Devil on the Cross

The book's narrator, The Gĩcaandĩ Player, returns to relate that he was present at the events in the cave, and that he must continue the story of Warĩĩnga. It has been two years since the Devil’s Feast, and Warĩĩnga now lives in a small apartment in the Ngara area of Nairobi. Warĩĩnga has changed in the intervening time, no longer lightening her skin with creams or having suicidal ideation. One Saturday, Warĩĩnga wakes up early to make herself some tea. Warĩĩnga leaves her apartment along with the gun she’d been given by Mũturi, which she always brings with her. The narrator reveals that Warĩĩnga is now a mechanical engineer and has taken life by the reins, becoming more secure in her beauty and intelligence. She also works at a local garage, helping to break apart and fix engines—an unusual career for a woman in Kenya, and one in which she had to deal with the mockery of men before they began to respect her abilities.

When Warĩĩnga arrives at work that Saturday, she discovers that the garage she works at has been sold to her old boss, who’d sexually harassed her, as well as a group of foreigners, who intend to build a big hotel on the spot.