My legs screamed, “Bingo, run!” I ran but in a second, white arms held me. They belonged to the Thaatima. His smell was like girl’s perfume. He tipped me onto the white stone floor and knelt on top of me. I fought to get away, but the Thaatima’s weight was too great. I looked into the pale blue of his wet eyes and knew fear. Senior Father used to tell me the story of Leviathan, a great fish that held the world on his fins. He told me that even Leviathan knows fear. Leviathan fears the tiniest of all fish, the three-spined stickleback. Once the stickleback hooks into Leviathan’s back, he never goes away; he always stays with the giant fish. The stickleback does not kill Leviathan but sucks the life from him drop by drop, forever. That was the Thaatima; he sucked life from you forever. I looked up into the Thaatima’s eyes and knew the fear of Leviathan for the three-spined stickleback.
The Thaatima stood and Guard No. 3, Scarface, replaced him. He knelt where the lawyer had been and pinned me down. He was a good servant and his blue arms were strong. Mrs. Steele rushed forward and tried to pull the guard off me but the Thaatima dragged her away. “Leave them,” he said. Guard No. 2 came to help. He held my legs. I was stuck. It was fate, not destiny. Gihilihili clicked across and looked down at me. “Mr. Mwolo, is it not divine destiny that we are reacquainted?”
Mrs. Steele’s hands covered her face. “Bingo” was all she said. I had seen that look before, a thousand times, in Kibera. It was the look of helpless prayer. People like caring for other people; Mrs. Steele wanted to care for me. But her want poured away like water down a drain. Like everyone else, she did not get it.
Gihilihili’s grin was wide, like a snake. “Mr. Mwolo, when we last met did we not speak of paradise?”
I nodded. I struggled but could not move the guards off me. Guard No. 3’s weight pressed the silver cross into my skin.
Gihilihili went on, “Did we not say that paradise, Mr. Mwolo, hangs by the finest of threads? And today, Mr. Mwolo, I am saddened to tell you that, for you, paradise is lost.”
Mrs. Steele moved forward. “Chief Gihilihili,” she began. The Thaatima stepped forward and held her back. It was too late for both of us. Gihilihili had me.