Last week was particularly tough for me for I had to have tough conversations with my family members namely my brother, mother and Shiro, my wife. My mother came unannounced to talk about this issue and was very keen to have the matter closed.
By the third day of her visit, she was already asking me, “have you spoken to your brother?” I told her, “not yet?” She retorted. “kwani how hard can it be to speak to your brother?” I told her, “you know how Kimathi is, he disappears when he chooses to — he has even been avoiding you too.” That seemed to silence her a bit.
The reality on the ground is that my brother had been avoiding me.
I have called him on numerous occasions and all he does is send me texts saying, “I will call you back.” I realised that my mother would not leave my house until I had a conversation with my brother. It was time for tough measures.
I know my brother likes to go out and so sleeps on Saturday. I decided to show up unannounced to his last known residence. Imagine my shock when this stranger opened the door and looked at me as if I am from Mars. I blurted out, “I am looking for the previous owner of this house — Kimathi.” This seemed to calm the owner as he said, “I just moved in at the start of the month. Kimathi lives down the road.” The owner of the house gave me some very clear directions and 10 minutes later I was knocking on my brother’s front door.
My heart almost stopped when the door was opened by this young-looking lady who appeared to be pregnant. I told her, “I am looking for Kimathi.” She seemed very hostile and said, “Who are you?” I said, “tell him it is Josphat! His elder brother.” This seemed to stun her, and she said, “let me go get him.”
A few minutes later Kimathi walked into the sitting room and hugged me as if he had not been avoiding my calls. He looked quite dishevelled and said, “Is everything okay? Why the morning visit?” I realised that I needed to get a bit of ingenious to deal with my brother. I told him, “there is some land transaction I need to close — I need you to sign some affidavit. That is why I have been trying to get hold of you.” He seems to swallow the bait and said, “my guy! Things have been hectic at the office I am sorry”.
I told him, “listen why don’t we go over, you append the signature and I will have you back within the hour.” He did not suspect anything, and he said, “let me clear with Julia and freshen up”. Fifteen minutes we were on the way and we were having our usual idle chit chat. I couldn’t help asking him, “ what is going on with you and Julia?” He said, “we are in love. She gets me?” He proceeded to tell me about how he loves Julia and how he plans to settle down.
Soon enough we got home, and the kids were excited to see their uncle. I told the nanny to offer Kimathi some tea as I headed to the bedroom to “get the papers.” I then went and woke up my mother and told her, “your son is in the sitting room”. A few minutes later, my mother walked into the sitting room to a very shocked Kimathi. I asked the nanny to take the children outside to play so that we could talk. My mother cleared her throat and told my brother, “you need to come for your children or else I will bring them to your workplace”. There was something in my mother’s face which indicated that she was not joking this time around.
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