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Showing posts with the label Val Muthony

Mwili mpya...

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“We are fucked!”  Tommie stared at the gas cylinder as if it had personally betrayed him. “Gas inaumua iishe sahii? Fuck! Sina job,  pesa ndio hii imeamua kuingia witness protection.” His wife, Mary, was sitting on the edge of the bed, scrolling through her phone with the kind of concentration usually reserved for presidential results. “Babe,  si unawarm ile maharagwe ya juzi?” Tommie turned slowly. “Those beans?” Mary nodded. “The same beans zimekaa kwa fridge tangu juzi?” “Tommie…” “Mary, hizo beans ziko na history.  Juzi ndio zilikuwa beans.  Leo ni story ingine.” Mary sighed. “Ju gas imeisha,  tunatupa hizo beans tulale njaa ama turisk?” Tommie closed the fridge because when he had opened the fridge to take out the beans to warm, a funny smell escaped. “Pasi lazima aniconfirmie kitu.” “What?” “Kwamba binguni tunapewa mwili mpya.” Mary laughed despite herself. “Why?” “Because hii yangu imechoka. Imeishiwa nguvu.  Sasa ju ya njaa, inataka kula beans ...

LIVING A DOUBLE LIFE.

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One day I was sitting in a room with my then two friends, and I remember we were puffing on Manchester cigarettes one after the other talking about life.  As I drew my hands into a box sachet to pull another cigar out , my friend, Max, looked at me and asked me a question that made me look into my life. He asked,  "Val, why do you live a double life?"  And before I could even think of an answer, my other friend Zue said,  "Sai unavuta kuvuta,  the next minute billboards ziko all over Nairobi  zikiread  (niko smoke free)  na picha yako apo"  I looked at them with guilt then uttered some gibberish words  "me siishi double life.”  I immediately took my bag said goodbye to them, and left. As I was walking to the house I had rented not so far from school, I got myself into an inner talk and asked myself so many questions like  How did I get here?  What led me to being in a situation where there are many images that I portray t...