My wife’s in labour!

This guy’s office is massive! Odiero’s office exudes elegance and modernity, showcasing floor-to-ceiling windows that flood the space with natural light and offer panoramic views of Westlands’ skyline. The interior walls combine sleek hardwood finishes with locally-inspired Maasai art, adding vibrant splashes of color and culture. To the right of his desk, a spacious open-plan space is empty of people, I’m guessing he uses this for his team’s collaboration and creative brainstorming. Those unnatural but lush indoor plants bring in a touch of nature. This blend of luxury and functionality makes this office a true gem for any forward-thinking business. And for a perfectionist like me, such perfect atmosphere gives me goosebumps, especially when I’m high on Coca-Cola.

Oh, I must have made you to get this all wrong. I wasn’t the one admiring this brother’s work place. This is a narrated piece. I just loved how the narrator said it.

Jimmy entered Odiero’s office with haste and bated breath. Time was of the essence, and you know how office people are; they can make you wait at the reception for ages yet they are just sipping tea next door with their attractive personal assistant. But you have to wait, coz you’re there at their mercy. And for Jimmy’s case he really was at anyone’s mercy at that point.

But these two were friends since long ago. Odiero had just been more lucky at getting to his star earlier than Jimmy. He owns a thriving tech business in Westlands while Jimmy was still an employee at a locally successful company also in Nairobi.

And now Jimmy had come in, not to sip tea and catch up on long time memories. He had come like those friends who appear once after ages of no contact whatsoever, and with only one thing in their minds - a favor.

And this was a big favor, one that determined life and death - literally!

“Hey man, long time!” Jimmy said the first words, receiving the outstretched hand of Odiero from the other room in greeting and embrace over the shoulders, as brothers do.

“Heeyyy! This can’t be! This is you?” Odiero.

“In the flesh.” Jimmy, feigning a smile.

“Woow! Wonderful. Aah it’s so good seeing you, man. Uh, Jessica, bring my good friend here a cup of coffee, will you? Black no sugar, right?” Odiero, to Jimmy, then over the intercom to the assistant he was sipping tea with just a couple of minutes ago.

“Actually, I’m in a bit of a hurry. I won’t take much of your time.”

That is when both their faces changed expression. Jimmy with a face of utmost pity and evident humility, and Odiero with a stern and solemn face, hoping that it’s not the usual favor-visits.

It was.

“What can I do you for, bro. It’s been a while!” Odiero exclaimed, sinking into his conspicuous chair behind the table, with a heavy sigh you could feel his breath wave hit you a mile away.

Jimmy by now had sunk comfortably in the visitor’s chair, the weight of his problems having forced him so low that he left a butt dent on that chair. Life’s problems were weighing down on him from all corners, and even the air conditioning of Odiero’s office couldn’t cool down the sweat trickling down his brow. He decided to just get straight to it, all this back and forth greeting was taking time which both him and his problems didn’t have.

“Jatelo, as I speak to you now, my wife is in the labour room, giving birth to my first child..”

“Well, that is wonderful news. Congrats!” Odiero interjected immediately, hoping the visit was just to bear the good news. A part of him wished and hoped this long time friend of his wouldn’t ruin whatever good was going on between them by a financial favor.

“But I do not have even a cent on me right now. I’ve trekked all the way from Pumwani to here so that I save fare for the return trip to see my wife, and hopefully my baby too, at the hospital.” Odiero’s face changed immediately. This is what he feared. This is what he wished didn’t have to happen. But Jimmy had broken the icy atmosphere, and now the aim of the impromptu visit was made bare, to the disgust of Odiero. In Jimmy’s defense, this was his last and only resort. No one else could lend him, leave alone give him, such money to save his child’s birth. First child at that.

After a long anxious silence in the room, Odiero took his pen from the table and started to play with the cap, staring unflinchingly into Jimmy’s red eyes, sweat still trickling down from his scalp. You wonder how much water one’s head can hold.

“You’ve said your wife is giving birth as we speak?” Odiero broke the silence, not with an answer Jimmy wanted to hear but frustratingly asking an obvious question.

“Yes!” Jimmy answered immediately, not wanting to waste time explaining. He desperately needed the money, fast! “She’s giving birth as we speak and I’ve been sent by the doctors to go look for stuff for the new born baby and the mother once they get out of the labour room.”

“Listen to me Wuod Kendu,” You know stuff is about to get serious when someone refers to you by your home area. “Is your head working?”

Thunderbolt, right to Jimmy’s poor chest. Before he could give his mind reasons for his disbelief at Odiero’s words, Odiero continued his strike.

“All these months since your wife got pregnant, 9 months ago I presume, you haven’t saved a cent? You come to me here, as a ‘friend’, with your emergency to now become my problem too? Something you knew very well from the start that your wife is pregnant, and would give birth sooner or later. You now come to me that I lend you money for your wife’s delivery? Are you serious? Those are jokes I do not condone! I don’t have money to give you. You knew that pregnancy is yours, didn’t you? Omera, leave jokes! All these months you could have made and saved money for your child’s birth!”
(This part is directly translated from how Odiero said it in dholuo)

Jimmy hadn’t blinked once. Disbelief was playing games in his mind that his physical self couldn’t comprehend.

“If that’s what you came to ask for, see yourself out of my office, please.”

Infuriated. Confused. Perplexed. Whichever English term you could put in the list, Jimmy was exactly that. He couldn’t believe that’s how alleged friends can treat someone at his desperate time of need.

Months later, both Jimmy and I now see what Odiero meant. The baby was born, thank God. But lessons learnt were greater.

All these months Jimmy knew labour day would come as sure as the sun. He would see his wife day after day, with her belly growing steadily and with changes in her everything. 9 months! Yet still no preparation for the actual birth.

Preparation for rainy days is as important as overcoming the rainy day after!

Preparation!

As Stewie in Family Guy would put it: Your lack of preparation should not constitute an emergency for someone else!

*Odiero and Jimmy are pseudonyms.

*Jatelo - leader.

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PS: If you have a few seconds to spare, please hit the <reply> button and let me know what you thought of this article. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and what could be improved. It also reminds me that there’s another person reading it on the other end of my screen😅. Thanks.

Have a wonderful week ahead!

✍🏽Reagan.