her rear view. As usual Kīmùchù doesn't easily lose heart, he told her "goodbye" when she was a distance away, maybe to avoid a slap on the face, known as Kibalee. She didn't reply but raised her pointing finger to touch the upper section of the head above the ears, which simply put in my local language, "you don't have brains". Before Kīmùchù could throw in another assault, I intervened by asking him about Jogoo and their tractor business the previous day. He didn't respond to that, immediately, but instead brought his bicycle closer, pointing at the rear rim. "Do you see this rim? I bought it yesterday from Kwa Boko spares. Jogoo gave me 900 yesterday for helping him fix the hollowing tool onto Gitonga's tractor. And by the way, not many people can manage to fix, it is a new model that uses PTA, that needs brainy folks. Later we drove to the new farm at Kwa Njiiru, it was hi Mzungu's farm. Now, the most interesting thing is that Jogoo does not understand English well, he hadto hire me to interpret for him all through.
