shhhk… shhhk… clop… shhhk… clop… Planting its hooves into the gritty asphalt, the goat stiffened into a mannequin as it was being pulled by its horns. The sky was a deep cobalt when Vusi, a 40-year-old man with a stern face, dragged his gift from Lupane; proof that the village had been nice to him. … Read more
The end of the world was nothing like the movies. There was no tearful news anchor, no inspirational presidential speech, no bulletin. Sure, there were the sounds of sirens and helicopters in the distance, a few slammed doors down the street, and the screech of car tires every so often. But that was outside, and … Read more
On an ordinary Thursday night in Ngong Avenue Estate along Ngong Road in Nairobi, nine-year-old Jack Dulu had the most extraordinary dream ever. He dreamed that a donkey was talking to him. The donkey was at his bedroom window, tapping on the pane and calling his name. “Jackie,” it was repeating with every tap. “Come … Read more
Seabe accepted that his wife thought she no longer loved him. Despite that, Seabe also believed the world was a fair and just place. He had done everything correctly. He married his wife properly, going to her family, paying lobola before the marriage, not after like so many. He never cheated on his wife. He … Read more
It is the 3rd of October, 2017 AD. We are in Nairobi at a place we once called Langata. It is almost midnight and there is a woman lying in her bed; she is crying. It is an ugly kind of crying, loud and pained without restraint or decorum. It is the cry of … Read more
The gurney was the vehicle that brought in the dead. Limp, silent and unresisting; the dead laid covered in blue rumpled sheets. Sometimes their flesh quivered in the careless abandon of death. The men that wheeled the gurneys to the room where the bodies were kept had little to say. In their blue, numbered work … Read more
I The night was as loud as it could get. It was like the final blast to the end of the world. Shouts, shrieks, thrills and cries of passion accentuated the music, which was so fucking loud you could feel your gut vibrating as if the speakers were inside you. It was a big party. … Read more
The Twins On nights when neither moon nor stars rode across the sky, the heavens were black and endless, and you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, the people in the small Kenyan town of Toi were convinced that something inhabited the tunnel under the highway. Nobody had ever seen this thing, … Read more