Why this club bouncer is my hero

My local is not for the faint-hearted. Lovers-turned-’haters’ brawl. People get poisoned, cops are beaten and a reveller once fell and died after a nonsensical fight with a friend he had been boozing with.

It is the sort of place you keep one eye open. Your wallet could be swiped from your hind pocket, carjackers could trail you and work on you right at your gate and, once, a gay guy used to hang around the washrooms looking for love. I think he vanished when he winked at the butcher, who threatened to cut him into pieces.

Anyway, due to all these shenanigans, security is paramount. The first line of defence are sojas, the watchmen who spend the whole night preventing people who are too drunk to fight from attempting to make a nuisance of themselves.

gay GUY

Then we have the bouncers, the pub’s elite commandos. When idiots start clobbering each with broken beer bottles, it is their duty to raid that corner of the pub and fling the villains out.

Now one thing about this pub is that it supports a 24-hour economy. You could pop in at 3am and find Nairobians, some still clad in business suits and ties, clubbing away like there is no tomorrow – on a Wednesday! Frankly, do these fellows ever wake up and go to work?

school bus

I presume they are often dead asleep when the cock crows and their poor kids sleepily stagger to the bus top accompanied by ‘auntie’ to catch school transport. It is also a safe bet that they probably only see their kids through bleary eyes on Sundays, when Madam puts her foot down and orders everyone to church, and later to munch chips and sausages wherever.

But you know what the bouncer does? Every morning, without fail, irrespective of whatever time he leaves the pub tired like a dog, he holds his little girl’s hand and walks her to the bus stop to catch the school bus.

Every morning, without fail...