Eve’s Invention

A novella by

Kinyanjui Kombani

Eve’s Invenon

Queenex Publishers Ltd

P. O. Box 56049-00200

Nairobi.

Phone: 0727 794 498, 0715 808 200

Email: info@queenexpublishers.co.ke,

queenexbooks@gmail.com

Web: www.queenexpublishers.co.ke

retrieval system, transit in any form or by any means:

graphic, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or

otherwise any part and or this entire book without the

prior written permission of Queenex Publishers Limited.

Acknowledgments

With thanks to Kendy Kiogora (A.K.A. KMn04)

for the ‘sciency’ tips. This story is as much yours

as it is mine.

Eve

Liam came running to the house. There were

tears in his eyes.

“What is the matter?” Eve asked him, a

worried look on her face. She did not like to see

her younger brother in tears.

“It’s my ball,” Liam said, trying hard to stop

the tears. He was unsuccessful, because the tears

came streaming down his face. “Those boys

have taken it again.”

“Your new ball?” Eve asked him.

The ball was hardly a week old.

“If mom comes to nd that you don’t have it,

she will not be happy,” Eve told her brother.

Liam was nine years old. He was short and

chubby. A lot of the bigger boys picked on him.

“Where are they?” Eve asked. “This has to stop

today.”

Liam led her out of their house, down the stairs

and towards the playing eld.

“There they are,” Liam said, snifing loudly.

He pointed at a group of young boys.

The playing eld was fenced off by a wooden

fence that reached Eve at the waist. It was,

however, too high for Liam and most of the other

smaller boys. It reached his neck. The fence was

painted white, which made the playing eld

attractive. Eve pulled open the small gate that

led into the eld.

There was a group of six boys playing with

Liam’s new ball. They did not stop playing even

when they saw Eve and Liam at the gate. They

were the biggest boys in the whole estate, and

they were notorious for bullying the younger

boys and girls.

Eve wanted to go to them and take away the

ball from them, but then she had an idea.

“Wait,” she said to Liam. “I have just had a

great idea. Instead of taking the ball now, we

will do something that will stop the boys from

taking your ball forever.”

Liam frowned. He did not seem to understand

what his big sister meant. All he wanted was his

ball. But he knew that Eve always looked out for

him. If she said she would do something about

it, she meant it.

In any case, there was nothing he could do

about the bullies. He had to depend on his sister

to get back the ball.

“Let’s go,” Eve said. “I will show you another

game you can play.”

They went back into the house.

When Liam was playing some word games on

the kitchen table, Eve went to work. She walked

to back door and out into the garden. Alongside

the garden there was a path paved with large

blocks of cement, which led to a building with

very high walls.

She walked to the door. There was a large sign

at the door written: No Unauthorised Entry.

Then she pulled a key from her pocket, inserted

it in the lock and turned it. There was a click as

the lock opened. She looked behind her and,

conrming that there was nobody following

her, she pushed the door open.

It was a heavy, metal door, and it always

needed her to push with a little more force.

It was dark inside. She moved her hand across

the wall until it she touched a switch. Then she

icked it open and the room was ooded with

bright light.

There was a long table in the middle of the

room, and on top of it there were hundreds of

glass bottles, some empty and some lled with

different chemicals. There was also a lot of

equipment on the table.

She moved carefully across the room, taking

care to avoid the glassware, bottles and

equipment. At the far end of the room, there was

another table that faced the wall. She pulled a

long stool next to the table and climbed on it.

This was her mother’s laboratory. Eve was

the only person who was allowed to go into the

laboratory. The only condition that her mother

had given her was that she was not to touch

anything else.

“There are very dangerous chemicals here,”

her mother had warned her. “There is also very

expensive equipment.”

Because of the warning, Eve always made

sure she was alone in the laboratory and she

never touched the chemicals or equipment. Her

mother had allowed her to have her own table

and a few cabinets where she could work on her

experiments.

This was her mother’s private lab. Eve and her

mother had called it MugiLabs, a name taken

from their family name, Mugi. This is where her

mother conducted many experiments.

Eve drew something on a piece of paper. After

some time, she slid from the stool and went to

the cabinets. She pulled open one of them and

rummaged inside for a few minutes.

“Aha!” she said, holding a piece of metal. Then

she went back to the drawings on the piece of

paper.

When she left the laboratory, she was holding

something in her hand. She was smiling to

herself.

“Hey Liam,” she said when she walked back to

the house. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” her brother asked without looking

up from the game he was playing. When Liam

got engrossed in a game like this he never

wanted to leave it.

“Your ball, remember? We have to ensure they

don’t take it from you again.”

Liam quickly stopped what he was doing and

followed his sister.

“What do you have in mind?” he asked Eve.

Everyone in the family knew Eve as the

girl with lots of ideas. She was almost always

had something up her sleeve. Sometimes the

experiments she did got both of them into

trouble.

“Don’t worry,” Eve said as if she reading his

mind. “Everything will be okay, I promise.”

They went back to the eld.

“Hey, Jack,” Eve called out to one of the boys.

“Let me have the ball now.”

The boys stopped playing. They were thirteen

and twelve years old. Jack was the tallest. He was

also the meanest. Eve was sure that Jack was the

one who had taken her brother’s ball from him.

Jack threw the ball in Eve’s direction.

“Let’s look for another game to play,” he told

his friends.

Eve still had her smile on, as if she knew a secret

that nobody else knew. She picked the ball and

held it under her armpit. She did not look angry

at all - in fact, she was whistling softly.

The next day, Eve gave Liam back his ball.

“Here, do have a nice game.”

As expected, Liam quickly ran out with the

ball. As soon as he was out of the compound he

called out his friends: “Ethan! Jayden! Time for

ball!”

Two other boys ran out of their houses and

joined Liam to run towards the eld. Eve

followed them closely, a big smile on her face.

She was holding something at the back of her

hand.

As expected, the big boys were on the eld.

Eve walked a few minutes behind the Liam and

his friends. Jack was the rst to react.

“Bring that ball here,” he said harshly and

pointed at Liam’s ball. “We can’t play with this

old ball yet you have a brand new ball.”

Liam looked behind him, and not seeing Eve,

gave away the ball.

The big boys started playing, laughing at how

easy it had been for them to take it from the

young ones.

“Let them go through what we went through

when we were young,” Mark, one of the big

boys, said. “We were also bullied.”

Liam, Ethan and Jayden sat down at the edge

of the eld, their back

The magic ball

It turned out that in the afternoon, Jack and his

friends were playing against another group of

boys from Sunluck, the neighbouring estate. It

was quite a big event, seeing that the Sunluck

team had come with their own fans to cheer

them on.

Jack and his friends had gone round their

estate, telling all boys and girls to ensure that

they turned up to cheer them on.

“I will be taking note of those people who will

not come,” Jack had said in his usual threatening

voice.

Because Liam’s ball was newer, Jack ensured

that it was the only one to be used for the game.

To make sure this happened, he had punctured

a hole in the Sunluck team’s ball. The boys from

the opposing team could not do anything about

it, because Jack was taller and more powerful

than most of them.

The game started.

The goalkeeper threw the ball at Jack. Jack

smiled, knowing that he had the power over the

boys defending the Sunluck team’s goal post. He

hit the ball and guided it slowly towards the goal

post. He pushed one of the Sunluck defenders

out of the way. Seeing this, the Sunluck boys

moved out of his way. Now he was left alone

facing the goal keeper.

He tapped the ball to keep it in position. The

goal keeper, a small, chubby boy looked very

scared. Everyone around the football eld kept

quiet. They knew that there was no way the goal

keeper could stop Jack’s shot.

But then, something very funny happened.

Jack aimed at the ball with full force, making

sure that his leg was very high in the air for

maximum effort. And just when he was about

to hit it, the ball moved sideways!

Pushed by his own force, Jack’s fell down like

a heap of potatoes. Everyone around the eld,

and the players with him, were too shocked to

see what had happened. Jack pulled himself up

and stared at the ball with his mouth wide open.

And then the ball moved again!

It moved very quickly towards a Sunluck

player. The boy was so shocked to see the ball

roll itself right into his path. He hesitated, as if

he did not know what to do with it. Everyone

looked at him, and at the ball.

“Hit the ball!” one of the Sunluck fans shouted

from outside the eld.

The boy seemed to awaken from his frozen

state. He kicked the ball very slowly.

If it was an ordinary ball, it would have moved

only a few feet ahead. But something seemed

to have happened to this ball. It moved a few

feet, and then gathered speed. By the time the

Zahara goalkeeper realised that the ball was

coming towards him, it was moving at such a

high speed that he could do nothing about it. It

zoomed past him like an aeroplane.

“Goal!” the Sunluck fans shouted, jumping in

the air happily.

“What?” Liam asked. Unconsciously, he and

his friends had stood up. So had everyone else

in the eld who had been sitting down. None of

them had seen anything like that.

The Zahara Gardens goal keeper picked up

the ball slowly. He looked at it as carefully as if

checking for something on it. It looked normal.

He hit the ball with huge force, directing it to

one of his team players. To everyone’s surprise,

the ball curved itself in the air, and went towards

one of the Sunluck players. He was too surprised

to make a move.

A Zahara player quickly ran towards the ball

and pushed the Sunluck player away. And then

he moved the ball away with his foot. The ball

made a curve back to the Sunluck player.

The Sunluck player hit the ball towards

one of his team mates. Jack, who was looking

very angry, ran for it. He hit it out of the way

and aimed it at one of the Zahara players. To

everyone’s surprise, again, the ball made a series

of zig zag moves away from the Zahara players.

“Waaaaa?” a lot of people shouted.

“Is this a magic ball?” someone asked.

Before he could get an answer, the ball whizzed

past the Zahara goal keeper, moving in between

his legs.

“Goal!” the Sunluck team members celebrated.

Jack sank to his knees. He was shaking his

head in disbelief.

It was then that Liam heard someone chuckle

behind him. When he looked back, he saw his

sister smiling. In her hand she held a small

device.

“Hey, that is my video game controller!” Liam

said, pointing at the black device with many

buttons that Eve was pushing.

“Yes, I know,” Eve said as she continued

pressing the buttons. She was looking at the

game in front of them.

That is when Liam realised what is happening.

“You mean you are the one controlling the

ball?” he asked, his mouth wide open with

surprise.

She did not answer. But she did not need to

answer. One look at Eve’s face and Liam knew

the answer to his question.

“Wow!” he exclaimed. “I thought the game

controller was spoilt.”

“I repaired it,” Eve responded. “Do want to try

it out?”

“Sure,” Liam said and reached out his hand.

“Ha ha!” he said as he pressed the controller.

“It’s like playing a video game!”

When he pressed the ‘Up’ button, the ball

bounced. He did this several times when Jack

and his friends had the ball.

Jack looked very frustrated. Every time he and

his team mates reached the ball, it moved away

from him.

He pushed the Sunluck boys away again

and hit the ball very hard towards their goal

keeper. To everyone’s surprise, the ball did not

shoot straight ahead. It ew in the air, changed

direction and went towards his own goalkeeper’s

side. The Zahara goal keeper was ready to catch

it, but the force of the ball pushed him inside the

goal post.

“Goal!” The crowd screamed. “That is an own

goal!”

Liam giggled in happiness.

“Okay, let us nish the game,” Eve said. She

took over the controller and pressed some

buttons. The ball started spinning by itself. Then

suddenly it raised itself in the air, and started

coming towards Jack.

Jack let out a loud scream. “Heeelp!”

The ball chased him round and round the eld.

He stopped to catch his breath, and the ball

hit him at the back. He started running again,

making everyone laugh.

“Mummy!” Jack shouted in terror. “Mummy,

come help me. I am being haunted by a ball.”

He ran out of the eld. He did not stop at all

even when the ball stopped chasing him and

rolled back to the eld. He was heard screaming

and crying even when he was safely at home.

Then the ball rolled towards Liam and stopped

at his at his feet. He picked the ball and peered at

it. All the eyes in the eld were looking at him.

“Is that a magic ball?” Jayden asked him. All

the three boys stared at the ball. It looked like an

ordinary ball.

Eve laughed out.

“I made some modications to add the magic,”

she said. “This is the last time the boys will take

something that is not theirs!”

The inventor

“I hear what you did to the bullies, you bad

girl,” someone said, interrupting Eve’s thoughts.

Eve knew that voice well. It was her best friend

Tracy.

“It was nothing,” she said. “Just a little lesson

for the big boys.”

Tracy jumped through the door. “I knew I

would nd you here,” she declared.

There is one place where everyone knew

to nd Eve. When she was not in the Zahara

Gardens compound bike racing with the rest

of the young boys and girls on their bikes, or

helping out with household chores, she would

be found at the Lab.

Eve always wanted to be a scientist like her

mother, Professor Joyce Mugi. The professor

was known all over the world because of her

research work.

Eve loved that her mother travelled all over

the world, making great speeches to conferences

where a lot of famous scientists were in

attendance. Her mother had allowed Eve to

accompany her during one of the conferences.

The young girl has been awed by all the

discussions going on – despite the fact that she

did not understand a lot of the tough words that

the delegates were using.

Her friend Tracy was the complete opposite.

She was so different from Eve that people kept

wondering why they were friends in the rst

place. While Eve loved sciences, Tracy hated

anything that was not the languages – English

and Kiswahili.

Though they were the same age, Tracy was

taller than Eve. Tracy kept her hair in very long,

multicoloured braids that almost always got

her into trouble with the school. But every time

the school management tried to make her wear

ordinary type of hair, they remembered that

Tracy’s mother was a journalist and her father

was a lawyer. The last time they had tried to

stop her, the lawyer had stormed the school and

threatened to sue the administrators for what he

called infringing of human rights. On the other

hand, her mother had vowed to write an article

to expose their illegal acts.

Because of her parents, Tracy also got away

from many trouble spots. The good thing about

her is that she never took advantage of her

parent’s defence to be truant. She really made

efforts to be better, including coming for extra

coaching from Eve.

While Eve loved doing experiments, and was

almost always alone trying new things, Tracy

loved the outdoors, and especially going for

either window shopping or actual shopping. It

was funny that despite living different lives, the

two had a lot to talk about when they actually

met.

Tracy was the only other person allowed in

the lab, despite the fact that she showed zero

interest in any of the experiments.

Eve loved inventing things. She also liked

trying out her own experiments at her mom’s

laboratory.

This is how she came to start producing Eve’s

Touch, the bar soap that was now used by most

people at Zahara Gardens Estate. Her mother had

come home from an international assignment to

be met by a very excited looking Eve at the door.

“Mom! Mom! I made it!”

“Is this the way you greet people nowadays?”

the Professor had asked with a smile. She knew

when her daughter was up to something. She

knew that Eve would not allow her to settle

down, so she allowed the excited girl to lead her

to the Lab.

“Well, this has to be a great thing,” she

warned. “Not like last time when you ruined

my chemicals.” She was referring to another

time when Eve had tried to make detergent and

the chemicals had backred, creating dark green

foam that lled the entire laboratory.

“No, this time it is real,” Eve had said, pointing

to her table. There was a bar of white soap.

“Bar soap? You nally managed it?”

The professor was happy to see the result

of what had been a long experiment for her

daughter.

“Yes, I did it,” Eve said proudly. “This is my

special homemade coconut bar.”

“Coconut bar? Why coconut bar?”

“Because I used coconut oil,” the excited girl

said. “I wanted to make detergent, and then I

mixed sodium hydroxide with coconut oil.

Then I forgot about it. When I remembered it

yesterday I ran here to nd that the mixture had

solidied into this bar soap.”

“Hmmm,” her mother had responded, and

then bent down to smell the soap. “It does smell

nice.”

“Not just that, but it lathers very easily,” Eve

said. “I have given it to Auntie Maggie and she

says it is very soft on the hand.”

“But Eve, we agreed that if you do any of your

experiments I need to be see the product rst,”

her mother had complained. “You know what

would happen if someone was to use these

chemicals without being declared safe.”

“Mum,” Eve had defended herself. “Sodium

hydroxide in diluted form is pretty safe. And

the results of the soap experiment are amazing.”

“The problem with you is that you know too

much!” the professor had chided her daughter,

making as if to pinch her.

Professor Joyce Mugi always said how proud

she was of her daughter. She was the only one

who had keen interest in science. Her son, Liam

was only interested in toys and football. Maybe

she was too young to start having an interest in

biology and chemistry like his older sister?

No, she told herself. Eve had shown a lot of

interest in the sciences even from the early age of

six years. The Professor and her husband, Doctor

Mark Mugi, believed in letting the children

explore their passions instead of dictating what

they wanted them to be.

The whole idea of the bar soap would have

ended there, but Auntie Maggie, the house help,

had told almost all the other house helps in

Zahara Gardens about the amazing new soap.

Before she knew it, Eve was receiving very many

orders of soap from the neighbours.

Tracy had offered to have her journalist mother

cover the soap making process, but Eve had

resisted. “This is not my invention,” she had

warned. “The only thing I have done is to make

it friendlier to the users’ hands.”

Her mom had taken the soap to her laboratory

in town and someone had conrmed it was

safe. And now a lot of people in Zahara came

directly to Eve when their soap was nished.

Eve’s mother had to contribute more money to

buy the chemicals needed for the soap.

“This is seed money,” she had told Eve with

a smile. “Seed money means that you will be

expected to return it. It is not a gift.”

That was the professor’s way of ensuring that

her children were responsible. Once they learnt

that the money was to be returned, they were

more careful about the choices they made.

After she returned the money to her mother,

Eve kept all the prots she made in a piggy bank

at home. She did not want to touch the money in

the piggy bank. Even when most of her friends

spent money on new clothes and goodies at the

mall, Eve would keep all the money away.

“I am saving up for my father’s treatment,”

she told people who asked her why she was not

spending it all.

A sick father

Eve rst came to know about her father’s

sickness a year earlier, when she was fourteen

years. She had come home to school to nd her

mother and father seated at the sitting room in

silence

She knew something was amiss when walked

in and was met with the silence in the room.

Both the TV and the radio were off. Her father

loved TV very much, and whenever he was

home he would be watching a lot of wildlife

documentaries. Wildlife was his passion,

even though he was an economist. He taught

Economics at the university in town. And when

he was not teaching or reading in his upstairs

study, he would be sitting next to the TV on the

wildlife channel.

Liam did not suspect anything wrong. He

hugged his parents and dashed off noisily into

his room to change into home clothes.

“Is something the matter,” Eve asked her

parents. Although they had tried to smile as

they hugged the children, Eve had seen that

there was something bothering them.

“No, everything is ne,” her mother said.

“How is school?”

Eve was not convinced by her mother’s

assurance. She sat down and crossed her legs,

saying, “School is ne.”

“Fine, or great?” her father asked. His voice

was weak.

“It’s great,” Eve responded.

“Do you want to go and change into home

clothes rst?” her mother asked her.

Even as she changed, Eve’s mind was racing.

What could be the problem?

Johnstone, her classmate, had told her the story

of how their parents broke the news to her and

her siblings about their decision to get a divorce.

Johnstone, with tears in his eyes, had told them

how the two parents sat in the sofa in the sitting

room.

“Were her parents going to divorce?” Eve

asked herself.

She got into comfortable denim trousers that

her father had bought her in South Africa where

she had attended a conference, a white T-shirt

with Masai warriors printed at the front and a

pink pullover.

On her way down the stairs she met Liam who

was in jeans and sneakers. He was going out to

ride his bike. He would ride for about an hour

with his friends before coming back to do his

homework.

Eve sat down opposite her parents.

“Now, Eve,” her mother started. “You know

your father has been ailing for some time.”

Eve nodded.

For the last several months or so, her father

had been complaining of stomach aches. At rst,

he had said he thought it was something he had

eaten at the university mess and had taken some

medication for it. But as the days had gone on

his stomach aches had not stopped.

He had stopped eating food well and had to

be coaxed into eating the little that he did. The

result of not eating well was that he had lost a

lot of weight and looked generally weaker.

Although he still tried to keep up the high

spirits that he was known for, it was clear that

he was not the same person that Eve had known.

Yes, he still played with the children and even

engaged in bike racing challenges with them

across the estate roads, but every time he did it

he was left panting, out of breath.

Eve had watched the changes over the months

with concern. But her parents kept assuring the

children that all would be well. Every night, they

prayed for her father to get his appetite back.

“So, we have been going to the doctor for

a lot of tests,” her father said, looking at her

straight in the eye. She wanted to look down,

uncomfortable with the gaze, but she could not.

She nodded.

“Now, there is good news and there is bad

news,” her father continued. “Which one should

I start with?”

Instantly, Eve said, “Start with the good.”

“Okay,” her father said. Her mother was

stroking his hand softly. “The good news is that

whatever I am ailing from is treatable. With luck

and good care, I will be healed shortly.”

Eve’s heart was beating like one of the Ashanti

drums they had in school for music class.

“And, the bad news is that you are very sick,”

she said loudly.

There was some silence, and then both her

parents nodded in agreement.

“The bad news is that your father has been

diagnosed with cancer,” her mother said. She

saw the shocked face on her daughter’s face and

added, “Do not be worried. The doctors say that

with some medication and some procedures,

there is still hope of recovery.”

Eve remembers moving closer to her father

and hugging him.

“What type of cancer is it?” she asked softly.

Her mother hesitated. She had not remembered

that Eve was very interested in sciences, and

probably knew a lot about various types of

cancers.

“Colon cancer,” she answered. “It is still early

stage.”

And this is how the long journey of cancer

treatment had started. For most of the year,

her father was either in hospital going through

chemotherapy and other procedures, or at home

recuperating from hospital stay.

Their life had changed a lot. His mother

travelled less times.

And suddenly, they could not afford some of

the luxuries they had had in the past. All the

money they could make was going towards the

cost of going to hospital.

Luckily, Even and Liam were well behaved.

They never demanded for things and would ask

for them respectfully. They were not like Ethan,

Liam’s friend who had been banned from going

to the supermarket with his parents because

every time he went, he would create a scene

asking to be bought toys and goodies.

One day, Eve had overheard their parents

talking about nances.

“I don’t know what else to do,” her mother was

saying. “The insurance says that we are already

over the limit.”

Normally, their parents would not let the

children know about such problems. They were

used to discussing problems when they were in

their room. At this time, they probably thought

that Eve was outside playing or at the laboratory.

“How much do we have in savings?” her father

asked. Eve could sense the weakness in his voice.

The drugs and therapy was taking a toll on him,

but there was more to it. He sounded like a

broken man. Eve felt a wave of pity for him.

“We don’t have much,” her mother responded.

“I am worried about what the future holds.”

Eve had then made a resolution to help her

mother as much as she could. She was going to

double the production of soap, and she would

give her mother the money she made.

Over the course of the year she had seen a lot

of hospital documents. Hospital visits caused a

lot of money. She knew that her soap business

would not be able to raise the money required

for hospital. But it would boost her mother’s

income. At least, they would have money for

household goods.

Enter the Strangoworm

“Hallo, what are you up to?” a voice interrupted

her thoughts. It was her mom.

Eve was bent over her table, looking into a

microscope. She was wearing a white lab coat

that her mother had had specially made for her.

“Nothing much,” she said. “I am just looking

at the wonders of science.”

The professor came closer and sat next to Eve

on the table. Next to the table there were a lot of

notebooks.

Eve nodded.

“May I have a look?” her mother asked. Eve

moved aside to let her look at the microscope.

“I don’t see much,” she said, and then added, “I

see it now. Cells.”

“Aha!” Eve said.

Her mother sat back on her stool. She also had

a lab coat. On her breast side there was a green

logo with the words initials ‘IRI’ below it.

The logo belonged to the Insect Research

Institute. Eve had been to the institute hundreds

of times with her mother, who often worked

with the institute on research projects.

The Insect Research Institute was the national

centre for research on all manner of insects. They

had the largest collection of insects in Africa, her

mother had told her.

The IRI was only one of the organisations

her mother worked with. Others were the

Agriculture Research Department, ARD as well

as other universities.

“I see you are reading up a lot about cancer,”

her mother said, pointing at the books that were

on the table.

“Yes mom,” Eve said. “I just want to know

what is happening with Dad.”

There was a moment of silence. And then her

mother stretched out her hands. Eve went to her

and embraced her.

“I know it is tough, Eve,” she said. “And I

know it is especially hard for you because not

only are you taking care of your own fears, but

also your brothers.”

Liam did not know much of what is happening,

only that his father was sick.

“I appreciate the way you have been able to

shield him from the problems that we have been

facing,” her mother said.

Her father’s sickness had brought the family

even closer together. Despite the fact that there

was a nurse at home who took care of her father

and brought him everything he needed, there

was always a family member on standby.

“All will be well,” her mother said.

Eve did not respond. She did not want to

say loudly that she doubted her mother. Her

father had done three surgeries to remove some

cancerous cells that were growing. He had also

done a lot of chemotherapy. Each of the surgeries

and each of the therapy sessions left him weaker.

“What are you working on now?” she asked

her mother to change the topic. She always

liked discussing her mother’s research projects.

Everything her mother did was fascinating. She

enjoyed her work so much that when somebody

asked her what she was working on she would

mile with a glow on her face.

Today, however, her mother sighed. There

was a line of worry on her face.

“We are working on the strangoworm,” she

said. “It is tough ghting something you don’t

know.”

“Strangoworm?” Eve asked. “What is a

strangoworm?”

“Have you not heard about it?” the professor

asked. “Oh, I know you may not have been

watching the news.”

The rest of the family had let Eve’s father have

exclusive use of the TV. So whenever he was in

the house and he was not reading he had access

to his favourite documentaries. It had been so

long since they had watched news.

Not that they watched a lot of news even before

her father got sick – there was hardly any good

news on TV these days.

“Watching the news, you can hardly think there

is anything good happening in the country these

days,” Eve’s mother used to complain. “There is

so much negativity. It is as if the reporters go out

looking for bad news only.”

“Bad news sells faster,” Dr. Mugi had said.

“The Strangoworm is the country’s biggest

problem right now,” Professor Mugi said,

bringing Eve out of her thoughts and back to the

laboratory. “We don’t know what brought it and

how to destroy it. If we do not nd a solution to

it, the country will perish.”

“Wow,” Eve exclaimed. “What does it look

like?”

She had never seen her mother that worried.

A few years ago, the professor had been called

to help the IRI with an infestation of aphids. Eve

remembered how her mother enjoyed every

minute of the research.

“You will know about strangoworm soon

enough,” Eve’s mother told her. “They are

bringing a whole lot of them here for me to start

work on.”

* * *

About an hour later, a white pickup truck

bearing the IRI logo parked at the Mugi

compound. The driver and another man got out.

They were wearing navy blue overalls also with

the IRI logo. They picked three wooden crates

from the back of the truck and placed them into

the laboratory.

“Where do we keep them?” they asked the

professor. She pointed at the large table in the

middle and the men promptly placed the crates

on it. That was where she placed all the urgent

work or any work that she needed to take care of.

Inside the large crates, on wooden boxes, there

were large, transparent jugs with labels marked

‘Research Sample. Handle with Care.’

The driver gave her a few documents which

she signed without looking. Then she thanked

the men as they walked out.

Eve’s mother took one jug out and peered into

it against the strong light. Her eyes squinted as

if she was trying to make out what was inside.

Eve came closer. Inside the jug there were

many strange looking worms.

“I have never seen such worms,” she declared.

“Neither have I,” her mother. “Let’s nd out

what these are, shall we?”

She walked to the other side of the table and

took out small box, from which she pulled out

two pairs of gloves. She passed one pair to Eve

and put on the other pair.

Eve brought here a large tray which had her

laboratory tools. She opened one jug and with

some forceps, took out one worm which she

placed on the table.

The worm was about a half an inch long, with

a strange, almost conical shape. Against one of

the reading lights that were on the table, it shone

brightly.

“What kind of worm is this?” the professor

asked. She picked a magnifying glass and peered

at the worm.

Eve took the cue and picked a smaller

magnifying class with which she looked at the

worm which was now wriggling on the table.

Half of the worm was bright green, and the

other side was dark yellow. Its belly was bright

yellow.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” the

professor said. Her eyes were squinted as she

read some documents that were clipped onto a

board.

“They say it must be a mutation of something,”

she said. “We need to nd out what is its original

form.”

Eve liked when her mother used the word ‘we’

when exploring things. It made her feel as if she

was part of a big mission.

“How do we do that…” she asked. Before her

mother answered, however, something strange

happened.

The worm stopped wriggling and suddenly

sprung up. It darted quickly across the table.

“Wow!” her mother exclaimed and in a

sudden move, placed the forceps on the path of

the worm. The worm simply jumped over the

forceps and continued moving. It reached the

end of the table and slipped on the oor.

“Stop it!” the professor said as she scampered

around the table. She crushed the worm with

her foot.

“Aw, did you have to kill it?” Eve was

disappointed.

“You’ve seen how that worm moves,” her

mother said as she retrieved a broom and

dustpan from the corner. “There was no way to

stop it.”

Then she started cleaning the mess on the oor.

“And if I did not stop it, we would have a

disaster in our hands,” she explained. She saw

the quizzical look on Eve’s face and continued.

“The strangoworm is the fastest producing

worm that we have heard about. It can produce

on its own more than one hundred times what

other worms produce. And as at right now, it is

simply indestructible.”

She threw the mess into a dustbin on one

corner, then came back to face Eve.

“If we let that one go, within a few days our

garden will be overrun,” she explained. And

in less than a week the whole estate will be full

of the worms. Right now the worms have not

reached the city, but they are spreading like wild

re. It is only a matter of time until the whole

country is overwhelmed.”

“That is scary,” Eve said.

“Yes, darling, it is. The worst thing is that

nobody knows how to handle the crisis.”

The professor picked another worm from the

jug.

“Yes, we are facing an international crisis,” she

said, looking at the wriggling worm closely.

5. The country in crisis

Suddenly, everyone was talking about the

strangoworm crisis.

Within a week, the news of the strange worm’s

invasion was all over the newspapers, televisions,

and radios. Experts moved from one television

station to the other, talking about the threat

to the country. Even Eve’s father had stopped

watching wildlife documentaries to catch up on

the latest information about the strangoworm.

The front page of the Daily Newsman, as well

as the rst ve pages, were all about the worm.

Famine Alert as Strangoworm attack spreads

Ofcials have sounded a warning that

the country would be facing imminent

famine because of the attack of the so-called

strangoworm.

The worm, which in less than a month has

spread in about a third of the country, has

affected the agricultural areas of Mbembe, Waru

and Mboco in the northern highlands, wiping

out crops from whole farms.

Speaking to the press at her city ofce after

attending a crisis meeting, the Minister for

Agriculture said that the government was

working with both local and international pest

experts to stem the spread of the strangoworm.

The worm has puzzled experts because of

its quick reproductive nature and ravenous

appetite. According to an expert who requested

anonymity, the worm is able to eat nonstop. Each

worm can destroy more than ten maize plants.

Eve learnt that the strangoworm was not the

worm’s ofcial name. According to an expert

who came to speak on TV, the worm had been

given the name because of its feeding habits.

“Once it attacks a plant, it is as if the plant has

been strangled,” the expert had said.

Eve’s mother spent a lot of time at the

laboratory. On the table there were many dead

worms, some cut on petri dishes, so that she can

study them.

When Eve came from school every day,

she went straight to the laboratory. There

were always people with IRI uniforms either

looking at the pieces of strangoworms under

the laboratory, or reading from their laptops or

many sheets of paper.

Sometimes she found them in meetings. She

stayed at her side of the laboratory, now taken

over by a person from IRI, taking care not to

interrupt the conversations.

“We need you in the centre,” one of the

professor’s colleagues said. “We can make use

of the superior equipment there.”

“I have everything I need here,” she told them.

“I have to take care of David.”

Eve’s father had asked her to take care of the

strangoworms, saying he was okay and he had

all the help he needed. But she had been adamant

that she needed to be around.

“But the worm is a national problem, I am okay

with the nurses here,” he had insisted. But Eve’s

mother just shook her head.

One night, Eve heard rustling noises. When

she looked outside the window she would see

the laboratory lights on.

Her mother was at the laboratory, trying to

nd a way to stop the strangoworm.

“For you to stop something like this, you have

to understand it,” she told Eve. “That is what I

am trying to do.”

* * *

And here is some breaking news,

brought to you straight from Government

House.

The radio crackled. Everyone in the school bus

kept quiet. Some people at the back were still

talking, and one of the pupils in front pursed

her lips, hissing “shhhhhh!”

The president has a few minutes ago

declared the Strangoworm infestation a national

emergency. Speaking at Government House

after chairing a meeting of the National Rapid

Response Unit members, the president said

that the strangoworm infestation had reached

critical levels and adequate resources will have

to be released to ght the menace. The president

further declared that ten million dollars would

be immediately withdrawn from the Emergency

Budget to enable the relevant government bodies

ght the infestation.

Eve knew that her mother was part of the

delegation that had gone to Government House

to meet the president. She had mentioned to her

that she would be late coming home because of

the meeting.

She did not tell the people in the bus, though.

She did not like receiving a lot of attention, and

that is exactly what the rest of the pupils in the

bus would have given her. She was not like

her school mate Angy, who would have told

everybody that her parent was going to meet the

president.

In any case, Eve’s mother had met the

president a lot of times and it was no longer a

reason to boast. Both her parents had received

the presidential medal of honour because of

their service to the country, her mother because

of her research work and her father because of

his work as an economist.

As soon as her mother came into the house,

Eve asked her what the declaration of national

disaster meant. “It doesn’t sound like a nice

thing,” she said.

“It actually is a nice thing,” her mother

responded. “First, it helps to know that the

government will put in place resources to help

ght the worms. Secondly, it means that all the

government agencies will be allocated to us as a

priority.”

“I see,” Eve said.

She put on her helmet and got on her bike. She

did not want to go to the laboratory today. She

wanted to test the bike to see if her modications

had worked.

She zoomed past the other children. Her idea

had worked!

She was going up a slight hill which always left

all the other children panting as they pedalled

up. However, she was not pedalling her bike at

all.

The other children were puzzled.

Eve reached the end of the road, where it

curved towards Zahara Gardens main gate, and

stopped her bike. She let it lean on the picket

fence and sat down with a smile in her face.

When the rest of the children nally came round

the corner, they gathered around her

“Woah! What have you done to your bike?”

they asked Eve.

Eve smiled proudly, showing off her bike.

“Nothing much,” she told them. “I just

rearranged the gear system, and put in a

motorised system which charges itself by the

force of the initial pedalling.”

They did not seem to understand what she

was saying.

“What I mean is that the bike is now more like

a motorbike!” Eve announced proudly.

She had been working on the modications

for about three weeks, picking ideas from an

old engineering magazine that she had found

among some old books. The motor wound itself

using the force of the initial pedalling action.

This meant that all one needed to do was to

pedal very fast for a few metres, and then let the

motor take care of the rest.

“Can you do this for my bike as well?” Jack

asked. “I will ask my dad to give me some

money.”

Eve smiled and said, “Sure, why not?”

“Me too!” another boy said.

“And my bike as well!” a girl said.

“How much will it cost?” someone else asked.

Within a few minutes there was a long line of

people holding their bikes with one hand and

raising their other hands.

Eve smiled.

She liked it when her innovations made an

impact on people. And she also knew that

this particular innovation, if the parents of her

neighbours agreed, would put in a lot of money

towards her piggy bank.

More about cancer

On the wall of her room, Eve had stuck a lot

of posters, magazine cuttings and other pieces

of paper. When her mother had come in and

found the wall plastered with paper, she, at rst

wanted to ask Eve why she had ruined the wall.

But then she had seen what the papers were

all about and decided not to pursue the matter

anymore.

Eve had done a lot of reading and research on

colon cancer.

“How long have you had all this information?”

the professor asked her.

She could tell that what had happened to her

father had really affected Eve.

Eve did not immediately respond. Her mother

sat on the bed and gestured to her to sit next to

her.

“When bad things happen to us,” she said

softly, “it is natural to question ourselves. I

know you are wondering if there is anything

you could have done to prevent cancer from

striking your father.”

Eve nodded. How did her mother know exactly

what she was thinking?

“It is also natural that you can even start

questioning God,” her mother continued,

again as if she knew what Eve was thinking. “It

happened to me too when we had the diagnosis.

I asked myself why it happened to us.”

“That is right, mom,” Eve said. “At night, I

cannot keep myself from asking God why. Why

did it happen to Dad? Dad is a good person and

he always helps the poor people. He mentors a

lot of upcoming economists. Why would God

want to punish him?”

“There are no answers to that, darling,” her

mother answered. “And there is no way to stop

asking those questions. I keep asking myself

why it happened to your father – he always eats

healthy food. He does a lot of exercises and is

very active unlike other people of his age. So

why did it happen to him? I have not had any

answers to that. But the thing that we can do is

to keep supporting him.”

She wiped the tears that were rolling out of

Eve’s eyes down her face.

“You can also imagine what is going through

your dad’s mind,” she continued. “He is also

scared. Suddenly, he is not the strong person

that he has been. And he does not know what is

happening to his body.”

“Mom, will dad die?” Eve asked softly. “I don’t

want him to die.”

“The doctor says that there is a high chance that

he will be with us for a long time,” her mother

responded. “In the meantime, we have to be

there for him, to help him regain his appetite so

that his body can be strong enough to allow the

drugs to work.”

Eve nodded and then snifed.

“I have read all that there is to read about colon

cancer,” she told her mother. “But I haven’t

found anything about a cure. I only hope that

they will be able to stop it from spreading to

other organs.”

“We are all hoping for that,” her mother

responded. “We are also considering taking

your father for more specialised treatment in

India.”

“India?”

“Yes, there are more specialised doctors and

machines,” her mother said. “And the treatment

there is way cheaper.”

“I overheard you and dad talk about the

nances,” Eve blurted out without thinking.

“What about our nances?”

Eve regretted starting the discussion.

“Will we have enough money for the

treatment?” she asked softly. She didn’t want her

mother to think that she was always listening to

their conversations.

“God will provide a way,” her mother

responded. “A group of friends have come

together to see ways of raising money for the

medical costs.”

Eve felt some relief. She knew that her father

had a lot of friends.

She felt pity on her mother. The professor

was in the middle of a national disaster. There

was no sign of a breakthrough in the search for

strangoworm solution. And yet she also had

to look for money to take care of their father’s

medical bills and at the same time ensure she

was well. It must be a lot to take in.

“How much will be needed for the India

doctors?” she asked.

“Eve, don’t be worried about the money,” her

mother replied. “Leave the worrying to us. You

continue being the awesome inventor that you

are.”

Eve remembered about her bike modication

and told her mother about it.

“I should be able to chip in with a big

contribution!” she said proudly.

* * *

Eve did not see her mother much over the

next few days. Her mother’s time was split

between making arrangements for her father’s

fundraising ceremony that Friday, and meetings

and more research work on the strangoworm.

“There is a lot of pressure, with people saying

that we should invite experts from America and

Russia to help us out,” she told Eve one evening,

“but I think we have the right expertise here

in the country. We will nd a solution to this

strangoworm.”

It was the way her mother emphasised on the

word ‘we’ that made Eve comfortable that the

country was in the right hands. Over the last

few days she had seen delegations of people

coming to the laboratory for meetings with her

mother. These are people she only heard of on

TV. Most of their names were followed by many

abbreviations that showed their qualications.

Yet, when they met her on the corridor or at the

laboratory minding her business, they did not

act as if they were internationally recognised

researchers.

The date had been set for her father to go for the

surgery in India. Eve had heard comments that

the surgery would cost ve million shillings.

She also overheard that her parents had sold

another house they had on the Hillside part

of town so that they can raise the funds. She

was rather sad to hear about the sale of the

house. She had been born there and lived there

for seven years before the family moved to

Zahara Gardens. She still remembered the nice

bungalow with a large driveway.

But she knew the importance of raising money

for her father. If she was asked, she would sell

anything to have him back with to his healthy

old self. She longed for the days he would carry

her on his shoulders and run with her around

the compound as if she was weightless. That

was before Liam came along and suddenly she

was too old to be carried on the shoulders.

According to what she heard, the strangoworm

had bafed everyone. The worms fed on any

plant that was on its path, and never seemed to

get satised. Farmers in the affected areas had

tried using the normal pesticides but they did

not seem to deter the worms.

Some farmers were shown on TV in their farms,

holding hammers and big planks of wood which

they used to smash the worms. Eve had seen the

desperate look on their faces, which turned into

sadness when they realised that their efforts

were not bearing any fruits. In fact, the more

they smashed the worms, the more the worms

seemed to appear.

The newspapers said that people were turning

to prayers as a last resort:

Churches, mosques and other places of worship

have recorded huge increases in attendance as

the country seeks divine intervention for the

strangoworm menace.

Meanwhile, there have been reported cases of

violence in some parts of Mbembe District in the

highlands of the country. Some armed youths

have been attacking old men and women,

accusing them of causing the strangoworm

through witchcraft. According to the Mbembe

Police Commissioner, fteen old men have been

attacked.

“We are having more than a hundred old

men and women taking refuge in the police

compound,” the police commissioner spoke.

“They have run away from their home fearing

they would be attacked. I am appealing to

the youths to let the government bodies look

for solutions to the strangoworm. This is not

witchcraft.”

“I am very worried about where the country

is heading,” Eve told her father as she helped

him eat his porridge. “Now people have begun

attacking each other.”

“It is very sad to see that,” her father agreed.

“But all is not lost. Your mother is working hard

at nding a solution. If there is a solution out

there, your mother will nd it.”

Eve nodded in agreement.

“I don’t envy her right now,” she said after a

moment of silence, during which he managed to

take three mouthfuls of porridge.

This was a good sign – sometimes he took

only one mouthful and said that he couldn’t

take any more. The nurse had prepared a very

healthy mix of ours. He had said that if Eve’s

father managed to take at least ve mouthfuls, it

would be great.

“Mom is under so much pressure. The whole

country is looking up to her and the team to

provide a solution. I don’t think I would want to

be under such kind of pressure.”

“Your mom is a strong woman,” he said. “She

can handle it. There was time when she was

involved in a huge attack of aphids. I think

you were only a few months old. A rare type of

aphids had invaded the neighbouring country

and caused extensive damage to crops. It was

your mom who helped develop a pesticide that

solved the problem.”

Eve smiled. She knew that when she grew

up she would like to be just like her mother.

Providing solutions even for other countries. To

do that, she needed to read more and research

more.

In the news that evening, there was another

report that some members of a church in

Waru had turned on each other because of the

strangoworm.

Trouble started after the priest made a sermon

about Jonah in the Bible. According to one

church goer, the priest said that because Jonah

had disobeyed God’s command, God had

caused the sea to be rough, and the boat he had

boarded was at the risk capsizing. It is only

when Jonah was thrown overboard that the sea

became calmer.

“The priest had said that we need to identify

the Jonah’s in our midst and kick them out,

and the country will have peace of mind,” the

church goer said. “That is when some members

started throwing others out, accusing them of

being sinners who had caused the strangoworm

menace.”

According to the police spokesman, seventy

church members were nursing injuries in

hospital after being injured in the melee.

“This is a recipe for disaster,” Eve’s father said.

“Before we know it, brothers will turn against

brothers.”

At school, everyone was talking about

strangoworm. Eve was receiving a lot of attention

from school mates and even the teachers who

knew that her mother was part of the project

team trying to ght the strangoworm.

“How far is your mother in getting a pesticide?”

Teacher Canvas, her English teacher, asked her.

“I don’t know, sir,” she responded, aware of

all the eyes in the class looking at her.

Many people did not know how difcult it was

to come up with a new pesticide. They probably

thought that you only mix up chemicals in a

laboratory and suddenly you have a pesticide.

Her mother had told her that a solution could

only be found once the strangoworm was studied

fully. For now, all the tests they had done had

shown that the strangoworm had fortied itself

against all forms of attack to its body.

What if her mother failed? If the team did not

come up with a solution soon, she would face a

lot of hostility from her schoolmates.

Eve kept wishing for time to pass quickly so

that people stop asking her questions. When

the evening bell rang, she ran quickly to Liam’s

class, picked him and was the rst on the school

bus.

* * *

The fundraising event for Dr. David Mugi’s

medical bills was held at a restaurant in town.

Although Eve wanted to attend, her mother told

her to stay behind to watch over Liam.

Even handed over her entire savings so that

they could be added to the kitty.

“You mean you have all this in savings?” her

mother was genuinely surprised.

“Yes,” Eve proudly responded. “I still have

some outstanding payments for the soap. I will

add that once they pay me.”

“And you made all this from the soap?”

“Yes, and from the bike enhancements, and for

the clothes line solution.”

“Clothes line solution?” her mother asked with

a quizzical look. “I don’t know about that.”

Eve was happy to talk about it. Last week was

rather rainy. She had a problem getting dry

uniform since all her clothes had been rained on.

Knowing that this was a problem that most of

the other children faced every time it rained, she

had tried out a solution.

This involved modifying the clothes line to

generate heat. It was a dangerous experiment

because it had to do with electricity, but her

father had helped her. He had called in an

engineer friend of hers and together they had

built a heat generator that converted electricity

to heat, which was then transferred to the

hanging lines.

Their rst trial had been a disaster. Eve realised

that the temperature was too high and that the

clothes they had used had a brown strip after

a short period. She had come up with a way

to ensure the heat was distributed by the wire,

ensuring that the clothes dried in all the places

at the same time.

The engineer had told her father that Eve

was a genius. “Your daughter will be one of

the biggest inventors the country will see,” the

engineer had predicted.

And now some of the neighbours were willing

to test the solution at a fee. Her father had told

her that he would help her get a business model

so as to know how to charge the neighbours.

Her father was not able to attend the fundraising

event. A group of people had come to the house

and recorded his thoughts. The video would be

played to the people attending the fund raising

event. Eve had watched as they prepared her

father for the recording.

They had big lights which they placed on

either side of the sofa that her father sat on, a

duvet covering him from the neck downwards.

“My friends,” Eve’s father said into the

camera. “It is only when one is facing adversity

that he is able to know who his real friends are.

I would have wanted to be with you right now,

but my present circumstances do not allow me

the honour and priviledge. My doctor says that I

should reserve as much of my energy as I can to

withstand the long journey to India.”

The lights were too hot and bright. Eve could

tell that her father as almost melting under

the duvet. From where she was sitting a metre

away, she could feel the heat. Her father was

also sweating.

After a few minutes of recording, one of the

crew members said, “Cut” and came over to

wipe her father’s brow.

“I thank you so much for your prayers, for your

messages of support, and your contributions

towards my medical fees,” her father added.

“Without you, we will not be able to handle the

stress that this disease brings. But with you, our

strength is added many times more.”

When her mother came later that night, she

found Eve waiting for her in the sitting room.

“How come you’ve not gone to bed?” she

asked. “It is really late, and tomorrow you have

school.”

“Sorry, mom, I could not sleep,” Eve responded.

“I need to know how the fundraising event

went.”

“It went quite well,” her mother said. “A lot of

our friends showed up.”

“Did we manage to raise the funds?”

Her mother looked down. “We managed to

raise a substantial amount,” she said. “About

one point ve million shillings.”

“One point ve?” Eve’s voice showed her

disappointment. “That is far less than what we

are aiming for.”

“It is a start,” her mother said, placing her hand

on her daughter’s shoulder. “A little goes a long

way. The fundraising committee will look at

other avenues of raising funds.”

Eve bit her lower lip. Is there something that

she could do?

What if she found someone who could buy

her inventions? But her father had told her that

it would be hard to sell the inventions because

they were not really her inventions. Someone

had already patented them.

She did not like to feel that helpless.

7. The accident…

Eve was woken up by the rufing sounds out

of the door.

She woke up with a start. At rst, she looked

dazed, not knowing where she was. She looked

around her and discovered that she was seated

on the sofa next to her father. She must have

dozed off while reading a science book.

There was a scufe out of the door. She threw

a quick glance at her father, who was sleeping

peacefully on his sofa. She let her gaze linger on

for a short while, watching the way the duvet

heaved with each rise and fall of his breathe. He

looked so calm. She noticed that there were a

few more gray hairs on the side of his head.

Then she placed the book down and hurried

towards the door. Someone was speaking loudly

and she knew that it would awaken her father.

She did not want this to happen. He had had

trouble sleeping, and any opportunity he had to

catch up on his sleep was welcome.

She opened the door, stepped out and closed it

behind her.

There were about a dozen boys and girls on

their porch, and they were holding a rufed

looking Liam by the collars. All of them were

Liam’s age

“Shhhhh!” she whispered. “There is someone

sleeping.” Her nger was on her lips.

“Eve!” one of them, Ethan, called out. “Liam

has ruined the security guard’s machine.”

Eve tried hard not to show her smile. Liam

and his friends had a funny relationship. One

minute they were playing together in unity and

defending each other against the bigger boys,

and the other minute they were reporting each

other for small offences.

Liam looked a sorry sight. Everyone was

grabbing him as if he was a most wanted

criminal.

“I didn’t want to,” he defended himself.

“What machine?” Eve asked Ethan.

“The thing that the security guard uses to

check for weapons,” someone answered her. All

the kids looked at Liam accusingly.

“Well, let’s go see it,” Eve said and let them

guide her.

She knew that if she did not do anything about

it, the boys would come back and try to speak

with her father or any adult in the house. There

were two adults in the house, Edward, the

nurse who took care of his father, and Maggie,

the family’s house help. Since both of them took

turns to take care of her father’s needs, she did

not want them distracted with small problems

like this one.

The kids trooped towards the gate, some of

them still holding Liam by his clothes. They went

up the small incline to the shed that housed the

security guards.

“Here!” Jayden said as he pointed at something

on the ground. It was the security guard’s

scanner. It was cracked at the handle and was

wet.

“What happened?” Eve asked Liam.

“I was playing with it, and it fell out of my

hands and hit the pavement, then fell into that

pool of water there.” He pointed at the pavement

and the shallow pool of water that had collected

on the ground.

“He was swinging it like a baseball bat!” Ethan

accused Liam.

Liam threw an angry look at his friend, but this

did not seem to deter him.

“What if the scanner hit someone?” Ethan

continued. “It is very dangerous.”

“Stop exaggerating,” Liam told him. “There is

no way it would have injured anyone.”

“You look at that distance, Eve,” Ethan shot

back, pointing at the pavement where the

scanner had hit. “For the machine to land there,

how much force would you have had to use if

you were standing here?”

He had a point. The scanner was shaped like a

baseball bat. Liam must have swung the scanner

with a lot of force.

“I am hanging it to dry,” someone said from

inside the shed. The security guard came out of

the shed. He was a tall, muscular man who lled

the entire opening of the shed. “It is not working

for now. If I dry it and it still does not work, your

parents will have to replace it.”

Eve did not want that. Her parents were having

enough problems of their own to start worrying

about replacing such things.

“Would you give me a few minutes to work on

it?” she asked the security guard.

The man did not reply instantly. He had a

greying moustache that seemed to twitch every

few seconds.

“Okay, but don’t ruin it further,” he said. “You

have thirty minutes only.”

Thankfully, Eve picked the scanner from the

ground. It almost fell apart into two pieces.

She looked at it closely and discovered that the

screws had come off. She would have to screw

them together.

She walked back to the house, Liam following

her closely behind.

“You should avoid such kind of problems,”

she admonished her smaller brother. “You don’t

want to bring problems to mom and dad, do

you?”

Liam shook his head. But Eve knew it was

only a temporary agreement. Liam would

respectfully agree to avoid trouble, and in the

next few minutes he would be in similar if not

bigger trouble.

It was as if whatever warnings he received

went through one ear and came out through the

other.

* * *

Back at the laboratory, she opened one of the

drawers on her side and pulled out her tool box.

She rummaged through the many tools and

pulled out a screw driver.

“Be careful,” she told Liam who was coming

towards her. He nodded and started walking

gingerly as if he was walking on egg shells. “If

you upset those worms, we will have a disaster

on our hands.”

There were three jugs full of the strangoworms.

Eve could see the worms wriggling inside the

jugs, waiting for a chance to get out. There were

other worms in smaller jugs on the table next

to the far wall. Some of the jugs had different

solutions. She knew that all these were test

solutions to see how the worms behaved under

different environments.

She picked a star screw driver and started

unscrewing the scanner.

“This will be a chance for me to see how

this thing works,” she said with a smile. “It is

interesting to know how it recognises metal and

sends an alarm.”

Liam came closer.

“Are you sure you will not get into trouble for

this?” he asked.

Eve had gotten into trouble a lot of times for

opening up electronic equipment in the house.

When she was younger she would dismantle

their toys to see what was inside. Most of the

time, both Liam and Eve were punished, even

thought it was Eve who was the ‘chief mechanic’.

At one time, her father stopped buying them

metal toys and only bought the wooden ones

that were sold in the streets.

Eve smiled as he remembered Barbie – the big

doll that her mother had bought her two years

earlier. Eve had changed the wiring that enabled

the doll to turn around. Instead of turning

around, the doll started lifting one hand without

warning. The doll had given everyone a fright

when, just out of the blues, it would life up one

hand. Maggie the house help had almost fainted.

The security scanner had come open. She

pulled the cover apart and placed each of the

pieces on the table.

There was nothing much to see inside the

scanner. There was a series of inter twinning red,

blue and green wires, heading to a motherboard.

Others pulled out of the motherboard into the

some casings that were stuck onto the plastic

cover of the scanner.

One of the wires was hanging away loosely.

She looked at the part of the motherboard it had

come out of.

“Aha, I will need to solder this back on,” she

said. Liam nodded.

The inside of the scanner was still wet.

“I’ll wipe off the water, and then we wait

for it to dry before we do anything else,” Eve

continued. Liam nodded again.

Eve knew that her brother did not really care

what she did. All he was interested in is that the

scanner starts working so that he doesn’t get

into trouble.

She tool one of the towels that were hanging

on the window bars and started wiping slowly.

“To make this dry faster, I will also need a

blower or something,” she said. “I know just the

thing.”

“Listen, don’t touch anything,” she warned

her brother. I will be back in a few minutes.”

“Where are you off to?” Liam asked. He did

not like to be left in the laboratory alone.

“A hair drier would do the trick. I am going

to pick mom’s. I have seen a technician use hair

driers a number of times.”

Liam nodded.

She ran to the house and pulled the hair drier

from the socket in her mother’s room. Then she

went to Maggie and explained what she wanted

to do with it. When Maggie nodded her approval

Eve ran out, slowing in the sitting room to a tip

toe.

Her father was still asleep. She wished he was

sleeping at the more comfortable bed. But she

didn’t dare disturb him. If he woke up, chances

were that he would not nd sleep again.

Liam was still at the same place he was

standing.

“Good boy,” Eve said, patting him on the back.

She looked for a power socket to plug in the

hair drier. There was no free one. There were

many power sockets in the lab, but most of them

were occupied by the gadgets that her mother

had brought in for strangoworm tests.

She went back to the wall. There was a power

socket but it was too high for her. It was right

next to the shelf that was above her. She would

need to climb up to it.

Without much thought, she climbed up the

stool and onto the table, and then she reached

out with the plug in her hand. She was standing

in an awkward angle, trying to x the pins into

the holes on the sockets.

Suddenly, she slipped, and as she tried to gain

her footing, she grabbed the shelf with more

force. At the same instant, the shelf detached

itself from the wall and she came tumbling down

to the oor with a loud bang. She involuntarily

let out a scream.

Even before she landed there was a series of

crashes as everything that was on the shelf also

came down. A bottle fell on the table.

“What is it? Are you okay?” Liam came to her

side. He had a worried look on his face.

She stood up and wiped the dust off her skirt.

“I am ne, just a little shaken,” she responded

as she surveyed the mess. There were a lot of

things on the table. Some powder had poured

onto the table. There were a few old bottles and

one or two books.

And then she saw that the bottle that was on

the table was actually broken. The liquid was

pouring into the open scanner.

“Argh!” she said and rushed to wipe it off with

the piece of cloth. “Just what I needed.” She was

angry at herself for being that clumsy.

“Sorry,” Liam told her.

“It’s okay. I will need to clean up the mess.”

The liquid inside the scanner was zzling like a

soft drink. Eve wiped it out as well as she could.

“This is funny,” she told Liam, “this liquid was

brown in the bottle, but on the mother board it

turns to luminous green.”

Her brother stepped closer. He had to stand

on her toes to see the top of the table. Still, he

couldn’t see much of it.

This time Eve was more careful climbing on top

of the table. She plugged in the drier and then

blew hot air onto the scanner. Then she picked a

soldering bit from the tool box and repaired the

wire.

“Let it dry for a few minutes,” she told Liam.

In the meantime, they went to check on their

father. He had just woken up.

“Hi Dad,” they greeted him in unison.

“Hi,” he said, yawning. “Have I been out for a

long time?”

“Quite some time,” Eve told him. “But it’s

okay. Let me get you your medicine.”

She went to a cabinet below the stairs and

opened it. In the past, the cabinet stored the

children’s drugs. There were always three or

four bottles of medicine at a time. Nowadays,

though, there were dozens of bottles. All of them

were her fathers.

Eve did the same thing she did whenever she

picked the drugs – she whispered a prayer that

her father may be well.

A while later, she went back to the laboratory

and cleaned up the mess. The shelf would have

to be repaired by the carpenter. She made a note

to tell her mother to call the handy man.

Satised that everything was where it was

supposed to be, she screwed the scanner back

on. Then she pressed back the two large batteries

and pressed the button. She expected the green

light to ash on, but nothing happened.

There was a pop sound behind her. She turned

around but there was nobody in the room. She

shrugged and then went back to the scanner.

There should be a green light.

“Hey darling!” she heard her mother’s welcome

voice behind her.

“Mom!” she exclaimed excitedly, dropping the

scanner and rushing to hug her. “You are home

early.”

“Oh yes,” her mother said and looked away.

“There isn’t much going on in the lab.”

Eve found her mother’s statement a bit odd.

She knew there was a lot going on in her IRI

laboratories. But she did not push the matter

any further. They walked hand in hand back to

the house.

“What would you like to eat?” her mother

asked. “I am in the mood for some baking.”

“Yay! Can I help you with the ingredients?”

“Sure.”

Eve’s father came from the bedroom at that

time. He smiled when he saw mother and

daughter. But Eve still had the feeling that

something was wrong. It was as if the smile was

forced. What were they hiding from her?

She did not have to wait very long. The four

o’clock news started with shocking news.

News just in.

In news that is likely to cause ripples in

the ongoing ght against the strangoworm,

Renowned researcher, Professor Joyce Mugi has

been red from the Rapid Response Team.

Eve’s mouth was wide open. She looked at

her mother, and then at her father. The look in

both their faces told her that they had already

discussed the issue. She listened on:

The researcher, who is known worldwide for

her work on insect epidemiology, has been part

of the team working to solve the strangoworm

crisis.

Speaking in the city ofce, the spokesman in

the Special Projects Ministry downplayed the

impact of the professor’s departure from the

team. “The team is made up of a team of strong

people renowned the whole world over. There

will be minimal impact on the search for a

solution to the strangoworm menace,” she said.

Sources close to the Rapid Response Team said

that the professor has been at loggerheads with

some of the members of the team. Our sources

also add that there was a heated disagreement

before the professor decided to leave the

premises. A statement of her ring was released

a few minutes later.

Eve’s father turned off the radio.

“Why would they do this?” Eve asked.

“You are the best researcher in the country.”

“Ha ha,” her mother smiled. “You are

only saying that because you are my daughter.

There are many others who will continue with

the work that we are doing.”

“But why, mom?”

Her dad responded. “Your mom fell out with

some of the members of the team. She has been

having the feeling that the strangoworm has

been created in the laboratory, but the other

members of the team disagree. So she decided

to leave.”

“But the news says that you were red,” Eve

looked at her mom.

“The truth is that I left,” her mother responded.

“But the government ofcials wanted me to look

bad, so they announced it as termination. Either

way, here I am.”

“There are many people with many personal

interests in the strangoworm,” her father

explained. “Very many people. And there is a

lot of money at stake as well.”

“The government has allocated a lot of money

towards ghting the crisis,” her mother added.

“But the committee does not even know where

to start because we don’t know what we are

ghting.”

“I see,” Eve said. Still, she did not understand

why the team would be ghting each other and

not ghting the strangoworms.

“It is all okay,” her mother told her. “We will

live to ght another battle.”

“What happens to the strangoworm

crisis?” Eve asked.

Her mother smiled. “To be honest? It is

now somebody else’s crisis. I only hope that they

can nd a solution soon enough, otherwise the

country is going to go into a food crisis shortly.

The entire northlands side of the country, which

provides food crops to the rest of the country,

has now been overrun by the strangoworm.

Eve fetched the baking ingredients.

* * *

As the cake was baking, Eve took her mother

to the lab.

They needed to pack all the equipment

belonging to the IRI. The IRI ofcials had

informed her they would be on their way shortly.

“What happens to your research work?” Eve

asked as she put the equipment marked “IRI”

“I have a lot of other research work that I am

doing,” her mother told her as she picked a jug.

Suddenly, she froze. She looked at the jug in

her hand as if she did not believe what she was

seeing. And then she brought the jug close to her

eyes and peered inside.

“What is happening here?” she said.

Curious, Eve stepped closer.

Inside the jug there was a greenish, yellowish

mash. There were not strangoworms.

“What happened to the strangoworms?” her

mother asked.

Eve turned to the other jugs.

All of the strangoworms were gone. Instead of

the wriggling worms, the jugs had the greenish

yellowish mash.

“What is happening here?

Eve was equally puzzled. Her mother took out

her phone and dialled a number.

“Hello Stacey,” she started. “Yes, I know…

but this is very urgent… could I speak with

director?”

Eve did not hear the response on the other end,

but she gured that the answer was no

“Then…could you do a favour?”

There was a lot of talk on the other side of the

line. From the way her mother’s face clouded,

Eve knew that she was not happy with what she

was being told.

“I tell you, Stacey, that when you hear what just

happened here you will be equally shocked….

Yes…only vie minutes…. Could you check with

the lab if all the strangoworms are okay?”

There was another long string of unintelligible

words on the other end. “Okay Stacey… you

know you owe me one…I am calling a favour.”

Her mother listened for some time, then she

hung up the phone.

“She will call me back,” she told Eve. “It would

be great news if all the strangoworms have

suddenly melted.”

“Is that possible?”

“I don’t know, but that seems to be what has

happened here.”

Eve looked around the lab. Even the pieces of

strangoworms in the petri dishes had melted.

The professor’s phone rang out loudly.

Instantly, she pressed a button and placed it

against her ear.

“What? They are still there? Intact?”

Her face was twisted in a frown. Eve started

looking around the lab, in case there was

something that was there that had caused the

strangoworms to melt.

“Listen Stacey… I tell you that something very

strange has happened in my lab,” her mother

said into the phone. “I need to speak with the

director. I’ve never seen such a thing.”

She listened for some time. “He is not there?

Where is he?”

Eve heard something like “You know I can’t

tell you that” from the other end of the line.

“Stacey… you know I would not be asking if

it was not important…” her mother responded.

“You tell me where he is, nobody will know you

told me.”

There was another string of words that Eve

could not discern. And then her mother smiled.

“Excellent. Thank you so much. You may have

just saved the country.”

“What is happening, mom, and why doesn’t

the director want to speak to you?” Eve asked.

“You are so clever, young girl,” her mother

responded, teasing her with a pinch on the

cheek. “Nobody can hide anything from you

anymore.”

Eve smiled.

“The director of Research is the person I had a

row with today,” her mother explained. “But he

has to see this.”

And then Eve thought of something.

“Wait, mom,” she said. “I think I know what

happened.”

She went to the scanner and picked it up.

“What is that security scanner doing here?”

her mother asked. All along she had not seen it.

“When I pressed the scanner, I heard a pop

sound,” Eve told her. “I didn’t know what it

was, but now that I see what has happened to

the worms, I can tell you for sure that it was the

sound of the worms exploding.”

“Haha! That is impossible,” her mother said.

She pressed a button on the phone.

“It is…is there a way we can get a strangoworm

or two?”

“There are thousands of strangoworms at

the research centre,” her mother responded.

“The only problem is that I have been declared

persona non grata there.”

Eva smiled to herself. In class, she is the only one

who had explained to the teacher that persona

non grata meant someone was unwelcome.

“But wait, there must be a way…” her mother

said. She dialled a number on the phone.

“Hi Stacey…it’s me again.”

She paused a bit to let the person on the other

side of the line complain for a long minute, then

she said, “There is a van coming to pick some

things from my laboratory. Could you throw in

a jug of fresh strangoworms?”

There was, again, another string of words.

“I wouldn’t be asking if it was not important,”

the professor said with nality.

That must have convinced Stacey, because Eve

saw the look on her mother’s face change into

a smile. She thanked Stacey and hung up, then

gave Eve a thumbs up sign.

“Let’s go check on the cake as we wait for the

IRI team,” her mother said.

“Oh, I forgot the cake!” Eve covered her mouth

with the palm of her hand. They walked quickly

to the house.

Eve checked whether it was ready by plunging

a folk into it. When she pulled it out, there were

some parts of the our sticking into it.

“It will be done in a few more minutes,” she

declared.

They explained to Eve’s father what they had

discovered in the lab. His eyes widened when

Eve told him about the scanner.

“That would be interesting thing to discover,”

he said. “Let’s wait and see. We might just

realise that the worms have been melted by the

chemicals your mom keeps in the lab. Maybe

when you fell, something broke and was in the

air.”

“I thought so too, and then I remembered that

all the jugs were tightly shut,” Eve told him.

He put his hand on his chin. “You have a point

there.”

Presently, a van pulled up into the parking lot.

“That will be the IRI team,” Eve’s mother said.

They peered out of the window.

True, the van was marked IRI in big lettering

on the side. Two men in blue overalls came out

of the car.

Eve and her mother met them at the door. They

led them behind the house towards the lab.

“Here, Professor,” the man handed over a box.

Eve’s mother did not open the box until they

were in.

“Do you mind giving us a few minutes?” Eve’s

mother told them. “There are quite a few things

that we will have to wrap up.”

The men looked at each other, then back at the

professor. One of them looked at his watch. “Do

you mind hurrying a bit?” he asked politely.

“Our shift is just about to end, and we do not

want to be caught up in trafc.”

The professor nodded her agreement, and led

her daughter into the lab. There she placed the

box on the table and carefully opened it.

Stacey had wrapped the jug very discreetly.

It was wrapped in an old newspaper, then

aluminium foil, then manila paper, and then two

other layers of newspapers. If anyone wanted to

nd out what it was it would have taken them

aged to unfold it. That was probably Stacey’s

idea. Eve knew that getting specimens out of

the IRI laboratories was a serious offence which

could not just cost someone their job, but also

land them in jail.

Eve’s mother tore the wrapping. The jug was

half full of strangoworms. She placed them on

the table and folded her arms.

“Okay, show me what you did,” she told her

daughter.

Eve went to her side of the laboratory and

picked the scanner.

“This is the only different thing I did,” she

said. She pressed the power button. A green

light came on.

There was a hissing sound at the table. The

strangoworms started moving wildly. And

then, right in front of their eyes, there was a pop

sound.

In the blink of an eye, what was there in the jug

turned into a greenish yellowish pulp.

The strangoworms were gone!

Roadblocks

“Oh my God,” Eve’s mother whispered. She

spoke out the words slowly, articulating every

syllable. “What just happened?”

Eve did not answer. She was too shocked.

“Now, we have to look for the Director,” Her

mother said. “Let’s go!”

Without waiting, the professor walked out of

the lab. Eve had to run slightly to catch up with

her.

“Can I come too…to the Director?” Eve asked

politely.

“Why not? You are the one who has found a

solution to the strangoworm menace.”

Eve stopped walking suddenly. Until that time,

she had not thought of herself as the person

who had destroyed the strangoworms. It was

her mother’s comment that made her realise the

import of it all.

She ran to catch up with her mother, who was

already at the door of the house.

Her father instantly knew something was up.

“You ladies look like you have seen a ghost,” he

declared.

“Indeed, we have!” the professor said. Then

she explained what they had seen. They were so

excited they kept interrupting each other.

“Wah!” her father exclaimed after they nished

their story. “This seems like a really exciting

story. Good luck with the Director.”

“Thanks,” Eve’s mother said. “We need it.”

She gave instructions to Maggie on what to do

next and asked Eve to wear something warm.

Eve ran upstairs and grabbed one of her coats.

When she came back downstairs she found her

mother ready. They jumped into the car. It was

already getting dark.

“Where are we going?” Eve asked. She liked

the adventure.

“Stacey told me he was going to be having

dinner at the City Rapids Hotel,” her mother

responded. That is where we will start.

Eve would have asked her why she did not

want to call the Director rst, but she gured out

why. As if she was reading her mind, her mother

told her, “I am the last person the director wants

to hear from. He will never pick my calls.”

Eve did not understand how people who were

adults could refuse to listen to each other when

there were issues of national importance at

hand. She thought it only happened in her class

with very childish things – like the time Sheila

refused to lend Mark her Mathematical Set and

he kept a grudge for two terms.

There was a lot of trafc on the opposite side of

the highway. Luckily for them, they were going

against the trafc so they moved fast enough.

Eve felt nice. It was like being a supporting

actress in a huge lm.

“What are we going to be telling the Director?”

she asked.

“We need him to see what has happened to

the strangoworms,” her mother explained.

“And then we need him to commit resources

to investigate the matter further. There must

be something in the scanner that is causing the

worms to die. We need to nd out what it is.”

Eve nodded.

“I hope they recognise you as the brains behind

this,” she told her mother.

Her mother glanced at her. “But I am not the

one who has discovered the way to kill the

worms. All credit will go to you, Eve. If the

scanner, indeed, works, you are about to become

the most famous girl in all of the country.”

Suddenly, Eve realised the signicance of what

had happened. It was as if a huge burden had

been placed on her young shoulders.

* * *

The City Rapids Hotel was one of the ve star

hotels in the city. According to a brochure that

Eve had seen, the hotel was just ve kilometres

away from the central business district, and

another ve from the international airport. It was

known for hosting big international conferences

and travellers who were in transit at the airport.

They went through a security check, conducted

by friendly talking but tough looking guards in

black suits. The guards had ear pieces around

their ears, like those Eve had seen with detectives

and CIA agents in movies. Then Eve’s mother

drove into a curved driveway that led to the

hotel. It was an imposing, white building with a

large, brightly lit porch.

A man in a red tuxedo stepped out of the

building. He bowed with respect as Professor

Mugi handed him the car keys.

“Valet parking… that’s nice,” Eve said, smiling.

It was a line she had heard in a lm.

The reception was as brightly lit as the rest of

the hotel. Behind the concierge desk were two

ladies in crisp, green uniforms who stood to

attention as soon as the mother and daughter

stepped in. Prof. Mugi splashed them as smile

and led the way to the left side.

“This way to the restaurant,” she told her

daughter.

Hanging from the ceiling were large chandeliers

made up of what seemed like thousands of

100

pieces of glass. Their effect was felt the whole of

the large lobby.

They walked into the restaurant. There was

another lady in the green uniform holding a

clip board and who immediately turned her

attention to the approaching lady.

“Good evening ladies,” she greeted them

politely. Then she must have recognised Eve’s

mother because she said. “And good evening to

you Professor.”

The professor nodded her acknowledgement

to the greeting.

“Do you have a reservation?” the lady asked.

She had her name printed on a tag that was

stapled to her chest: EUNICE.

Prof. Mugi, still smiling, told her, “We are here

to see someone.”

“Oh,” the lady said. She looked at the clip

board. “Do let me know the name and…”

Eve’s mother was already looking past Eunice,

into the restaurant.

“Ah, there he is,” the professor aloud. “Don’t

worry, Eunice, we will show ourselves in.”

101

Without another word they walked into the

restaurant, leaving Eunice speechless.

Mother and daughter walked across the well

dressed tables. Some of the tables were occupied

by two or three serious looking people per table.

Those that did not have occupants had small

tent shaped cards typed ‘reserved’.

Her mother was heading towards a table

where a man was sitting opposite a lady. He

looked shocked to see the professor striding

purposefully towards him, and he paused in

mid sentence. His hands froze in their position,

still holding a knife and folk.

She stopped at the table. The lady across the

table must have noticed something amiss,

because she turned round to see what had

shocked her dinner partner like that.

The rst thing anyone would notice about the

man was his bald head. He had only a small tuft

of hair just above his ears. What made his head

stand out even more was the large amount of oil

he seemed to have applied on it, making it shine

brightly against the restaurant lights.

102

“Professor Mugi!” he said sharply. It was

neither a greeting not an insult. “What are you

doing …”

“What am I doing here?” the professor asked

him. “First of all, this is a public place.”

He placed his napkin on the table and stood up.

He was short, reaching only to the professor’s

elbow. He had thick eyebrows that looked even

more pronounced just above his thick rimmed

glasses.

Eve remembered seeing him a few days earlier

at the home laboratory. Back then, he was

smiling more than he was right now. He had

been introduced to her as the director of the

Rapid Response Initiative.

“You are the last person I want to see...” the

director said roughly. “I thought you and I were

done?”

“That is what I thought, too,” Eve’s mother

said. Her voice, unlike his, was friendly. “But

something has come up. We have to talk…”

The director’s eyebrows furrowed even more.

“Professor Mugi, if you want to talk to me you

103

know the right channels to do so,” he continued

in his unfriendly voice.

“Doctor Osborne,” Eve’s mother said.

“Something very important has happened. And

you need to see it. This could not wait until

tomorrow.”

“No! Everything can wait!” the director said

sharply and more loudly. A few heads on the

other tables were raised.

Eve took a step backwards. She had expected a

bit of resistance from the director, but she hadn’t

known he would be that unfriendly. She could

tell that the lady who had been dining with the

director had the same predicament as she had.

None of them knew what to do.

And the director’s eyes were blazing, as if he

was thinking of hitting her. Eve did not know

what she would do if that happened. She looked

around her. If he dared hit her mother, she

thought to herself, she would use all the cutlery

on the table to defend her.

“Professor,” Doctor Osborne continued. “A

few hours ago you accused me of sabotage. Why

104

do you think I want to listen to you?”

“Because you have the best interests of the

country in your heart,” Eve’s mother said. “And

what we are about to show you will save us all.”

The man’s face softened. Even almost heaved

a sigh of relief.

“Prof,” he said in a softer tone. “As much as

what you want to tell me sounds exciting, I don’t

want to hear it.”

Eve’s heart sank.

“But… director,” her mother started.

“You have a lot of nerve coming up to me,

and interrupting my private engagement!” the

director spoke up again, his fat nger pointing

at Eve’s mother. His voice was loudest it had

been before. Now a lot of people were looking

towards their table. Eve could feel all eyes

feasting on her mother and herself. “Now if you

don’t want the embarrassment, you would get

out of here before I call security.”

And in that instant, a man in a dark suit came

closer. Even noticed the ear piece tagged to his

ear lobe, and the ‘security’ tag placed on his

105

breast pocket.

“Is there a problem, sir?” he asked, addressing

the director and ignoring the rest of the people

on the table.

The director seemed to have realised, at

that moment, that he had caused a scene. He

suddenly relaxed his combative posture and

relaxed the furrows in his face.

“No, sir, there is no problem,” he told the

security guard. “The professor and her daughter

were just about to leave.”

He sat down and picked his cutlery.

Eve saw her mother move as if to say something,

and then change her mind.

“Let’s go, Eve,” the professor said and strode

away. Eve followed closely behind, followed

herself by the security guard. She could feel

everyone’s eyes following them.

Here heart was beating very fast. Her st was

clenched tightly. The encounter with the director

had stirred up the anger in her blood. Not only

had he refused to listen to what they had said,

but he had also embarrassed her mother.

106

Eve had never seen her mother in that position,

and it made her livid. And she had to do

something about it.

Just as they reached the entrance, Eve turned

round suddenly. She walked back straight to the

director’s table.

“Eve!” she heard her mother call out behind

her. But she did not stop.

He saw her coming at him and his face furrowed

again. The security man also saw her movement

and made big strides towards her.

The director did not speak. He was in the

middle of saying something to his partner, and

when he had seen Eve coming he had paused,

leaving his mouth agape.

“Excuse me sir,” Eve started. She realised,

too late, that she was shouting. Everyone in

the restaurant turned towards her. “I think you

should have listened to us. If you are in charge

of the ght against the strangoworm I am sure

you would be happy to know that we may have

found a solution for it!”

“Young girl,” the director said rmly. “This

107

is not a problem for children. You may want to

live this to adults…”

“You are right, sir,” Eve shot back. “This

is not a ght for children. It is a ght for the

whole country. And if the adults are just there

bickering…”

The security guard’s strong arms lifted her off

her feet. “That’s enough, madam,” he said as he

pulled her away.

“You should have just listened to my mom,

sir,” Eve told the director. “It would have saved

the country…”

At the same instant her mother arrived at the

scene.

“I’ll take care of her, thanks,” she told the

security man as she grabbed Eve by the elbow.

The security guard nodded and relaxed his

grip. Her mother’s hold was, unlike the security

guard’s less gentle. Eve felt the pain shoot up

her arm.

“Mom, that hurts!”

“It should hurt more!” her mother shot back.

“Who appointed you my lawyer?”

108

The professor did not relax the grip on Eve’s

hand as he led her out to the porch. They kept

quiet as the valet brought back their car. Once

they got the car back, she dumped Eve at the

passenger seat and then went round to the

driver’s seat. Eve rubbed her hand, where her

mother’s hands of steel had held her like a vice.

She did not start the car immediately, but

instead leaned on the steering wheel with both

hands. She was breathing heavily.

“I am sorry, mom,” Eve said, trying to sound

as remourseful as she could. In her heart, she

knew that she was angrier because she had not

had the full opportunity to speak her mind out.

The security guard had come too soon.

“It’s okay,” her mother answered after a long

silence. “I guess I did the wrong thing to bring

you with me. I should not have brought you into

my battles.”

“So you are not cross with me?”

Her mother looked at her. “Of course I am

cross with you. Not only did you not stop

when I called you out, but you were rude to the

109

director.”

“He…” Eve started to defend herself. And

then she saw the look on her mother’s face and

stopped. She looked down. Her mother was

very good in communicating without using

words. Her facial expression was enough to

show someone how serious she was.

Her mother turned on the key into the ignition

and guided the car out of the hotel. Once they

hit the highway, the car sped past many others.

Eve knew that her mother sped like that only

when she was angry. Their car also cut into

other vehicles’ paths. Eve checked that her seat

belt was properly fastened.

“What do we do now?” she asked her mother.

There was a long silence, during which her

mother stared at the road ahead as if she did

not hear the question. And then she responded,

“To be honest, I don’t know. It is only IRI which

has the equipment and the capacity to carry out

further tests on the strangoworm.”

The professor also expressed her fear that she

would not be welcome at any other government

110

research agency. “The research agencies work

closely together. I am sure word has already

reached them that I have not welcome at IRI.

This means they will deny me access to the labs.”

It was a tough position to be in, Eve thought.

111

The world knows

“Pretty please, don’t say no,” Tracy’s voice

broke the silence that was in the laboratory.

Both Eve and her mother were busy studying

the remains of the strangoworms. Eve turned

sharply. She did not want her friend to interrupt

their research.

But it was too late, Tracy was already in the

lab. She was wearing a white dress with black

stripes that made her look taller than she was.

Eve remembered that the rst time Tracy had

won this dress Eve had tried to explain to her

how the stripes were causing the illusion of

height. “Because you are slightly on the thinner

side, you should try horizontal stripes.”

But Tracy was not known for her listening

skills. Eve’s scientic discussion about the dress

112

did not change her. She said she loved the dress

and would wear it no matter what.

“We are in the middle of something,” Eve told

her. “Whatever happens, it can’t happen.”

Tracy looked hurt. “I just needed to pick

something from the mall, and I don’t want to go

alone.”

Eve gured that she, too, needed some fresh

air.

Since the incident with the director the previous

night, her mother had dived into researching

the strangoworm remains. She had woken up in

the wee hours of the morning to go into the lab.

When Eve had woken up a few hours later, she

had joined her.

“You girls can run along,” the professor told

them.

The strangoworm remains had changed colour

into a dark green, almost black mash.

“Are you sure?” Eve asked her mom.

“We are not getting any headway anyway,” her

mother said. “There is still no logical explanation

for what happened.”

113

She told them that another batch of

strangoworms was on the way from the IRI

research centre.

“Did the director nally agree to help?” Eve

asked with optimism written all over her face.

“Far from it,” her mother responded. “His

lawyer called earlier to say that if I don’t stay

away from him they would get a restraining

order against me. I am getting help from old

friends.”

Just as they were about to leave, the professor

stopped them. “Here,” she said as she gave Eve

two bank notes. “Get me a security scanner

while you are at the mall.”

“A brand new scanner?” Eve asked, and

then understood. “I see. You want to see if the

strangoworms will be killed by any scanner, or

only by that one over there, am I right?”

“You are partly right,” her mother responded.

“We also have to replace the guard’s scanner,

remember?”

“Oh, I’d forgotten about it.”

While on the way, Eve lled Tracy in on what

114

had transpired. When Tracy heard about the

strangoworms, her eyes widened. And when

she heard about the incident at the city hotel,

she exclaimed “No way!”

Tracy would make a good actress. She knew

how to contort her face. When shocked, she

pulled her face in an exaggerated move, as

if what she was hearing then was the most

shocking thing in the world.

“It is bad enough having to deal with the

country’s worst agricultural crisis, but doing it

without help is tough,” Eve told her friend.

Tracy’s long braids swished as she walked.

“I can imagine how bad that is,” Tracy said.

“The crisis has affected everyone. My mother

has hardly been home. And today we were

supposed to have dinner, but she has called to

postpone. Apparently, the presidents from the

neighbouring countries have come in for a crisis

meeting. She is supposed to cover that meeting.”

Tracy’s mother was a senior journalist at CBN,

the country’s oldest private media house.

The mall was only a kilometre away, so the

115

ladies were back to the lab in less than thirty

minutes. Eve held the brand new scanner in her

hand. It was wrapped in a black carton box.

There were seven jugs full of strangoworms.

“We might as well take some of these to the

house,” the professor said. “We don’t want to

kill all the samples.”

The girls chuckled. They took the jugs to the

house and came back quickly. Eve wanted to see

how the experiment would go.

But when her mother pressed the scanner’s

button, nothing happened. The strangoworms

in the jugs continued moving up and down,

looking for an escape path. Tracy looked at them

curiously.

“Funny,” the professor said. “The magic only

seems to happen with the old scanner.”

Eve went up to the old scanner. Then she

slowly looked up to the shelf that had come

down. It was yet to be repaired.

She went to the dustbin and took an empty

bottle.

“This is the chemical that poured onto the

116

scanner,” Eve said. “There must be a connection.”

The bottle was labelled; Belizium Oxide.

“Ah, Belizium Oxide,” her mother frowned.

“Why would Belizium Oxide have an effect on

the strangoworms?”

“Maybe it reacts to whatever it is the security

scanner emits, and this, in some way, affects the

strangoworm,” Eve told her.

Tracy nodded. There was nothing on her face

to show that they understood what they were

saying.

“Well, there is only one way of knowing,” the

professor said. “Where are those screw drivers

you keep around?”

Eve pulled her tool box and retrieved a

screwdriver. She quickly loosened the screws on

the scanner and within a minute both parts of

the scanner were lying on the table. Her mother

retrieved another bottle of Belizium Oxide and

started pouring it onto the inside of the scanner.

“Wait,” Eve stopped her. “I don’t think we

need to use too much of it. I remember wiping

some of the liquid away.”

117

Her mother nodded and stopped pouring in

the liquid. With a piece of cloth, Eve wiped out

the excess liquid, at the same time ensuring the

liquid was covering all parts of the motherboard.

Then she turned the two parts on the right side,

joined them together and tightened the screws.

The scanner showed it had come back alive by

ashing its green lights.

“Here goes,” Eve said as her ngers went

towards the ‘scan’ button. At the last minute,

she stopped moving and told Tracy to do it.

Tracy moved her ngers slowly and touched

the button.

There was the now familiar zzling sound,

and then, pop!

“O.M.G!” Tracy exclaimed. “Did you see that?

The strangoworms in the jug are gone… did we

just?”

“I bet you didn’t believe me when I told you

the story earlier,” Eve said. To her mother, she

said, “We now know what is happening.”

Tracy still had her mouth wide open.

“Listen, Eve and Eve’s mom,” she said slowly.

118

“You’ve got to tell the world about this.”

The professor shrugged. “It’s not like we didn’t

try.”

“My mother!” Tracy shouted. “My mother can

help!”

* * *

Tracy’s mother made it clear that she did not

appreciate the interruption to her work. She

drove into the driveway and immediately told

Tracy and Eve, “This has better be good.”

They guided her to the laboratory, where Prof.

Mugi was examining the strangoworm remains.

The two ladies exchange pleasantries. Although

Tracy and Eve were good friends, the bond

did not extend to their parents. Perhaps their

parents’ lives were too different for them to

become best friends. But they knew about each

other well, and always had things to talk about.

“So Tracy has just pulled me from a presidential

function,” Tracy’s mother said. “She says there

is something I should see here that can’t wait.”

“Well, we don’t have very conclusive results,”

119

the professor said. “But if what we are seeing

is true, Eve may have just discovered a way to

eradicate the strangoworms.”

The journalist did not seem impressed.

“Professor, dear,” she told Eve’s mother. “I

know they have thrown you out of the research

centre. I am not saying that you are looking for a

way back in, but…”

“I am not looking for a way back in,” the

professor responded, rather harshly.

“I’m sorry if…” the journalist said, and then

changed her conversation to, “Okay, let’s get on

with it.”

Tracy and Eve did not need the cue. They had

already retrieved another jug of strangoworms

from the house.

“These things give me the shivers,” Tracy’s

mother said as she cringed. “I don’t know how I

will survive one they get to the city. I hope they

will have found a solution.”

Eve let her handle the scanner. “Please press

this button,” she showed her.

The journalist still looked unimpressed. “Eve,

120

you want to say you are killing these worms by

pressing a button? You have better luck killing

them by smashing them with the sca…”

She did not nish her statement. The pop

sound got her by surprise. She dropped the

scanner down, her face long with astonishment.

“Oh…my….God…” was all she could say.

* * *

And in an exclusive story that may be music

to the ears of many people around the country,

and indeed, the region, CBN can conrm that a

fteen year old may have discovered a way to

kill the strangoworms that have wrecked havoc

to millions of farmers.

We repeat: A fteen year old may have

discovered a way to kill strangoworms.

Our senior journalist, Jackie is live at the home

of Professor Joyce Mugi whose daughter has

made the startling discovery.

The man behind the camera was making some

gestures with his hands. He was counting down

from ve.

121

“We are live in ve, four, three, two,

one…”

Tracy’s mother had her hand wrapped

around Eve’s shoulder.

“The strangoworm, as the whole country

knows, has caused untold grief to farmers all

over the country,” she said in the authoritative

voice that the whole country knew her for. “It is

said that the only way to kill the strangoworm

is to smash them with rocks, since all pesticides

have failed.”

“But this afternoon, CBN caught up with

young Eve Mugi, whose innovation, if ratied by

the relevant authorities, will bring good fortunes

to millions of people all over the country.”

Eve proceeded to show Jackie what the

journalist called ‘magic of the century.’

When Eve and her mother went back into the

house, they found her father waiting with open

arms.

“I just watched you on TV,” he told them.

“I am so proud of my girls.”

“Aw, thank you Dad,” Eve said. Her heart

122

was still racing from the interview.

“We await word from the Rapid Response

Unit on if they will take up the innovation,”

Tracy’s mother had said in the interview. “At

this time, our efforts to go get a response from

them have gone unanswered…”

123

The riot

The family was settling in to sleep when they

heard a rumble from a distance.

“Did you hear that?” Eve’s father asked. He

got up slowly and peered out of the sitting room

window.

They all heard the rumble outside the gate.

Someone was shouting something.

“I hope it is not another riot,” Eve’s mother

said. “There have been too many riots of late.”

She was right. Just a few weeks earlier, there

had been running battles between bus operators

and the police. What had had started as an

operation to weed out unlicensed operators had

turned into a war of words and st ghts that

forced the police to call in reinforcements. That

day, all the students who came from Zahara

124

Gardens Estate did not go to school because the

entrance to the estate was impassable. There had

been a lot of tear gas in the air that day.

“Do you think it is the bus operators again?”

Eve’s mother asked. She walked towards the TV

stand where her phones were. Her mouth fell

open when she unlocked her phone. “Why do

I have over one hundred missed calls? Ah, my

phone has been on silent mode.”

She scrolled through the phone.

“Must be people who watched the breaking

news item,” Eve’s father said.

“Yes, I see everyone has been calling,” she said,

and then added, “This is odd. Ten of these calls

are from the security gate.”

Her father also scrolled through his phone.

“Same here.” He pressed the redial button and

placed the phone against his ear.

“Yes Mr. Kamaro,” he started by saying.

“Apologies, both our phones have been on silent

mode and we did not hear your calls.”

Then he listened. They could tell that what he

was being told was shocking him, because his

125

eyes widened. “What do you mean? How did

they know where we live? Okay, you do that,

we are coming over.”

“What’s wrong?” Eve’s mother asked.

“The security chief tells me that the estate gate

had been invaded by hundreds of people,” he

said, gravely. “They say they want to see Eve,

and to buy her strangoworm killing machine.”

“What!” both mother and daughter exclaimed

at the same time.

“They have had to call in the police because they

cannot handle the crowd, which is threatening

to bring down the gate,” her father said.

“How did they nd out where we stay?” Eve

asked.

“In this age of the internet it would not be

difcult to nd out where someone lives,” her

father responded.

“Let me go to the gate,” her mother said. “I

will try and calm them down.”

“Can I go with you?” Eve asked.

Her father expressed his misgivings with that

idea. “They may turn violent.”

126

Luckily for Eve, her father changed his mind

shortly. “It is, after all, your innovation they are

here for. You may want to start thinking of how

to make money from your talent.”

“Dad!” Her father was ever the economist. Eve

remembered a few months earlier when he had

rst asked her to consider turning one of her

inventions into cash.

During Liam’s ninth birthday, the children

had been given the tough task of blowing

hundreds of balloons. Liam had requested that

all he needed for his birthday was hundreds of

balloons. He had watched a cartoon where a

whole house was hoisted in the air by balloons.

Despite asking some the neighbours’ kids to

help blow air into the balloons, the process was

too slow for Eve’s liking.

She had turned her bike upside down, worked

with a few screw drivers, spanners and pliers,

then proudly displayed the end product. The

bike pedals had been connected to a pump, and

all they needed to do was to turn the pedal ve

times to blow air into the balloon. Within a few

127

minutes, the all the balloons were blown up and

everyone was clapping.

“Event companies would pay to have this

invention,” her impressed dad had told her. But

like many of her inventions, Eve did not want to

turn it into a business.

Now, as they drove towards the gate, Eve was

wondering what she would say to people if they

wanted to buy her invention.

There was pandemonium at the gate. There

must have been hundreds of people grasping

the metal bars of the gate and all trying to speak

at the same time. On the inside, more than ten

security guards were trying to keep the gate

locked.

Behind the crowd, there was a long chain of

cars. It was gridlocked.

Inside the estate, cars were turning back,

stopped from venturing out of the gate by the

riot.

Eve’s mother drove as close to the gate as she

could. Then she parked the car and they stepped

out.

128

Everyone was shouting and it was hard for

anyone to know what they were saying. Some

of them were waving bundles of notes in their

hands.

As soon as Eve and her mother got under

the bright street lights over the gate, someone

said, “There they are!” and suddenly the crowd

became more animated. The shouts were louder.

THE crowd surged forward. The gates croaked

under their efforts.

“Sell us the machine!” someone shouted.

“How much is it?”

“I have the money!”

“Here, take this money and save my farm!”

Eve looked at her mother. “What do we tell

them?”

Before her mother could answer, loud sirens

split the air. The crowd was thrown into

confusion when the sirens grew louder, with

some people scampering away. Suddenly, a

large police lorry appeared round the corner

with its strobe lights ashing in the air. Behind

it were two police vans.

129

The crowd went silent. Some of them ran

away. Those who remained stepped away from

the gate and moved to the sides.

The lorry stopped right next to the gate and a

group of policemen in full anti-riot gear jumped

out. One of them held a large bullhorn.

“This is private property,” he spoke into the

bullhorn. “You are trespassing into private

land.”

Some people in the crowd shifted

uncomfortably. Then one of them stepped

forward with his hands in the air. The policemen

corked their guns.

“Sir, we come in peace!” the man said. He was

wearing a dark suit and tie and had a briefcase

in his hand.

“Come forward and state your case,” the

policeman said. “What is this protest all about?”

“Sir. It is not a protest. We just want to buy

strangoworm machines from the young lady we

saw on TV.”

The loud rotors of an approaching helicopter

suddenly cut him short. In a short while, the

130

helicopter hovered above the crowd. Eve could

make out the words emblazoned on its sides:

Global News Network.

Eve’s mother approached the gate. The crowd

reacted. Eve followed timidly behind. What if

the crowd turned violent?

“Are you sure you want to step out?” one of the

security guards asked her. He was rubbing his

hands, perhaps suffering from injuries he had

suffered while trying to keep the gate closed.

“Yes,” the professor said. “The sooner we

explain to them the better.”

When the policemen saw the crowd start to

move towards her, they moved forward. The

crowd stopped a few metres away from Eve and

her mother.

“Ladies,” the self appointed leader of the

crowd bowed down respectfully. “We mean

no harm. We just want to buy the strangoworm

killer we saw on TV. Name your price – we have

suffered too much.”

“Yes!” the crowd roared in agreement.

Someone threw a wallet forward.

131

“That wallet has a hundred thousand shillings.

Just take as much as you want!” he shouted.

The professor picked the wallet and calmly

returned it.

“Thank you so much for your vote of

condence,” she said boldly. “My daughter and

I are honoured by your trust in us.”

The crowd started clapping. Eve was asking

herself why they were clapping. They must have

regarded her mother very highly.

“We are happy that you are willing to pay

as much as we are willing to charge for the

equipment,” her mother continued. “However,

there is a laid down procedure for such things.

Eve’s invention will have to undergo some

tests before being formally approved by the

government.”

There were murmurs of dissatisfaction.

“And how long will that take?” the leader

spoke.

“To be honest, I can’t tell,” Eve’s mother said.

“It can take weeks, or even months. The product

has to be tested for side effects as well.”

132

There were louder murmurs.

“Professor, with all due respect, we cannot

wait weeks or months” the man said. “We have

suffered enough. Our farms are choking under

the yoke of the strangoworm.”

“Just give us the way it is,” someone said. “We

will take care of the side effects later.”

The professor shook her head. “Sir, things

do not work out that way,” she said. “What I

can assure you is that there is a lot of work

being done behind the scenes to make sure the

situation is rectied.”

Eve looked down. The crowd did not know

how much resistance they had received from the

director. If only they knew…

The rumbling went on. The crowd was not

satised. But they seemed to realise that their

pleas were not going to be honoured. The

presence of the anti-riot police also made them

mellow. Slowly, the crowd thinned out as

individuals made their way.

The police leader walked towards Eve and her

mother. “We will have a few more of our people

133

around here, just to be on the safe side,” he said.

The professor thanked him.

With the crowd leaving, the cars that were

marooned on the main road started making

their way into the estate. The rst one was a red

Mercedes Benz that belonged to Tracy’s father.

“That was great handling of the situation,” the

lawyer said through the car window. “And that

was very brave of you. I was scared of leaving the

car myself. You never know with these crowds

– anything small and they can start throwing

stones at cars.”

Eve and her mother thanked him.

* * *

More than twenty four hours after we rst

broke the news about a young girl’s discovery

of a solution to the strangoworm menace, CBN

news has learnt that the Rapid Response Unit

has not made contact with the young girl.

This brings to question the RRU’s commitment

to ghting the menace. As the institution charged

with handling such crisis, we would expect that

134

they would have immediately established ways

of working with Eve Mugi and her family.

Our efforts to reach the director of the RRU

have not been successful, as he was said to be on

meetings the whole day.

Eve made another startling discovery. She

came to the house with her face clouded.

“Mom, you have to see this,” she

announced to her mother.

The professor had just seen to Eve’s father. He

was resting after a troubled night.

“I’ll be there shortly.”

When her mother came to the lab, Eve went

straight to the point. She pointed at some petri

dishes.

“The remains of the strangoworms seem

to be very different from those of other worms,”

Eve told her. “Please check these results for me.”

“What do you see?” her mother asked.

“With the strangoworms, there seems

to be a higher than normal level of nitrogen,

phosphorous and potassium,” Eve responded,

with her hands held behind her back.

135

Her mother looked at her quizzically.

“I am not even going to ask how you

learnt how to check for these things,” she said

with a smile playing on her face. Eve smiled.

“The levels of these minerals are higher

than those you will nd on fertiliser,” Eve told

her, pointing at a bag of fertiliser leaning on the

wall.

“Your dad will not be happy to know you

have been researching with his fertiliser,” her

mother said. “But I get your drift. So you mean

to say that the remains of the strangoworms are

rich in these minerals?”

“That is what it seems to be,” Eve said.

“We need to do more tests, though. Can you

help me?”

* * *

The national police have conrmed cases of

riots and protests all over the country.

Reports say that the Ministry of Agriculture

ofces in Mbembe and Waru provinces have

136

been razed to the ground. Property of unknown

value has also been destroyed in riots in other

parts of the country. The police are said to have

engaged in running battles with protesters all

over the country.

An eye witness told CBN News that they were

protesting the government’s inaction towards

the strangoworm crisis.

“We are tired of these people sitting in the head

ofce doing nothing while our farms are wiped

out,” one protester said.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of

Agriculture promised to release a statement by

the end of day tomorrow.

* * *

Eve’s mother was planning for the next

fundraiser for her father’s medical funds. Eve

had heard her telling a member of the fundraising

organising committee that she was getting

worried. “The window for raising the funds is

likely to close soon. If we don’t hit the target, we

might have to look for other solutions…”

137

Two calls

Over the next few days, Eve’s mother received

two calls that changed everything for the Mugi

family.

The rst call was from the director of the Rapid

Response Unit.

“Ah,” she said as she looked at the phone

ringing. “The director must have received

enough pressure to make him swallow his pride

and call me.”

Eve’s father laughed. “I think the RRU have

run out of options. The public is getting angrier

by the hour.”

The director was asking for her to allow them

to her laboratory to review Eve’s invention.

“Please hold on, I have to seek her permission,”

Eve’s mother told him, then held the phone’s

138

mouth piece and looked at Eve. “Would you

like to have the RRU inspect your invention?”

“Of course!” Eve wanted to shout out. But she

was too overwhelmed and simply nodded.

“You have her approval,” her mother said into

the phone. “When do you want this to happen?

What, now?”

It was already evening.

“Let’s do this in the morning,” her mother

continued. “The children will be going to sleep

soon.”

It must have been very urgent for the RRU

team to want to come see the invention at that

time.

Later on that evening, the family discovered

why the RRU director was in such pressure. The

news report was brief and to the point:

The president has given the Rapid Response

Unit three days to nd a solution to the

strangoworm crisis.

Speaking after meeting a delegation of farmers

from all over the country, the president said that

the farmers had suffered too much.

139

“The RRU is acting as if this is not a national

disaster,” the president said. “If they cannot

handle it I will dismantle the unit and y in

experts from Israel.”

The next call was from a gentleman who

announced himself as the personal assistant

to the Chief Executive Ofcer of International

AgroChemicals Limited.

Eve’s mother announced the information.

“The company wants to discuss a possible

nancial collaboration – those are his words,”

she told Eve.

Eve looked at her father, then back at her

mother. “What does that mean?”

“There is only one way to nd out,” her father

said, “by meeting them.”

* * *

When Eve told Tracy about the call by the

company, she lit up.

“You have got to talk to my dad,” she said.

“Your dad? Why?”

140

Tracy explained that if the company was going

to make a deal with her, it would be important

for her to have a lawyer by her side.

“I get your point,” Eve told her. “But I will be

with my mom and dad. I am sure they should be

able to handle any negotiations well.”

“Not like my dad would,” Tracy insisted.

“Remember he is renowned as a mergers and

acquisitions specialist.”

Eve told her that even if she wanted, she could

not afford lawyer’s fees. “Right now my parents

are struggling to raise funds for my dad’s

medical care. I can’t even tell them about hiring

a lawyer.”

Tracy’s eyes lit up the way they did when she

had bright ideas. “That is the beauty of it all,”

she said. “My dad owes me a favour. He told

me he would make up for not coming to school

for our drama performance. I will ask him to

represent you as a way of making up to me.”

Eve promised to ask her parents.

And it happened that Tracy’s father, who

would otherwise be very busy or travelling, had

141

just wound up a big case. He had expected the

case to last longer than it did and had cleared

his calendar to allow for it, but both sides had

agreed to common terms earlier than he thought.

So when Tracy presented her request, he was

available.

“I’ll be more than happy to do it,” he told Eve’s

mother. “If we solve this strangoworm crisis,

the crops in our upcountry home will be spared,

and therefore I will not have to send money.”

* * *

The Rapid Response Team was as shocked as

everyone else had been with the destruction of

the strangoworms.

“This is unbelievable!” the director exclaimed.

He was anked by many others serious looking

researchers in white lab coats.

He was being unbelievably friendly. It was

hard to imagine he was the same person who

had dismissed Eve and her mother a few days

earlier.

“A threat by the president really humbles

142

people,” Eve thought to herself.

The researchers conducted many tests on

the strangoworms, and even more tests on the

remains of the worms.

“You are right, Eve,” the director said. “The

remains are very rich in minerals.”

“So, Eve’s solution not only kills the

strangoworms, but leaves the ground healthier

than if it had fertiliser,” Tracy’s father said.

Tracy’s father had spent the whole morning at

Eve’s house. He had really helped them prepare

for the conversations. And when the researchers

came to the house, he had made all of them sign

some documents.

“This is a non-disclosure agreement,” he had

told them in a serious tone. “You know what it

means. Also, if what you hear in this laboratory

ends up being used without recourse to my

client, we will sue you and everything you

have!”

Eve was grateful for his presence.

The lawyer had made her and her parents very

comfortable, and also warned them not to get

143

shocked when they saw the way he behaved

towards the other parties. “These kinds of

negotiations require that one is tougher than

normal,” he had told them.

* * *

The lawyer stayed till the afternoon for the

discussion with the team from International

AgroChemicals Limited, who had agreed to

have the meeting at Eve’s house because her

father could not move. Eve had insisted that her

father be there.

Across the sitting room was the CEO of

International AgroChemicals Limited, a tall man

with an Afro hairstyle who wore a huge smile

and whose handshake was very strong. Next to

him was a lady who was introduced as Bilha,

the company’s lawyer.

On Eve’s side was Tracy’s father, who had with

him a sheaf of paper, her mother and father.

Her father sat with arms akimbo, occasionally

throwing glances of approval at her. He kept

saying how proud he was of her.

144

As soon as they nished exchanging

pleasantries, Tracy’s father got down to business.

“Well, Mr. Bikuri,” he told the CEO. “Let’s

get down to the meat of it. If I understand

the brief your lawyer sent me, International

AgroChemicals Limited would like to purchase

the strangoworm technology from Eve. We are

here to discuss the terms. Am I right?”

Mr. Bikuri smiled.

“That is right,” he said. He articulated each

word slowly as if to put more emphasis on it.

“As you know International AgroChemicals

Limited is at the forefront of research into plant

and animal husbandry, making us the biggest

such company in the region. Our products are

used all over the continent. We have also been

researching on the strangoworm menace, and

our scientists already have a solution, but we

have been informed that what Eve has come

up with is cheaper to produce, and the waste

is good for the environment. So obviously we

want in.”

Eve frowned.

145

Then she wrote something on a piece of paper

and handed it over to Tracy’s father.

“Great,” Tracy’s father said as he read what was

on the paper. There was no reaction on his face.

It was as if the piece of paper was blank. “And

from what I have heard from my client, she is

not opposed to the idea of selling the technology.

Of course, the offer has to make sense, since, as

you said, her technology is better than what the

biggest crop and animal husbandry company in

the region can come up with.”

The people on Eve’s side of the room smiled,

but those on the company’s side did not.

“The young lady does not have much of a

choice but to sell the technology to a bigger

organisation,” Mr. Bikuri said. He sounded very

condent. “As we speak, millions of acres of

land are under attack from the strangoworms.

Even if her technology was the best, she cannot

go it alone. How would the farmer in far ung

areas like Waru and Mbembe receive the

equipment? How do you distribute millions of

these scanners?”

146

Again, Eve inched. Her eyes met Tracy’s

father. But he looked away and studied the

documents on his clip board.

“You are right,” Tracy’s father said. “You have

the capacity to take this technology to all corners

of the country. So, now that we are all speaking

the same language, we can continue to sign up.

Eve Mugi is willing to sell her technology to you.

All she wants, in exchange, is life time access to

your laboratories.”

Mr. Bikuri and his lawyer exchanged glances.

Then the CEO looked at Eve.

“You don’t want money?” he was genuinely

shocked. “This is a great opportunity to make

millions of shillings.”

Eve shook her head. “I have a better opportunity

to learn,” she said.

Then she whispered something into her

mother’s ear. Her mother whispered back.

“We also want International AgroChemicals

Limited to take care of my father’s hospital bills

and upkeep,” Eve said condently. “For now,

we need about four million shillings.”

147

She looked at Tracy’s dad. “The agreement

should be inclusive of all medical treatment up

to when dad gets better.”

The lawyer nodded, and then he turned to the

CEO, “You heard the lady.”

“We like the offer,” Mr. Bikuri said, smiling

again.

“There is something more,” Tracy’s dad

scribbled on his clipboard. “I am establishing a

trust in Eve’s name, to be managed by myself

and her parents until she comes of legal age.

International AgroChemicals Limited will remit

twenty percent royalties from the sale of the

strangoworm technology to the trust.”

Everyone kept silent. And then both Mr.

Bikuri and Bilha retrieved calculators from

their briefcases. For the next ve minutes they

punched numbers into the calculator. Then

Bilha showed the CEO her workings.

“Make it ten percent and we have a deal,” Mr.

Bikuri said. “There is a lot of modications to

be done on the prototype. And if you include

licensing fees and distribution, the margins are

148

tight.”

Tracy’s father looked at Eve and her parents.

They were smiling at him.

“You have a deal,” he told Mr. Bikuri.

They all rose to shake hands.

Eve hugged her father. “I am so glad you will

have the medication you need.”

Her father was not speaking. When she looked

up at him, Eve discovered that tears were

streaming from his face. She could not stop her

own tears.

149

Betrayal

Breakthrough!

The Rapid Response Unit has announced a

major breakthrough in their search for a solution

to the strangoworm challenge.

In a joint press release faxed to newsrooms

this morning, RRU Director and International

AgroChemicals Limited CEO John Bikuri said

that the company will be mass producing the

solution, whose prototype was developed by a

fteen year old student.

“The product has already received approval

from the relevant government bodies,” the

statement said.

Eve made the rst visit to the International

AgroChemicals Limited plant. It was a massive

plant with thousands of workers, set in the

150

middle of the city’s industrial area.

“This is amazing!” she told the guide who had

been allocated to her by Mr. Bikuri. “I would

love to work here.”

“From what I hear, you do not need to work

anywhere for the rest of your life,” her guide

said with a smile. He wore a badge written:

Chief Research Ofcer.

Eve smiled.

Tracy’s father had just conrmed that the

company had transferred all the money needed

for her father’s trip to India into the medical fund

account. Her father was nally going to India!

The plant was so large that they had to travel

around it in small, mechanised carts like the

ones she had seen at golf courses.

They visited all the areas of the plant, apart from

one highly guarded and segregated building.

“That is a no go zone,” the guide told her. “It

hosts our radioactivity unit.”

“Radioactivity? I didn’t know that your

company does that as well.”

“We do a lot of things,” he told her. “We are the

151

regions only producer of Almo Amino Acids.”

“I see,” Eve told her.

She did not speak much on the way back. She

had so many questions in her mind.

* * *

As soon as she got home she sought to speak

to her mother.

“There is one puzzle that we are yet to solve,”

Eve said. “We know that the radiation from the

scanner, with the Belizium Oxide acting as a

catalyst, was responsible for the strangoworms

exploding.”

“Yes?”

“What we don’t know, mom, is what attracted

the radiation to the strangoworms,” Eve

concluded. “There had to be something that

attracted the radiation from the scanner to the

worms.”

“Yes, I remember when we tried with other

types of worms there was no similar reaction,”

her mother agreed with her.

“The only plausible explanation is that the

152

strangoworms were genetically modied,”

Eve said, showing her mother some papers.

“Someone added some amino acids to normal

worms, making them mutate.”

The professor had a big frown.

“Why would someone do something like

that?” she asked.

“It has to be someone who has the most to gain

from a national catastrophe like that,” Eve told

her. “A company that produces insecticides,

perhaps?”

She told her mother about the cordoned off

area of the International AgroChemicals Limited

plant. “Chief Research Ofcer told me that they

were the only company allowed to manufacture

these amino acids. They are the only ones

with the capacity to distribute the modied

strangoworms all over the country.”

“If the company did this, it would be a great

economic crime,” her mother said. “Let me

speak to someone at RRU about it.”

“From what the Chief Research Ofcer and Mr.

Bikuri said, the company already had a solution

153

to the strangoworm. They said it themselves – it

is only that our solution was cheaper to produce

and had the added advantage of leaving more

nutrients in the ground.”

“Woi!” the professor exclaimed. “They were

probably just waiting for the crisis to hit national

levels so that they release their solution.”

* * *

In an unprecedented chain of events, police

today raided the ofces of the International

AgroChemicals Limited. Armed with a search

warrant, the conscated crucial company les

and computers. The company CEO John Bikuri

is said to be on the run.

Speaking to the media after the police raid,

the police spokesman said the Criminal

Investigations Unit had credible information

that the company was involved in economic

crimes. She said the CIU had been investigating

the company for a number of weeks following a

tip off, and promised to give more information

as soon as possible.

154

“At this moment, we can only reveal that

the activities relating to the ght against the

strangoworm have been taken over by the Rapid

Response Unit. The distribution of modied

scanners is still ongoing and we expect all the

Farmers Union groups in the country to receive

them for use in farms.”

Meanwhile, there was celebration at the Rapid

Response Unit following the announcement of

the return of Professor Joyce Mugi as a director

in charge of Research Advancement. Professor

Mugi, who had left in unclear circumstances, is

known the world over for her contribution to

research, and has recently been associated with

the recently announced strangoworm solution.

Eve turned off the radio and turned to Tracy.

“Let’s go to the mall!”