The Dream Chasers (6 page)

“I'VE BEEN HERE FOR HOURS
, waiting. I thought you'd gone back to Nairobi by now.”

“Muchai?” I whispered in disbelief. “They told me you were dead.”

“They didn't know who you were. You could have been sent by the attackers to finish us off.” Muchai skipped over the rubble.

“I really believed them,” I said, and my voice shook in the tears floating in my throat. “Why didn't you go back home?”

“Look at this place, Lulu. Mom didn't want to leave it, and I couldn't leave her. She's sourcing for funds to rebuild.”

“What happened?” I croaked.

“They almost got us. They threw petrol bombs through the windows. The house started burning. Mom and I escaped only with the clothes on our backs. We snuck out through the back and hid in the fields until dark. The men you saw earlier used to work for us as farmhands. They hid us in their house for weeks.”

“Come, come here.” I held my arms out.

“
Shh
! Don't cry.” Muchai pulled me into an embrace. He kissed my forehead, brought his lips to mine. “Didn't I tell you I'd see you again?”

We walked down the hill hand in hand.

“There's this poem, Muchai, by Housman:

The time you won your town the race

We chaired you through the marketplace;

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.
”

Muchai put his arm around me.

“
Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.
”

Alaa
: an exclamation of surprise

Asi
: an exclamation of annoyance

Barbie
: a pampered child

Bodaboda
: motorcycle or bicycle

Buibui
: a loose, floor-length gown and head covering favoured by Muslim women

Daktari
: doctor

Dhania
: coriander leaves

Githeri
: a mixture of maize and beans

Jiko
: brazier

Kienyeji
: traditional

Kikuyu
: a member of a people of central and southern Kenya

Kumbe
: (in speech) it turned out that; (as exclamation) so!

Lesso
: a rectangle of pure cotton cloth with a border all around it, printed in bold designs and bright colours (also known as
kanga
)

Luo
: a member of a people living chiefly east of Lake Victoria in Kenya

Mandazi
: an East African fried bread quite similar to doughnuts

Mahamri
: a spiced fried bread found at the coast of East Africa

Mawee
: an exclamation of surprise

Mbuzi
: coconut grater

Mchicha
: spinach

Mchongoano
: ridicule

Misala
: mats for prayers

Mugithi
: a traditional Kikuyu song danced to in a forward-moving queue

Mwiko
: cooking stick

Ndee
: idle or in an idle manner

Nyawawa
: zombie

Nywee
: onomatopoeic expression emphasising how smoothly something went

Panga
: machete

Puh
: an exclamation of annoyance

Shamba
: farm

Sturungi
: strong tea

Sufuria
: cooking pan

Tch
: an exclamation of surprise

Uji
: porridge

Unga
: flour

Uuwi
: an exclamation for screaming

Walahi
: I swear

My friends
, for they—rather kindly—took me back when the solitary fits wore off.
My family,
for tolerating me when I couldn't even tolerate myself. And, finally,
CAN-DO!
for their patience, which I often stretched until it was threadbare and pitiful.

Claudette Oduor was born in Nairobi, Kenya. She studied law in university and recently moved to Garissa in northeastern Kenya, where she is involved in humanitarian activities.
The Dream Chasers
is her first novel, written in 2010, during her last year of law school.

Master Publishing

An imprint of The CAN-DO! Company

PO Box 25445-00603 Lavington, Nairobi, Kenya

http://www.candonewmedia.com

© 2011 by Claudette Oduor

A. E. Housman,
To an Athlete Dying Young
, lines 1-12

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eISBN: 978-9966-1589-5-6

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