A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND SINS

SIN 1

THE GREAT WALL SIN

There is this day my twin brother and I nearly packed and left home forever because of this TV. Our father had threatened that soon, he would crash someone’s head, especially if he found them touching his Great wall TV or SONITEC radio. This was after we tempered with the TV and lost the channel. He had to use the coins he had saved for Busaa to pay a technician to repair it.

One Sunday, Saturn decided to tempt us. We were not ready to miss WWE, especially after discussing with our friends Keli and Mose how Stone Cold would punish The Undertaker for interfering with his match the previous week, which he lost to Edge. My father had trekked over ten hills and valleys for Busaa. We monitored our mother to see where she would hide the key before going to Church. We saw her dropping the key in a flower container beside the door.

At exactly 1 pm, we opened the door and switched on the TV. #KBC Channel One, the only available channel for us then, was full of dots – we used to call them mchele. I told my brother let us change the aerial’s direction for a better signal. Every second, we would look out for mum lest we would be in trouble. My brother, Innocent, dashed outside and twisted the pole with force. We didn’t know that the cable was too short and tightly connected to the TV. The TV fell off the shelf. I grabbed it before it touched the floor. It hit my lips, leaving them swelling like overcooked mutura. That was when I stopped smiling because my lips would crack and bleed.

I quickly put the TV back on the shelf. The cable was already disconnected. It completely lost the channel. I stormed outside and found my brother still shouting, “Is there a signal there? How about there?”

“We are dead,” I said to him, my swollen lips shaking. Without uttering a word, my brother rushed into the house. I could see his legs had already lost balance because of tension.

“Did it fall?” he asked me.

“As you can see.” I was too troubled to answer such silly questions.

Someone coughed at the gate. “Who is that?” my brother asked, almost going down to his knees to seek forgiveness from the invisible. I almost fainted. My saliva disappeared. I couldn’t manage even a whisper. My brother quickly put the cable back with his hands trembling and sweating.

A second cough. I sneaked to a corner in the house, and Innocent followed. We peeped through a hole and saw our dog chewing grass and vomiting. We were temporarily safe. I picked up the padlock and locked the door.

People were now streaming out of Church, and for sure, mum was on her way. We decided to go and fetch water from the river with the biggest jerrycans in the house to impress mum. It worked. She was pleased she would not struggle climbing the steep slope with a jerrycan on her back.

But wait, our hearts wouldn’t stop pounding. Every second of the evening sucked our peace. I left Innocent in the kitchen, still struggling to explain to mum how I fell and hurt my lips and impressing her by lighting up the house using a stick torch as she cooked ugali.

I went to the study room, picked the most extensive encyclopedia I had and opened a random page. My father used to praise us when he found us studying. I knew this was his bait. When I thought of what my brother was doing in the kitchen, I couldn’t restrain the laughter. I would laugh at him, but inside, I was dying.

Then, oh! Oh! Oh! My father coughed at the gate to announce his arrival. My heart beat like it wanted to leave my chest. I saw Innocent slowly walk out of the kitchen to join me in the study room adjacent to the kitchen. I laughed and cried at the same time.

Then father walked into the kitchen and said, “How are you, my running mate. The ugali smells nice.” By trying to impress mum, we knew father had come home empty-handed. Mother was not interested because he was drunk and spoke too much. He strode to the study room and said, “I love hardworking boys, but don’t drink alcohol like me when you grow up.”

“Yes, father,” we said in a chorus to hide the guilt.

He looked at his watch, wandered into the sitting room, and switched on the TV. Perhaps he didn’t want to miss the 7 pm news. We did not know whether to laugh or cry as we waited for him to go mad and come for our small round heads. The TV was on, and he was welcomed by a hushing sound and billions of annoying dots. He fumbled with some cables, but nothing came into sight.

“Not in this time of campaigns,” he shouted and huffed. He stepped out, and I knew he was coming for our heads. He stormed into the study room with a rubber baton. He hit our wobbly table with force, and it fell. Our kerosene lamp went off. I saw darkness. “You messed up with my TV!” he shouted. Mother came out of the kitchen and said, “They didn’t. I locked the door before going to Church.”

“Now I will have to sell this old TV.” He panted and meandered back into the sitting room. We heard him calling a technician, who came and repaired the TV. We survived but little did we know the escape would lead us to SIN 2.