Still Sings the Nightbird

Life

141 L Life he class graduation party was due. Atia was now back and living in Nairobi with his young family. Kabi swam in a happiness beyond the bliss of reading, husband and children. She sensed this was connected to the song of the bird. This delight flew in her heart with happy wings. It came to the surface, to her skin like a good oil. She imagined it was the same as the way a growing tree, silently and unseen makes future seedlings for the survival of the species. She heard the bird: Kwƭ hehoƭƭ! kwƭ heho ngNJkomakNJ? Oh it’s so cold, Oh, it’s so cold, where shall I sleep? Kabi never stopped to imagine her future. She could get far beyond what was of immediate concern in her thoughts. Her dreams were not empty. Sometimes people are surprised by how one moment can change a life. Not Kabi. She knew that in her blood. Kabi was exuberant. Her life was blooming. It was as if her hands were open to receive plenty. She had given a lot. She was ready for the big Graduation party students had organized. She had asked her brother to get them a venue and some food. And so it was done. She had been a lonely girl at the University. She kept to herself. She was always busy travelling back and forth. Atia was meeting her in a group from the University for the first time. All they had in common was the achievements of certificates. Kabi was surprised to hear that many people were attending the party. They were coming from several colleges. Pilot Will Sizwe had three days in the city of Roma before his flight back. He wandered on the eternal streets. At the famous Piazza di Spagna he looked at Christmas decorations. He walked from there to St. Peter’s Square. He stood staring at the Pieta for a long time. In a bookshop under the huge columns of stone he saw on his right he could not resist buying a tiny image of the Pieta. He knew it was not for himself. He carried it wrapped and felt happy. T 142 He wept in his soul. The story of his early life, etched on his memory was live again. Deep in his soul he knew he owed one woman his life. But he had only a vague memory of her. Sometimes the image was on its way into changing into a concrete figure and then it would vanish just before he could hug her. He would be left squinting in the sun if it was daytime or looking up at the moon if it was night. For when he was young he was taken away from her warm hands and loving heart by a tall figure. He found himself at school in Tarehe School in Nairobi. He could never trace her. But he could feel his longing for her inside him. He bought the gift for she who saved his life. He remembered. That morning he had woken up early. An only child, he was in the house, when his father lit up a cigarette in bed. His mother seemed to be still sleeping. The gas explosion that was heard all over the village set the house on fire at once. Someone caught the giddy boy at the entrance of the house. A woman rushed him to hospital. She looked after him until he was discharged. His parents had recently moved into the house and nobody knew them well. It was illegal to keep him but the woman who saved little Sizwe felt he needed her comfort. They hid Will Sizwe and secretly called him the child of tragedy. Will is back from Rome. He walks around the big school compound as he waits. He has arrived early for the Graduation Day party in Nairobi. There are many students already at the venue. Many more were still on their way coming. Atia who invited him has not yet come. More students arrive in minibuses decorated with banana leaves and other branches. There are young girls, older looking women, children, grandfathers and mothers. The party is to be held here inside a school hall at the Red Nandi Flame Boy’s School, off Waiyaki Way. The school is vacant and pupils on vacation. On Will’s mind was the first flight he had ever made to Roma. He swiftly walks on his own enjoying the afternoon...