First, I want to make it known that I’m not a “COZMEN”, Maybe the English will adopt that noun but in our Swahili language, we call them Kozimeni. They are nocturnal busybodies who often station themselves outside windows of residential houses.
Three days ago, it was a Friday, I found myself chewing the most repulsive vegetable that I have ever preached against. Mugokaa, Mgoks, Goks are among the names gives to leaves of some tree that is commonly grown in Meru and areas around it. After counseling about four youths for about half an hour without success, they dared me to try it for five minutes. I knew nothing would interest me in chewing the product even if done for hours, but I did it to prove them wrong. After two hours, I was enjoying the free treat of Sodas, Chewing gum, sensational stories that glued me to the bench on the “Maskan” of these Mgoks chewers.
Chewing the substance inspires our brains and heart. I had technical organizational hurdles in a project I was working on, but three hours with Mgoks made it all easy. I even came out with a convincing, perfect financial proposal that would make sure the startup survives tremors for the next five years.
Around eleven o’clock, we could not continue sitting in one place. Our legs were restless, so we moved around the neighborhood then further. Traffic on village roads decreases during this time. There were five of us, so we had no worry of coming head to head with petty thieves or notorious gangs who make life uncomfortable to those who are out at this hour.
We passed through dark alleys that sent chills to my body. The substance we were chewing was like an energy dose. We got energy and fantastic enjoyment from it. We had traversed our Ujamaa Village to Brazil, Half London, Likoni, Bomani, Flats and Vyemani on our route back. I hoped to see night runners but never did, I guess they are just a myth.
At one house we were tempted to peep inside a room from an open window and we saw a man and his wife watching a game of Arsenal Vs Manchester United. We watched silently until the game was over. On another window, we saw a family that was waking up their two kids to go to the toilet. We knew it was to prevent them from peeing on the mattress. There were a few other open windows, but it was just commonplace activities.
These were people we didn’t know, I wondered what if I peeped into families that I knew. Well, dawn was approaching and our stash was almost up. Motorcycle taxis, known as Boda boda, are still to be found on Bus stops at this time. They charge double what they usually take during the day. Guys who do night shifts and Commercial sex workers from night clubs are usually the targets at this hour. My partners decided to return to their homes. I did too but was curious about businesses that went on inside people’s lives at night that I decided to ask my partners to do this again tomorrow night.
Saturday night proved to be much fun that Friday. I thought it wasn’t bad being addicted to fun. And we were not hurting anybody. Half an hour past midnight and we were already on our rounds. Sometimes each would take a position on a window chosen, and tell each other what we’ve seen half an hour later when we rejoined. I would place myself at an adjacent angle to the shadow of the house so that my body would not be silhouetted against the light from within the room. The good thing about us is that we were not thieves. We took nothing out from those windows. We were just giving our eyes a treat.
Through some windows, I saw couples in deep sleep. On some, not less than six, they were making love. I must say Missionary position will never go out of style, no matter how many x-rated movies people watch. In some, however, singles were touching with themselves. And not just boys, although they make up eighty percent of them, ladies were into it too.
My favorite was on a window about three houses away from Mwahima hospital. This couple seemed to have woken up in the middle of the night with full vigor. They were experienced too because they did not rush into it. The guy was taking her slow, preparing her for the major storm. She was agreeable and her groaning continued to thrill her man. I did not move even an inch from where I was standing outside the window. Mgoks was chewed gently and carefully lest the clatter of my teeth should wake up the romantics. My heart was beating faster; I could feel the blood pressure in my veins. I did not wipe out the sweat that was dripping across my face and sometimes disturbing my eyes. I was preparing myself to a high by being en-sync with their rhythm. Without notice, electricity was out in the entire neighborhood. I was disappointed for a split second, and then my intuition let me switch on my Cell phone torch to illuminate the room. I regret having done that. Because the love birds gave out a terrified scream that I could no longer afford to remain at my position.
My friends heard the cry and we met in no time and decided on a route that led to the Cabro-tile paved road. Two policemen sat in a dark kiosk near the road. They summoned us and started asking many questions. We pleaded with them for about half an hour, but they could not release us until we parted with two thousand shillings. I was horrified; I didn’t want to spend a night in a police cell, again. We returned back home, and after I was safely lying down on my bed, I began to take a toll on my new night lifestyle. At last, I resolved to stop it, and stop chewing the evil leaves that incite this new irresponsible habit.
Tonight, Sunday, I have no sleep in my eyes. I slept early after dinner but was woken up by a definite fear that was relayed to my dream. I went beside my window and looked outside. I was afraid that somebody might be taking a peek at me. I thought I saw a human figure while on my bed, but then I figured out that it was just a shadow of the pawpaw tree. No one was passing by outside. It must have been an hour or so of standing for I felt that the suspenseful silence for long. It was dead silent, save for an occasional mow of the cows on a nearby shed. The wind was blowing westwards gently and the half-moon shone just enough to give me a good view of the front of our house. Time passed but no one was passing. I suspected somebody was eagerly waiting for me to give up so that he could come to the window and watch me. I don’t want to be watched while sleeping. I only have on a costume when sleeping and I thought it was possible somebody might take a picture of my tush and spread it over the internet. Maybe I was silly, maybe it’s just the unreasonable fear that got in my head. But it surely gave me insomnia tonight.
