Chapter 1 The Job

The small living room had accommodated everyone in the family. The old granny sat on her favourite maroon covered chair as she swallowed miraa in her toothless mouth. Tina had just received a call from a media company in the city. Everyone was happy for her, father and mother couldn't hide their joy. Mother jumped all over as if she had won the most recent Olympic. 

Tina, the only graduate from our village had a beauty that was God sent. Every man around the village would salivate when they see her, though she was less known by most of the people around as she always kept indoors to concentrate on her studies. Most of the girls of her age were then parents with three to four kids.

Grandmother always told her to get married. She had nothing to do with the modern era where people had to go to school. 

"When will you get married? Look at all your agemates are now mother's with kids trailing behind them. What are you waiting for?" She would oftenly ask.

Father wanted Tina to study as his old boy Roba had dropped out of school to join the local gangs. They robbed people during the night till one day police carried out an operation to end them. Three of the gang members were shot dead while two luckily survived. They didn't escape as the police busted them and did put them behind bars.

When mother had the news on the radio, she broke out in tears. Her only son was among the gang. Father went out to search for him only to find that he escaped death narrowly. Father found him in the police station. He gazed at him without saying a word and turned back. Roba tried to call him but before his words could project out of his stinking mouth, he flashbacked on the numerous times he had been warned of his criminal activities.

Mother asked father to hire a lawyer for him, he didn't listen at her instead he used all the money from that years farm produce to pay for Tina's college. Roba was taken to prison, he had spent four years and counting inside the jail. Mother would visit him occasionally. She would carry a pot of porridge with some cakes on her every visit.

"Give me three bars of soap." She would take bars of soap from Yesa, the downtown shopkeeper who was one of the victims of Roba's heinous acts. When mother would turn to leave his shop he was left smiling.

"In deed if not taught by the parents the world would." He would say to himself as he went back to measure sugar as he packed them.

Mother would always carry with her his old picture. Every when she came back from the prison she used to cry as she complained that he had grown thinner. Father would always touch his head as he looked at the wall. He always felt helpless when he heard his name. 

Tina finished her studies, before her graduation mother made sure to invite every villager. Father felt like his pride was back that he would walk down the streets without any fear of his reputation that was ruined by his only son, his daughter the apple of his eyes had made things right. Even her uncle who despised the family for a long period of time came to congratulate her. 

That evening mother helped Tina pack her things as the next morning she would be leaving for the city. 

"Be aware of the city my girl." She advised.

"I will mother."

"Take care of yourself, remember that we have nobody else back here. Both our eyes are on you to fix the things here." She added.

Tina's younger sister was completing her high school that year. Father had been fired from his truck driving job several months earlier. All his savings he used it on their school fees. He tried to apply for job in various logistic companies but all was in vain. When things got tougher mother embarked on her business of selling porridge at the local construction sites. The amount she got was not even enough to care for their daily needs. They got hope when they had that she had got the job.

After the dinner, Father called her outside. He talked to her as he patted on her shoulders. Father's health was deteriorating, a couple of weeks ago he was admitted to the hospital where the doctors diagnosed him of cancer. They told him he had about six months to live. It was a secret that he didn't tell anybody till that day when he whispered into her ears. Tear filled cups, it rained on his shoe that his legs became wet. 

"Take courage I didn't tell you this to weaken you, get strong and get going I only wanted you to be planned." He calmed her.

All the joy she had during the day was gone in a blink of an eye. Father felt it was inappropriate to tell her that time but as the old saying once water is split on the ground can't be recollected. 

She felt undescribed heaviness in her heart. She remembered how when young her father used to carry her on his shoulders around the village. How he would play games with her and curdled her. Father loved her more than everyone else. She was born the exact day grandfather passed on. Father was grandfather's favourite that in his will he gave him everything that he owned. The black hat and the walking stick were proudly owned by father since then. His other brothers were jealous of him. He was the youngest of his three brothers. Grandfather loved him because he was obedient, listening and understanding. 

It was unbelievable that he was only going to be around them for the next six months only. She wanted to cancel going to the city. She felt like she should be around to take care of him. She could make hot coffee for him during the winter, maybe when summer came they would both go to the beach.

That night Tina was unable to sleep. She tried all means but she couldn't just fall asleep. After numerous trials, she woke up, went straight to the kitchen. She looked at their old coffee maker, the one her father bought at the market years back. She tried to make coffee for herself, that's when she realised that the old machine was not working anymore. She turned to the gas cooker, when she tried to lit it that's when she found that the gas cylinder was out of gas. She turned it off and went back to her bedroom counting on the problems her people were facing. She promised herself to work more harder and make things right back there.

She took her old laptop that was gifted to her when she received her admission letter from the Media college. Father said it was a gift but we all knew it was school's rule that she wouldn't be admitted without one.

She went through the photo gallery. She saw her best friend Anne's photo during their admission the young innocent girl she really was. She recalled what happened to her when they reached their second year.

Anne was invited by her friends for a birthday party. She shared rooms with Tina. That day, she told her about the party that was to happen later that evening. She asked Tina to go with her but she rejected claiming that she would be revising for her exams that would be in place in one week. 

"The village girl doesn't want to throw herself out!" Anne left that evening.

Tina always remembered that day when Anne wore her favourite dress. Her American height completed her beauty. Tina revised her notes till late at night but Anne was still not yet back. The following morning Anne hadn't came back. Tina prepared herself so she could leave for college. She carried her black handbag with her. Along the street she came across a group of more than fifty people surrounding something. Out of curiosity she went close. There she couldn't hide her tears, she screamed. The men around who were asking about the victim's family or anybody who knew her turned their attention to Tina.

"Hey what's your relationship with the deceased?" One man asked.

Tina was not able to answer instead she cried untill she couldn't no more. The police came and picked the lifeless body as they took it to mortuary.

Tina wasn't sure about what happened to her friend only that she heard rumours from the crowd that Anne was drunk to an extent where she didn't know herself. She walked at the middle of the road, unlucky for her a high-speed car passed over her. 

When her parents approached Tina over the cause of their daughter's death, she was speechless. She felt like she had lost her own sister.

"Tina wake up!" Mother pushed her bedroom door. Tina had felt asleep an hour before with the laptop on her thigh. Mother picked it up before she pulled her. 

Tina tiredly went to the outdoor bathroom, it's door had been broken. Father said he would repair once he got money, they covered it with mother's bedsheet. She took shower as mother prepared her breakfast. Mother lit up the firewood that left the whole compound with smoke all over the air. 

The whole family took breakfast together. Mother and father offered to take her to the bus station. Father went to the garage to check on his old car. He started the engine that left black smoke in the air. Mother and Tina boarded it, they both sat at the back. 

The car broke down severally down the road. Luckily father was a mechanic due to the nature of the work he did for the most part of his life. At the bus station, mother hugged her daughter who was ready to leave for the city to start a new chapter. Father waved at her as she boarded the bus.

Tina closed her eyes and prayed that her journey would be safe. On the road she watched through the window and so the rich wildlife that was in the country. She was impressed by how the giraffes were tall feeding on top of the acacia tree with its elongated neck.

Hours later the bus pulled up at the midst of tall buildings. She alighted from the bus as she pulled her suitcase on the ground. She went to the telephone booth and made a call back home. She told them that she had arrived safely in the city.

"The start of a new life." She said to herself before calling for a taxi. It dropped her at Menchu appartments. The place that she had booked for a rental house. An old lady cleaning the floor saw her approaching.

"Hello my name is Tina." She introduced herself.

"Oh yes my girl you have arrived?" That old woman threw her mop away as she led the way.

A day before she went through the internet to look for vacant studio apartments around the city. Menchu was the cheapest one that could fit within her budget. She called to book for one before other people could take it. Mother was grateful that internet was there, her daughter got a roof over her head without even moving out of the village. 

The old woman showed her the appartment. 

"This would be your house from today, unluckily the previous owner just left it that way. You can maintain its cleanliness after all you are a girl." 

The dusty room made Tina cough severally. She organised herself as she cleaned everything. She came across a personal journal. She thought she should throw it in the bin but thought otherwise. She kept it as she said to herself, "I will give the old lady once she comes back."

As she was cleaning the house, she heard weird commotions at her immediate neighbour's house. She became concerned that she wanted to go ask what was happening. Before she could even take a step the noise was gone. She could then hear the nice music coming out of her neighbour's place.