Those of you who have followed me long enough know Branton. If you do not know him, then allow me to explain.
Branton is the son of Catherina, a fellow teacher who now heads a school in Kakamega town. If you remember, I met Catherina at a Music Festival in Kakamega some years ago, and we became friends.
She visited me two times, and the visits went beyond just visits, for she did things that included cooking for my parents and fetching water for them. These were things to suggest that she was keen on moving into our home permanently.
She did not move into our home, but soon she was pregnant. Although Branton was born over a year since she last visited us, everyone believed that I was the father of the baby.
Although I was not responsible for the pregnancy, I am a responsible man. And I accepted the son as mine, as part of my Corporate Social Responsibility despite him not resembling me at all.
Catherina would bring the son to stay with me, just a week after my wedding with Fiolina. Whenever Catherina wanted, she would create excuses like the boy was malnourished, was not abandoned, was not being taken care of, and others to take the boy away. And whenever she was with the boy, it was a cash cow. She would ask for money for this and that. If it was not for medication, it was for school fees, clothes, or shoes.
For years, Catherina used that as bait to make money from me. When it suited her, she would drop the boy at my place. She would get flimsy reasons to return Branton. She would claim the boy was rude, was not well-raised, was dirty, or needed a father figure in his life. Or at times, she would say that she needed a rest – as if anyone rests from parenthood.
If you remember, a few years ago, Catherina collapsed in love with an official of the county government of Kakamega who drives in a big car and smells corruption. Since then, her life changed. Instead of this stabilising her, it made her more erratic. Because she had this big car that had no work, she would pick and drop Branton anytime she wanted.
Before this man appeared, we had been on good talking terms, and were ready to elevate the talking to something else. She stopped talking to me as soon as the man appeared, only reaching out when she needed something or was giving an instruction.
When I met her in 2022 and she was pregnant, I must say I felt a little bad, a little envious, although I have no reason why.
I hear that a baby girl came last year, but things started going badly between her and her big county man who smells corruption. When I heard that they were having issues, a part of me was sad while another part was shaky.
Anyway, they separated late last year, with the man leaving Catherina in the big house they had. Lonely in her big house, Catherina picked Branton. Of course, she could not say that she was lonely, she raised all manner of issues about how badly Branton was being raised by a stepmother.
“Your evil woman, Fiolina hates my son,” she texted me sometimes in October. “I don’t know what you saw in that witch!” I don’t know how, but Fiolina came to read that message. This made our house a Haiti of sorts but I managed to cool down the situation. Catherina would later pick Branton in November ‘to give the boy a better life than I was providing.’
Things went badly this year. I didn’t know what happened, but Catherina’s big man seems to have fallen out of favour with powers that be at Kakamega county. Not only did he lose his job, but she started being investigated. The car went, the driver went, and so did the house. Fiolina had to move out. With nowhere else to go, she rented a one-bedroom house in Kakamega.
Moving from a five-bedroomed house with a big compound, with a husband, big car, and driver, to a one-bedroomed house in Amalemba, but with a house girl, and two children and meager TSC salary was not easy. As you would imagine, Catherina remembered that I existed, and started talking to me.
It all started with her updating me on her new life, her tribulations, Branton, etc. We started talking more frequently, and before long, she had said that she missed me. I also said that I missed her and visited her when I was in Kakamega in late January. It was a mistake, for she soon asked that dreaded question: What are we?
Fiolina must have thought that I was also as loaded as the man she had previously been with. So, I ended up sending her money every time that she needed it. Money that I did not have.
To run away from that situation, I started reducing the frequency of communication with her, and then stopped a few weeks ago – only responding to her messages after one or two days. And her messages moved from how she missed me and wished to be with me to how Branton was an in-disciplined boy, how he did not help in housework, and how dirty he was.
“Kujia Kijana wako mkora,” she wrote to me the other week, adding that she had lost Sh300 in the house and suspected Branton had stolen it. I did not respond. Two days later, she said fees for Branton’s school was needed. When I asked how much, she informed that it was Sh 19,000 per term.
I told her that I did not tell her to take Branton to an expensive school. Next, she wanted money for food, and I ignored.
It was, therefore, a surprise, but not a shock when last Saturday, a motorcycle arrived in my compound. It was Nyayo, and he was carrying Branton. He had picked Branton from Mwisho wa Lami market under the instructions of Catherina.
“I hope your son arrived well, mimi nimechoka na yeye, pia wewe jaribu,” I would later receive an SMS from Catherine. I did not respond to her, and won't respond to her. I will raise Branton without her.
