HOW SHE SLEEPS -Musings By Eric Kiambati
She lays asleep next to me on the couch. Tired. Dead beat. Momentarily her toes twitch, she must be dreaming of the day past.
For the last few days I have been on the road in the desert heat, up north searching for shadows that never appear. My brow on full time duty with a squint. I drove back to the city in the afternoon. I had missed the fast furious life of the city. And I’d missed her too.
Owing to the mad traffic snarl up I got home way past dinner time. But the two noisy bundles that terrorise my upper arms had a feeling I would be coming tonight.They stayed up to wait for me. And with open arms they welcomed me back. Their long lost buddy. Who somehow throws them up several feet in the air and catches them in time. And they giggle squiggle and laugh their hearts out.
Their mother watches with a smile on her face. She dissaproves it. But it brings her joy to see her kids happy. She morphs into her own quiet world as long as her kids are happy.
Fast forward through the kids both yelling at me on how they fell down, grazed themselves, woke and dusted themselves off and now they can laugh about it. And how theyre sorry about misplacing the batteries for the remote.
Now theyre fast asleep and I can now check my mail, and notifications. Their mother had a looong day today.
She came to keep me company on the couch as I charge my batteries, phones and wait for the ever slow internet to decide to connect. we had one of those short arguments where she was looking at a half empty glass. And I was looking at it half full.
We made up immediately, laughed at how slow I eat, which according to my philosophy is savouring a meal well done. And within miniutes she was fast asleep on my shoulder leaving me to watch the old Martin Lawrence flick alone.
Her fingers are limp, half closed her braids fall in a carefree pattern on her face. Reflective of her carefree spirit that rarely rears its head. Its there but its just shy of showing itself. Occasionally she gropes around with her palm and feels a part of me that is close to her…….or she shuffles her feet and knocks my feet too – her way of saying that shes just checking if I’m still there. Next she will yawn, wriggle her eyes, and strech out her hands and yank at my arms and drunkenly say ‘You should be asleep’
Yet here I am listening to Habib Koite, sleep has completely eluded me. I am tapping away at my laptop doing a hundred things at once. Me the noctrnal being I have become. I feel odd being the only being awake save for the mosquitoes baying for my blood.
She wakes up at dawn, as fresh as the pink Duracell Teddy Bear, at that time my brain is winding down…..about to sleep for a few hours. Then the little princess will yank me awake, and kiss me goodbye as she runs to the schoolbus. Half an hour later when am in dreamland her mother will then yank me awake yet again to take a photo of the sunrise.
And then my day will begin.
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