The unhealthy giggles that emanated from the other corner of the last room that twilight clearly revealed the couple enjoyed every transpiring moment. How come she was screaming on top of her pitchy voice gasping for help? Julio's jest as everyone thought reached the peak when Flo ultimately bit his hand. He had torn her skirt within a shake of a lamb's tail. It was not astonishing for this was the order the evening when their grandfather was in Kampala. He was so sickly that his sojourns for medication became as solemn as COVID 19 pandemic. Like they say that when the cat is away, the mouse becomes king, Julio, and the other two lads could spend the whole day at home flirting with girls.
It was a typical devastated extended family with one old saint taking care of countless grandchildren. He welcomed everyone emphasising that there was no way through the house thus whoever came was a visitor. Many neighbours' children could feast from there and vanish without washing dishes. This could exasperate residents though their grandfather could pour cold water on this issue. To be sincere none of them wanted these children, nonresidents ate from here yet they had also cooked in their respective homes. GrandPa could only guide that all of them were his grandchildren, besides no one went to the grave with food.
He was such a loving widower having lost the wife in his early sixty's. Half of the village was occupied by relatives who gathered at the cardinal clan home every evening for a talk while the young ones could play hide and seek from the banana plantation. It was so large with gigantic mango trees that if not cautious, one could get lost from there. The lads and lasses were ever in the old-fashioned Bangalore that had many dark rooms 'reading books'.
At times they could cross the road to the pitch for soccer. The countryside was so fascinating that many age mate relatives from the city yearned to spend their holidays from there. This was how many came to see the special one, a lot had been said about her, many could whisper that she was the most gorgeous in the whole family, most meanoured, and innocent. She was so tender, indeed she was on the straight and narrow. Everyone wished to see Sanyu Xenac. Many could gather around her at least to hear her say a word as if she was an angel. She could only be compared to Heaven Mirrors, grand Pa's favourite. He was a typical naive conservative loyal village boy knowing one thing; following rules. It was very rare to hear a word from him. Many had acclamitised to his hot temper and kept a distance for his tears were as near as nose breathe and would flood his garbs whenever angered. Sanyu stealing his attention deposited envy to the last chamber of his heart that throughout the holiday, they never talked.
She was his auntie's eldest daughter who had got married to a very wealthy young man having a mansion in the middle of the city. Auntie Fina was a sister to his late father who left this sweet world when he was only five years old. The two siblings had been inseparable till death stole one. Auntie Fina liked Heaven so much that always cried to take him to the city barred by her father, their grand Pa. He could espy his son in him and never let anyone touch him. He had hit his mother a pot of coffee when she attempted to take him with her two months after the death of his father.
At the end of the holiday, the city-born could go back with grand Pa for medication. Heaven's silence bought the trust of almost everyone that at his age, grand Pa could put him in charge of the home yet he was the youngest. At 2:00 pm, Heaven could come back from school and prepare supper for his elders, cater for the flock, and the rest of the housework. He was a bright spark especially in a class that he skipped two classes. Above all, he admired Julio's ways. Julio was ever happy, making fun of everything, liked by almost everyone especially girls. Julio was around ten years older than Heaven. He could disturb all the girls at home in front of Heaven. He was not so simple with skirts that if their last room was not dismal, walls could tell what transpired.
Topping the district in Primary Leaving Examinations, Heaven got a chance to school from the capital, Kampala. He had performed better than Sanyu which antagonised the two. They went to different boarding schools only to meet during holidays. Auntie Fina's home welcomed many occasional relatives from both sides. It was such a well organised fenced mansion where all boys resided in the biggest room, Africa while girls cribbed on the left-wing of the first floor. Visitors' rooms were on the right-wing of the ground floor opposite the living room. The last floor was for parents with their distinguished guests. They had their sitting room, dining room, and offices. Indeed, it was a mansion. Parents were so protective that moving out to load data bundles was bound to uncountable queries. Many paternal relatives would wiseacre and break house laws, they would directly confront Auntie Fina wanting her to divorce the husband. They would leave all the housework to the maids which Auntie Fina never bought. This lured her to dismiss all of them at once so that these permissive in-laws could learn a lesson. It was rumoured that she used this as a scapegoat to get rid of the maids since she suspected their affair with the husband.
Fina knew that the husband could sneak into the maids' room on several occasions claiming to be inspecting the house for safety reasons. She had one day gone for a week delegates assembly to South Sudan to negotiate peace however it never succeeded when Riak, the chief rebel never turned up. This compelled her to come early and switch the room with the maid. Late in the night, this villain tiptoed to the maid's bed while whispering her name. He slowly covered himself into the bedsheets, it was such a testing moment as he promised to replace the wife with her as a tip for better performance. Fina could not hold her anger as she burst out into tears at once boxing him as if he was a punching bag, this greedy man managed to escape for a full moon till she called him home.
Those were ages back. This time he had resumed his nasty games with the new maids. He could take them to expensive hotels in the city from where all the 'fights' took place. She had one day tricked one who denied that she never slept with him. She added that the man was not her match since he could not run beyond thirty minutes, Fina was left with no choice but to fire them.
This was the turning point of all the hardships. The husband got two concubines as compensation for the lost maids. Quarrels intensified between the couple engineered by the man's relatives, they could mock her with hurting songs that became unbearable. The conflicts with her in-laws escorted lunch and supper. The mansion became a battlefield as Fina kept exchanging words with her in-laws pinning her for nepotism planning to steal the man's wealth. This forced her to chase her relatives leaving in-laws around. She chose to mute up and mind her business. With time everything became so tedious that the in-laws also vacated. She remained with her six-year-old daughter, June in primary one, Zaake her son was completing primary seven from a boys' boarding school in Mukono and Sanyu was in senior four. During holidays, Heaven could spend only a fortnight at home and go back to school for soccer.
He was the captain of their school team admired by most girls there. He had changed a lot. He had grown stubborn, always flirting with girls, dodging classes, and at times escaping. He had grown into a muscular handsome lad with romantic looks. While at home, Heaven could pretend to be as innocent as an angel, so silent, down to earth, and as hardworking as a donkey. He could wake up at daybreak and do all the housework which made him the most liked. His cousins liked him when it came to holiday packages for he could accomplish it in days then kicked off watching movies. Heaven and Sanyu could rarely talk given her continuous stealing of his thunder. Sincerely Sanyu never liked Heaven for his conservative nature. She needed someone to bend low for her, treat her like a queen which Heaven never did. He was so proud, stuck up, and could not even look into her eyes.
The two could bypass like adversaries in the same house. They would only rendezvous in the TV room to watch movies, practice new dance strokes, and mime once in a while. This often created room for interaction especially arguing about the best actors and musicians. Heaven rarely argued to control his temper and when the worse came to the worst, he could rush to the darkroom, Africa and nap. The other intersection was about who had rights over the remote control, being age mates brought Sanyu and Heaven's interests together and one often backed the other on television channel decision to be watched.
One holiday Judas, Auntie Fina's husband brought Ella to assist her with housework during her pregnancy. Ella was such a magnetic young girl from Mukono. She was Judas' niece. At eighteen, Ella had not completed primary seven due lack of school fees. She had served in numerous homes as a housemaid thus experienced sufficient harassment. Reaching home, there was Sanyu who became a fantabulous counterpart, she progressively lectured her about traditional sexual rites. The dual would lock themselves in the girls' room and perform their functions. They seemed so painful that Sanyu failed to halt screaming. Ella one morning tied her limbs at the corners of the bed and used Vaseline with wild leaves in her private parts. It became so unbearable that her echoes dragged her mother down for rescue. Her eyes were burning with tears, the whole body soaked with sweat, panting like a trapped mouse. The mother was extremely excited to see a caring cousin to Sanyu however warned her about these actions for she never wanted her daughter to be hurt.
Ella continued to narrate Sanyu about her private life, she introduced her to the wild men kingdom queer to bashful Sanyu. Ella had met countless men before coming here which made her stories sweet in the ears of innocent young Sanyu. She also taught her how to do housework. At seventeen, Sanyu never knew how to prepare local meals neither did she know how to mop. By the end of the holiday, she was a complete girl.
Ella's interaction with Heaven was so minimal as he seemed unmoved by her piercing looks regardless of being age mates. When schools opened, learners went back leaving her home. She looked after Auntie Fina with her newly born twins which gave her the title of Nalongo and Judas, Salongo. Salongo was so happy and decided to renovate the mansion. That same month, Heaven was infected with a severe skin disease that needed special treatment. Reaching home, most of the rooms were unfinished. She had to share one with Ella. It was difficult to explain that night when the two were under the same bedsheets. She warned him never to dare her. She expounded that Heaven was too young for her and added that she had fought many wars against nobles thus was not ready to combat a corporal. Like they say that curiosity killed a cat, Heaven crawled his fingers to discover Ella was in Adam's suit.
