LAST WORD
On Brinkmanship
School for Ochieng started at eight thirty but like every other child in the school the day actually started at five thirty in the morning when house chores began . Water had to be fetched , cows milked , quick dashes to the shop to get bread before getting ready for school .
All this was quite routine for Ochieng and he rather enjoyed the bustle of the morning because it negated the nippy mornings and kept him warm . It was the actual bucket bath that he dreaded since there was never enough time to warm the water in the kitchen fireplace .
But what Ochieng really loathed was the fifteen minute walk to
“ Those who sponsor violence and create despondency and fear are uncouth types and one would like to believe that one cannot be intending any good for the country by using nefarious methods . There is truly no right way of doing the wrong thing .” school because he was sure to meet Mephisto Kabodi , the class bully who took special pleasure in terrorizing Ochieng simply because Ochieng was at the top of the class .
Mephisto was a stocky muscled boy who was a member of a gang in the nearby town and the gang spent all their free time body building by lifting weights concocted in their village gym . The result was that all the gang members had barrel chests .
It was rumored that after every gang fight , that took place about every three months , several of the gang members would land in hospital with serious injuries ; it was also an open secret that the gangs indulged in many antisocial
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MAL 47 / 22 ISSUE