What HAPPENED?
I was a small boy many years ago. I hold dearly many memories including from spending time and staying with my father (continue resting in peace Mr Gerishon Ndungu Isaac) as he repaired his vehicle and later cleaned it. He was definitely hardworking and as he worked he would assign me to hand to him some tools and also to pass over the cleaning rags among other things.
Interestingly, he knew a bit of Kimeru and he introduced me to the term ‘Ngugi’ & told me that work or job /tasks are called thus (Ngugi) in Kimeru.
Some years later, I graduated into almost an expert car cleaner and cleaned his vehicle with clean water and a detergent popular as ‘Omo’ then many times.
My father loved reading and never missed bringing home the Nation newspaper everyday.
I also developed lots of interest in reading and especially the papers but also used the old copies to clean very clear his vehicle windows and i used to get lots of satisfaction from the work.
I obeyed my dad and equally loved him because he was kind and generous and took me and my siblings out almost every Sunday afternoon.
My father was also kind and loving and i never heard him reprimand anyone. He once got annoyed with us for sharing out his music cassettes (music storing gadgets whose current equivalents are the USBs or flash disks) with a cousin who was close to us and a regular visitor (may her soul also continue resting in peace).
He got annoyed since we did not seek his permission but he never even this time round caned any of us.
Unlike children of modern times, once he took us out, we would patiently wait for him in the vehicle as he imbibed his favorite tusker in the bar.
We would never leave the vehicle motivated by constant supply of soft drinks such as Fanta (Fanta orange was the only brand then) & Tarino & Coca Cola & Sprite & Bitter Lemon and Tangawizi & Mirinda later.
Apart from the soft drinks, roasted meat was a must serving as we enjoyed the outings. Interestingly, chips /French Fries were almost completely unheard of in our circles 
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.We would rarely leave the vehicle unless to relieve ourselves in the bar washrooms but apparently this was not frequently…
My father would, at dusk drive us home and then return to ‘Murera’ for his final round..and because car – jackers had tried to rob his car severally, we would leave the gate wide open for him to just drive in at night after which he would lock it.
The mornings were great moments given that we would everyday get his car keys and collect our gifts and start our day early.
My mother, Jacinta Waithira (may her soul also continue resting in peace), was also a very nice person, loving and quiet-natured & humble. Childhood memories are when she would prepare delicious meals for the family.
My dad would buy her huge containers of lard (pig cooking fat & then bought in shops; we never used vegetables and seeds cooking oils those days) which eased cooking and when dusk at times caught up with us after hours of childplay, i would find myself terribly sleepy.
Since she would at times also be still preparing supper, she would advise me to go sit by the partly open door to wait for supper to cook fully. But even by the partly open door space, I would still find myself dozing terribly and struggling very much to keep awake.
At times I would quarrel with my elder brother Kariuki (Karis and also popular as ‘Success’ among his teenage peers & may his soul continue resting in peace too) and seek protection from my mom. But I would get annoyed with her a lot because instead of ‘disciplining’ Karis, as I expected in my inanity, she would beat and thus discipline both of us.
My primary school was very near our home and everyday we would rush home during the lunch break to find hot meals always ready awaiting us and we are very thankful for the love and the splendid upbringing job our parents, assisted by our maternal grandmother Cucu Rebecca Wanjiru Kariuki, (who also lived with us & may her soul also continue resting in peace), did. We thank God almighty for the life we lived and time spent with our parents.
When i joined a nearby boarding secondary school, I would always return home for the weekend breaks to continue enjoying our parents’ love & care and almighty God’s benevolence. . Like many others during the days, our childhood delicacies included chapatis (present-day very common chapos) and I would find myself enjoying the same and even carrying some of the same back to school every weekend.
My ‘What Happened’ title for this nostalgia piece was inspired by the currently very sorry state of garbage dumping and littering in our location.
During my early childhood, carcasses of dogs hit by vehicles along the road i used to walk by to school were common but these would not lie there for more than three to five days.
Why? Because Nairobi City Council (NCC) Grey-colored trucks and lorries would arrive unannounced at the carcass scene and collect the same without any drama. The NCC employees would apart from collecting the terribly stinking carcasses also pour out a white powder (over the carcasses locations) which would instantly wipe out the stench.
In reflection, i think that dogs of my childhood days were not as agile and alert as dogs of today.
… Those dogs were perhaps slow and not used to heavy traffic as contrasted to current-day dogs that have to every other moment strive to run away and not get hit by scores of personal & PSV vehicles, motorbikes and even bicycles.
But sadly, once today’s dogs get hit and die, their carcasses lie on the site (despite their terribly awful stench) until they completely rot with this adding to the sad reality of dirt and garbage and litter all over on roads and paths in our dwelling locations.
The NCC trucks and lorries that were apparently assigned for dogs /animals carcasses collection have not been seen in our locations for very many years. In reflection, I do not know ‘What HAPPENED?’…
I also do not know what ‘HAPPENED’ to my imagination powers. Every time I would see the dogs’ carcasses in my early childhood, the memories would stick in my mind (as if stuck with glue stick) for long and immediately a meal was given to me, the carcass memory would pop up almost like a live image and my appetite would freeze seeing that my mind’s imagination trickery would unfairly somehow transform my meal into to the carcasses images 
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.Fortunately, I later overcame the phobia and I can somehow cope even with terrible smells and even somehow enjoy a meal if there is not any other way out of the dilemma.
