Its usually dry in December but this time, there was rainfall and all the seasonal rivers came to life.
Cuzo had sat his kcpe and was waiting for the results, zilikuwa zikitoka kitu 27th hivi after Christmas.
Obviously he was going to join form one, he had been performing very well but there was one thing bothering him though. Pubic hair(fudhi). As big as he was, he had nothing to gloat about and the thought of joining a high school, hairless was looking like a nightmare to him, talk of a late bloomer.
I joked that he hadn’t grown yet coz he didn’t wear a boxer and two because he was a rude boy.
Dude hakuwa na boxers. Back then when your school uniform was your Sunday best, boxers were a luxury and even wearing shoes was on special occasions if you were blessed enough to own a pair. Mostly, shoes were inherited from a bigger brother if he outgrew them, then the privilege inevitably fell to you. It was either akala ama mguu tupu.
Badala ya boxers, enzi hizo vijana walikuwa wanavaa shorts zimekatwa especially jeans to shield the buttocks from the wayward primary school teachers’ canes.
Even those jeans were sometimes stripped na ubaki hivo ndio Mwalimu akuchape vizuri.
We decided to tackle the ngotha issue coz the other one was out of our jurisdiction, it would come at its own time. Tutafute pesa anunue hata kama ni pair moja.
So we embarked on stealing sisal from our neighbours’ farms, sell them and make money. There was a certain gadget made from wood, old machete and bicycle tile and mounted between two trees that we built to help us unsheath the sisal to make the fine fibre for making ropes.
The old machete and the bicycle tyre would clip the thick sisal between them and as you pull, it separated the fibres from the chaff.
We take the sisal leaves, slit the thick green flesh into small strands, insert it into the machine and pull. This was repeated until you get the clean white sisal fibres. That sisal juice mixed with your sweat from the burning sun could make you strip naked and run mad.
We did this mid morning, then we took our products to the local market in the afternoon for sale. The fine end product was selling at one shilling per bunch(measured between the thumb and the index finger).
Our target was to get at least twenty shillings(blue) though the sisal was more than the target coz ngotha enyewe was fifteen bob. The remaining five bob was to treat ourselves at disco matanga. We did this without the knowledge of grandpa coz he could’ve got mad at us, first for stealing sisal at neighburs’ farms…hence this job was done in a thicket, a safe distance from home.
Sold everything, raised thirty bob and went straight to the mama nguo. Cuzo chose a blue nylon ngotha with two white stripes at the sides na mfuko hapo mbele. Nikachukua ten bob coz mimi nilikuwa na boxers so I didn’t need any, na yeye akabaki na five bob since he had spent fifteen already. It was his idea anyway and his input had been enormous.
On our way home, cuzo akapotelea gizani, wore his new ngotha(unwashed) and bounced home, feeling very important.
The following day after lunch akachukua panga(bar soap), gunia ya kujisugua, a special stone for scrubbing feet and a special concoction he had prepared earlier for luring girls, put them in his small bag and set off.
This concoction was a mixture of dried dragon fly, some herbs and Vaseline. Ukishaoga unapaka kwa mkono and you go straight to your village crush na unamsalimia nayo. This was intended to make her submissive to you or fall for you without a fuss ama akufuate popote penye utamuelekeza as boys were made to believe.
You made sure you avoided a handshake from anybody else until you shook the hands of the girl of your dreams, otherwise your efforts are null.
Hii ujinga hata sijui ilitoka wapi coz it never worked. Unasalimia dame tu na hivo ndio all the lyrics you had practiced for more than one month disappear instantly, nkt!
I’ll continue next time about what went on at the river.
