It had been a really slow day I had a meeting with a client who bailed (I woke up at 5 for crying out loud, I never wake up at 5 ,I am not a morning person..sigh).
I waited for the client in his office lobby somewhere along kikuyu road ,one hour,two hours ,three hours ,then he calls and says he won't be available due to other pressing matters.
I then remember I left my coffee halfway because I was in rush and I didn't want to be late.my poor poor coffee .it is probably cold now , sitting in my mug dejected and lonely while it could be in my body activating my mind and doing the thing that coffee does.
The secretary stares at me pitiful and promises to remind him next time. I thank her and walk out . I could probably could have dragged my feet I can't recall.
I walk to the gate I don't remember what I was thinking ,but I was not angry . I was having a temper flare for the past few days but this time I was calm.podcasts works people.
I stand by the road side waiting for a bus ,in this part of the county it takes a while to get a bus. I am not even a bit irritated my mind is at ease I feel some sort of peace that is new to me.
As I stand at the road side a man grazing his sheep catches my attention.
He seems to be in his late seventies ,he reminds me of my grand father ,but my grandfather is short .I remember my uncle once telling us that our great great grandparents came from a lineage of dwarfs. I stared at my uncle for a solid five minutes and then I started laughing (I laughed hysterically ,it scared him and made everyone else uncomfortable)
I just imagined myself as a dwarf and for the weirdest reason it was funny.
My grandfather was quiet the character he was a short man who wore hats and suits and he always had a cane with him. He is also mumbles angrily to himself.
A while ago he got cataracts and they blinded him ,or did they?
Nobody actually knows if he is blind
Especially my cousin she sometimes waves her hand over his face and he doesn't say a word until she reaches for his wine and then he calls her by her name and tells her to put it back.
Still bongles me till today
Anyway my grandfather is a kingfisher kinda guy the sweet stuff ,I saw it for the first time in his house.
He has class ,my grandpa.
When he talks you listen ,he commands respect and will call you out on your shit.
He has this missing canine and it makes his smile unique
My grandpa loves me ,he thinks I am bright (does a little twirl)
It is very hard for him to like you ,he is grumpy most of the time.I guess it comes with old age. He sometimes talks in his sleep not the good talk but the angry talk he is always angry at someone or something.he snores too, the loud type of snore.
I sleep talk to I think I got that from him, I sleep walk too and one time my friend sleep over and since it to charge her phone she slept on the foot of the bed and in the middle of the night I was screaming and fighting her ,needless to say she doesn't come over anymore
So I digress back to the shephard of sheep if I may say ,he waved at me I waved back. He slowly walked over to me.
I smiled at him ,he didn't smile . He reached to where I was. Now I assumed I had done something wrong maybe this was sacred ground belonging to kikuyu and mumbi and as punishment he would make me walk around the mugumo tree and chant some slogans or worse he would make his sheep run after me.
I had been having a recurring dream of cows running after me , if that isn't the worst nightmare I don't know what possibly was.
He was finnally standing next to me ,he studied me for a while , I said hello he didn't say hello back he just asked what time it was. It seemed like my hello was a nuisance to him like how dare I say common nairobian say hello to the man of the tribe,keeper of the agikuyu secrets and herder of sheep.
"It's 12:30"
He nods
"Do you live around"
He lights up ,I didn't expect that i expected a rude mumble as he dismisses me with 'kids of these days are stupid'
"Yes I live around,just beyond this road"
"So you graze your animals near the road isn't it dangerous"
"It's not dangerous my sheep are not stupid they know where to graze and what to do"I stare at his wise sheep and I notice one sheep stuck between a fence,but it is a wise one it will get out sooner or later. Sheep with PhD try all sorts of stunts I assume.
"I have land you know"
I nod , I didn't want to ask a stupid question since I was sure he would hit me with his herding rod.
"I gave it to some of my sister's children"
"You must love them"
He is quite for a while as if trying to analyze what love meant to him. He removed his hat and I notice a head full of hair not a white hair on him, the hair also looks very soft to touch. He clears his throat and says.
"My sister and her children live near me"
"What about your children"
"I don't have any children,I was a cowboy of my times"
"You never married?"
"Yes never and will never since I am now seventy five" he says it prodly as his eyes twinkle despite the invading cataracts .I wanted to say something about how he didn't look his age but he scared me.
"I was very handsome in my time women loved me"
"Why didn't you marrry?"
"Because I was a cowboy"
He says this with finality as if I don't understand what it means to be a cowboy, actually I didn't understand but asking was not an option ,since his wise sheep were now moving toward us.
"Would you like to have children?"
"You know when I walk around my village I see boys and I Know this one is mine"
I laugh .
He doesn't indulge he stands up and walks away with his wise sheep which know it's time to go home.
He doesn't say goodbye , because cowboys don't say goodbye.
This just makes me want to listen to some country music because not everyone gets to meet a real cowboy.
