Sunday, 16 February 2014
11:45PM
Dear Jennifer,
My husband has not yet come back from a fundraiser he attended in the afternoon after church. Perhaps he decided to spend the rest of his day at our home back in the boondock. I wonder why he never keeps me updated on his whereabouts, not even after a holy mass in town and a stressful afternoon.
Georgie loves the church, though I would lie, to be sincere, to say it has ever had any spiritual impact on him. We have never been part of a specific congregation since he began his political career. We just keep maundering about from one group of believers to another.
So today being a worship day, he told me in the morning that we were going to attend sermon at a local church back in Seme. Thirty minutes later, he changed his mind that we would first attend sermon at a church in Nyamasaria, and then he would leave us to attend a fundraiser at the local one in Seme. By 10am, we were already gathered in his car and the driver took us to his office in town where we teamed up with other county officials. Then shortly afterwards, all the officials got back into their cars and the fleet took off to the church.
The church in Nyamasaria is always parked to the gunnels. Georgie has always considered it a good political platform, a place where he can reason with elders and sell his leadership image to the people. And he did not spoil the chance; when the mass mover invited him to the chancel after the preachings and prayers had ended, he garnished his political goodwill with promises and achievements.
"I am and will always be your servant leader. You entrusted me with this governorship position and I bet I am doing the best I can to live to its demands and expectations. Phase one of constructing our stadium has just kicked off and next month, we are launching the symbio-city project that I have been speaking about and which my executive team has been assessing and holding under review... ." The congregants applauded and cheered at him. "Our... our duty is to make this county, the county of our pride and heritage, the best place to live and do business in. If our environment is clean and safe, then investments will thrive and excel, and our economy will be juicy. Then there will be... ."
It was at this point that I noticed he was putting on a ring on his right-hand ring finger! My attention quickly shifted from his speech to the ring. It resembled the gold ring and there was no doubt that it was. But why was he wearing it on the ring finger? I almost broke down in tears at the sight of it. In fact, I could now almost see another woman standing next to him, nodding and smiling at me knavishly. I was horrified and could not keep my knickers on. I let part free my lips and made one of the loudest shrills of a lifetime. Then I passed out.
When I came to in the evening, I found myself in a ward, two nurses around me. I quickly recognized them; they work at Moderncare Private Hospital and have been good friends.
"What? Am I in a hospital ward?" I asked, sitting up, almost still unaware of my situation.
"Yes, Mrs Argwins. Easy... go easy," replied Edith, one of the two, helping me sit myself up.
"Moderncare... I'm at Moderncare? What happened to me?" I frained, trying hard to recall.
"We've been told you were in church listening to your husband's speech, then you screamed bloody murder and fainted," replied Faith, the other nurse.
"Ohhh...," I exclaimed, reminiscing what had transpired at the church.
"Mrs Argwins, can you recall what you last saw before you fainted?" inquired Edith.
"A black old woman... standing beside him, my husband, and smiling at me arrogantly," I explained.
"Oh! Did you actually...," started Faith.
"Wait! My daughter... she's not okay. I have to go. Now. Please," I popped up, pulling everything aside and getting out of the bed. I felt a little pain biting at my back. "I have to go home and check on my Harriet."
"No. You're still not stable enough to leave, Mrs Argwins. Not until we establish details about what occured," explained Edith, trying to blockade my way.
"I'm fine. You can stop by my house for the details later." With that, I took off the hospital dress, put on my clothes and, without saying goodbye, left. I hired a taxi home.
As I go to bed tonight, dear sister, I cannot rebut the feeling that there is more to this ring than I can just imagine.
***
Monday, 17 February 201411:00PM.Dear Jennifer,You taught me that no metal is too hard to bend. You also taught me that the weakness of a man lies in his ego. Today, dear sister, I proved your teachings right.My husband came back home a few minutes after I had sent the kids off to school. I perceived that he was jittery with me for spoiling his speech on Sunday, and I would not take any chances of apologizing for granted. So I prepared his bathwater and made him breakfast as usual. After he had bathed and sat down to eat in the dining section, I served him tea with tears cascading my cheeks uncontrollably. Then I sat down opposite him, still heaving with emotions and crying helplessly.When he saw my tears and figured out my depth of grief, his looks quickly turned pallid. At this point, I knew he was touched and had to say something. He looked away from me and asked, "What is i
Tuesday, 18 February 201411:15pm.Dear Jennifer,My husband told me this morning before he left for job that he would be leaving for a one-week benchmarking trip to China with his executive the following week.What is funny about this trip is not the period it will take but the nitty-gritties of the benchmarking. I did not want to sound so snoopy, but I was tempted to ask how a small county in a developing country could benchmark with a developed country of the likes of China. I mean, what is even common between the two geographical units. Or perhaps my education inadequacy denies me a better understanding of economic concepts and development methods.That aside, I am still scrutinising the pieces of advice you gave me on phone in the course of the day. I wanted to know how to handle my husbands secretive and absolutist nature, and you told me three things.First,
Wednesday, 19 February 201411:30PM.Dear Jennifer,I am shocked by the latest developments regarding the strange gold ring. Just when I thought life would return to normal, something really fremd just occured.See, my husband left for work in the morning as usual, and I guess he took along with him his ring, 'cause it was nowhere to be found in his coats' pockets or trousers or anywhere in the house.At lunchtime, however, while lower primary school kids returned home from school, my Harriet came back with something in her palm."Mama, know what I have found?" she shouted happily and playfully."What is it, my baby?" I asked."Promise you won't snatch it away from me," she demanded."Um... Well, I promise. What is it?" I replied with a full deck of curiosity."A gold ring!" she exclaimed, stretching out her r
Thursday, 20 February 201410:53PM.Dear Jennifer,I woke up to some sad news today. Edith Alison, one of the two nurses who attended to me at Moderncare Private Hospital, has passed on. Her body was found dumped in a bush at Manyatta Estate. Her counterpart, Faith Earnington, who was with her at the time they left the hospital has written a statement at the police station in Manyatta.I called her to pass my condolences when I heard the sad news on radio in the morning. She told me that a gang attacked them yesterday evening, barely two kilometres from the hospital, and kidnapped Edith. They live on the same plot here in Milimani Estate and had boarded the same motorcycle home when they were attacked. She said her phone had died down, thus she could not call the police. But she went to the nearest police station and reported. The cops tried to locate the gang on their devices in vain. It seemed they had
Friday, 21 February 201411:03PM.Dear Jennifer,It has been another unusual day for me. I could not sit back and watch my marriage stoop on the precipice of failure, owing to a strange gold ring. My husband, the Georgie I knew, who was full of wisdom and love, is no longer the one I see. The one I see wanders back to the house from work, cold and shifty and unwilling to protect his marriage.So today I took a private walk outside our street to see a pastor I was well-acquainted with at Kona-kayona Estate. Since it rained heavily in the morning, I knew the area would be filled with trenches of dirty water and so I wore my gamboots and put on my cardigan and a pair of gloves to keep warm. I also wore a bucket hat to conceal my face a bit since I w
Saturday, 22 February 201410:58PM.Dear Jeniffer,I was disturbed by a few things and had to pay Faith a visit today. Saturday is her day off at Moderncare and so it was opportune for a visit. Since I did not want Georgie to know that I was visiting the nurse, I waited till he had left the house, then I threw myself into a pair of palazzo pants, a chiffon blouse, wedge heels and a pair of glasses, took my handbag and left. I walked down the street and straight to the plot where she lives.I found her seated in her portico preparing some beans for cooking. She welcomed me into the house and served me tea. We spoke about our families (she is engaged to an Indian) and what happened before I fainted the previous Sunday. But when I finally touched on Edith's demise, she turned bleak and somewhat shaken."Well, I'm sorry I brought up this conversation," I tried to rub it off.
Sunday, 23 February 201411:02PM.Dear Jennifer,When I woke up in the morning today, I found Georgie lying beside me in bed, fast asleep. I stood up and walked stealthily to the living room, then to his meditation room, trying to see if there was any scruffy sign of Tiger. The two rooms were lonely and quiet. I walked to the kids bedroom and found them still asleep. I left as calm as I had gone in; I did not want to wake them up so early on a Sunday.When I returned to my bedroom, I found Georgie awake; in fact, surfing the Internet on his smartphone."Good morning, my lord," I greeted."Morning, dear," he replied in a calm croaky voice, unminding my presence. I moved closer and sat next to him on the bed.
Monday, 24 February 20146:02pm.Dear Jennifer,I am seated at the porch of my house trying to recall the events of this tedious day. Johnny is on a trip to China. As I saw him off at Kisumu International Airport in the morning, I remembered how he began his political career.By the time we were starting our marriage, he had just graduated from Kenyatta University with a bachelor's degree in Civil and Structural Engineering. He was 25 and I was 20. He soon afterward began his engeneering career. After five years, however, his career took a swift turn, just when I had given birth to his first born - Tony. He developed interest in politics. I tried to dissuade him from moving that direction, but he insisted, and when the 2002 ele