Kid brother is taking my birthright

It is becoming increasingly difficult to understand my father. I don’t know if it’s old age or something else, but the old man has been keeping Pius, Ford and I guessing who his favourite son is.

Since I am the one who stays around and takes care of his thirst problems, I am always the presumed preferred son.

But every time Pius visits, he brings a bottle of Kenya Cane which he says is very expensive.

He also usually upgrades Mzee from Hitler’s to Cosmos. At such times, the old man always about my existence.

And now it seems Ford, our kid brother, has learnt from Pius. You all remember the day I got a job Father called me and gave me one long lecture on how to behave as a working class person complete with financial management tips.

“Don’t visit and eat or drink in any home,” he said. “You never know what is in that food.”

When I reminded him that we had been eating in any home for years, he retorted: “You were safe when you did not have a job, but now that you are in the upper class, be very careful with the middle class people.”

He also warned me never to lend or borrow money.

“Only failures borrow, and only fools lend out anything,” he said. We were at Hitler’s drinking on credit.

Going forward

Mzee then finished off by telling me that Ford, who was born in 1991, was now my son.

In Mwisho wa Lami-speak, what Mzee meant was that I would, going forward, take care of all Ford’s financial needs.

That year, I paid for his KCPE exam, and then for his school fees at Mwisho wa Lami Secondary.

Enemies of development will point out that Ford still has some fees balance at Mwisho wa Lami Secondary but they forget that any money that was ever paid at that school was mine.

Pius never contributed a penny. He always said he had educated me so that I could educate others.

Unlike me, Ford was not an academically talented student. When he sat his KCSE he scored a D+.

If you will remember, in my year, I scored a strong C-, setting a record that took years to break.

Although a D+ is not so far away from a C-, any knowledgeable education expert will tell you that a D+ of today is much worse than an E in our day; and that a C- of our days is equal to perhaps a B.