Allied Silver.

Raw onions and salty beef. Baked beans. A perfect blend of sauteed and sizzling pork ribs. I could smell all of this standing behind Musyoka. His neck smelled of crystallizing sweat and desperation. It was not new to me.

‘What is this, M?’ he asked with a faint stutter.

‘My kitchen, of course,’ my employer replied, smiling. ’Shall we go in? The peppered pork is just right for your palette and—'

‘It’s not possible,’ Musyoka interrupted.

‘Anything is with the right attitude, Johnny,’ said a soft voice.

I could see her. She. The woman in the red skirt and black top. The woman with the red lips. The woman in the photograph. She sat in a comfortable sisal chair, fashioned by the smiling man beside Musyoka. Her smooth and silky legs, glistening from all the sudden warmth blasting out of the kitchen, folded one over the other in seductive fashion, each meeting a pair of shiny black heels at the end. A long coat, mink I think, shielded her arms from view. From where I stood, she seemed to be a little younger than Musyoka. They shared the same look in their eyes.

‘A—Atieno?’ the customer asked, sparingly. His stink pierced through the already wet back of his shirt.

‘Yes, my love?’

‘What? How?’

‘Perhaps we should all sit.’ Mister M strode past the threshold and had his thick hand squeeze Musyoka’s shoulder. The latter walked through. Shakily. I scurried in before the red door slammed shut behind me. I slithered my way through the pots, pans, plates, smoke, legs, shirt and rested myself at the top of the sink. It was cool, just like my corner at the shop’s entrance. I licked the tip of my pencil and took note of this.

Mister M sat at the top of a stout stool, shorter than what Atieno was seated in. Musyoka kept standing.

‘Well?’ bubbled Musyoka in apparent anger. ‘Care to explain to me what my wife is doing in your shop?’

My employer’s non-existent brow quipped. That was new to me. I penned it down too.

‘You are angry with me.’ He said it casually, with the breath of an understanding cleric.

‘Furious! What is my wife doing here? I have been searching for her for the past two days!’

‘You have?’ she asked sweetly.

‘Yes! I even thought it was that Isakho you eloped with.’

Atieno spat at his boots.

‘You dared think I would cheat on you? With him?’ Her lips were pointed at my employer. ‘With Isakho? He! You are a fool.’

‘A fool who stands while you sit. Where is your respect woman?’

The meat sizzled in crystal silence. Mister M stood and stretched his feet by the stove. He passed me a caring glance after switching the flame off and went back to his warm stool. He put his hand in his waistcoat pocket and felt inside of it with his tips. His fob watch. I listened hard. I could hear ticking.

‘Lunch?’ he asked casually. The couple munched each of their lips in response. ‘I think we can do that later then,’ he added after the pause.

‘How did you get here?’ Musyoka asked. He was calmer. I took note of this. ‘By here, I mean this duka.’

Atieno sighed. ‘The same way you came in. Through the door.’

‘Two days ago after your shift?’

‘Yes. Two days ago after my shift.’

‘Why?’

‘To hide.’

‘Surely not from me.’

‘No. From what we had done,’ she replied. Mister M swiveled upon his stool, his hands firmly set at the cliff of his knees. I knew that stance. He was curious.

‘What did we do?’ asked Johnson. His face was drying now. His anger had subsided. The tap dripped solemnly behind me.

She looked up. I saw her full face for the first time. Her eyes were round and wide, everlasting. The thick lips of a woman who had seen it all matched ever so evenly with the cheekbones of a hard worker. She had a gap between the upper deck of her white and slightly tinged teeth. She was beautiful. The kind that is defined and obvious. Her face scrunched up. Pain.

‘Have you carelessly forgotten? Who did I marry? Ah!’ she riveted in her chair. Her arms never moved.

‘Atieno. We promised we would not speak of it ever again, not especially now that we are in the company of a stranger.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t call myself a stranger, really,’ laughed Mister M. It made me smile, his laugh. ‘Please, air this out. You two clearly need the therapy.’

‘Therapy,’ muttered Musyoka. He clenched his fists and wiped his clammy hands across his dirty jeans. ‘Do you remember what it was like after?’ he asked his wife.

‘Everyday I remember,’ she replied. Her eyes became sullen. Far-away.

‘How, even the first few years after, we thought it was a dream?’

‘Yes.’ Her eyes were wet. ‘I wish we hadn’t.’

‘But if we did not, would we have ever—’ Musyoka’s voice was cracked. His face crested against his chest. Mister M coughed. Musyoka shook his head lightly and palmed it at the temple with his left hand.

‘M. Where are we?’ he asked.

‘In my duka, Musyoka. I told you already.’

‘What are we doing here?’ asked Atieno. ‘How did I get here?’ She fidgeted. Loudly. The mink coat around her shoulder started slipping off. Mister M sighed and stood. He stretched his back and bowed before Atieno, his arms wrapped around her shoulders. Musyoka lurched a foot forward and held himself back. Mister M had craned his neck and their eyes connected. Musyoka was vibrating.

‘What are you doing to my wife?’ he demanded.

‘What I should have done the moment we walked through that red door,’ answered my employer sweetly. ‘Forgive me,’ he whispered to her.

He swept the coat off her back and thrust it to the far corner of the room. She gasped hard and cringed. Musyoka yelled and bulled forward, his fists curled and ready to brawl. Mister M stood aloft, his face bland.

I took note of this.

Atieno was tied to the chair in silver chain at the arms that tightened with each movement. The metal was so deep across her flesh that veins popped. She had not known. She could not tell.

‘Johnson!’ she screamed. ‘What is this?’

‘M! Release my beloved!’

‘Johnny,’ she pleaded. The numbness seemed to have become a sudden reality. It melted into her, this pain. It almost felt hot. She moaned and cried, her beauty evaporated in an instance. The room smelled of fresh meat and dripping regret. I took note of this.

When I looked up from my paper, Musyoka’s fists were deep in Mister M’s shirt, coat and chest. His bow tie was askew. I put my paper and pencil into my pockets and jogged ahead, fists and elbows ready to fight.

‘Enough!’ Mister M bellowed.

I stopped in my tracks. The woman stopped weeping. The husband froze. The metal around them stopped clanging. The food stopped sizzling.

Mister M took a hold of Musyoka’s hands and pulled them from his person. The latter heaved and frothed at the mouth. My employer patted the man’s back and nodded.

‘I will not answer your questions. It is not my place to do so.’ He started by fixing his bow tie. Then his shirt. ‘No. I am not angry.’ His pocket was next. He felt through his fob watch with the tips of his fingers. Ticking. I heard it.

‘I am not disappointed.’ He wiped his brow and cracked his knuckles. He smiled. ‘I am surprised.’

‘Why?’ asked Musyoka. He was calm. He was breathing normally. His wife was quiet too. Crying. I think she knew.

‘You see, by now I was hoping you would have figured it out. The secret.’

‘What secret?’ sobbed Atieno. ‘What are you talking about?’

Mister M was beside me, his thick and sober voice a salve for us all. I could smell him. He smelled of the oceanic wind.

‘You, my dear Musyoka, are the third customer today. Atieno. You are the second.’

‘But,’ she mumbled, scared. ‘I don’t remember ever coming into your shop.’

‘Exactly,’ replied Mister M. ‘But you will. Shortly.’

‘M, explain yourself. Do you have my mother somewhere up there too? One of Atieno’s old lovers? Hmm? Do you have Isakho tied up in the storage room? Why are we here!’

Mister M did not laugh. He was quiet. His face spoke of a man who had seen war. Years of war. He spoke succinctly. His hand was on my back. Warm. Gentle.

‘I can only have three customers a day. Those are the rules.’

There it was. The ticking.

‘And the first one has been standing here all this time. I think, even longer.’

Musyoka’s eyes were big. So were Atieno’s. Their mouths hang loose. They could finally see me.

And then I remembered.