Chapter 3

Mumo hadn’t had any sleep for the rest of the night. It was all tossing and turning. Minimally, of course, Mumo had to mind the baby. That starts way before the baby is born. Mumo learnt that fast enough. Kanyele had gone back to sleep sooner than Mumo had thought he would. Easy to rise; easy to succumb.

“I’m already awake. No need to hold yourself so stiff.”

Thank Mulungu. Syomiti was awake; now Mumo could fully stretch out before starting the day. The last few hours had been painful; for both mind and body.

The kids would be taking the herd out to pasture after they had had their breakfast. Mumo was currently checking on the animals. They didn’t seem that frightened; a bit skittish, but they were always skittish. It was like the night before had not happened at all to them. Oh, I envy your short memories. Mumo would be remembering it for the rest of time; first direct encounter after all. There had been others, but only as help.

It’s not that the animals weren’t afraid of mundumbiti; they were. But they constantly lived under the threat of been attacked at any time by anything really. It could be lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs out in pasture. Even baboons sometimes had their go at them. Don’t you forget humans love meat; even those allergic to it. You sometimes found an individual consuming meat knowing full well where it’ll leave them.

The cattle lock seemed good enough; though a few more tries and she might have gotten through. Small mercies. Mumo wasn’t sure whether to glad of Maithya’s ingenuity or not. On the one hand, they still had all their cattle; on the other, Mumo had at least one broken ribs and they hurt a lot. But, then again, the night before could have ended very differently for Mumo. Being honest, Mumo was proud of Maithya; not anyone could say that they had successfully thwarted a mundumbiti without ever engaging them.

By the time Mumo made it back to the main house, the kids were ready to head out for the day. They had packed a nzele of kitheri, but knowing Maithya he would try his hand at catching small game; mostly squirrels, hares or doves. He was very successful with the doves; better than Mumo in trapping them.

“Don’t go too far today.” Syomiti was worried, rightfully so. It was the night after the attack. It was still fresh in their minds. But they had no reason to; mundumbiti never attack immediately after the full moon. There were no stories of it ever happening. But no one could stop a parent from worrying about their kids, no matter how unlikely a threat was.

“Don’t worry, we don’t want to die any more than you want us to die.”

“You are using the wrong words Maithya.” Sometimes Mumo forgot that he was still kid.

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“We’ll be careful. I’ll make sure of it.”

“If anything, if you suspect or feel like it is not safe, you come right away.”

“Yes, mother,” they chorused. They turned and hurriedly set upon herding the animals out of the compound.

“Maithya, come open this for me. It’s too messed up.” Huh, Kanyele was on cattle duty today.

…

Mumo stood besides Syomiti, leaning against the house wall. “Ugh, remind me to repair these walls before the baby arrives.”

“You can do it now.” Syomiti had to be joking. Now!? Mumo looked at her, hoping to gleam any indicator that that had been a joke. Syomiti was busy watching the kids. Very serious. A bit too serious.

“You’re joking.”

“Not really. If you do it now, then I wouldn’t have to remind you to do it later.” She turned to look at Mumo. “Besides, it can give you something to do. Get your mind off last night.”

“It won’t matter. I’m not forgetting last night anytime soon.”

“I wish they were older.”

“Then, we would be older too.”

“We could have started earlier.”

“We’ve had attacks long before the kids came along.”

“Last night was a little too close. You could’ve died. Then what?”

“Maithya is nearly a man grown now, Kanyele not that far behind. A few years…” Mumo didn’t want to think too much about the future right now. Especially not after what happened to their neighbors. Musango perished not long after the mundumbiti retreated. He didn’t even get to see the sunrise. A lot could happen in a few years.

“I wish they would stay kids a lot longer.” Syomiti sounded melancholic.

“What? You just said—”

“I know what I just said.”

Mumo turned to the gate, not knowing what to say. The kids were long gone now. It was time to start thinking about repairing those walls. That’s when one of the village messengers entered their compound. There were four of them in this village; the Elder used them to relay messages to the villagers. Mostly, they were used to summon someone to the village center.

She walked briskly towards them. She was a new one; at least it was the first time they were seeing her. Not nervous at all. Must have been at this job for a while. Maybe a year. That’s the last time they saw the last one. They rarely got visited, which was a good thing. Most visits were about disputes. This one most definitely wasn’t; considering what had happened recently.

When she reached them, three things became very certain: one, she was tired. You could see it in her eyes. That was to be expected, if she made it to their household this early in the morning. Second, she was very young, fourteen at most. Lastly, she looked surprised when Mumo greeted her. Though, Mumo couldn’t figure out why.

“I’m Mumo. How can we help you, Messenger?”

“Syokau.”

“Syomiti.” And now she was looking from Mumo to Syomiti, shyly. But she soon composed herself.

“The Elder has requested all family heads to attend a meeting to be held at lunch hour, in the Elders compound. The main topic will be the attack last night and what to do about it. You’re hereby invited.” She was definitely looking at the two of them at the same time, somehow. She is not sure who the head is.

Mumo decided not to torture her. “I’ll be attending.” She looked positively relieved. She turned and left with a polite farewell.

This was good news to Mumo in a way; postponement of wall repair. Turning to Syomiti, Mumo was met with a sharp rebuttal, “I’m still going to remind you until you get it done.”

She can read my thoughts!

“No, I can’t.”

Mumo just stared at her blankly.

“It’s all written on your face.”