OF EXPECTATIONS THAT TURN TO DISAPPOINT

I have always yearned for that one photo that I will take her while smiling. With either the lower or upper incisors out. That one photo. I know the wait will be worth.


I had a dream; I dreamt that Shun had a tooth. It was neither the upper incisor nor the lower incisor. It was a lower canine. Only one tooth. I was happy.

I hurriedly woke up in the morning as usual, cooked her porridge and go back to check on her, she is fast asleep. I wait longer, she does not wake up. I start dusting the sitting room, putting the house in order, drawing curtains, disinfecting baby's toys before she wakes up. Two hours, waiting yet she isn't up. I want to see if she has a tooth.

Now I start washing her nappies and clothes. She is not snoring as usual. When I get into the room, she is just resting as usual. I assume and continue with laundry. Soon, I have emptied the laundry basket. I pour a portion of porridge from a thermos flask into a cup to cool because by now I know in the next thirty minutes; she will be up angry and hungry, throwing up her legs in the air.


I check my phone it is almost 10 a.m. Ooops! I have a message. It is Safaricom again. Your Daily Internet Bundle is almost finished. It is a soft way that Safaricom has found to tell it's subscribers that their bundle balance is over. Meaning it is 0 MB. Kitambo they used to warn us when it is below 2 MB. Kumbe I left data ON. Haidhuru. There are like 900+unread Whatsapp messages, mostly are from a group that was recently created. A comrade has fallen. I knew her right from primary school, when we were roughly 9-14 years, at St Andrew Kagggwa Girls, Nyansiongo,  a school I must admit moulded us to what we are now. We loved the canes (pun intended). Dorothy, was a lively girl, it is evident from her photos, a girl of style I must say. Rest in Peace.

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Mama Seth is my long-time friend. Way before she got married. She had this enviable figure before pregnancy and childbirth messed it up. By this time I am living in Eastlands, Umoja Innercore. Holla Umoinner Buses, You Rock. It is around 5 pm, she walks in my room with my all-time girlfriend, Awuor, it is a bedsitter, not so together, from the entrance of the door, there is baby's basin with unwashed clothes, on the bed are scattered baby shawls, the sink is full of last night's utensils, the carpet is dirty, Umoja's dust is no joke. I am so happy; I can't wait to break good news to Maureen (Mama Jay). My baby has teeth. She is only three months. Kweli girls grow faster. Before then, I have sent a text message to Mama Jay (Botswana) that Shun is growing teeth. We are happy, she told me Jay has teeth too but not the usual incisors or canines. We studied with Mama Jay in High School.

Plastic teeth

Plastic tooth, Photo Courtesy

As soon as I told Mama Seth that Shun was growing teeth, and asked her to observe her dental formula, I read the disappointment on her face. Conso (this is Shun's name too, her grandma's name-full name Consolata) ako na meno ya plastic. I have been reading on plastic teeth, and it never occurred to me like my Conso atakuwa na meno ya plastic. Quickly, she suggests that hiyo meno inakuwanga mbaya, inafanya mtoto ahare, anakosa appetite, saa zingine watoto hukufa, hiyo kitu ni mbaya sana. Nakwambia Seth wangu pia aligrow hiyo meno, aki alikuwa anamiss breaths saa zingine. God, why me. This time I had no elderly person to talk to. Ilibaki tu nijipange.

I immediately text Mama Jay (Kenya) that Conso has plastic teeth. The tone in her message is that of pity. She advises me take her to hospital, a public hospital. She narrates the process of extracting that plastic tooth as ruthless. She even gives me an example of her friend, who tried extracting her baby's plastic teeth traditionally, the baby now is a flying angel. Rest in Peace. He only lived two weeks. He died of excessive bleeding.

Mama Seth tells me to jipanga that she knows a mother who stays at Okongo, Makongeni. The mother in question is known to extract plastic teeth traditionally. Ati zinaisha kabisa, hazitakusumbua tena. Sasa atamea meno vizuri hata hatakusumbua tena.

Mama Seth: Si anakusumbuanga sometimes usiku, ulisema jana hajalala kabisa ni kukusumbua tu.

Me: Eeeh, aki Mama Seth ukweli, but mimi sioni hii meno kama ni bother.

Mama Seth: Mimi najua, wewe jipange then twende Okongo Conso asaidike uwache stress.

To be Continued