When the Dogfood Hasn't Come In

So I headed for the agro-vet shop^*) in downtown Lindi to buy a new supply of dogfood.
"Habari za asubuhi? - Anything new this morning?“ I greeted when I entered the shop.
"Nzuri. Vipi? — All well. You?“
"Safi. Sema, tafadhali, una chakula cha mbwa? — Fine. Say, do you have any dogfood?“
"Ndiyo. Lakini, sina leo. — Yes, I do. But not today, hasn’t come in on the delivery.“
"Ehee! Lini? — Ahh! Now, when?“
"Kescho. — Tomorrow.“
"Nitarudi tena kesho. — I’ll come back tomorrow.“

Next morning I was at his shop again. He just looked at me.
"Doesn’t he remember me?“ I asked myself.
"Bwana, the dogfood, has it arrived?“
"Pole, hapana. — Sorry. No. It hasn’t come in.“
"Then when will it be in?“ I grew slightly impatient.
This time he was more careful in giving a time estimate.
"Kesho kutwa. — Day after tomorrow.“ he replied.

Well, even on the day after tomorrow the dogfood was not "in“. I asked him to give me a ring when it finally "was in“.

Now, what should I feed the dog? He was not even my own! My sausages from the refrigerator? No way! I went back home and in my despair I asked Noeli, our house guard. He laughed, as if he'd seen it coming. "Pika ugali na dagaa. — Cook him ugali^*) and dagaa^*).“ he answered. So I drove downtown again, to fetch a bag of maize flour and a bag full of dagaa.

When I returned, Noeli showed me how to prepare it:
Boil water, then add maize flour, stir until it is a porridge, add some of the dried fish, stir again, take it off the heat, wait until it has cooled down, then serve it to the dog. Done!

Curiously Bula sniffed at the food, licked it once and then strolled away, with a disgruntled expression on his face.
"In his place I had done the same,“ I thought.
I was still waiting for the call of the agro-vet. The phone kept quiet. Evening came and Bula hadn’t touched his food. He looked at me, his whole face a question mark.
"Sorry,“ I said to him, „you don’t get anything better. I don’t have anything better.“
Involuntarily I thought of my sausages again. But no! This is not dogfood! This is „my food“.

So when we all went to sleep for the night, Bula went with a grumbling stomach. Mine wasn’t, but my conscience was!

Next morning half of the ugali was gone. The other half scattered in front of the doghouse.
" Well,“ I thought, „hunger stirs appetite.“
It still took a couple of days for Bula to get used to the new food, In the end it worked out rather well. Occasionally there was „real“ dogfood, too — whenever it „had come in“ at the agro-vet’s. But these were rare moments. Sometimes I shared my sausages with Bula. He enjoyed it - and we became best friends.

Tom never returned to pick up Bula.

^*) "agro-vet" = store for agriculture and livestock supplies.
"ugali" = East African dish, maize flour porridge.
"dagaa" = dried shorthead anchovy.

Alexander Breitenbach