When I reported last week that there had not started any bipartisan talks between Fiolina and I to facilitate her coming back home, I was not aware that behind the scenes, there were several parties involved in talks to reconcile us.
As you know, ours is the most respected and most stable marriage in Mwisho wa Lami and its environs. That is why everyone was concerned.
It soon emerged that my elder sister Yunia had reached out to Perepetua, Fiolina’s sister and started informal talks on bringing Fiolina and I back together. Sources intimate to the source told me that it is Fiolina who initiated the talks.
I know this because life at her parents’ is not easy. Although she was complaining that I was buying omena instead of beef, at her parents’, they have been taking kunde daily ever since she arrived. And although she wanted fruits and cereals for breakfast, in her home, breakfast is a foreign word, you wake up and start your business.
But another source closer to the real source claimed that this was the personal initiative of Perepetua, Fiolina’s sister. Perepetua often visits us, and she always goes back with gifts. With Fiolina away, that source of gifts dried up. They are neighbours with Yunia, and I think she reached out. That’s how Yunia visited us last weekend, after spending the whole day at my father’s place (discussing me).
“It is not good for a man to stay without their wife,” she stated. I wanted to remind her of her annual separation with her husband, but I remembered that I am a God-fearing person who does not see the speck in others’ eyes.
“Look at this house and the children,” she went on. “This house is yearning for the return of its owner.” I thanked her for her concerns and promised to sleep over the matter, then pretended to doze off. When she realised that she was talking to herself, she left, after saying we would pick up the matter the next day.
“Did you sleep over the matter?” was the first thing she asked me the next morning. I told her I needed more time. It would become clear that Yunia was involved in shuttle diplomacy. From my place, she went to my father’s then to Perepetua’s. On the day she slept at my place, she was on the phone throughout the night. My sister never has airtime, and I don’t think Safaricom is so interested in reconciling us that they sent her lots of airtime. Your guess is as good as mine as to the source if airtime. And for once, she did not ask me for for fare!
After a very long time, my father visited my house last week, a rarity, and I needed no calculator to know why he wanted to see me, and this soon. He went straight to the point. I was expecting him to just say it would be good for Fiolina to be back, but it seemed he did not just want us to talk, he already had initiated talks. For he received a call from a seemingly familiar person. I could hear him say: “I am here with him... at his home… he is fine, children look good…”
“Hello my son,” he started. The last time he had referred to me as kijana. “I am so happy to hear your voice,” he said and asked about the children.
“My son, don’t worry about what I said last week. Palipo na wazee hapaharibiki jambo.” He went on to say that our two families can easily agree if I formed a mediation team to find a Fiolina Return to Home Formula. I said I would think about it and dismissed my father with Sh200. He went straight to Hitler’s.
The next day at school, as we were taking tea, Madam Ruth received a call. There was nothing unusual about it until I heard: “Do you want to speak to him?” She handed me the phone, even before I could say yes.
“Hello?” I started. It was Fiolina. It was the first time we were speaking in about a month. It was a good feeling.
“How are you?” she asked. I said I was fine. “How is Sos?” she posed, referring to Baby Sospeter. I said fine, and “fine” to everything else she asked. I did not want to speak to her, but also did not want to let her go . “It is nice to hear from you,” she said. “About this matter, please let your father and my father agree on the way forward.”
“Why and what should they talk about? They were not there when you left,” I posed.
“I know, but we need help,” she said.
“Maybe it’s you who needs help to return, not me. I did not leave,” I retorted. When I noticed other teachers were listening, I hung up.
Madam Ruth would later come to my office to say that Fiolina’s absence from home had affected my work at school. “You may not notice it, but you have become impatient, which is making you less effective. You need good support from home.”
After more pressure from my brother Pius – which I am sure was from Fiolina, (they are very close), I agreed to form a bipartisan team for my side. It consisted of Nyayo, Sapphire, my cousin Kizito and Rumona, my brother Ford’s wife. They were under clear instructions that the irreducible minimum was for Fiolina to return unconditionally.
The same day, we received the list of Fiolina’s negotiators. It had her brother Tocla, sister Perepetua, her cousin Andronikas and Kuya, my colleague at school. I immediately rejected Kuya. Anyone serious about any talks would not put Kuya in a negotiations team. Never! There will be no talks with Kuya. No!
