Catch 22

The first time I saw the painting, it was on the walls of our village hotel. Since then, I have seen numerous variations of it in rural and urban centres across Kenya. Some introduce fresh characters into the scene; others carry along a short parable but the very first one I saw was bore no written script. Not that it needed to, the message couldn’t have been clearer.

The background is strikingly rich. Halfway out of… or halfway into… the parted hills, the sun rises or sets. A river spirals its way from the hills through lush plains dotted by occasional trees to the foreground. It is the foreground scene that jolts me out of the picnic dreams that creep in every time I see it.

The scene is that of a man, stripped to his shorts, and well into cutting down a tree. From the tree, a large snake slithers down. Whether to escape from the swaying branches and the jarring impact of the axe or to deal with the source of this menace is left to your imagination. Either way, the man has to leave in a hurry; probably swim across the river just south…

Not a good idea, there is a Crocodile fresh out of the water to catch the early morning, or late afternoon sun and would just love the challenge. The sight of the potential meal must have sent all the right signals to its jaws for they are wide open and in disregard to the conventional rule that their tongues are immovable, this one is licking its lips.

Hope lies in sprinting across the plains and up the hills but on a closer look, it is clear that this will only serve to deny the reptiles the lion’s share of himself, for through the tall grass, a lion of no mean stature is closing in as well.

The look on his face is not that of a man resigned to his fate. It is that of a man surprised by it. Thoughts flow through. The long walk from home in search for greener pastures; the tiredness from clearing a new ground to settle a young family and the thoughts of that family anticipating his return with plans for their future in this picturesque site which, on this day is the backdrop for the sunset of his life.