Chapter 57

The old man who wore a navy blue coat and brown trousers reached the gate and paused when he saw him. Then Jacob saw his lips move as he began to talk.

"Who are you, young man? I have never seen you before," Old Kasamani appeared worried.

"I'm Jacob, your grandson." It was a soft response. 

The old man reacted as if he had not heard Jacob's words. 

"What are you telling me, young man?" Old Kasamani seemed confused. "I don't know you since I don't have a big grandson like you." 

Jacob spoke again, but this time tactfully: "Isn't this Old Kasamani's home, the home also of my mother Angela?" 

That did it. The old man reacted as if he had been hit on the face and then recovered almost immediately.

"Oh, I see now! Come inside." He sounded friendlier this time as he opened the gate.

Jacob entered the compound. Facing him, almost twenty meters from where he stood on his right was the large white building. An old Volkswagen, which appeared to have been abandoned as its tyres appeared worn out, stood under the large Mango tree on the compound. Even as Jacob followed his grandfather, he was sure his father lived in luxury. 

The old man paused briefly outside his house and then opened the door. "Come in, Jacob. As you can see, I live alone. But some of your aunts who are married in distant villages often come to visit me. And the one grandchild who cooks for me has gone to school." 

Jacob entered the lounge. It was a spacious lounge with two sets of sofas and easy chairs. He walked across the lounge and dropped himself on to one of the sofas.

The old man wanted to learn more from Jacob. He asked, "Young man, tell me something. Where is your mother? I hear she went to live in Uganda with a native of that country. Is that true?"

"She's dead. She died a few years ago." 

Shock was written all over the old man's face. Then suddenly, Old Kasamani started thinking Jacob was probably not the man he had assumed was his grandson. 

"Who are you? You're definitely not Jacob; the twin Angela gave birth to. I would have been told if she had died." Old Kasamani's eyes stared at him suspiciously. 

"I'm Angela's son." Jacob replied and hardly heard the old man's furious words. 

"You're a liar!" The old man looked alarmed.

He thought one of the village thugs had come to harass him crossed his mind, and he snarled, "Get out of my house before I raise the alarm!" 

Jacob saw the final moment to prove his identity came, and he remembered the gold chain he wore on his neck.

Slowly, his hand touched his neck and pulled out the chain and Marian medal. 

"Angela's my mother!" His voice sounded more confident this time, "Look, here's the chain and medal she said would help prove my identity to you. She gave it to me on the day she died."

Old Kasamani's eyes ran over the chain and medal, and he recalled almost immediately. It was the one he had bought his daughter as a gift when she gave birth to the twins. He also remembered his words on that day as he gave her the chain and medal.

"Have this small gift, Angela. I'm glad that you've given birth to twins. You've followed the family tradition because I also had twins, your elder brothers, who died at birth. Wear it always in memory of me and your dead brothers." Old Kasamani had said those words almost two decades back.

As his mind snapped from the past, the old man now realized the young man who sat in his lounge facing him was telling the truth, which now reassured him.

"How did my daughter die?" The old man looked disillusioned as he spoke.

"A snake bit her. It was a large spitting cobra." 

Old Kasamani began to shed tears, which rolled down his creased cheeks and dropped on the red shirt he wore. Jacob's heart was moved when he saw his grandfather mourning his mother. There was no doubt the news of death of his mother came as a shock to the old man and had saddened him just as it had affected Jacob many years back. 

Then he watched in silence as the old man tried to pull himself together. 

"She was my favourite child. Second to Mukabi, my son who passed away a few years back. God her soul in peace." Old Kasamani said when he appeared to have recovered from the shock.

"You live alone here, grandpa?" 

"No, there is one of your little cousins who lives with me. Your grandmother also passed away a few years back, and I saw no point or need of marrying again because, as you can see I'm now an old man. Little Josephine always prepares my meals when she comes from school. You'll meet her very soon; she's quite a nice little girl who'll be like her late grandmother when she grows up." 

There was a brief silence. Jacob had nothing to say and just stood there listening as the old man began quizzing him again. "Is your step-father still alive?"

"Yes." Jacob replied. 

He realized that if he said he was not sure, the answer would invite more suspicions from the old man. He did not want any more doubts now that he had provided the required proof of his identity. 

Then he saw the old man swallow hard. Old Kasamani asked, "He didn't like you, did he?" 

"He didn't. He actually mistreated and discriminated against me. I vowed never to go back there." 

"How can you go back there now that I have set my eyes on you? Who'll inherit all this land that I own if you return to Uganda? I can't afford to let my land and property to go to my kinsmen who mistreated me when I was a young man," the old man touched his grey hair and regarded him with warm and loving eyes.

Jacob listened as Old Kasamani went on, "Like you, I was really mistreated as a young man. My kinsmen always laughed at me after the death of my father and told me I wouldn't make it in this life. They thought I was destined to die a poor man."

"Why did they rule you out, Grandpa?" 

"I just don't know. They're just evil men who imagined I wouldn't make it. But here I am now with enough riches to feed myself and my grandchildren for the rest of my life. God has been very kind to me and my children. It's a great pity that all my daughters, with the exception of your mother, gave birth to daughters. But this is where your luck comes in. I'm very happy that you have come back at the right time." 

The old man paused for breath. Then he went on, "I will arrange to take you to the land Registrar at Kakamega so that my land can be transferred to your name. I may not live long now that I have seen you." 

Old Kasamani concluded his talk. In that short moment, Jacob observed the old man was full of self-confidence, trusted in God, and had worked hard to acquire the riches he now seemed to enjoy. 

And so it was that Jacob, even without saying what had brought him from Uganda, became assured of the riches of his grandfather. He was relieved that it had not come from his own mouth to claim a piece of land, but it was the old man himself who had brought the idea.

That night, as Jacob went to sleep in a room his grandfather set aside for him, he was glad that the wishes of his dying mother had come true.