Through the Leopard's Gaze (Twenty in 2020) by Njambi McGrath

Author:Njambi McGrath [McGrath, Njambi]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781913090302
Publisher: Jacaranda Books
Published: 2020-02-02T16:00:00+00:00

Baba’s Metamorphosis

Baba’s business was growing rapidly, making him very wealthy. His friends became ministers and other prominent people, most of whom were farm owners in Riara Ridge and its surrounding areas. He became a prominent member of the PCEA church. He took to affluence like a duck to water, eating out in the finest restaurants, and wore the finest three-piece suits, complete with cravats and the occasional fedora. Being only five-foot-tall, he favoured platform shoes, which gave him extra height. He was always clean-shaven, with a neat afro, Brylcreem glittering in the sun. In his silk socks, he always stuffed thick wads of money which he covered with his flared trousers. He lost all interest in his former friends and family in Thogoto. Baba, unlike Maitu forgot where he had come from. When he left for Kampala, he would hold a big wad of money in his hand, peel off a 100 shilling note and hand it to Maitu, who accepted it begrudgingly.

When we children went to boarding school, Maitu and Baba should have had time to nurture their relationship. The toll of Kui’s illness must have been immense and completely exhausted my parents. Whilst Maitu was tenaciously maintaining our home, Baba’s life was slowly metamorphosing in the opposite direction. His trips to Kampala brought him money and success. Being only a young man, still in his thirties, with a lot of money, far away from home, Baba faced temptations he couldn’t resist. He was gone for several weeks at a time, and when he came back there was a noticeable strain on their relationship. When he eventually came home, he was cold and abrupt to Maitu, and to us when we were home. He lost his temper easily. We were scolded and beaten for minuscule reasons. There must have been temptations for Baba before the height of Kui’s illness, but after her illness they became magnified. Home, wife and children were now a tedious concept to him. Try as she might, the seed Baba’s friend planted in Maitu’s mind of possible infidelity could no longer be ignored. It fuelled her suspicion. Maitu suspected Baba had a mistress in Kampala. As his business trips got longer, the rift between them widened.

The unmistakable hum of the distant car from the other side of the ridge now always cast a cloud of gloom. The sound would disappear momentarily as if to award us a moment of composure. The lining of my stomach would flutter. Even the busy chorus of wildlife seemed to hush in anticipation. When Baba was not away on business in Kampala, he’d come home from Nairobi at dusk. The car would go around the gravel-strewn path, circling the roundabout with the thorn tree in the middle before grinding to a halt in front of the path leading to the front door. When he first selected the seedling from a selection of plants in the back of his pickup truck, instructing Munyau the workman to plant it in the middle

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