Beautiful stranger

We were all frozen by the arrival of this young man in our town. We could tell from his disheveled appearance that he had not rested, eaten or slept for days.As he entered the town he heavily fell on the ground with a thud, we were all startled by this scene, we had butterflies in our stomach you could tell this for everyone was hesitant to help the young man rise up from the ground. He was groaning in pain, his quavering voices were little bit pitiful, it become unsteady, a little like a stutter. John who was a youth leader in our town came closer to the man gave him his hand and helped him off the ground. 

This incident shocked me like a bullet. It shocked pepole's spirit … like the vibration of a bell. What a strange man, we all wondered. No stranger was allowed in our town it was an oder from our king since outsiders could come and change our ways of life, our customs and societal norms. Deep down I had a strange feeling about this man, my instincts was telling me that he brought good luck in our town. The young man was brought before the king and the king announced that he was going to talk to his subjects the next day after consulting with his elders. 

The next day "tun'g" ( an elephant's ivory that was used to pass message across the town) was blown, all the pepole of "sirek" (a clan from the lake region) assembled at the village square to hear what the king had to say about the young man's stay, we were all eager to hear the decision that was made by the king and town elders. The whole town was anxiously waiting for the judgement, was he going to be stoned?, Starved to death?, Or perhaps thrown in the evil forest for the ancestors of the land to strike him dead?, These were some of the questions that were running down pepole's mind as they were thinking out loud, pepole were ardent in desire and impatiently longing to hear what comments the king had to say about this, I was eager for news about him. Everyone was characterized by revealing great earnestness.

The moment came and the king was pacing back and forth looking restless, he then cleared his throat and said" after careful consideration and discussion with the elder,we have decided to let this young man stay in this town. This is because the "onou" ( traditional specialist who meditates between the living with their ancestors) has said that the young man's presence is going to bring more good than bad. I therefore command Mr. Odhiambo our town elder to take care of this young man and be hospitable to him.you may all depart this meeting is adjourned" he said as everyone scarttered in different directions minding their own business

Mr. Odhiambo the town elder was my father, he went to the young man and helped the young man freshen himself and look presentable. Looking at this tidy guy made my heart skip a mighty beat. He was a Brad Pitt look-alike: The man I met after he had a bath was handsome as Brad Pitt there was something about him. His hair was Achilles-gold and coiffed to perfection. His eyes had the same startling clarity as a mountain stream and the lineaments of his face were in perfect proportion to each other.

He seemed moulded from a different cast as he had an androgynous look uncommon to most people. Lacquered and enamelled by the sun, he radiated energy and brio. His mountain peak cheekbones appeared chiselled into shape by a master craftsman. They were of such sharp contours, it looked as if they were sculpted and pared to perfection. With eyes as bright and spellbinding as lode stars, they bewitched all those who fell under his steady gaze. They were a-sparkle with mirth and shone like two eternity-blue jewels enwrought in snow.for sure I was right to to have a good feeling about this young man. There was more than meets the eye.

We stayed with him for days, now I was getting to know him better his name was pecalliah but we called him "peka" a short form of his name. Though I was a little bit familiar with peka now, I never knew where he was coming from and whenever I asked him where he was from he could stare at the space and quickly change the topic, his uncomfortable nature about this question made me feel that he was hiding something from me.

Peka started associating with other pepole in town, and whenever he offered help to pepole he did with perfection and pepole liked it. He started winning pepole's hearts by the good deed he was doing for the town pepole. He was like some sort of god that has come out of River Nzoia ( a river that was believed to be sacred). Peka introduced alot of new things in the town, he even managed to change some of the customs and beliefs that we had as a pepole. In or town strangers were not welcomed and they were treated as outcasts, it was believed that strangers were evil pepole who come to destroy our way of living that is why any stranger that dared to enter our town were stoned to death but this changed because pepole started seeing visitors as blessings.

Many things came to change, our traditional customs like killing of the twins, this tradition ended as he educated pepole on the circle of life, pepole learnt that kids are gift from the Creator and that no human being was allowed to take away life apart from God who gives life. The killing of first borns to appease the ancestors of the land was also abolished. We learnt the importance of treating fellow human being with great hospitality, new laws were formed and pepole learnt the importance of being curtesious to other human beings. Everything Peka changed was great and wonderful. The town and it's pepole changed and became a better place to live in. The fear that pepole were living in changed and the whole town was filled with happiness, laughter, and joy. Peace, love harmony was brought to our town, something that was not known to our village was now part of us and we were happy of the new transition that this stranger brought to our town. A few days later after all the bad was gone and new era came peka disappeared no one knows where he went to but he left us thinking about him and asking ourselves one question who was this stranger? A god of change? A changing spirit? We still don't have answers to these questions. But whoever peka was, he was a beautiful stranger.

The end