The Last Penny - Chapter 11 – Amani’s Home

Amani lived with her two sons and the wife and children of one of them, in a city housing block with rooms distributed to accommodate her and her children within an enclosed compound. There was a big common kitchen and pantry that was attached to her bedroom. There was a living room next to it. In old fashioned style the bathroom and toilets were away from the house. Her two sons each had a separate family bedrooms and portions of the house. There was a shed with three walls and a roof with a driveway leading to it. It did not appear luxurious, but was well kept, neat and organised.  There were a wire-mesh covered chicken coop and a couple of goats tied to posts. There were a few trees, mostly around the boundary and a couple in the middle of the land. There was a well at one corner. It was an old house.

It was obvious that Amani was the matriarch and the leader of the family.  She had led and seen the family through tough times in the past. She was well-known and respected in her neighbourhood as a good woman, mother and a special soul – in the way she cared for others and dared to help them in ways that was not the norm.  She seemed to be trusted by all. No one seemed to question her decisions, like the one she made by inviting Srini to spend a day with her family.

Srini realised that Amani and her children were well educated. They were a mix of the traditional and the modern. There seemed to be something rare and unique in her family and their ways that would stand out anywhere in the world. Amani reminded Srini of his own sister in India, who was prone to doing things like Amani did – helping and befriending total strangers.

“It is my luck and fate to meet Amani and her family,” thought Srini to himself.

As soon as they arrived, Amani showed Srini to a room he would share with her younger son. It had two beds on opposite sides with a partition in the middle. There were separate entrances to the room, one for each side of the partition. That son apparently worked a traveling job. He was a young man, in his early twenties, and still single. The other one was older and worked locally too. He had a separate, bigger portion of the house with a smaller kitchen as well. Most of the meals were cooked in the bigger kitchen that Amani ruled. The daughter-in-law had the smaller kitchen kingdom.

Srini was impressed that Amani and her family spoke many languages other than English and Swahili. She spoke a little French and even some Hindi. They had neighbours who were of Indian origin.

Srini put down his suitcase under the bed. He removed his shoes and put on a pair of indoor shoes that he carried. Amani asked him to rest and said she would be back shortly after she had rustled up lunch. There was a radio set on a shelf nearby that she turned on for him to listen to. She and Kiano went off to let the rest of the family know.

Srini heard some talk in the distance as he lay down and rested in the spare but clean, made bed. In a little while, Kiano came up and said that everyone was waiting for him to join them at lunch.

Srini stood up and walked with Kiano into the living room that was converted into a dining room at short notice. There was food in a table at the centre. It was an appealing spread. Amani and her daughter-in-law were setting up the plates. There was a little bright-eyed little tyke peeping from behind the daughter-in-laws legs – obviously Kiano’s little sister. He called out to her and she came and clung close to him. He introduced Srini and the little one put out our hand for a handshake, while hiding her face behind her brother’s back.

Srini knelt down and shook her hand solemnly and greeted her. He turned and greeted Amani and her daughter-in-law.

“This is Sadiki,” Amani introduced her daughter –in-law.

As he looked at them, the little girl made bold to have a peek at Srini while she thought he was not looking at her. She had sparkling eyes, well-made lovely hair and her upturned face was dripping innocent curiosity, shyness forgotten for a moment. Srini knew this would happen and he suddenly turned and faced her with a smile and pulled out a little sweet candy from his pocket (that he had got on the airplane). He stunned the little girl who seemed frozen in shock.  She suddenly instinctively tried to hide behind her brother who had moved away and was laughing at her expression. She hugged him and buried her face in his belly.

“Hello! What is your name dear?” Srini asked in a soft, friendly voice.

The little girl slowly turned to look at Srini.

Looking at his face, smile and finally the candy, she decided he was a friend. She reached out with her hand for the candy, while her face was still turned partly away.

“Tell Mr. Srini your name, Makena,” said Kiano, giving it away and making everyone laugh.

“Makena!” lisped the little one, pointing to her chest.

“Srini,” said Srini pointing at himself.

The friendship was sealed with the candy.

Soon the Amani’s sons came in, the elder one was a quiet, reserved man whose age Srini could not tell. It seemed surprising that Amani was his mother. The younger son had just returned from work. He shook hands, introduced himself, and asked to be excused to wash up and join them in a little while.

Shortly they all sat down, around the table.  Kiano said grace. Amani and her sons helped serve everyone. The daughter-in-law started to feed Makena on her lap as she too ate from her own plate.

They ate together chatting as they caught up with each other’s news. Srini was mostly silent, listening. Amani briefly described how they met. She said that Srini would be spending a day with them and that she would be showing him around town the next day, take him to the market and to a dance the next day. She did not mention his medical condition, but it was apparent that they all knew.

They were a kind, friendly family who were warm and very happy, each doing something that they enjoyed. They inquired about Srini’s family. He showed pictures of them to Amani and her family on his mobile phone. Amani and her sons shared some stories about their own family.

After lunch, the youngsters all helped clean up and brought Amani and Srini a drink so that they could sit down on two comfortable chairs just outside in the verandah, looking out on to the yard and the street.

Suddenly, Srini realised that he and Amani were alone. The children had quietly dispersed and gone back to their portions. The two slowly sipped their drink and sat back, reclining comfortably in their easy chairs.

Srini was curious about Amani. He wondered where the father of her children was. No one mentioned him. She was curious about Srini because he never mentioned the mother of his children either. They were both old and mature enough to respect each other’s privacy.

Amani got up, went in and came back with a small compact radio that she set down beside them.

“Would you like to listen to some of my favourite music?” she asked.

“Yes, I would like that,” nodded Srini.

As the music played, Srini noticed Amani visibly relaxing and sinking back in her chair. She looked at him and then slowly her eyes became half closed. Srini too felt the soothing effects and shut his eyes. He drifted off into a pleasant, strange, exotic dream world.  It was over an hour before he woke up with a start. He opened his eyes and it took him a while to remember where he was. He smelled the flavour and saw tea being offered to him by Amani, as she gently tapped his hand to wake him up.

“I dozed off! What time is it?” asked Srini, “Oh, Thank you! That smells wonderful.”

He accepted the tea. He sipped it tentatively and found the taste delightfully different from any he had tasted before.

“It is about 5 o’clock,” said Amani.

Amani too sat down next to him. They drank the tea quietly. Srini got up and stretched himself and his legs.

“Would you like to go for a walk and stretch your legs properly?” asked Amani.

“Yes. That would be nice.”

They took their tea cups inside and Amani quickly rinsed them clean, set them out to dry on the kitchen counter.

They walked out. Their stroll took them around the house, to the street and out into a trail that was obviously used regularly. They chatted about each other’s lives. Amani’s husband had gone missing one day from a contract job a few miles away about 10 years ago. There were some rumours that he had run away and some that he had been killed. Amani believed the latter. There had been some, ‘mischief-makers’ she called them, who sometimes reported that he was spotted in various places around the country and even across the border in the neighbouring countries. She ignored them. She trusted and knew her husband. They had never found a body, but the company he worked for had compensated her with a lump sum. She had worked as a teacher in the local area. She still taught a couple of days at a high school nearby. She helped run the school as well being on the school board. Amani was well educated and trained as a teacher.

Srini told her about his own life, his family, children and his divorce many years ago. They returned from the walk as dusk set in, to see dinner being cooked by Sadiki and her husband helping her. Makena was playing with toys and scribbling on some scrap books. Kiano was working on some homework and working out what appeared to be math problems.

Amani went straight to the kitchen and at a glance seemed to know exactly what was going on and what needed to be done. Srini went over and sat next to Kiano, watching silently.  Kiano looked up and smiled in greeting and went back to his work. The radio was playing in low volume and occasionally Srini would catch sight of each member of Amani’s family singing along, dancing or swaying as they went about their work.

It was a simple but tasty dinner. They ate as they watched the television news. Srini noted that the television was not always switched on, but seemed to be on a schedule.

As dinner was finishing, the day too came to an end, it was dark outside, with the street lights at a distance. After dinner, again the youngsters quietly and quickly cleaned up. Wished good night to Srini and Amani and retired to their quarters.

Srini and Amani had another couple of hours to themselves, sitting in front of the TV, now muted. They slowly chatted and made plans to see a few things the next day in their outing with Srini. He mentioned the taxi driver from the airport whose number he had. He called him to be picked up from Amani’s house and drive them around the next day. Her younger son and Kiano offered to come along. Apparently, Kiano was getting all his homework done earlier than usual so that he would be free the next day to go along with Srini and Amani.

It was about 10 o’clock when Srini said goodnight to Amani and walked over to his bedroom. The younger son of Amani was sitting in bed, quietly reading with a reading lamp. Srini changed into his bedclothes, brushed his teeth in the little sink nearby, turned out the lights and said good night to the young man who was still reading. He too wished Srini back. Soon all the lights were out. The sound of the crickets and insects outside were the only sounds heard. The moon sailed across the sky steadily, sometimes veiled by clouds. There was a slight drizzle late at night and it only lulled back into sleep anyone who happened to wake into consciousness.



Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2015
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