The Iowa Review
Volume 33
Issue 1 Spring
2003
New Husband
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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Recommended Citation
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. "New Husband." The Iowa Review 33.1 (2003): 53-66. Web.
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Article 15
ngozi
chimamanda
adichie
New Husband
My new husband carried the suitcase out of the taxi and led the way
into the brownstone
stairs, down
building, up a flight of brooding
an airless hallway with frayed carpeting and stopped at a door. 5D,
from yellowish metal, was plastered on it.
fashioned
unevenly
"We're here," he said. He had always used the word
'house' when
a
I had imagined
he told me about our home.
gravelly driveway
cucumber-colored
snaking between
me
would
over, walls with
carry
in the American
films
newlyweds
that he
lawns, a wide doorway
serene paintings.
Like the white
that Lagos Channel
5 showed on
Saturday nights.
He turned the light on in the living room where a beige couch sat
alone in the middle,
slanted, as though dropped there by accident.
Old smells hung heavy in the room, musty, nose-stuffing.
"I'll show you around," he said.
The smaller bedroom had a bare mattress
lodged in one corner.
The bigger bedroom had a bed and dresser, and a phone on the car
peted floor. Still, both rooms lacked a sense of space, as though the
so few
uncomfortable
with
each other, with
walls
had become
them.
things between
that you're here, we'll get more furniture. I didn't need that
Iwas alone," he said.
I
The ten-hour flight from
said. I felt faint, light-headed.
"Okay,"
the blond cus
Lagos to New York and the interminable wait while
"Now
much
when
stuffed
raked through my suitcase had left me woozy,
full of cotton wool. The customs officer had examined my
toms officer
my head
egusi and dried
in see-through
wrapped
seeds?carefully
were
and
spiders,
they
finally seized my
foodstuffs,
the
ground
onugbu
Iwould
I said, placing my
on the floor.
uIke agwum,"
out, down
"Yes, I'm exhausted
and
uziza
if
bags?as
waterproof
uziza in her gloved hand.
on American
soil. It didn't mat
grow the uziza
ter that the uziza seeds were as hard as a bicycle
for weeks.
She feared
leaves
too. We
handbag,
should
green
helmet,
passport
sun-dried
peeking
get to bed."
53
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In the bed with
like Uncle
tight
ly duties would
sheets
be required
the measured
snoring.
heard
then ended
throat
of camphor balls, I curled up
he is angry and hoped that no wife
I
later when
of me. I relaxed moments
that smelled
Ike's fist when
did not warn
like a deep rumble in his
a sound like an obscene whistle.
It started
on a high pitch,
you about things
like this when
they arranged
of
of offensive
No mention
snoring, no mention
your marriage.
flats.
that turned out to be furniture-challenged
houses
as a
My husband woke me up by settling his heavy body, wide
family suitcase, on top of mine. His chest flattened my breasts.
They
I said, opening
sleep-crusted
to my
have been a response
"Good morning,"
that might
a sound
eyes. He grunted,
greeting or part of
to pull my night
He raised himself
performing.
waist.
above
up
my
I said, so I that could take the nightdress
"Wait..."
off, so itwould
down on mine.
not seem so hasty. But he had crushed his mouth
the ritual he was
dress
the arrangers of marriage?
thing they failed to mention,
that told the story of sleep, that felt clammy like old chew
in Lagos Mainland
like the rubbish dumps
ing gum, that smelled
as if his cavities were too
Market. His breathing
rasped as he moved,
Another
mouths
narrow
for the air that had to be let out.
on
he finally stopped thrusting, he rested his entire weight
move
not
he
off
I
climbed
until
of his legs. did
the weight
me,
I pulled my nightdress
me to go into the bathroom.
down, straight
ened it over my hips.
When
even
room. He
"Good morning,
baby," he said, coming back into the
to tell
aunt
handed me the phone. "We have to call your uncle and
it costs almost a dol
them we arrived safely. Just for a few minutes,
to Nigeria. Dial on and then 234 before the number."
lar a minute
"Ezi okwu? All
that?"
"Yes. International
dialing
code first and then Nigeria's
country
code."
in the fourteen numbers. The stickiness
"Oh," I said. I punched
between my legs itched.
out across
the
line crackled with
The phone
static, reaching
warm
for
would
sound
I
knew
and
Uncle
once, they
Atlantic.
Aunty
in America was like, what I had eaten.
ask what the weather
would
But none
ask. Uncle
54
of my
would
responses
would
probably
smile
ask just to
register, they would
into the phone. The same kind of
smile
that had loosened
his hard-knotted
face when
he told me
that
the perfect husband had been found for me. The same smile I had
last seen months
before when the Super Eagles won the gold medal
at the Atlanta Olympics.
"A doctor
in America,"
ter? Ofodile's
concerned
he had said, beaming.
"What could be bet
a
for
wife
for
him, she was very
looking
an
American.
He hadn't been home
marry
was
mother
that he would
I gave her a photo of you. I did not hear from her for a
in six years.
while and I thought they had found someone. But?" Uncle
Ike let
his voice trail away, let his beam get wider.
"Yes,
Uncle."
"He will
"Yes Uncle."
in early June. You will have plenty
before the wedding."
Plenty of time was two weeks.
"What have
I not done
to know
be home
of time to get
each other
for you? I raise you as my own and then I
in America!
It is like Iwon a lottery
find you an ezigbo dil A doctor
for you!"
I had thanked Uncle
me a hus
Ike warmly, for everything?finding
me
me
new
a
into
his
band, taking
home, buying
pair of shoes every
two years. Itwas the only way to avoid being called ungrateful.
I did
not remind him that Iwanted
to try for the University,
that I had
in Aunty
Ify's bakery while going to secondary school,
that the furniture and floors in the house shone because of me.
"Did you get through?" My new husband asked.
worked
hard
I said. I looked away so that he would not see the
"It's engaged,"
relief on my face.
say busy, not engaged," he said. "We'll try later.
"Busy. Americans
Let's have breakfast."
For breakfast, he defrosted
from a bright-yellow
pancakes
what buttons he pressed on the white microwave,
watched
bag. I
careful
them.
lymemorizing
"Boil some water for tea," he said
"Is there some dried milk?" I asked, taking the kettle to the sink.
Rust clung to the sides of the sink like peeling brown paint.
"Americans
don't
"Ezi okwu? Don't
"No, I got used
You will too."
their tea with milk and sugar."
drink
you
yours with milk and sugar?"
to the way things are done here a long time ago.
drink
55
I sat before my limp pancakes?they
the chewy slabs Imade at home?and
not get past my throat. The doorbell
his hands swinging to his back,
I had not had time to notice.
with
"I heard you come
door was American,
were
bland
so much
thinner
rang and he got up. He walked
I had not really noticed before,
in last night. Welcome
back." The voice at the
the words
flowed
fast, ran into each other.
you come back to
Ify called it, fast-fast. When
Supri-supri, Aunty
like Americans,
visit, you will be speaking supri-supri
"Thanks, Shirley. Thanks for keeping my mail."
"How did your wedding
go? Is your wife here?"
"Yes, come and say hello."
A woman with hair the color of ash came
six to eight
she had said.
into the living room, her
at the waist. Judging from
in a pink robe knotted
body was wrapped
face
the lines that ran across her shriveled
decades
fabric, she
I had not seen
like ribbed
old.
from
be anything
to correctly gauge their ages.
white
people
enough
I said, rising.
"Good morning,"
"I'm Shirley from 5A. Nice to meet you, nice indeed."
could
as if battling
nasal voice,
"Nice
to meet
you
than
tea that I feared would
She had a
a cold.
too."
let you get back to breakfast. Welcome,
welcome
new
out.
One of
husband
shut
the
door.
My
again." Shirley shuffled
the dining table legs was short and so the table rocked, like a see
"Well,
I'll
saw, when
he leaned on it and said, "You say hi to people
good morning."
"She's not close
"It doesn't
"Odimma."
work
here, not
to my
to show respect."
age. Iwanted
that way here. Everybody
says hi."
Okay.
here, by the way. I go by Dave," he said,
Shirley gave him. Many of
looking down at the pile of envelopes
them had lines of writing on the envelope
itself, above the address,
"I'm not called Ofodile
as though the sender had remembered
to add something
I knew he didn't have
the envelope was sealed."Dave?"
only after
an English
invitation cards to our wedding
had read Ofodile Emeka
and Chika Agatha Okafor.
have a hard time
"The last name I use here is different. Americans
name. The
Udenwa
with
56
Udenwa
so I changed
it."
"What
is it?" Iwas
"Bell!"
I had heard
trying
known only a few weeks.
"Its Bell"
about
a Chikelugo
in America,
but
from
Udenwa
Chikel,
to get used
to Udenwa,
a name
I had
aWaturuocha
that
took
to Bell?
that changed to Waturu
the more American-friendly
(<Otuonezi? That's
not even close
to Udenwa."
in this country. If
He got up. "You don't understand
how itworks
to
as
as possi
want
to
have
be
mainstream
you
get anywhere you
use
ble. If not, you will be left by the roadside. You will
your English
name
here."
"I never have, my English name is just something on my birth cer
tificate. I've been Chika Okafor my whole
life."
"You'll get used to it," he said, reaching out to caress my cheek
shortly. "You'll see."
he filled out a social security number application
the name he entered in bold letters was agatha
When
evening,
for me
that
bell.
was called Flatbush, my new husband
told me
neighborhood
to the bus stop, down a noisy street that
the next day, as we walked
to
smelled of fish left out too long before refrigeration. He wanted
Our
show me
to do the grocery and how to use the bus.
"Look around,
look around. You get used to things faster
I
he
said.
turned
my head from side to side so he would
way,"
that Iwas looking around. Dark restaurant windows
promised
how
that
see
the
and American
Food in lopsided print, a car wash
on a chalk board nestled
the street advertised
$3.50 washes
Best Caribbean
across
among Coke cans and bits of paper. The sidewalk was chipped away
at the edges, like something
nibbled at by mice.
me
to pour in the coins, how to
where
Inside the bus, he showed
press the tape on the wall to signal my stop. This is not like back
you shout out to the conductor, he said, sneering, as
system.
though he had invented the superior American
Inside Key Food, we walked
from aisle to aisle slowly. Iwas wary
I could touch it, to
when he put a beef pack in the cart. Iwished
home where
examine
fresh-cut
its redness,
like back home
slabs buzzing with flies.
where
the butcher
held
up
57
I asked. The blue packets of Burtons
"Can we buy those biscuits?"
in every store in Lagos. I did not
Rich Tea were familiar, they were
want to eat biscuits but Iwanted
familiar in the cart.
something
"Cookies.
Americans
I reached
out for the biscuits
call them cookies,"
he said.
(cookies).
"Get the store brand. They're
cheaper,
he said, pointing at a white packet.
but
still the same
thing,"
"Okay," I said. I put the store brand in the cart and stared at the
Burtons
blue packet on the shelf, at the familiar grain embossed
logo, until we left the aisle.
"When
I become
for now we
have
we will not buy store brands
an Attending,
add
to, they
up," he said.
but
"When you become a Consultant?"
here. An Attending
"Yes, but it's called an Attending
Physician."
told
The arrangers of marriage
you that doctors made a lot of
only
in America. They did not add that before doctors started to
money
and a residency
make a lot of money,
they had to do an internship
not
new
husband
had
which
program,
my
completed. My new hus
this during our short in-flight conversation,
right
after we took off from Lagos, before he fell asleep.
Interns are paid twenty-eight
and work up to eighty
thousand
hours a week.
It's like three dollars an hour, he had said. Can you
band had told me
believe
hour was
he added
it? Three
dollars
an hour.
I did not know
if three dollars
an
leaned towards very good?until
very good or very bad?I
that even store cashiers made much more.
"Also when
I become
an Attending,
new husband
we will
live in a neigh
stopped for a woman
not
like this," my
said. He
cart to pass by. "See how
tucked into her shopping
so
can't
take
the
bars
have
you
shopping carts out? In the good
they
they do not have them. You can take your shopping
neighborhoods,
borhood
her child
with
cart all the way to your car."
"Oh," I said. He did not know
nose when
that my
to understand
brows
dipped
low above
so I did not
I struggled
something,
to look away. What did itmatter
that you could or could not
take the carts out? The point was, there were carts.
"Look at the people who shop here, they are the ones who immi
my
bother
to act as if they are back in their countries. They
grate and continue
forward unless
will never move
They will
they adapt to America.
to
like
said.
he
doomed
be
this,"
supermarkets
always
58
to show Iwas listening.
I thought about
something
the open markets back home, the traders who sweet-talked
you into
were
at
to
their
zinc-covered
who
sheds,
stopping
prepared
bargain
all day to add one single kobo to the price. They wrapped what you
Imurmured
in plastic bags when
bought
have them, they apologized
ridden newspapers.
My new husband
show me as much
took me
they had them and when
they did not
and laughed and offered you old hole
to the mall
to
the next day. He wanted
he started work on Monday.
His car rattled as he drove, as though there were many parts that
had come loose, a sound similar to shaking a tin full of nails.
as he could before
"I'll buy a new car after my residency," he said.
Inside the mall, the floors gleamed,
smooth as ice cubes and the
blinked
with
ethereal
high-as-sky
ceiling
tiny
lights. I felt as though
was
a
I
in different physical world,
another planet, a film set. The
people who pushed against us, even the black ones, wore
on their faces.
of foreignness,
otherness,
"We'll get pizza first," he said. "Its one
thing you have
the mark
to like in
America."
We walked up to the pizza
and a tall white hat.
"Two pepperoni
asked. He sounded
was
over-pronounced
smiled.
stand,
to the man wearing
a nose
ring
Is your combo deal better?" he
sausage.
different when
he spoke to Americans.
His R
and his T was under-pronounced.
And he
and
We ate the pizza sitting at a small round table in what he called a
food court. A sea of people sitting around circular tables, hunched
over paper plates of food. Uncle
at the
Ike would
be horrified
of eating here; he was a titled man
unless he was served in a private
weddings
thought
and did not even eat at
room. There was
some
thing humiliatingly
public, something
lacking in dignity, about this
too
this
of
open space
many tables and too much food.
place,
"Do you like the pizza?" my new husband asked. His paper plate
was empty.
"The tomatoes
"We overcook
ents. Americans
are not cooked well."
that is why we lose all the nutri
right. See how they look healthy? Not
food back home,
cook
things
59
like the bodies
of people
back home,
like dried
sticks
covered with
skin."
looking around. At the next table, a woman with a body
as soft and wide as a pillow held sideways
smiled at me. I smiled
so it
back and took another pizza bite, tightening my stomach
I nodded,
not eject anything. We went
husband
asked a woman
standing
outerwear
where
the
kling jewelry
into Macy's
would
by a glass
My new
full of twin
afterwards.
counter
department was and then he led
a sliding staircase.
was
Its movement
rubbery
I stepped on it.
I knew Iwould
fall the moment
smooth,
"Biko, don't they have a lift instead?" I asked. At least we had the
creaky ones in the school Administration
Building back home, the
the way
ones
towards
for a full minute
that quivered
before
the doors
are people behind you,"
"Speak English.
me
an
"It's
elevator, not lift. Americans
away.
pulling
There
rolled open.
he whispered,
say elevator."
"Okay."
to the lift (elevator) and we went up a section lined by
coats. He bought me a coat the color of a
led me
He
rows of weighty-looking
gloomy day's sky, puffy with what felt like foam inside its lining.
The coat looked big enough for two of me to snugly fit into it.
"Winter is coming," he said. "It is like being inside a freezer, so
you
a warm
need
"Thank you."
"We'll get you
like the American
coat."
some
jeans
uniform."
too. You have
to wear
jeans often,
it's
"Okay."
there is a sale. Sometimes,
you get the
"Always best to shop when
same thing for less than half the price. It's one of the wonders
of
America."
"Ezi okwu?" I said then hastily added, "really?"
"We'll take a walk around the mall. There are some other wonders
of America
here."
the bottoms of my feet ached, looking at
and tools and plates and everything
else.
Before we left, he led the way to MacDonalds,
another wonder
of
was
rear
a
near
America. The restaurant
nestled
the
of the mall,
yel
We walked
stores
around
until
that sold clothes
low and red 'M' the size of a car stood
band did not
ordered
60
look at the menu
two large number
board
two meals.
at its entrance.
that hovered
My new hus
as he
overhead
"We could go home so I can cook," I said. Don't let your husband
eat out too much, Aunty Ify had said. Itwill push him into the arms
like a guinea
of a woman who cooks. Always
guard your husband
fowl's egg.
in a while,"
"I like to eat this once
Imade
coconut
wanted
to make
a man's
heart.
he said.
to make up for the eating out. I
rice on Monday,
the kind Aunty
too,
pepper soup
Ify said softened
But I needed the uziza that the customs officer had
it. I bought a
seized, pepper soup was just not pepper soup without
coconut in the Jamaican store down the street and spent hours cut
ting it into tiny bits because there was no grater, and then soaked it
to extract
in hot water
the juice.
I had
just finished
cooking
when
he came home.
uNno," I said. "Did you work well?"
"You have to speak English at home too. So you can get used to
it." He brushed his lips against my cheek just as the doorbell rang.
in the bowels
of the apartment,
seared its way
It reverberated
us. He opened
the door and let Shirley in. Shirley's body
in the same pink robe and she twirled the belt at her
between
was wrapped
waist.
"That
where,
smell," she said, in her
all over the building. What
"Coconut
"It's every
I said.
rice,"
"A recipe
voice.
phlegm-filled
are you cooking?"
from your country?"
"Yes."
"It smells
culture,
My
meal
no
really good. The
at
culture
problem
with
us here
is we
have
no
all."
new husband
said nothing
before him quickly,
after she
ate the fragrant
his lips like Uncle
left. He
even smacking
did to show Aunty Ify how pleased he was with her
But the next day, he came back with a Good Housekeeping
I placed
Ike sometimes
cooking.
All-American
cook book,
"I don't want
"Or else we will
thick as a Bible.
things from home anymore," he said.
as the people who fill the apartment
of foreign food."
you cooking
be known
building with smells
ran my hand over the cover, over the picture
I took the cookbook,
of something
that looked like a flower but was probably
food.
not
Another
did
tell you, the strug
thing the arrangers of marriage
61
gle to brown beef in oil and dredge skinless chicken in flour. I had
I
later. Chicken
always cooked beef in its own juices, adding water
had always poached with
its skin intact.
The first time I saw Nia, who lived in 5A, I thought she was the kind
of woman Uncle Ike would disapprove
of. He would call her an asha
wo, because of the see-through
tops she wore so that her bra, often
a mismatched
base his judg
shade, glared through. Or he would
ment on her lipstick, the color of a blooming
and the eye
hibiscus,
shadow
that clung to her heavy lids, as close as possible
to the
shade of the lipstick.
Iwent down to get the mail.
"Hi," she said when
new wife. I've been meaning
to come over and meet
"You're Dave's
you. Welcome.
I'm Nia."
I'm
"Thanks.
Chika..
.Agatha."
"What was
the first thing you
name."
"My Nigerian
"It's an Igbo name, isn't it?"
said?"
"Yes."
"What does
"God
is the
itmean?"
greatest."
"You know, Nia is a Swahili
I spent three years
eighteen.
name.
I changed my name when
in Tanzania."
Iwas
"Oh," I said. She had chosen an African name, while my husband
to an English one.
made me change mine
at the store
Later Nia said, "We're hiring entry level salespeople
Iwork.
I'm a manager.
So if you're interested,
where
you're pretty
much hired."
Something
leaped
would be mine. Mine.
"I haven't
"But Dave
inside me,
at the
gotten my work permit
has filed for you?"
yet,"
thought
of earning
what
I said.
"Yes."
"He's a permanent
before winter. Let me
so it shouldn't
resident,
know as soon as you do."
"Thank you," I said. "Thank you."
I liked the way Nia smiled to show a tooth
ly, a perfect triangle missing
work, for a while,
drinking
62
take
long,
at least
that was chipped neat
at the edge. She started to stop by after
from a diet soda she brought with her
imi
She collected
and watching me cook. She smoked excessively.
tations of Nok and Shona art. She was so liberated she sprinkled her
with words
like the noun clitoris and the
everyday conversation
verb fuck.
up on me. One day I stepped out of the apartment
tufts of
building and gasped. It was as though God was shredding
cotton wool and flinging them down. I sat staring at my first snow,
at the twirling flakes, for a long, long time before turning to go back
I scrubbed
inside the apartment.
the kitchen floor again, cut out
Winter
sneaked
more
from the Key Food catalogue
that came in the mail
coupons
God's
then sat by the window,
become
watching
shredding
frenzied.
and
Winter
had come and Iwas still unemployed. When my husband
came home, I placed his French fries and fried chicken before him
and asked why itwas taking so long to get me a work permit.
He ate almost all of the oily-fried potatoes before responding. We
spoke only English now, he did not know that Iwhispered
Igbo sen
tences to myself while
I cooked.
"The American
trouble. Our
woman
divorce was
to get a green card is making
before I
final, but not completely,
Imarried
almost
Just a minor
you in Nigeria.
thing, but she found out about
to take legal action, she wants more
it and now she's threatening
married
money."
"You were married
I laced my
before?"
fingers
together
because
to shake.
they had started
"Would you pass
"The jug?"
that please?"
say pitcher, not jug."
in my head was
the jug (pitcher) across. The pounding
loud, filling my ears with a fierce liquid. "You were married before?"
"It was just on paper. A lot of our people do that here. It's busi
"Pitcher. Americans
I pushed
it goes wrong and either
but sometimes
you pay the woman
she refuse to divorce you or she decides to blackmail you."
I pushed the pile of coupons
towards me and started to rip them
ness,
in two,
before
one
after
the other.
"You should
have
let me
know
this
now."
"Why?"
63
I deserved
to know."
"Why? Iwas going to be your wife!
down on the chair opposite him, slowly, as if the chair would
if I didn't.
I sank
crack
a difference,
you know that. Your uncle
You couldn't say no, not after they had taken
care of you since your parents died."
I stared at him, silent, shredding
Into smaller and
the coupons.
smaller bits.
"It wouldn't
have made
and aunt had decided.
the way things are messed
what
"Besides, with
up in Nigeria,
roam
would you have done? Aren't people with Master's
degrees
would
still
have
been
the
stuck
with
streets,
you
ing
jobless? They
until
like manna,
them of
along. I was
relieving
voice was flat, as though he was reading from a required
text that he did not enjoy. Iwatched
him eat the batter
a husband
you." His
literature
came
covered
chicken, noticing
took a sip of water.
that he did not finish
chewing
before
some coupon
"Why did you marry me?" I asked, watching
fall to the floor. Broken up pictures of detergents
and meat
and paper towels.
he
pieces
packs
"I'm not getting any younger. My parents kept sending pictures.
I liked your pic
They were afraid Iwould end up with an American.
ture and my mother
said you were a good girl, quiet. She said you
even be a virgin." He smiled. "I probably should tell her how
might
wrong
she was."
the coupons to the floor. Clasped my hands together and
short
nails into my skin.
dug my
"I did like your picture," he said, smacking his lips. "You were
and tall. I had to think about my children's
looks.
light-skinned
I shoved
Light-skinned
blacks
fare better
in America."
I put
he napped,
evening, while
two
boubous
embroidered
me,
bought
That
Ify's cast-offs,
Nia's
in the bag
only the clothes he hadn't
and one caftan, all Aunty
to
I had brought from Nigeria
and went
apartment.
Nia made me
tea, with milk and sugar, and sat with me at her din
a
ing table,
squeaky affair with three tall stools around it.
"You can't leave him," Nia said. "Where will you go? You don't
even have your papers
"I know."
64
yet so you can't apply for any benefits."
to call your family back home, you can call them
"If you want
I'll get on a payment plan with Bell
here. Stay as long as you want,
Atlantic."
to talk to at home."
I said, staring at the pear
nobody
face of the imitation Nok sculpture on the wooden
shelf. Its
flat
and
sad.
stared
back,
eyes
"There's
shaped
hollow
"Your
uncle?"
I shook my
are you mad?
head. You
Does
one
left your husband, Aunty
shrill,
Ify would
throw away a guinea fowl's egg? Do you
in
how many women
would
offer both eyes for a doctor
at all? And Uncle
America?
For any husband
Ike would
bellow
know
about my
ingratitude, my
before dropping
the phone.
his
stupidity,
fist
and
face
tightening,
"You know, I read a book that claimed we do not fall in love, we
if you gave it time?" Nia said.
climb up to love. Maybe
"It's
not
about
love."
"Was there someone
back home?"
"Not really. There was once, but he was Yoruba, from a different
ethnic group. My uncle would never let me marry him. Besides, he
didn't have any money."
"Sounds
really fucked up."
"Iwonder who the woman my husband married
is."
"He probably didn't know her well. Most men don't do green card
marriages with people they know well."
"Iwonder
"You never
ifmy husband had many girlfriends."
say his name, you never say Dave.
thing?"
"No." I looked down
fabric.
Iwanted
name,
didn't
at the Kente
to say that perhaps
know him.
Is that a cultural
tablemat made with waterproof
because I didn't know his
itwas
I asked.
"Did you know any of his girlfriends?"
Nia
looked away. The kind of dramatic
turning
speaks,
that intends
of head
that
to speak, volumes.
"Nia?"
him, almost two years ago, when
him and fucked him and after a week
"I fucked
seduced
he first moved
it was
in. I
over."
"Oh," I said and sipped my tea with milk and sugar.
"I had to be honest with you, get everything
out."
65
"Yes," I said. I stood
side seemed mummified
to look out of the window.
The world out
into a sheet of dead whiteness.
The side
walks had piles of snow the height of a six-year-old
child.
Nia was right, I could not leave. Iwent back the next
I
evening.
rang the doorbell
pass.
66
and he opened
the door,
stood
aside,
and
let me