Mzee's Wrath

Mzee always wore a tough face and he kept a record of our wrongdoings. It was also safe for my stepbrother to keep the little secret. So he said to Mzee that I had told him that I had fallen. This way, we would both be safe. He wouldn’t know that we were playing by the road. It would have been chaos. It never crossed my mind that the situation could worsen due to possible internal injuries.

By the time he returned from work, the right side of my head was badly swollen. I was in pain but I brushed it off afraid of being questioned and facing the music. I remember that even getting near him was a frightening thought.

The scent of his sweat alone instilled fear. We only could be close to him when answering cases for causing trouble. He could hang you for a few seconds before cutting the rope. Just to frighten you.

He had done it on several occasions. I only remember two though.

I was lucky to have never faced his wrath, unlike my elder brothers including my step-brothers. Maybe he thought I was a good child or perhaps I was silently cunning in covering my tracks. I was always at the top of my class and I think he always found a reason to pardon me for that. My siblings were not as lucky. My older brother. I won't say he deserved it but he was notorious. Money used to disappear from the house. I still remember my first day to watch the rope in action.

Whenever he wanted to punish any of us, it was never serious until he took off his watch. It was a heavy analog mechanical watch. It did not require power to operate. I felt privileged and entrusted whenever he handed it to me to keep it safely on a small table beside his bed, in the other room - his bedroom.’ This was the second room of the two-roomed house. I would then return for his court. He demanded that the court be held by the collar, strategically resting on a stretched hand. As heavy as it was, I would grab and hold it with my second hand supporting the hand on which it rested. That hand had to remain above my head to ensure that the coat did not touch the ground. This blocked my view ahead, so I had to carefully watch my small steps underneath to see the way.

Usually when I came back to the living room, either the “fight” would have ended or the case would be ongoing. That day, I heard him murmuring that "the gost that takes money from this house has not yet left because I just placed fifty shillings on the table less than a minute ago."

He then handed me the watch