Why I won’t beg Fiolina to return
Allow me to start by apologising profusely for being absent from these pages last Sunday.
This was because I was managing a small domestic situation that abruptly came up, a situation that I am still handling.
You may want to hear about it. You will remember a few weeks ago, we differed with Fiolina after she started asking for things that clearly could not be found in Mwisho wa Lami.
From Wi-Fi internet to a visit to the spa, to wanting eggs for breakfast, and fruits after every meal.
I stood my ground and told her that she needed to remember that life had changed –that she had been fired.
But Fiolina would go ahead to incite the kids, who upon returning to Mwisho wa Lami, also wanted the soft life of Kakamega. They refused to eat omena and take uji, and asked for something they called cereals for breakfast.
They also opposed my move to change their schools. You will recall that I planned to move Sospeter and Honda from Hill School Kakamega to Mwisho wa Lami primary while Electina would go to Mwisho wa Lami Mixed Day Secondary school.
Despite the protests, I implemented these changes when schools opened.
“Dre, these are children, they are not like us adults who can easily adapt to changes.”
“You are wrong, Fiolina,” I told her. “In fact, children adapt to changes much faster than adults.” I went on: “Anyway, so what do you want done?”
“It is not what I want done, Dre,” she answered. “It is what is good for the children.”
“We closed the house we had in Kakamega and moved here. You want them to walk from here to Hill School in Kakamega every day?” I asked.
“First of all, we did not close the house, it was your decision to have it closed. I just submitted to you as directed by the Bible,” she said.
“I doesn’t matter if it was our decision or my decision,” I said. “We are all here in the village.”
“The point is that you are a well earning HM, you can’t tell me that you cannot afford to take the children to better schools,” she started.
“The best gift we can give to our children is good education. It is the only proper inheritance we can grant them. Hill school Kakamega has a boarding section where Honda and Sospeter can board. I also do not understand why Electina is being changed schools.”
“First of all, for the girls, those questions would best be answered by their father Tocla. Secondly, I do not have enough money to take kids to those schools you took them to when money was burning you.”
I went on. “As a serious pedagogist, I am anti boarding, and would like children to come home every day so that we can mold them into proper human beings.”
“What!? You, who is never at home, how will you mould anyone when drunk?” she asked.
“Anyway, just remember I am not your maid, you will need to hire a maid to help with house chores,” she said.
“And what will you be doing?” I asked her.
“Surely what kind of man are you? Where do you take your salary?” She wondered.
“You can’t buy us good food, you can’t buy us good clothes, you can’t take the kids to good school? Can hire a house girl. Where does your money go to Dre?”
“When I was working, what my money did could be seen.” I did not answer hers, and for a few days we did not speak. Or rather she would not respond to me.
I returned home two weeks ago to find her not at home. We assumed she had gone to the market. When she had not returned by 7.30 pm, and did not answer my calls, I asked Electina and Honda to prepare supper.
The next morning, the girls took care of house chores before they left for school. In the absence of Fiolina, they would start doing domestic chores every morning before going to school and evening after school.
Soon, I started hearing some rumours that I was sure had been started by Fiolina to tarnish my good name and spoil my impeccable reputation. The rumours had been that I had beaten Fiolina and sent her back to her parents. According to the rumours, I beat her after she used the sugar against my instructions. It was claimed that I had ‘signed’ at the top of the sugar and was angry when I found the ‘signature’ tampered with.
“We all know the cost of living has gone high, but a full HM like you beating someone over sugar?” asked Rumona, my sister-in-law when she came to see me.
“You also believe those lies?” I asked her. She said that Fiolina had complained to her that I had become too stingy with money, and as such she believed the rumours. Soon the rumours reached the school.
“Do not finish the tea as some teachers here have no sugar back home. This is the only proper tea they get," Kuya said last Monday. It was so embarrassing.
That evening, I received a missed call from a new number. I called back. It was Fiolina’s father. “Hauna haja na bibi yako?” he asked, wondering why I had not bothered to check if Fiolina was with her parents. He then went on to say how Fiolina had supported my family and I when she was employed, then complained that I had abandoned his daughter as soon as she lost her job. He asked me to look for elders and visit him to ask for forgiveness if I wanted my wife back. I told him that I would think about it.
The next day, I texted him and told him that they should also come for Electina and Honda, my brother-in-law Tocla’s daughters, as well.
Wacha kirambane! But I will not beg Fiolina to come back!
