Haha So a few months ago, I used to stay on the upper/top floor of the flat. We were three of us on the fourth floor; a gent and a lady. Both unmarried. Sasa on this particular day the lady knocked on my door and told me she was leaving for her sister’s place for the weekend, it was on Friday. I had also met the guy at the gate leaving for I think Naivasha. So I was alone on our floor that night.
Sasa it’s 12 midnight and I’m working on some assignment on my laptop sipping some wine. My TV is tuned in but sauti kidogo tu, it’s deep in the night. Unexpectedly, the lights go off and I’m in the dark. Well, it was actually tokens zilikuwa zimeisha but didn’t know. Ghafla bin vuu naskia someone running on the rooftop. Not one even. Ushaiskia vile watoto ukimbia kwa balcony, vile hizo steps usound. The runnings were from one end to the other and back then repeatedly.
Ah! Kidogo nikaangalia kwa balcony ya nyuma naona kuna stima so nikalipa tokens. Lights on. Now naskia masauti watu, like kids tho, wanagonga tanks kwa roof top bado. Like the kids run from back to back then wanamalizia na kukick tanks. Mimi sijawai shtuka hivo hii Nairobi banae. Hio place sikuwa nishai ona mtoto except a very small toddler but here I am hearing kids playing at 1AM on the rooftop. Then unaskia kipaka kimelia ng’ee, ng’ee kama katoto. I actually have a phobia for cats. I dislike those things especially the black ones. There is a time in the upcountry tuliua moja ilikuwa inakula mayai na tukaitupa kwa kishimo. After three days the thing was wailing inside the pit. Hakikuwa hata kimekufa. I hear they have nine lives.
Well, I opened another bottle and continued sipping my drink but very cautiously. Nilikuwa natip toe kwa keja nisiskike. After sometime the sounds disappeared. Lakini nilikuwa nimetii. Nashindwa ni mwizi, ni mashetani, ni night runners! Lakini sasa night runners wanatoka wapi hapo! Na wakikam nikiwa solo kwa floor yetu nitafanyaje? Will my neighbors on the lower floors hear my cry if I shout incase wakuje? I didn’t even know any of them except this one woman I was pounding once in a while. “I am single and satisfied, men are dogs”, she would lament. Kumbe she was set to be married in two months time, via a church wedding. I woke up one day to see wedding pictures on her WhatsApp status. I didn’t know about the wedding yet I had hit it in the last three weeks or so. Imagine that! I was pounding someone else’s yam thinking tunarudishia miili shukrani tu kikawaida. Nairobiiiii
Back to my story. To cut the whole thing short, it was a loooong night. I think my drink helped me. To some bit.
Now when my lady neighbor came back, I told her of the experience. You know what she told me, yeye anaskianga watu kwa keja ya huyo boi na huyo boi hio time anakuaga outside Nairobi. That there is a time they were chatting and dude tells her he is in Mombasa yet anaskia watu wanaongea kwa hio nyumba. Wueh!
Anyway ndio nihame hapo, sisi wote tulikuwa hii day. Around 8 usiku. And the sound of the kids were back on the rooftop. Haha we even went to the rooftop, checked but saw nothing. Na tukirudi kwa keja tunaziskia. Some very weird stuff. Hivyo ndivyo niliamkia kutafuta nyumba.
The landlady then told us hizo nyumba vile alijenga zilikaa miaka mbili kama hazipati tenants ndio akaenda kuziombea. “Hizi nyumba ni kama mtu alirusha mashetani tukijenga lakini Mungu atatupigania”, she lamented, apologetically tho, while adjusting her spectacles. I bet she thought we, especially I, would change our minds and stop leaving. You should have seen the shock in her face when she realized I was actually not changing my mind.