![]() When the footprints disappear, it’s either you turn back or you charge in your next move. But when the lion’s trail of footprints starts to show the warped heart-shape and the four flying dots vague and blurry, the matter of life has to be considered seriously. That is customary when following a deadly thing. ![]() Your heartbeat has to knock hard with its palms on your chest. Every step you take ought to be methodical. I say to Little English, you want to catch the lion? You do not follow footprints of a lion with swift footsteps. His twin brother’s snore sounds like that of an exhausted truck. My wife does all to avoid the light and goes back to bed. I quickly rise, reach for the kerosene lamp and get to Little English. Interestingly, he says he still wants to catch the lion when he sleeps again. He is telling his mother that he was chasing a lion and, all of a sudden, the lion stopped and turned to face him. Soon I hear Little English and his mother in a conversation behind the old curtain. She rushes for Little English as I’m left cooling. I know why: I have just approved and modified his moniker- the Englishman. Henceforth.’ I pat his shoulder and he is both surprised and happy that I’m here. You say all that because I beat you in everything at school.’ I hear him shout, ‘You’re all wimps, and I’m smart like an Englishman. They start to run and Tuntu doesn’t know why. ‘Did your Mama bear you? Eeeh she spat you, with no love lost right? Hahaha.’ An ebony boy with trespassing front teeth now mocks and they all laugh. ‘I’m sure you are an apology letter from a condom factory!’ A suntanned boy mocks, this one more stinging than the previous. He is like a baobab in the Chiperoni winds. But he is just standing there looking them up into their eye sockets. White Ghost, Human Gold, One Million Dollar, Martian, and all sorts of names. His head in the purple hat stands tall with no sign of a teardrop. I could have already picked up a fight and broken the curvy block they have built on his way. He seems smart and unmoved, something I could not have done. Little Tuntu is just standing there, absorbing every dig. The tone and the phrases they use are pretty trying. Some boys are taking digs at my son, Tuntu. I choose to watch this from a distance while holding my patience:
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