Twin stuff

A hot Thursday it was. It usually is in Mombasa, but there is a season when the sun seems to descend more on our city making us sweaty. It was lunch time, Two hours were enough to leave the volunteers in the computer hub while I rush to 'Books First' to have a lunch. It was just two kilometers away, on the Nakumatt Nyali complex building.

On Entering, I was surprised to see Nuru on the middle table reading a menu. She was one of the volunteers at Skomara computer hub who I was secretly involved with romantically. She text-ed earlier telling me she had a cold and headache and would not be able to show up. Maybe she had planned to surprise me here because she knew I liked this place.

I went to her seat behind, held her shoulders gently and kissed her. She started up and her eyes were on me like a lioness who had seen an alien lion in their territory. As I was showing my confusion sandwiched in a smile, she slapped me hard. “Are you crazy?” she asked angrily. The slap upset me and before I could think I returned one harder than the girlish one she threw on me.

I'm not a fan of hitting ladies. But I believe if I behave as a gentleman, they should behave as ladies too. They talk about this so much on magazines and television, Men who hit women pictured as “Homo-erectus.” But it should be fair. If a man should not hit a woman, a woman should not hit a man too. Women do not have a license to slap men and get away with it just because they are women.

Four or five people came to our table to make sure the problem doesn't escalate. They asked whats wrong? Nuru said, This guy kissed me and I don't know him. “Really, today you don't know me Nuru?” I asked her. “Who is Nuru?, I'm not Nuru!” she replied. I nodded sarcastically then told her, maybe you are not here to meet me. You must be waiting for another guy you cheater! “Yes, I'm waiting for my friend. And its not you. Who are you crazy man?” she retorted.

I decided to retreat without more fuss and returned to Skomara without taking lunch. Some volunteers saw that I was down. Hilu and Machu-beybe and Jay came to ask me what was wrong but I told them its just the stress of schools that wanted computers without satisfying the requirements first.

After closing the doors of the hub late in the afternoon, I went straight to Buxton, Nuru's home, to ask what was going on? I was welcomed by her mum and Nuru introduced me as her teacher. She was on the couch watching “Vioja mahakamani” and I could see she really had cold. I told her about the lunch time incident and she seemed surprised too. At a point, when I believed she wasn't lying, I thought maybe she had schizophrenia. Later I floated the possibility that they looked alike.

After two days, I took Nuru to Books-First and asked the cashier about the girl who slapped me. The cashier was friendly, she knew I was a regular there. She said she didn't know, she also thought the girl was Nuru. But after I left, the girl was joined by a girl she knew to be a cashier at the Nakumatt. They were both here during lunch today too. I thought of going to ask the cashier girl at Nakumatt but changed heart. It might raise alarm.

The next day at noon we were here, at Books-First. We sat on the corner table to wait for the girl who looked like Nuru. Unfortunately she didn't show up. The next day was Sunday so we didn't come, But on Monday we saw her and her friend enter and took the middle table. We approached them, greeted then I apologized for what I had done four days ago. And I told her now she can understand why. Nuru looked at the girl sternly and the girl looked at her too. It must have been shocking to them too to see another resembling the person they see on their mirrors. The same beauty on their faces. The same slightly chubby cheeks I liked to peck. Just different hairstyles and clothes.

She didn't seem angry today. And when Nuru introduced herself to her, she said her name was Munira and she lives in Mtwapa. We got to tell more about each other. Munira owned a hair salon in Mtwapa. Even Munira's friend, Violet, thought they look astonishingly alike.

We left after paying the bill and headed straight to Buxton. After greetings, Munira asked her mother if she had a twin sister. Her mum asked why? And she said we met a girl who looked just like her. At that point, the dishes Nuru's mum was holding fell down. She started trembling and it seemed as if she was going to fall down when I went to hold her stand. I led her to the couch to sit and she began telling.

I gave birth to beautiful girl twins twenty years ago. I remember just as if it was yesterday. We had been discharged from Makadara hospital and decided to have a cup of tea in the cafe just outside the hospital before we returned home, We lived in King'orani back then. I was holding you, and there was a nice guy who offered to hold your sister while your father went to order breakfast because the counter was crowded. I was exhausted and the humming of the guy holding your sister was so soothing as he paced about our table. When your dad returned, he asked where the guy and the baby was and I seemed to have woken up from a nap. We didn't see him or the baby. We left our egg sandwiches and tea on the table to go round the hospital looking for the guy.

Two hours had passed and we hadn't seen any sign of him. Tears started falling on both your father's eyes and mine. We had already reported to the hospital administration. So we took a taxi, headed to Central police station to report it there too. They told us to check with them the next day. But after eight months of checking up with the police, we lost hope. We decided to raise you happily and love you without anything hindering us. We decided not to tell you. But it was eating us though it did not show in our laughter. When your dad was on her deathbed ten tears ago, she uttered your sister's name, Nina.

A heartfelt, movie like real story we had just got. We released our heavy breaths then Nuru's mum told us she wanted to see the girl. She told Nuru, if the girl you saw is really your sister, then she must have a brown mark under her left breast just as the one you have under your right.

I was early the next day picking up Nuru and her mum, seven thirty in the morning. And were heading to Mtwapa. We reached the salon early before it was opened and ten minutes to nine, we saw Munira with the keys. After greetings, she opened her salon and welcomed us inside. Nuru explained to Munira why her mum couldn't wait another day to see her. Nuru's mum asked Munira about her parents. She said she didn't know her father. Her mother told her that the father left and disappeared when she was just a year old. She was raised by her mum, she lived and schooled in Malindi. After secondary school, she decided to start her own hair salon in Malindi. It was just last year her friend Violet told her salon business is very good in Mtwapa. “It pays tenfold what I was getting in Malindi, that I decided to move my business here.” My mum is still in Malindi, I go to see her every Sunday.

Nuru's mum told Munira the hospital story. Told her about the mark under the breast and asked if she could check it. Munira said she has that mark, she can show them to confirm. At this point, Munira's mum turned her eyes on me. For some seconds I was confused, then I marched out after getting it. I wondered what the big deal was because I had seen Nuru's boobies. Five minutes later when I got in, I saw Munira in Nuru's mum's arms crying while holding each other.

An hour later, the four of us were crossing Kilifi bridge heading to Malindi. We reached there around lunch time. Munira's home was a rental house in Majengo, just outside Central primary school. We were welcomed by Munira's mum and Munira explained to her why we were here. She seemed agitated when she started to talk, then Munira finally found out the truth from her mum. “Please don't take me to police, some guy sold this beautiful baby to me and I bought her. I cannot bear children and I wanted to have a baby so badly.”

Nuru's mum did not settle for that explanation. She asked the woman if she knew what she had put her through all those years? She is the reason that Nina(Munira) did not see her real father. The woman continued crying. Both Munira and Nuru were quiet. They could not believe the turn of their life stories. They had a sister. In the end, Nuru's mum said she will forgive her. She said she was angry at her for the agony she has caused her and her husband for all those years, but also thankful that she took care of her baby. She was glad her baby was still alive. “I would have taken my baby now but they are all grown up and independent. They can live wherever they do their jobs, or even with their husbands when they get married. I just want you know that I'm the mother to both of you, and I havent stopped loving you my daughter. Nuru is your sister. And please come to visit me and have sleepovers often. Thanks to my Lord”