Nairobi Days

“I heard that your dog is having puppies. Could we have one of them? We want to get a dog.”

Indeed, Tanya was having her puppies in a couple of weeks but this was a major request. I had been giving the class daily updates as I was so excited.

But we didn’t know how many puppies she would have, so many people wanted one that we had already promised five people a puppy and I wanted one.

“Would you look after it? Will you feed it properly, play with it and take it for walks?”

“You know I will. We have a big garden. You can come and see it whenever you want.”

“Well, let me ask my mother.” If Alain had one of Tanya’s puppies I could visit his house often on the pretext of checking up on the puppy. But when I asked Mum, she said all the puppies had been promised to other people. If Tanya had more than six puppies, then my friend could have one. I told Alain the news at school the next day and his face fell, he was disappointed. I could have argued more and persuaded Mum, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to have to explain that I had met a boy I liked and why he deserved a precious puppy.