I needed to pee. Sitting upright on the bed, I stretched my arm and tapped my brother on the shoulder because I could not venture outside on my own. I was only a kid, in class five, to be precise, and if you know anything about pit latrines in the village is that they are usually located on the other end of the fence, far away from the main house. And to make matters worse, they are built facing the hedge which would act as the door. This made visiting the toilet at night a very dangerous affair. But I needed to pee.
My brother did not stir. I tapped him again and again and again but he remained stiff because he was tired of me and my abnormal desire to pee after every two minutes. And also, he most likely knew that my waking up had nothing to do with pee but everything to do with my unreasonable fear that the bus to Webuye would leave without me if I so much as entertained sleep even for a minute.
