I have written about our seventh housemate before. Her bad manners got so bad we had to call in the landlord to mediate. I’m talking she almost hit us at one point bad. But for some reason, even after promising that he was going to move her, she remained. Good thing is that the rest of us decided to wash our hands of her and leave her to God.
So for the last few months, we have made do with a messy kitchen –moving her dirty dishes to the side when necessary. When it got so bad, we cleaned up the mess as best as we could and just went on with our lives. That did not mean that she didn’t make her presence felt. She played her music loud, sang along to it in a high pitched voice in the wee hours of the night/morning and more irritating shenanigans that involved our unofficial eighth housemate. But by the grace of God none of us confronted her. I don’t know how we managed not to, but we did.
Yesterday, I went into the kitchen to prepare my lunch and found her frying enough sausages to feed a small family in that oil she loves so much. I got on with my business but couldn’t help wondering whether she was planning to have a party. She placed her sausages on the dining table, cooked up some eggs, warmed baked beans in a large bowl, put a loaf of bread on the table, different types of soda and mineral water. By this point I was done preparing my lunch so I left the kitchen. While I was in my room, I heard loud noises a few minutes later, as if someone was moving things around. Turns out our seventh housemate was leaving.
Us when we found out she was leaving
She did not leave us a note goodbye; we were not expecting it. What she did leave was a mess in the kitchen. A plate of half-eaten eggs, half a loaf of bread, the sodas and water, the pan of oil on the stove, the bowl of baked beans, and all the food she had been keeping in the fridge out on the countertops. The floor looked like there had been a food fight. Did I mention that we had only cleaned the kitchen three days ago without her help, and that she had started turning it into a mess that very day? This new mess was her way of letting us she had left. And while we truly wish her the best in life, it is truly good riddance.
In the last few months, the seventh housemate has taught me a patience I did not know I could have. She has taught me what it means to let go when every bone of logic in your body says you should show her the “mukiga” in you. She has shown me what blind rage means and the fact that you have to fight it with everything you have because after you calm down, all the things you had planned to do in retaliation are ridiculous. And will probably get you arrested. I still wish we could have been friends but hey, you can’t have everything you want, can you?
Today we cleaned up our kitchen and oh the joy of knowing that no one is plotting to make it dirty 10 minutes later!