A Grain of Wheat

Karanja spent his childhood with his mother, the third of four wives of a very emotionally distant man. Karanja was his mother’s only surviving child. She often criticized how much time he spent playing the guitar, and disapproved of him going to work for the homeguard and turning his back against his people to serve the white man.

When he returns from the Uhuru celebrations, Karanja packs his belongings and leaves for the train station. Near the station, he sees Mumbi returning from the hospital, where she has been visiting Gikonyo. He tells Mumbi that Mugo confessed and is still considered a brave man. At the train station, Karanja reflects that Mugo could have let him die, since General R. and Koina were clearly ready to charge Karanja with the betrayal. Karanja wonders why Mugo saved him. He remembers that during the Emergency, his first job required him to wear a hood. Through the hood, he identified people who had been part of the Mau Mau rebellion, although they could not see him. When a train approaches, Karanja steps close to the edge of the platform, feeling the power of the train as it whizzes by, but he does not take the step into oblivion and instead chooses to live.

Mumbi is stunned by Mugo’s confession. She tells Gikonyo the news about Mugo, and he is visibly shaken, calling Mugo a brave man.

After the ceremony, pursued by members of the crowd, Mugo does not immediately want to return to his hut. He knows that what awaits him is death, and yet does not feel ready to die. His conversations with Mumbi have awakened him again. Relieved to be free of his secret, he visits the old woman, who again thinks Mugo is her son. She approaches him, and then falls back, dead.

General R. and Koina come for Mugo, explaining that his trial will be tonight. “Your deeds alone will condemn you,” (238) the General says, but without any bitterness. 

Two days after Uhuru, Warui and Wambui discuss the rain that continues to fall. Both are amazed that Mugo was the betrayer all along. They have not seen him or Karanja since the Uhuru ceremony. Mumbi visits, revealing that she knew Mugo had betrayed Kihika before his public confession. She wonders how she might have been able to save him, but Wambui said no one could have saved him, because there was nothing to save.

Lying in the hospital, Gikonyo has time to reflect on his life, including his time in the detention centers and the gift he promised Mumbi for their wedding—a stool. Mumbi and Wangeri bring him food in the hospital, and Gikonyo finds himself wondering what Mumbi thinks about Mugo. For the first time, he wonders what his child with Mumbi might look like or be like. He begs Mumbi to stay and talk with him, but she must return to her ill child. Gikonyo persists: Can she return tomorrow? Mumbi agrees.

After she leaves, Gikonyo finds himself thinking about an intricate carpentry design for the stool. It will feature a woman’s body, heavy with child.