βOfficer, good morningβ Birungi greeted in his most respectful tone as the traffic policeman walked up to his car window.
βNo, sa. How is it a good morning when you are here trying to kill people with that speed, eh?β the policeman responded with a slightly confrontational tone as he peeked inside Birungiβs Silver Mark X.
βLet me see your driving permitβ
Birungi groaned internally as he handed over his permit. With that look and accent, tribe wasn’t on his side and it didnβt sound like this was going to be an easy one, he thought to himself as he squinted at the policemanβs name badge.
βMr Odoki, I wasnβt trying to kill anyone. I was following the speed of the car ahead of me and didnβt notice we were entering a town. Please forgive me this time and I’ll be more vigilantβ Birungi started the negotiation while trying to strike a balance between bargaining and maintaining some confidence in his voice.
βHmm, those are excuses of people that didnβt go to driving schoolβ Odoki retorted as he started walking around the car to check its condition. He paused at the front and entered the license number into the app on his phone.
The app returned a clean record sheet. Hmm, this one was either well-connected or good with the bribes. He hoped it was the later as another message from his sonβs school asking about the fees balance popped up on his notification screen.
βOfficerβ, Birungi called out as he mentally calculated a bribe amount, βI promise I wasnβt intentionally reckless. There werenβt speed bumps which would have made me slow down even if I missed the speed limit sign.β
It really was a tiny town that was around a corner and didnβt seem to stretch beyond a kilometre after which the road disappeared around another corner. There were about 20 shops spread out on each side of the road, the majority built in that old Indian style with business premises upfront and residential rooms stretching behind. The town was in a valley and in the surrounding hills, one could see some homesteads among the banana plantations. The street had a single taxi with a conductor calling out for passengers, a truck loading matooke, a boda stage with just two bikes whose riders were engaged in a heated conversation and a scattering of foot traffic as the residents went about their day to day business. The cops really knew how to pick hidden spots like this where it was hard to spot them.
βYou man, first you were blaming the car in front of you and now you are blaming the size of the town. I am going to write you a ticket so you learn to take responsibility next timeβ Odoki countered with as much indignation as he could master.
βAgaba,β he called to his colleague who was interrogating another driver, βbring the book.β
Agaba walked over, took one look at Birungi and remarked, βBitu Iwe, just give my colleague ka chai and be more careful next time. Tikwe? Ah!β before walking back to the other driver.
Odoki and Birungi exchanged a look before they both started chuckling as Birungi reached for his wallet.
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