MBEYA, 2014
For the first time after many years, Leo thought he felt what a normal human must but when he thought about his brother, the happiness on his face faded out.
He ran back Iyunga. He was stunned after opening the door.
“Where did you sleep?” Benjamin said
“What happened to you?” said Leo
“Told you were discharged when I came to the hospital”
“Mr. Patrick did let you go?”
“I think we should stop gambling”
“What?”
“You heard what I said”
“You’re not stern, are you?”
“Very stern..!”
“After quitting, how will we survive?”
“We’ll figure another way out”
Leo chuckled, “Our dead bodies will”
“Leo, I don’t want to raise you as a gambler”
Leo moved around the room
“As a custodian, I need you to have a better future”
“To people like me, there is no better future”
“You─”
Leo walked out, slamming the door.
He took a minibus to Mbalizi and stopped a few meters from a local pub. He leaned on a tree watching over an old man of about fifty-five, dancing and singing. It was noon and the man was frantically drunk.
“Leo” a young man of about eighteen stopped before him, “when did you come at Mbalizi?”
Leo’s eyes were on the man at the pub.
The man patted Leo’s shoulder, “LEO”
“Juma..!” Leo mumbled. He was his childhood friend
Juma looked at the pub, “You alright..?”
Leo’s face was drowned
“Hey, you should advise him to renounce”
“He has been like that since 2007”
“You’re his son, he’ll heed”
“There are things that you cannot change no matter how many clothes you change”
“He has taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of him”
Leo dug into his pocket and came out with a five hundred note, “please take him home after he’s done”
Juma grabbed the note, “I’ll, but try─”
Leo was already gone. His next stop was Tarafani market. The market was as hectic as it used to be. He hadn't been to Mbalizi for a year. Few things had changed but not people. They had the same life as the previous year and doubtless, worse.
He stopped near one vendor stall. He gazed at a woman who looked like a sixty years old woman but she was just forty-eight years old. The woman was so busy selling fruits and vegetables. Leo couldn’t stop looking at her.
“Leo? My son!” the woman snapped after seeing Leo.
Leo smiled
“For how long have you been here? Have you eaten?”
“I’m fine!”
“No, let's go home… I'll make lunch for you"
“I just stopped to say Hi”
“Don’t want to see where I live?”
“I think I should go now”
“Leo p─”
Leo was already meters away.
Leo sat, waiting for a minibus at a bus stop. A school bus swiftly stopped a few feet from him. A child of about seven years old dropped from the school bus. The child ran to his mother who was waiting for him. The two hugged each other, their faces expressing ecstasy and pleasure in their hearts. The mother helped her child with a bag and held his hand as they walked away, cheery and banter.
Keep smiling, one day life will get tired of upsetting you, Leo chuckled, looking at the mother and a child who after a while disappeared on his sight.