| dc.description.abstract | Richati and Kemunto have been married for eight years but her womb is still silent. She is facing a lot
pressure to bear children to prove her womanhood. She reminisces over the romantic past and how the
absence of children in her marriage had changed her situation over time.
When Bochaberi (her mother-in-law) visits, she makes her mission clear by declaring, “Oyo
otarikobereka tari mokungu.” This means that one is only a woman if her womb is fertile. The demands
from Bochaberi make her quarrel with her daughter-in-law and generally strain their relationship. As
Richati moves out to buy some beef for her mother‟s meals, Bochaberi complains that he is henpecked.
However, Kemunto asserts herself to the disbelief of the mother-in-law who gets gripped by fear and runs
away. On the way, she meets Kennedy and Jefferson who are intended adoptive children. When they
introduce themselves as Richati‟s children, she chases them away while asking them to go to their real
parents.
Out of a relationship between Nyanguru and Stellah who are house help and houseboy respectively,
Stellah conceives and she discloses this to Nyanguru. Soon after the disclosure, she also gets into a love
affair with Richati. On learning that Richati is desperate for a child, she decides to feign that he is the one
who had impregnated her. This of course is something that Richati gladly receives, promising her a one
week holiday in the Seychelles.
When Richati informs Kemunto that he would be going to the Seychelles for one week on work-related
business, she registers her interest in accompanying him to the Seychelles but he turns her request down.
She quarrels with him accusing him of promiscuity because she had gotten wind of the impending travel
from Nyanguru. Later on, Stellah comes asking for permission to visit her parents. Kemunto plays a trick
on her and she confirms that indeed they would be travelling and that she is expectant.
The Seychelles journey eventually takes place. Richati and Kemunto swim and snorkel, affirm their love
and commitment and run on the beach and splash water on one another. Richati promises not to spare
anything in providing for his baby.
Meanwhile, at home Nyanguru has decided to nurse his feelings of rejection by drawing. When he is
doing the last parts of the drawing, Kemunto happens to be coming to his room. She exclaims on seeing
the perfect piece of drawing to the chagrin of Nyanguru who was just doing this out of his love for
drawing. He profusely apologizes but Kemunto assures him that he had done nothing wrong.
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As time goes by, Kemunto and Richati‟s love fades and they quarrel most of the time. Richati eventually
moves to the Kitchen where Stellah used to sleep. Finally, Prince Williams Richati is born but the two
parents‟ celebration is cut short as Stellah bleeds excessively due to amasangi. Kemunto is thus violently
attacked and she is supposed to be burnt for not only being barren but also being a witch. A grass thatched
granary roof is lowered on her but before she is set on fire, policemen appear and the people run away.
Richati‟s family members come for Ekerero. This celebration comes with as much ecstasy as mockery as
the in-laws openly rebuke Kemunto even calling her a rock. They accuse her of having wasted their
brother‟s eight years.
Out of those lonely and cold nights, a bond of love is established between Nyanguru and Kemunto.
Rattled by red ants one early morning, Richati moves to the main family house to change clothes. He
finds Nyanguru‟s pair of shoes under the bed and his pair of long trousers and belt. This makes him
believe that Nyanguru must have been spending his nights there. However, Kemunto denies this.
Determined to assert his authority in the home, he decides to lay off Nyanguru and send him away from
his home. He offers Nyanguru a trunk in which to pack his belonging.
The rude way in which Richati throws the trunk to Nyanguru prompts him to also rudely respond, “Will
you also offer me your new Mercedes to transport my children?” He further reveals that Prince Williams
was his son and that Kemunto was carrying his pregnancy. It therefore dawns on Richati that Nyanguru
had not only occupied the pillow next to Kemunto‟s but also lifted her veil of “barrenness.”
On hearing this, Bochaberi who had paid them a visit requests for calm as they settled the issue. She
requests for a family meeting to stabilize Richati‟s family and conceal his incapacity to sire but the
revelation weighs on him so much that his “manhood” fizzles out leaving a madman. | en_US |
