Winter is Here!

Hii nchi mnaionaje (how do you see this country?) he asks in an animated tone that tells me he is sure his bait has worked. I look at him and see the excitement and anticipation in his eyes as he awaits the political debate that is to come. At this point he doesn’t know it well never come; i am not a politician. I am also not sure if he can tell, but i in 5 seconds i have taken a mental swoop of his features, less that one second actually, i already know his insides like the back of my hand. I have already seen his liver looking like a baobab tree and i can see the traces of last nights spirits and gin dancing audaciously in his veins and leaving small footsteps all over his liver like Konyaki the giant child.

He diverts his attention to a stocky tout that is incessantly rapping on his window and waving a ksh 500 note. He ‘sorts’ the tout and gets back to me, “where were we?” Should i tell him, my brain wonders, he looks at me, surprise written all over the seven wrinkles on his forehead. I try to read between the lines but all i see is small tiny tiny pores struggling to breathe or whatever it is that pores do. I am sure i did not wonder out loud. So i continue wondering should i tell him that there is a huge delicious strand of collard green that is hugging his incisors. I want to tell him, i really do. In fact, i have exceptional conversational skills, i can always mumble and nod and ‘sure’ my way out of a conversation and then later think of all the things i should have said. But right now i open my mouth and my teeth chatter like some angry Ashanti drums or some evil sorcery chant somewhere in Enugu. The bewildered look in my eyes is as useless as Danny without her dragons.

So i settle. I settle for his animated banter, as the collard green dances and waves like K’naan’s flag. Thank you goddess of winter, i see what you did there but there was no need to strike me with dumbness!