THE TALE OF EAZY 2: ASHES OF BARAKA

Days and weeks passed until they had finished their first month in the hospital. Ezekiel had grown to love his job even with less resources, they made it work. Bwana was still ‘complicated’ but it wasn’t so bad.

Until he got a visitor. One Sunday morning after his shift, Zengo was standing on a line for free eye check-ups the hospital was running.

“Hey Ezekiel, what’s up?”

Eazy looked at Zengo who had a cigarette lit on his lips.

“Hey, Zengo, you have problem with your eyes?” he asked, staring a t a kid behind Zengo who was coughing from the smoke. “um, can you put that out. This is a hospital, man.”

Zengo smiled and hugged him ignoring the words. “Don’t worry about that, Ezekiel, smoking is good for the lungs. So you got some time to kill?”

Eazy tried to fake a smile but the last word he heard, ‘kill’. He knew Zengo and that word, were not to be taken lightly. He had known Zengo since he was very young. Growing up in an orphanage, Eazy never had someone like a role model and when he joined Zengo’s back then small gang, he realized he would never have a role model.

“Look at you,” Zengo said puffing another smoke. “A genuine doctor. Nothing makes me prouder as a father than to watch his son succeed.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Before they could talk further, Frances walked in holding a child on her back. She stopped after seeing Zengo.

“You. Why are you here?” she asked.

“If it isn’t the queen Francessca herself,” Zengo said with a smirk. “Still sitting on him, huh? Kukaliwa kabisa.”

“Asshole,” Frances said before turning to Eazy. “Oxygen tanks ziko empty. Bwana has asked you write a letter requesting for more from the board.”

Ezekiel’s jaw clenched.

“Yeah, sure.”

Zengo winked at Frances. “Roll with me, Ezekiel. You want oxygen tanks? Need medicine? I can make it happen. I always make things happen.”

Frances’s eyes twitched.

“Walk away, Zengo,” she said

Zengo leaned close to Ezekiel. “When you’re tired of this system bullshit… come find me.”

He left them in silence burning another smoke.

That night, Frances and Ezekiel fought.

“He’s a snake,” Frances spat. “Did you forget why you left him? What he does?”

“People change babe,” Ezekiel argued. “You changed too. A few years ago you wouldn’t even talk to me.”

“Now what?” she demanded. “You think you know me? You think you understand me?”

“Nope,” he admitted. “You’re one tough nut to crack.”

She gave him a dangerous smirk. “Unlike my sister right?”

Eazy winced. “Woah, where did that come from. I’ve told you plenty of times, Anita and I was just a fling and besides you and me were not together yet.”

The argument ended unresolved.

However, a month later after the board denied his request for more resources, crisis struck the hospital. They needed medicine and oxygen— Ezekiel had to make a choice.

And choice would have unintended consequences for him and the entire country.

Zengo did as he said he would. He made things happen.

New oxygen tanks were delivered, enough to fill a room.

And Eazy knew there would be a cost, he just didn’t expect it to happen the way it did.

The smoke rose long before Ezekiel reached the gates.

At first he thought it was just another ‘garbage burn’ — Eastlands was full of them — but then he saw the people running. Screaming. Pointing. Flames licked the night sky like hungry tongues, bright enough to paint the clouds red.

Ezekiel froze.

“No… no, no, no—”

Baraka Health Centre was burning.

The same squat concrete block that had held his dreams was now a skeletal frame of collapsing beams and raging fire. Patients stumbled around in blankets, coughing, eyes red from the smoke. Nurses sobbed on the roadside.

Frances pushed through the crowd, her face streaked with soot. “Ezekiel!”

He ran to her. She grabbed his shirt tightly.

“They said… they said it was an electrical fault. A spark somewhere near the storage room. We couldn’t save anything.”

Her voice cracked.

“They didn’t even call the fire brigade until it was too late.”

Ezekiel stared at the flames devouring the only place he felt he belonged. The place he thought he could fix. The place he believed would make him a doctor who could help people.

“Where’s Bwana?” he asked.

Frances swallowed. “Don’t know. No one has seen him”

Zengo walked through the smoke wearing a casual smile, hands in his pockets, like he was visiting a friend’s barbecue.

Tall. Charismatic. Snake-smooth.

“Man… Ezekiel,” he chuckled softly. “You look like your soul got mugged.”

Ezekiel glared. “This isn’t funny.”

“Never said it was.” Zengo looked up at the burning roof, whistling. “Damn shame though. Government hospitals… always falling apart, eh? One spark and pfff—”

He mimed an explosion with his fingers.

Frances stiffened beside Ezekiel.

“I don’t know how but you were involved in this somehow,” she said sharply.

Zengo grinned. “Relax, Detective Nightingale. I came to check on my boy.”

He clapped Ezekiel’s shoulder while maintaining contact with her. “You good?”

“Fuck No!” Ezekiel said.

Zengo nodded. “Tsk. It’s tragic man. That’s why Eastlands needs people like me, like us.”

Frances scoffed. “People like you are exactly the problem.”

“Oh stop with that self-fucking righteous attitude sweetie.”

“Leave Ezekiel alone.”

“Why?” Zengo tilted his head. “You think he’s too soft to decide for himself?”

Ezekiel stepped between them. “Enough.”

Zengo wrapped his head around him. “Look around, man. Look at life. the system has failed you again…just like it did those years ago. You’ve dedicated your life to save lives but you’re standing outside watching people die. With me…you wouldn’t be helpless. Join me….”

Ezekeil clenched his jaw.

“…Just…help out. I promise, things have changed. I’ve changed. You’re a doctor. My people get hurt a lot. You’ll be saving lives without waiting for permission from boards and governments.”

Frances grabbed Ezekiel’s arm. “No. No, Ezekiel. Eazy….Don’t fall for this.”

But Eazy had already made his. He told himself and Frances that it was only temporary, just until he got enough money to build the hospital.

The first night Ezekiel met Zengo in a warehouse near the railway line. There were two men injured on the ground.

Eazy went in quickly and stitched the knife wounds, set broken fingers and drain abscesses. It was a simple procedures, so it didn’t take a while. He was paid in envelopes as agreed, that would be enough for two weeks of construction work.

“Yo Ezekiel,” Zengo shouted after him.

Eazy turned back slowly, looking right to left as passerbys passed him.

“Turn the noise level Zengo. And call me Eazy from now on.”

Zengo smirked. “Eazy huh. Sure kid. I want you to meet someone.”

“But I already…”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. I just want to introduce you to our benefactor.”

A man stepped out of the shadow, average weight and height. He had on a long white stripped shirt with a half brown blazer.

Zengo stood in front of his theatrically bowing. “Eazy I introduce you to Mtemi, the future of our country.”

“So you’re the doctor,” Mtemi said calmly. “Zengo’s told me a lot about you.”

Mtemi's handshake was firm. The kind of grip that lingered half a second longer than necessary, while maintaining intense eye contact.

Eazy nodded. “Only the good things, I hope.”

Mtemi smiled thinly. “There are no good or bad things. Only useful ones.”

That sentence lodged itself somewhere deep inside Eazy’s chest.

Zengo clapped his hands. “You see? Boss man here understands how the world works.”

Mtemi adjusted his blazer, glancing briefly at the warehouse — the blood-stained concrete, the groaning men.

“Daktari,” Mtemi said. “I have a preposition for you.”

Weeks turned into months.

Baraka never reopened.

But Eazy kept working

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Back in the present Eazy finished the story after the meeting with Mtemi.

“So that’s how you joined Zengo’s first blood,” JC said.

Eazy nodded looking down.

“Wow, Eazy I wouldn’t guess you went through all that,” Musa spoke looking at his now Z-shaped mark.

“Yeah and what was that about Anita?” Zuri asked raising her eyebrows. “Did you two….”

Eazy stood up. “That’s not the take away from the story. Look, election year is coming up and I’m guessing that’s what Zengo wants me for. Because seven years ago, we were responsible for getting Mtemi to the presidential seat.”

“Mtemi, the same one Zengo introduced you to. that’s the Mheshimiwa?” JC asked shocked.

Everyone laughed.

“Uh, yes genius. Know anyone else called Mtemi?” Musa said.

“Yeah, well story time’s over,” Eazy said lighting a cigarette. “Tomorrow, the hard part begins.”

FURTHER INFO

KUKALIWA KABISA – BEING WHIPPED/SUBMISSIVE

Ziko empty = Are empty