• Inspector Tembo has been through hell living with his nosy wife, or so Makini thought
I know how to do a few things well, but the affection department is not one of my fortes. Sophia is saying I should be honest about my gun handling. Well, I don’t know why she doesn’t mind her own business and shut her trap, but she’s right. I almost shot my instructor’s foot on the first day of gun training at the academy.
What most people don’t know is that the gun kicks back when you fire it. I guess guns don’t like being bothered, hence the clapback. Anyhow, after that day, any time our class went to the gun range for shooting lessons, everyone, the instructor included, sheltered behind a wall. I don’t care that Sophia is laughing so hard she is about to pee herself. After several dozen tries, I hit the target. And that’s what matters in the end. So, I’m proud of myself. But I digress.
When Inspector Tembo came to Jiji Ndogo, he told me how unhappy he was to be in a remote location, that his saving grace was being far away from his wife, whom he referred to as “The Dragon”. The Dragon curtailed his freedom. The Dragon dictated his diet. The Dragon this or that. I took that to mean my boss truly hated his wife. You see, before the movie Shrek, I had never heard of a myth in which a dragon was portrayed in good light. Dragons were menaces that breathed fire and devastated poor village folk who could only be saved by the most gallant of knights. And even in Shrek, we only forgave the dragon when it married our favourite lass, right?
The Dragon finally showed up at Jiji Ndogo. Mrs Tembo, that is, not the mythical flying creature. Suffice it to say, I was bamboozled by the relationship between Tembo and his wife. Theirs was one cantankerous affair (thank God I finally get to use that word). They seemed to be fighting all the time, and for a while, I adjudged myself right for believing Tembo loathed his wife. That only lasted until Sophia saw them interact and said Tembo and his wife were really in love.
What?
If that’s love, whoever passed around the definition skipped my dictionary. Or so I thought. Last week, the Tembos left town. Apparently, Inspector Tembo was escorting his wife back to the city. But he never came back. Every time I called him, he would give me some lame excuse. Like taking care of some official business in the city.
Finally, today Tembo revealed the reason behind Mrs Tembo’s visit to Jiji Ndogo. She had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Initially, Mrs Tembo would accompany her husband wherever he was deployed. As an old couple, they grew accustomed to being apart. This time, Mrs Tembo had come to spend a few months with her husband before commencing chemotherapy.
“They won’t allow me in her room,” Inspector Tembo laments over the phone. “I have to stand outside the window across the street. But if that’s what it takes to show my support, so be it.”
“I’m so sorry, boss,” I tell him. “Is there anything Sophia and I can do to help?”
“Know a good cancer cure?”
“Do you think if I did I’d work in this shithole under such an awful boss?”
Inspector Tembo laughed.
“That’s the first time I’ve laughed in weeks. Thanks, Makini.”
“She’ll get well, boss.”
“She has to. I love her so much. I can’t bear being without her.”
I guess Sophia was right. Sometimes, a man truly loves a dragon.