BY

KHAMIS KABEU

Professor McMillan later gave his cat, Mkombozi, as a present to Rajab who took her to his home in the wilderness to catch mice in his granary, while he lived happily with the little beauty and the little beast. As the two kittens grew older, Habibah became gradually darker and Rafiki gradually lighter. But Rafiki's tail remained his pride and glory; it was as bushy as if his father had been a squirrel.
Rafiki was and remained the most adorable cat the Professor ever had. As affectionate as a puppy, but much cleaner, softer and gentler, he loved to be played with, and since he had known his hands from before he had opened his eyes, he trusted him completely. He just relaxed and let the Professor do with him what he wanted, even turning him on his back in his lap an tickling his belly, which was russet, not black. He also loved to sneak into his bedroom at night, jump on the bed and have a snooze on top of mosquito net curled up against his feet. He always hoped to do this unnoticed, but as soon as he

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entered the room he started purring so loudly in anticipation that this by itself was enough to wake him up.
One evening, however, when he and Habibah were eight months old, they were chasing each other on and off a stepladder which Rajab had unwisely left in a very shaky position on the front porch. Finally, it overturned and came crashing down exactly on the neck of Rafiki, who had a few convulsions and then stopped moving. The Professor and Rajab buried him late that same night in the back garden. The situation became absolutely ridiculous when, instead of being allowed to grieve for their lost companion, they had to defend themselves against two policemen who were passing their house after a raid on some illicit breweries in the bush. The two officers became very, very suspicious when they saw the twain digging a big hole in the garden at about midnight.
Although the Professor was merely shattered by the death of Rafiki, Habibah was absolutely demented. She refused to eat, refused to drink, refused to sleep, and went round and round, first near the house, but later further and further away, looking for her brother. After ten days, the Professor got so worried that he let her sleep beside him on his pillow at night. This she loved and as a result started eating again. Later, when he had to leave the village for some time, Rajab took her to his wilderness home, where she proved to be such a good rat-catcher that Rajab kept her, leaving the Professor with other kittens from the refuse heap to rear. Habibah was still alive then,
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although she left Rajab when he separated from Tryphena and followed her to her canteen. Wise cat!
This is the story of the life and death of Rafiki the First but the Professor was nowhere near the birth of Rafiki the Second.

When Rajab became the Professor's gardener, his cats could stay in Burundaniyya under his care when he was away. The first time this happened he had to go to Britain for three months, leaving one cat with him to feed and cherish. The result was disastrous for Rajab, who was very proud that the Professor had entrusted him with this job, and who had formerly worked part time in Burundaniyya's slaughterhouse, went back there every morning and collected all its offal.
Finally, when the Professor returned to Burundaniyya shortly after sunset, wow! Walking up the footpath to his front porch he saw several other cats slinking away under the bougainvillea hedge. There were also some on the porch, and after he had entered the house a few fled through the windows. And finally, when he had fallen into a chair, totally dumbfounded, a small kitten climbed into his lap and started purring. The next morning, he discovered that Rajab had collected far too much offal each day, so that his cat could eat only a small portion of it and as it was a sin to throw all that 'nice' meat away, Rajab had started feeding every stray cat that passed the house.
- ENDIT -
© KHAMIS KABEU -- 2005
P. O. BOX 3073,
MOMBASA.