The Prelude

August 4th 2011.

It was a day that came with many thoughts... Far too many. Some good, some bad but on the most part, they were all good thoughts... I was looking forward to a night out with the girls that weekend. However, this thought was occasionally interrupted by  thoughts of my grandma. She had just come from undergoing a second heart operation due to clotted veins... Would she be OK?

The day wore on and by nightfall I had shelved thoughts of my grandma... more like left her to God. That would perhaps explain why I didn't care to ask my mum why she looked so distressed that night when I got home. I figured she was worried about her mom, naturally so. So, when I got home and she was not interested in conversation, I hurriedly went to bed. In retrospect, I should have asked her what was wrong.

After what seemed to me like a few minutes, maybe an hour tops, I heard her shouting my name.... Again, I made an assumption; that she wanted me to go and open the gate for my dad. I refused to answer and she called out to my sister-from-another-mother... She too ignored. Then I heard my dad's voice calling out my name. I got up - confused, thinking I was dreaming. 

I checked the time on my phone. 1:23 a.m. It was not a few minutes later, not even an hour after I went to bed... It was four hours later and it was not August 4th 2011 anymore. 

It was August 5th 2011.  This time I had my mum screaming... "Woooooiiiiii! Girls, can you wake up and get out of the house or else you will be killed... GET OUT! They are coming to demolish the house. Remove your things."

I got out of my bedroom, the same time as my sister-from-another-mother - got out of hers. She asked me what was going on. I could hear the  Nairobi City Council bulldozer demolishing the far end of the wall. They were coming to demolish the house at 1:23 a.m. I didn't know what was going on. My dad made phone calls hoping to get help. My mum made phone calls. I ran for my phone and started making phone calls. It seemed unbelievable to everyone that something like this was happening at such an ungodly hour. The bulldozer was still at the far end, moving closer with every passing minute. I asked my mum what was going on... She said it was "Macharia - the next door neighbor." I tried to put the pieces together... Why? How? At this time? Nothing made sense. Nothing at all.

My dad ran back to the house... Told me to pull the alarms. In a fraction of a minute, the alarms went off. In less than two minutes, the demolition had stopped and the bulldozer sped off. My dad tried to catch up with it... No luck. It was now  around 1:35 a.m. My feet were wobbly, my hands shaking and my  heart was racing. I asked my mum what was going on.... "Its a land dispute" she said. It still didn't make sense to me.... We had lived here for 23 years, the next door neighbor for less than 2 years.  How could it be a land dispute? The timing of the demolition made no sense either.... Nothing made sense.... But one thing was for sure, we were in for a painful experience with this guy.

 TO BE CONTINUED......