Shiro turns to drama in push for a bigger house

This has not been a good week for me in the home front and to some extent at work. Shiro has for the last one month or so been talking about how we are running out of time to move out to a bigger house because of the baby who is due in four months.

I had been protesting all along saying there was ample time remaining. But she would insist it takes about three months to get a good house. She would then give me a long list of the things that the new house must have.

“It must be near Maingi’s house, it must be safe, it must have the right people staying around there and it must be clean.”

This would start a long conversation about affordability but Shiro would promise to chip in on rent demands.

My father told me that a woman must not at any time pay the rent or the mortgage. According to him the minute a woman pays for the house then she might as well wear the pants. That she had essentially taken over the house.

I have been reading the papers and I can tell that the price range for the houses that Shiro wants are nowhere near budget. My attempts to avoid discussing and acting on the house situation was with defeated this Wednesday and the rain is the reason for the new turn of events.

Sunday evening, I came home to watch the last English Premier League match of the day. I was shocked to discover that the living space was looking different and a big bucket sat in the middle of the living room.

I asked: “What is going on here?” She told me that the roof is leaking “so we have moved furniture around. We really need to move.”

I did not want to start discussing the leaks; I wanted to watch football. Shiro appeared to read my mind and said I cannot watch football “because we have switched off all electrical appliances because it is risky.” I was not letting anything get in between me and my game and demand to know the risk.

The plugs have been producing sparks, she explained, adding she did not want to take chances. I opted to leave the house because I could not afford to miss the game. The football match ended at 10pm and I spent more time in the pub as a way to avoid getting home and having yet another house discussion with Shiro.

Monday was no better because I had to take a cold shower and it took so long to get the breakfast ready. By Wednesday I was ready to move to wherever Shiro said because now we had three leaks in the house; one in the sitting room, one in the kitchen and one in Maingi’s room.

As fate would have it, I could not get time off the office since I had so much work to do. I therefore told Shiro: You look for the house, I trust your decision.” That evening when I got home, I found a very excited Shiro.

“Babes,” she greeted me and went on about how “I found our dream house!” She quickly fished out her phone from her handbag and showed me the pictures.

Truth be told, the house looked good and the neighbourhood decent. I could not help it, so I asked: “How much is it going to cost us?”

The rent is Sh60,000 per month “but it is worth it, look at the space, look at the location and they even have a servants’ quarter.”

I had to talk: “My budget is only Sh40,000, so this is a bit too steep.”

Shiro said: “What nonsense! We are a team, we shall just have to split it 50-50.”

I could hear my father’s voice warning me but looking at Shiro’s resolute face and remembering the leaking roofs had me thinking that this was the best way to go.

I smiled and said:” Let us do this!” She was so happy and gave me a big kiss. I could not help thinking that I had just made a big mistake.