Toy gun

I was sitting in the car today with Ossian on my lap and Lila and Uma playing in the back seat, waiting for Adharanand to come out of the supermarket in Eldoret. We were in the car park, the Uganda Highway fuming by behind the fence in front of us.

A street kid came up to the fence and tried to get my attention. I tried to ignore him. He started to pull faces at Lila and Uma, sticking his tongue out and waving his arms around, his body jerking as though he was trying to dance. He was about 14 years old and had bare feet.

He looked back at me and lifted up his shirt. Tucked into his trousers was a gun, the handle lying flat against his stomach. I couldn't tell if it was real or not. He started to touch it, looking over at Lila and Uma again and putting his finger on the trigger. From the look on his face it was impossible to tell whether he was about to break into another dance routine, or pull out the gun and shoot at us.

I went over to the security guard from the supermarket and pointed to the kid. The guard laughed: "Just a street kid, toy, toy, just relax." The kid walked off. Adharanand came back to the car, and as I was telling him what had happened, the kid came back. "That one?" Adharanand asked. "I gave him some money just now." We watched as he pulled a small glass bottle from his jacket, took a swig, and swayed off down the street.