WAY OUT OF ROAD

"I am tired of following this guy, we ought to find ourselves better jobs!", blurted my friend kang.Kang was short plump with numerous pimples on his face showing that he had not yet got past of adolescence.I was in his company together with lefty a tall masculine guy who usually sent shivers up one's spine[if you did not know him].The name lefty came from the fact that his left leg was very fastand that he could kick and send you sprawling on the ground before you even blinked.Being jobless and with a huge craving for drugs[we used almost anything we could lay our eyes on bhagh, miraa, glue and even some pills that were rumoured to be used in the preserving of dead bodies in morgues] we mugged people to get money to satisfy our cravings. We usually hung out in the town's main stage looking for suitable targets.Upcountry folk were our favorite since we considered them naive and confused for simply being in town.We would stake out the stage for possible targets and tail them to secluded streets mostly back streets.Today our target had been chosen by Kang who had noticed him putting a huge wad of notes into his wallet.If what kang was saying was true this guy was loaded.We had quickly enlisted the help of lefty after i had seen the size of our target.Although a lot older than us the guy was well structured and this made me weary, a few days earlier we had received a beating from a man we were about to rob, not that we could not handle ourselves but that day kang and i were heavily drunk hence our beating today i did not want to take any chances hence my suggestion to enlist lefty's help since kang and i had passed by mama midas on our way to town from the slums where we lived.Mama midas was a local chang'aa dealer in the slum.lefty was not hard to find since he also spent his mornings in the stage also scouting for targets, we were soon following our target down a busy street.Lefty i noticed was not drunk like us and i was very relieved since i was not in the mood for another beating, As usual kang and i had mersed ourselves in beer early in the morning as usual.Our target made the mistake we expected him to make,he entered an alley which most people rarely used as a shortcut to the market.Most people especially the younger generation did not know this shortcut but anyone familiar to the town layout as we were knew of its existence.This was our perfect opportunity as this alley as most of the alleys in this town had little if any people traffic,there was no one else except for our payload and us.The man noticed his mistake when it was too late ,lefty's famed foot caught him off balance and he landed on the ground face forward lefty stepped on his neck and kang and i were all over his pockets in a flash we were through with him in less than a minute.We headed back to the main street before our victim had any chance of regaining his breath which i doubted would be any time sooner since lefty had left him with a parting gift,he had slammed his famous left foot on the mans stomach.We entered the main street and headed for the slum while anylising our pay.I held the mans shoes a pair of expensive boots plus his belt which i knew would fetch us some extra drinking money in the slum.Kang counted the money form the wallet as we entered the slum and he let out a whoop," fifteen thousand seven hundred" he announced.The guy had been loaded and i knew that this would be a party for,it was rare that we came across such a heavy sum of cash.By now we had almost reached mama midas place.Mama midas was our favorite changa'a dealer in the slum.We shared the money equally among us as we entered her compound which was very noisy.Kang was about to throw away the guys wallet into some bushes but lefty took it and decided that he would keep it.I had met lefty through Dave a friend i had met in prison during a brief stint there.I had been in prison for stealing.In those days i used to steal clothes from unsuspecting mitumba dealers,it was the only way we knew to obtain money for our drug needs and also to fed ourselves.I had a very serious drug problem and had just dropped out of high school.I had fallen out of my parents goodwill who wanted nothing to do with me.I had vacated from home and lived in the slums with my numerous friends interchanging places.I stole from the secondhand clothes dealers with the help of Ngash a childhood friend of mine also with a major drug problem.He was the one who had introduced me to this crime having he himself started it a few years earlier hence considering himself a pro at it.Experience had taught us that morning hours were the best since this was the time that the traders were busy arranging their goods in their makeshift stalls ready for the days business.At this time there were very few customers if any thus we were free of any plying eyes.We usually stole trousers and shirts .We would go around the stalls pretending to be potential customers searching for a suitable good,once we had spotted our item we would wait till we were sure that the trader was not looking and then one of us would shove the item into a bag which was always on either one of us, we would then continue to pretend to continue with our search only to move on after not arriving at a suitable commodity.W e would move on to another traders' shed and do the same.We stole two items a day one for each of us.The goods would later be sold at the slums at a throw away price.Here in the slums our goods would sell like hot cakes and no one would ask any questions.On the day i was arrested we had got up early as usual and headed to our place of work as ngash preffered to call the mitumba section.We planned to steal from a trader who sold the best jeans top fashion which we knew would fetch us good money since the day being a friday we wanted to attend a disco at the local paradise club hence we needed good money.We pretended as usual to haggle over a suitable trouser and when i was sure that our trader was not looking{he was hanging some skirts at one corner of his stall},i shoved one very expensive one into the bag which was on me today.Seeing that no one was looking ngash folded another and was about to do the same when a strong hand yanked it form him,"what on earth do you think you are doing"boomed a very loud voice.Unknown to us a trader at a nearby stall had been watching our moves all along.The owner of the stall a huge black woman who resembled an ape came from where she had been to check out the commotion, the trade from the nearby stall had one hand on ngash and the other on the trouser."This guy was trying to steal from you!"he announced loudly quickly arousing the attention of the other traders.Seeing that he was concentrating on my friend i started walking away but the huge ape held me while another yanked the bag from me and held it upside down.Out fell my stolen trouser, our game was up.By now the traders had surrounded us and they started raining blows and kicks on us some broke stick with which they used to build their stalls with and continued to hit us with them. Blows rained on me from all directions and on every part of my body they beat me with he sticks not bothering to look which part of the body they hit and i was soon on the ground writhing in pain and blood oozing from my mouth ears and nose.I thought that i would die soon. By now the traders had tired of beating us and only an occasional hit from the sticks which only brought unsustainable pain, i prayed to god for the first time in many years to bring death quickly to me.Ngash was screaming terribly and this only brought further beating.I tried to look at him from where i lay but could not see clearly one of my eyes had been badly hit.By now a very huge crowd of curios onlookers had gathered all around us and they continued to torment us."Lets torch them up "someone yelled.At this they stopped beating us and they each contributed a few shillings each and sent a small boy to fetch some petrol from a nearby petrol station.i knew that i would die soon since i knew that the petrol station was only a few hundred metres away.Every part of my body ached.While waiting for the petrol the traders started piling sticks which they had used to beat us on top of us.We would have been torched were it not for some two cop on the beat who saved us,they however had to fire in the air to disperse the angry traders who were keen on torching us.I have never been so grateful in my life to see a cop,they radioed for a landrover.When the landrover arrived the police threw us in like bags and we hit the hard iron floor with loud thuds which only aided more to our anguish.The landrover sped off with a roar since the gathered public was still baying for our blood.

I had hoped that the police would take us straight to hospital but i was wrong,they went straight to the station and quickly booked us into the occurence book and then threw us in a partially filled cell where upon seeing us the inmates made space for us in one corner for by now we must have looked a sorry mess with our swollen and blood drenched clothing.Apparently the inmates were more sympathetic to us than the cops who were more used to these situations and hence were used to seeing battered bodies.By now the drugs in our system had washed their effects away and as i settled myself in the corner reserved for us by the inmates i was in terrible pain.Ngash who had taken the blunt of the beating and had a broken arm was no better than i.One inmate produced some aspirin and we both swallowed them with some tepid water.The other inmates crowded around us to inquire what we had encountered and as i was narrating to them for ngash had immediately after taking the aspirin fallen asleep a deep sleep quickly engulfed me.

I was awoken by ngashs loud screams, his broken hand was killing him and he was screaming in a fearful sound.All the inmates were symphathetic to us and wondered why the police had not taken us straight to hospital, i fared no better.His loud screams brought an angry constable who banged the door with his baton and threatened to add to his beating,this brought an uproar among the cell's occupants who proceeded to bang on the steel enforced door in unison which produced a sound which rattled the whole cell.

Unknown to us the banging also reached the ears of the O.C.S who was relaxing in his office a few meters away and he ordered the cops on duty to open the cell and he calmed the whole cell down by asking what the problem was.The other inmates pushed us to the front and on seeing ngashs arm he heavily repremanded the cop who had booked us in while ordering him to make haste in seeing that the arm was attended to.He however to my dismay arrived to the decision that i did not require medical attention and he produced a ten shilling coin and sent one cop for some painkillers which helped me ease my pain.Ngash came back with his arm in a cast but his other injuries were not attended to.

I spent most of the weekend asleep only waking up for the scanty meal which was offered to us.The O.C.S had seen no need for my needing medical assistance but to speak the truth i was in deep pain." feelings for us at least someone who wasnt a criminal lik