Tales from Elburgon - I saw stars, but with each star, I pleaded for mercy........

You can call me a coward if you want but fact is after what I went through at the hands of Njoroge, I have never had the will and strength to fight. After witnessing too many street and bar brawls I am reminded of my experiences with Njoroge and which made me never to bring, lay or point a finger at anyone’s face.

Well, Njoroge was the village bully, the kind of a bad guy who has all the negative qualities found in a bad child heaped on him. He had even been remanded in a juvenile prison because of his exploits and after he was convicted of stealing mandazi from Morris' Hotel popularly corrupted to  Mkawa wa Molethi.

He was so feared among boys in the village more so because he had a head that seemed bigger than the rest of his body. His eyes were ever bloodshot and his broad nose added to his menacing look.

Njoroge was also a known thief and local residents of Sokoro did not have to look for answers far and wide when a shop was broken into and mandazi had made a disappearing act. In fact he with one Ochieng’ had the capacity to steal while the shopkeeper watched.

They would play tricks on the shopkeeper and by the time he knew, they had disappeared with an item from the shop. They would also enter into a shop when it was open, hide in the store and when it closed in the evening, they would use the windows to siphon products from the shop. Where they took them nobody knew.

On that fateful night, we were out for safari rally. Remember that time when safari rally was the highlight of the April holiday season and when every kid looked out for it. Those were the days when Shekhar Mehta and Bjorn Waldegaad ruled the muddy roads and routes. The route planners had billed the vehicles to pass through Elburgon by 1AM but by 3.A.M.they were nowhere to be seen. Not even the helicopter plane that preceded the vehicles had been spotted in the air.

Fatigue must have started creeping in and as usual it was now talk, talk, and more talk. The boys started taunting each other and one of them in our group and whom I cannot recall now must have said something that got to the ears of Njoroge. It must have been something to do with his wayward ways and I am convinced that it touched the inner core of his personality.

The next thing that happened was that he came and picked me from that group of boys probably because I was much smaller and therefore easier to discipline. He took me aside and sought to know why I had abused him. I vehemently denied ever saying or even imagining that he had evil ways but like all bullies he was already decided to teach me a lesson, one that I have always carried along with me.

He grabbed my small head with both palms and positioned them directly to his forehead. My attempts to release myself from his vice-like grip were too feeble and he told me in the face that he will give me a whacking which I will never forget and especially if I continued bothering him.

It is at that time that he gave me three hard head butts on the forehead using his more than usual big head. To date, I have never known where the sparks were coming from, whether it was from the stars or they were directly from my forehead, I cannot tell. What I know is that with every knock there was a spark, and with it came more begs for mercy. 

When he was through with me, and which looked like he had been hitting me for eternity, I had neither morale nor the will to continue waiting for the safari rally cars. I went straight home and slept off the whole episode, deciding from there and then that I will never get involved in a fistfight whether I am to be regarded as a coward or not.

Ends……