Why people started avoiding me after Freemason show
At Hitler’s that evening, I noted something strange. Everyone seemed to avoid me
Thanks to a programme that was aired on TV last weekend, my family and I have had a difficult time this ending week. I personally have been avoided and treated like a pariah.
It all started on Monday at school during lunch hour. As we had lunch, Sella asked if anyone had watched TV the day before.
“Did you see that devil worshipper on TV?” she asked, saying that she was shocked because while she knew there were devil worshippers, she was surprised that one of them could come out to openly declare to be one. “This world is almost coming to and end if devil worshipers are now coming out,” she said.
“I was also shocked,” announced Lena, her terrible hair in tow. “And because of that, I am fasting this week to seek God’s intervention, otherwise our children do not have a great future.”
I told them that I had watched the programme and saw nothing that made the interviewee a devil worshipper. “He just belongs to a society where people meet, interact and network, just like many of us belong to chamas,” I said.
“What do you mean Dre?” wondered Alex. “If it is a simple society, why is it secret? Why do they meet at night, and why do they meet naked? This is devil worship!”
“He never said they meet naked. I did not hear,” I said, adding that he just mentioned they have rituals.
“So, you wanted him to say that they meet naked?” Alex posed. “And you think we do not know the rituals include drinking human blood? Where do they get human blood from if not by killing others?”
Free Masonry
“That is not true,” I said after laughing out loudly. “It is even not possible!” I went on to tell them that different people belong to different groups and associations, all governed by different rules. “I see nothing wrong with Free Masonry, is that the name? “I really do not know them in detail, but they are not devil worshippers!”
“Dre, why are you defending them?” Are you one of them?” Lena asked. I laughed loudly and told her that I was not. At that point, Madam Ruth and Mrs Atika looked at her knowingly, like there was something they knew that Lena did not know. Since lunch was done, I went back to my office. That afternoon many teachers did not sit in the staffroom, I wondered where they went. It was only Lena who remained but when I walked to the staffroom at 3pm, she quickly left the staffroom, without even talking to me.
At Hitler’s that evening, I noted something strange. Everyone seemed to avoid me. Unlike other times when they came to where I was expecting me to buy them something, this time, everyone avoided me, no one even greeted me. Since I had no money, I was happy sitting alone, and staggered home immediately after having my fill.
The next morning, as I went to school, I noted that two people I greeted did no answer me. In fact, Anindo, when she saw me coming, retreated. At the time, I did not think much about it.
But at school, the same thing that had happed the day after happened; Teachers vanished from the staffroom as soon as I walked in. I operated alone for the next two days. It wasn’t until Wednesday evening that I learnt what was happening.
At Hitler’s, after some time alone, a visibly drunk Nyayo joined me. I thanked him for joining me. “No one wants to be seen near me. Do I smell?” I asked him.
“You do not know what is happening?” he asked. I knew there was a story to be told, so I ordered a drink for him.
“It is not easy for me to talk to you,” he started. “I don’t know if you have heard, but for long, people have been saying that your family have majini – some powerful spirits – that you keep and worship.”
I laughed and wondered why people were starting to avoid me now. “It has always been whispered but now it is being said openly, I don’t know why,” he said. I asked him why people thought we worshiped evil spirits.
Big job in Kakamega
“Just look at you and your family,” he said. “You are all doing well. You are a headmaster who just keeps being promoted every year, your wife has a big job in Kakamega, your brother Pius does a big job in Nairobi, Ford is a senior Prison Warder, and all you sisters are happily married to rich husbands. Your father sells milk daily, yet his children send him a lot of money monthly. You people are rich.”
He went on: “Look at your house. Is there anyone with such a big house with so many rooms?” he said. “In fact, one of the rooms is where you keep….” he stopped. He just went on to say I keep Mary. I asked him who Mary was. I prodded him further, but he was unwilling to say more, until I bought him a fourth glass.
“You were one of the fundis who built my house, was there a secret room?” I asked him.
“My job was just to build, I don’t know what you did with the rooms after we left.” he said. “Anyway, it is said that you keep a snake in one room, others say it is a leopard. Some people even say that they have met you with it at night, either you or your father or mothers, I don’t know!”
I also laughed and wondered why anyone would keep a snake or leopard. “It is what protects you and your marriages, gives you big jobs and lots of money!” he said. I laughed some more and told him that I, too, was struggling to make ends meet.
I told him being a teacher was a small job. “What do you mean,” he said. “You are not just a teacher; you are a headmaster. How many people in Mwisho wa Lami are headmasters? Only you!” He went on to tell me that people wondered what my wife did in Kakamega that gave her lots of money. “It is not normal,” he said. He asked me whether we have ever slept hungry like other people. “You see!” he exclaimed when I told him we had never!
Laughed loudly
The next day, I called my brother Pius to tell him what I had heard. He laughed loudly. “Dre you stay in Mwisho wa Lami and you are hearing this for the first time?” he wondered. “We have always been said to be devil worshipers. Get used to it.”
My sister Yunia also told me not to worry. “Mwisho wa Lami people will soon find something else to talk about, and they will forget about the false rumours. And how I wish my husband was rich; or that we even were in a happy marriage!”
She added: “And if you hear someone selling a leopard that can bring us money and happiness, please let me know we take a loan and buy!”
