Who Poisoned Sukari?

I didn't need that cute little white paw smacking me in the face to wake up this day.  I popped my own eyes open early with excitement for my trip to the Kenyan coast and isle of Lamu.  Had been wanting to go since day one here but it had been off limits until just a week prior.  My friend Dutch and I made hasty plans and were to meet up there the next day.

I opened the front door to my postage stamp yard that had been a construction zone for a week now. All the abodes had become leaky sieves with the seasonal rain so the roof was being replaced.  Since the sand pile was in my front yard, it was also the dumping zone for every kind of implement needed to do the job, including the ladder that was constantly poised over my bedroom window for roof access. When I peeked out, Mama Rhoda's son Alfred was on the ladder and I said habari.  He didn't speak but scampered on up to the roof as I let Sukari out for her constitution.  About ten minutes later I was coming out of the choo and Alfred was standing there waiting for me with a strange sheepish look on his face. He then said he "heard someone had put poison out for the dogs and I might want to watch Sukari." (This is their means of animal population control) I asked him why he didn't tell me this when I first saw him and got no response. Sukari came running up at that moment and I quickly took her inside and closed the door.

Within five minutes I noticed that she was not able to walk.  Then she laid down on the rug and started seizing--legs straight out and rigid and her eyes darting everywhere trying to focus.  I knew.  I had heard that milk counteracts the poison so quickly poured a dish but she didn't have the strength to lap it up.  I opened her mouth and moistened my fingers with the milk and dribbled it inside.  Then she would shake and seize again. 

I know I went into shock at that moment.  The dark black eyes were showing their whites with abject terror.  She didn't know what was happening to herself and I didn't know what else to do.  I'm lying on the floor with her, stroking her head, speaking softly, just thinking I will stay here with her until she takes her last breath however long it takes. I was frozen.

 My phone rings and it's my boss wishing me a good safari and I start wailing that Sukari is dying.  He says he is out of town and will send my coworker Monicah.  She calls immediately and says she will come in a taxi to take us to the Vet.  15 minutes later she walks in my front door.  She is horrified at the sight of the two of us on the floor nose to nose. (At that moment I had forgotten she had been through this before when her dog had been poisoned.)  I wrapped Sukari in a towel because she was drooling and peeing herself, we locked the door and ran through the compound.  Everyone was outside--workers, Mamas, babies, children all getting going with their day.  I heard Mama Rhoda ask what had happened and Monicah saying Sukari had been poisoned.

We rushed in the taxi with me in the back seat holding Sukari while her eyes are pleading with me for some knowledge to solve this problem.  All I can do is catch my breath between sobs and wipe the snot from my face while trying to comfort her.

We arrived at the Vet office, which is part of the local government offices in town, and Monicah's husband is standing there with the Vet in tow.  Dr. Kipsan has a gentle nature, nice smile but very brusque with dogs.  After all, he usually treats cows and sheep.  He motions me to put Sukari down on the desk (no exam tables here), he thumps her stomach whereby she seizes again, and manages to say between my sobs that "it will be okay."  The look on his face said something different though.  He quickly told one of his assistants (a tall guy in a suit who walked with a cane) to go to the market for two fresh eggs.  I'm thinking I can run faster but don't want to leave Sukari.  A few minutes later the guy returns. Kipsan cracks the eggs into a bowl in the sink, scrambles them with his hand and pours them into a mega syringe.  I remember thinking "these are the ones they use to do animal semen injections, I hope it's clean."  He tries to open Sukari's mouth but it is clamped tight so he squirts it into her jaw area.  Probably 60% actually went down her throat and the rest oozed from her mouth each time she seized.

By now there is quite a crowd gathered to watch the muzungu wailing over a dog wrapped in a towel laying on the admin desk.  I'm sure the word spread when the guy went for the eggs.  Monicah and her husband Joshua are close by with fear all over their faces but trying to console me anyway.  Sukari is still lying on the desk with occasional seizures but otherwise not moving.

Now Kipsan is telling the assistant to go to the chemist (pharmacy) for something I dont understand.  I have a recollection from my Maralal days that charcoal also neutralizes the poison so I think that may be the order.  A few minutes later he's back.  The eggy syringe is rinsed out in a styrofoam cooler of water by the desk and then this charcoal substance is poured from a plastic bottle into the syringe.  It looked like the charcoal had been beaten with a hammer as it had big chunks in it.  He pries open Sukari's mouth and squirts the yucky stuff down her throat. At least the chunks stayed in the syringe. Then he gives her an injection that he says is an antitoxin.  He lifts her from the desk and carries her into a storage room and says she needs to be in a dark space for a couple of hours.  I peek in to see her cowering in a corner, lying on the floor with only the whites of her eyes showing.  He tells me to come back in two hours that she needs to rest.

I push through the gathered crowd motioning to the taxi driver (yes, he was watching the show) to come and he drove me back home.  I cleaned up the pee pee spots, took out the garbage, closed my windows, grabbed my suitcase and headed back to Sukari.  I had managed to quit my weeping and was anxious and stoic when I returned. 

Kipsan was in his office waiting for me and we began to chat about the incident.  He said it was his office that does the poisoning but had not ordered it.  To do so requires two week advance notice with posters and public announcements.  I told him I lived at the police compound so he called the Commander to see what they knew.  They called back saying they had heard an individual had complained dogs were killing his goats and chickens and had put out poison.  But he said that was only rumor.

By now the two hours are up so we go in to check on my little girl.  She is still lying on the floor in the corner but when she sees me her tail manages a floppy wag and she tries to stand. Only to flop back down again.  Kipsan says "thats good", picks her up and brings her back to the desk.  His assistant had procured a package of milk while I was gone and the trusty syringe was in action again.  She managed to relish the milk and swallowed more than she drooled out.  Then it was back to the storage room for another hour of darkness.  Kipsan said the poison acts on the brain, makes them very confused, so being in a dark, quiet spot allows them to be less stressed.

I sat in his office and read while he made phone calls.  At the end of the hour, he went to the storage room, opened the door, came back to his office and said "if she walks out, she will be okay."  Having to sit there and wait those 15 minutes (yes I looked at my watch!!!!) I was certain my blood pressure was near boiling and I could feel my pulse racing.  Then I see a smile come to Kipsan's face and there's my little girl standing at his office door.  Unsteady, but standing.  I rush to hug her as her little tail gives a feeble wag before she plops on the floor at my feet.   Doctors orders are lots of milk, quiet space and she should be fine in about a week.

I call Monicah who arrives with her husband in a taxi to take Sukari to their home for my time away.  Her tail wags for them too and I know even though I will worry endlessly, she will be in very capable hands.

I get daily texts saying she is recovering well but is very distrusting and fearful of noises and people.

When I return she is very happy to see me but cowering.  It is a holiday weekend and I'm curious to see the vibe on my compound since we rushed out of there.  Well, it's creepy.  No one is saying much, barely a habari and when Sukari sees Alfred she starts growling and barking and running as far away from him as she can pull me. 

Since that day she is now on a long rope leash that allows her to sit in the yard and look around but not long enough to take her from my eyesight. Her days of running loose are over and I don't think she minds terribly.  She is still fearful of noise but does sit quietly and watch the compound activity.  Except when Alfred is around.  Then she barks, growls and runs inside to hide.

So you tell me.  Who poisoned Sukari?  I think she is trying to tell me she knows.  And I believe her.