He reached home a few minutes to ten o’clock and heard Min Pilot quarrelling alone in the kitchen. The visitors had just left and his cousins were watching a movie on the TV.

“I will one day kill this kid. What sort of child is this that doesn’t pay attention to orders, eeh?” he heard her dreadful loud voice as he entered the house. “He couldn’t even remind me that I forgot to send him tealeaves, and now the visitors are gone. Ugh!”

“Mama, mama, here he is,” shouted Okoth when Odongo walked in. While the boys stared at him spitefully, Helena walked up to him and asked, “Bro, what happened? Look at your knee – you’re bleeding!”

“I fell, sister,” he replied.

“Oh, I’m very sorry,” she consoled and then picked the items from his hands and placed on the table. The others frothed at the mouth. Just then, Min Pilot emerged from the kitchen, her face cracked into a double-u as usual. She rushed to Odongo with the speed of lightning and slapped him hard at the cheek, spat on him and yelled, “Satan! See what you’ve done to me. The visitors are gone and that’s when you’re arriving back sober and unmoved, you ninny.” She handed him another blow.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, mama. I fell down and...,” he tried to explain but Min Pilot wouldn't let him.

“Bullshit! What are you telling me? Eeh? I sent you here – to a place that’s not even my nose away from my mouth, and you come back yapping nyo-nyo-nyo.” Her breath had grown rapid and her looks acerbic. She turned, as if by the devil's chance, and saw the items on the table. “What... where is the carrier, and the salt and butter –where are they?”

“I... I lost them, mama. I’m so...”

“You lost them?!”

“Yes, mama. I’m so sorry.”

Min Pilot gave him a strained cutting look and then clicked herself and sighed in exasperation. She picked up her phone lying on the table and made a call. “Hello, Imelda... No, my day has been spoilt by your brat here. Didn’t I tell you I’m fed up staying with it? Come, come for it as quick as you... That I throw him out?! What the heck! You want me to land onto the wrong side of the law and be jailed, eeh?... Look, I said, come for your son or else... Wai-wait, are you addressing me or someone else? Is that how you can now speak to me after feeding and sheltering your kid all these years, Imelda... Are... are you going nuts?... That I should kill him, kill him?! I'm not a murderer, you know it. Oh come, come pick up this nasty thing and kill it yourself... He’s such a rogue kid; loose, can't even abide by simple rules... Look, I’m tired of disciplining your little monster, sister, didn't I just said that? I’m tired, not tonight, not tomorrow, but tomorrow I promise you, girl... I’ll chop off his fingers that he uses to steal my food, and beat the stuffing out of his tiny body!... Hello... hello...”

She looked at the phone and noticed that the connection had been cut. She tried to call again but Imelda did not pick up the call. Then she turned to Odongo and said sharply, “Finish up your activities and sleep, tomorrow will be your day of reckoning. And, no food for you again. I can’t entertain such a high level of mediocrity in my house. No, I can’t.” She then picked up the items on the table and strutted away to her bedroom.

The boys broke into suppressed laughter, but Helena remained staring at Odongo piteously.

Odongo walked out of the house lost in thoughts about his birth. He wondered whether his mother had really given birth to him or just picked him from the roadside. He wondered where his father could be and what he thought about him. He wondered who and where his real relatives were and whether he was ever thought of in that community. Tears began to flood his cheeks.

He decided to file away his thoughts and finish milking. But the thoughts would not just go away. The more his bones and bleeding knee ached, the more he thought about them, so that as he milked the remaining two cows, the thoughts of running away from home began to creep into his mind. What if he would just go away? It would be better to stay away, in a lonely who-knows-where place, than in the hands of a people who did not care even an inch about his wellbeing – he thought. He was tired of brooking the high level of intolerance that Min Pilot had unleashed on him.

In fact, when he finished milking, he wanted to take off and leave the homestead right off the bat, but he feared. What if his aunt discovered and alerted the community youth leader to summon the youth to go after him? He quickly revoked the decision and took the milk into the house.

The boys had all left to their room and Min Pilot to hers too, but Helena was still seated in the living room lost in thoughts.

He took the milk to the kitchen and walked out of the house to the bathroom to take a cold bath. When he returned, he found Helena still seated at the same spot where he had left her, not even noticing his presence. He went close to her and asked, “Sister, is anything the matter with you?”

“No. I’m just worried about you, bro, about how Mama's treating you,” she answered in low tone.

“I’ll be okay. Thanks for your concern,” he said, and then added touching her shoulder, “Please go to bed now, it’s too late to be still awake yet tomorrow is school day for you.”

“Okay. I’ll go,” she replied. He looked at her concernedly for a moment and then left for the kitchen. He found all the dirty utensils collected together at the sink and no sign of food left for him, not on the shelves or in the cabinets. The cupboard was locked. He pulled out his box from one of the cabinets and went about changing into another clean pair of tattered clothes when a knock came at the door. He finished dressing up quickly and went for the door. He apprehensively unbolted it and Helena featured.

Her presence at the door gave him the creeps. He craned his neck past her to see whether there was someone else on the lookout. Seeing no one, he allowed her in and quickly bolted the door.

The two stood staring at each other, feeling a strong wave of attraction crossing between them. She was carrying something in her left arm and kept glancing at the kitchen cabinets every moment.

“Helena my sister, I understand how much you care for me, but you shouldn’t be in here. It could land me into trouble, you know,” he whispered.

She did not reply, only remained looking at him intently and amorously, as if speaking along a language of love in her eyes. She then moved even closer to him and enfolded him tightly.

Unlike the other time when he felt the whole world under his feet, this time he felt a bit uncomfortable with the hug. Nonetheless, they remained hugging for a moment, feeling each other's pulse. When she withdrew, he noticed that she had been crying. “Please don’t cry,” he tried to console. “You’re my sister,” he added, as if to remind her of the blood relation between them.

“I know,” she replied softly, wiped away her tears and sniffed. “But I like you.” Her tears came flowing out again uncontrollably. “I don’t know why mama and auntie all treat you like a piece of trash.”

He embraced her at length and caressed her back. She stopped crying and he let her free. Then she opened her palm and showed him a key. “I found it at the window,” she explained.

“For... the cupboard?” he inquired, curious of her intention.

“Yes,” she replied. “She locked up all the leftover food in the cupboard. I will open it; you need to have something for your belly after spending the whole day in the fields.”

She made to move for the cupboard but he stopped her. “No, no, sister, you don't want to do that - she'll butcher me alive if she finds out I ate the food.”

“She won’t. How will she even know? We won’t take all the food, only a little portion for you – there’s just too much left.”

He hesitated a bit and then, feeling a craving for the food, replied, “Okay. Just a little then.”

She calmly unlocked the closet and removed the bowls. She served him rice, meat and Irish potatoes in one plate and watched silently as he wolfed down the food. When he was halfway, a knock came at the door. “It’s mama, right?” whispered Odongo. Without even replying, Helena grabbed and hid the plate of food within the clothes in Odongo’s box lying on the floor. She then calmly locked the cupboard, hid between it and the wall next to the door, and then signalled Odongo to wipe his hands and mouth and open the door.

Odongo picked up his dirty clothes, hurriedly wiped his hands with them and nervously opened the door, closing up the space between the cupboard and the wall where Helena stood. Min Pilot featured, her face cracked down as always.

“What’s going on in here?” she bellowed.

“Nothing, mama,” replied Odongo, hit by phobia, “I’m... I’m cleaning the utensils.”

“Are you?” she asked, looking directly into his eyes. Then she pushed him aside and matched into the kitchen. She strained her eyes around suspiciously, looking at the box on the floor and then the cupboard. She moved closer to the cupboard and glanced at Odongo. Helena pressed harder onto the wall and withheld her breath. Min Pilot held onto the cupboard’s handle and tried to open the closet, as if to confirm whether it was still locked. Finding it locked, she sighed, glanced at the boy maliciously and left the room immediately. Odongo closed the door.

Helena came out of her hideout and made a great sigh of relief. “Oh, that saved our bacons,” she whispered. “She’d have smacked up our faces and beat us up like snakes.”

“Yeah, she would. I told you, you made a terrible mistake when you came in here.”

“Okay, I’ll go now. Finish up your food and do the dishes. I wanted to help you do the dishes, by the way.”

“Oh, didn't you just see that? I’ll be fine doing the dishes. Thanks for your benign nature, sister. Please leave now. She might return.”

Helena gave him an endearing smile, silently opened the door and left the room, closing the door behind her. Odongo bolted the door and sighed. He then retrieved the plate of food from the box and finished eating. Afterward, he washed the utensils and dusted the floor. Then he spread his mat on the floor, lay down and covered himself with his thin blanket.

He waited for sleep to come. But he could not sleep. He kept turning and tossing nervously and stressfully on the reeden mat, Min Pilot’s hostility towards him and all the struggles he had faced since his mother disowned him beclouding his mind.

He felt bitter with himself and the life he led. Maybe it was time to take a turn, maybe it was time to start a life on his own – he thought. But he wondered where and how he would begin that life on his own. There was little in the world left for persons of his type to do, people who had no academic portfolios.

When sleep would not rap his eyes at all, he stood up and opened the kitchen window and stared outside. The moon had appeared and scared off the darkness. He craned his neck out and stared at it. It was crescent and bright.

He loved the moon – it was unto him like a silver lining behind his dark clouds, and so as he stood there by the window staring at it, he felt a craving to leave and fetch for its immediate manifestation.

He looked at the window. Without the metal plate, the openings between the two grills were wide enough to allow a passing body. It was time to escape and sprint to his destiny – he felt it. So he slowly pulled himself out and walked away.

He entered the vast forest that bordered Min Pilot’s home and the nearest tarmac road, a forest that was nearly 5Km wide. He did not want to use the road because he feared that should his aunt realise his flit any moment in the night and order his cousins to trail after him or alert the youth leader, then he would be easily within their reach. So he drifted away, searching his way through the dry twiggy forest. Adversities had given him courage.

When he had walked a few meters into the forest, something grabbed his attention, sending shivers down his spine. At first, it appeared like a furry statuette, and then it began to budge towards him.

He stopped and would have taken off but remembered the stories he had read in school about brave men who dared beasts. He remembered particularly a story about a boy who met numerous hyenas in a forest but stood unmoved causing the monsters to ignore and move past him. Maybe that was a true encounter that would be applicable in his case too.
So he stood still, shivering like an inebriate.

The monster moved towards him. He could now see it almost clearly. It was one of the felines with a yellow fur and black spots. “Oh! It’s a leopard,” he muttered.

The animal moved up to him and, to his surprise, pressed against him and began to rub its neck against his legs. Its furs were smooth and warm. He stopped trembling and watched at it with amazement. He had thought the beast would tear his skin and eat him alive, but – what a surprise, it become friendly and reassuring instead.

After some time, the leopard stopped fondling him and sat down at his feet. He wondered whether it would be prudent to now move on. Unable to decide, and fearing that the feline might get frustrated by his movement and turn up against him, he remained standing nonplussed.

After a while, the animal stood up and began to walk away. But seeing that Odongo remained standing still, it came back and stood by him for another short while. Then it began to walk away, and again – seeing that his companion was still not moving at all, returned and stood next to him. Maybe it was communicating, telling him to follow it, Odongo thought.

So when it began to move again, for the third time, Odongo followed it. They went on, walking on paths unknown to him, till they arrived at the road, almost three hours later. The leopard then turned and sat down quietly behind a thicket beside the road. Odongo sat close to it. Then it yawned, placed its head on his thighs and opened its mouth. A pong reached Odongo’s nose causing him to turn away his head awhile as an escape. It rubbed its head on his thighs just as if saying, ‘Look, buddy.’ He turned and, with full courage, glanced at its mouth. Oh! There was a wisp of bone stack between its teeth. He immediately figured out that that was the cause of the animal’s friendliness towards him – it wanted help.

He therefore picked up a stick, held the animal’s head and carefully knocked out the fragment from its teeth. The leopard then curdled itself around him and began snoring almost immediately. He too began to feel his eyes heavy and a few minutes later, felt darkness cover up his soul as he went down on the dust.
***
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Look out for the last part. Follow me and turn on the notif. bell for alerts on updates. Thanks for reading.

© Laminsah