ESO AND THE SCHEMING MIDNIGHT SKY Eso stopped counting after ninety-four days or so.

door remained shut. brown. Weeks later, his

In her dreams it swelled, soaking the cold walls

Sealing the room shut for like, ever.

When she'd first come to live here, Nana had spent hours in the living room with her, showing Eso photographs of her father. quaint. They were so

Papa had a collection of dusty audio cassettes that he played Don Moen. Sacred Pillars. He had Eso They

in the evenings.

She'd stared at the boy frozen in the knife-sharp Kodaks. Nana's Face.

Nana showed her ones she'd found in his room. They were from just before Louis had Gone.

slept there, now.

showed a newly-bearded, red-eyed version of her father. young people and hand signs. him. There was one with just him and a girl;

Surrounded by

There was no picture where it was just

a tiny, voluptous thing it She took that one.

took her a moment to recognize as her mother. #

One evening in August, after an afternoon's rain. the verandah with Nana.

She was sitting on

The wicket gate opened and a young man Eso

stepped through and came across the compound toward the house.

cleared her throat loudly as she passed, but there was a massive pair of headphones around his head. house. "Nana, who is that?" The old lady had barely glanced up. comes in sometimes. "He's your father's assistant, he She watched him disappear into the

I think Louis told him not to talk to us.

Eso was intrigued.

"Who's he?" I do see him on the road

"I think he lives in the neighbourhood. sometimes.

But even his name, we don't know."

Four days later she saw the boy walking across the compound toward the gate. She yelled, but he didn't hear. # Her mother came to visit her sometimes. She was very small and

pretty, with pearly teeth and perfectly constructed grammar. Very neoMwaghuvul. Perched like a plump little bird on the edge of her grandparent's sofa in a red pant suit and silver heels. mother: wig and a red pant suit. her mother's calves, even. But her hands, Eso liked to remember, those weren't small and pretty like the rest of her. They were hard and wide. "He still hasn't come out-oh." Her mother hesitated before speaking. She said (she'd never spoken Mwaghuvul in her daughter's hearing): "I've told you many times. He's a very private person." "He's a selfish bastard." Rikyen's jaw tightened. "Esosa, I think we have already - -" "Abeg, jo..." Eso snapped her lips off her teeth. "We have already established that Louis may never come out of that room and you have not come here to come and make him your problem. You need to concentrate on your future." She looked at her. "That's what you did, abi?" Yam-farming hands. This was Eso's thoughtframe of a She'd never seen

Red nail polish.

Her mother froze, finally. "I didn't get that." out of a tree.

The moment was delicate and tender.

It was a warning, but doing this is like falling

Eso spoke louder: He was becoming your problem.

"As in, that's what you did, abi? Spoiling your future.

So you brought him back to his parents and- -"

The slap came, harder than she'd expected, snapping her chin over her shoulder. Yam hands. She sat and listened, through the ringing, for sounds of her mother leaving. She felt all tingly inside. # On Wednesday, her grandparents went out for evangelism. dark when she came back from school. She went to the kitchen and stared out at the twilight and tried to think what to cook. She wasn't hungry. She stood at the kitchen The house was

counter and ate cornflakes. A few minutes later, she was creeping up the stairs. She remembered

this dusty taste of nerves in her mouth, this chilly dampness under her arms, from when she first started masturbating. She crested the stairs. knocking. She was shocked by the sound of her own "Hello?

She swallowed, her pulse thudding in her eyeballs.

Can you hear me? It's Esosa, your daughter. door." But he would not come out. # "Good evening."

Please can you open the

The greeting startled her.

She looked up.

The assistant was standing

behind her chair in the sitting room, fingers in the pockets of his jeans. She stared at him. "Who are you?" He looked bemused. "He said you're

"I am Mr Azinge's assistant." his daughter. Eso?" She said nothing.

His gaze fell away from him. "He's... not in. Sorry." fingering his pockets. Eso stared at him dully. He frowned, puzzled. Oh. "No.

Stood there,

"Ehn, I don't know if you remember me." "From the gate."

"From when you were small." "From school, right?"

She looked at him properly. From down the street."

"As in, here in Jos?" He nodded. That didn't make sense. She'd been born in Abuja.

"You knew my mom?" "Rikyen, abi?" She was genuinely startled. "Wow. What about..." How is he?" She saw something

tighten in his face. "My father. "He's fine. He instructed- -" She nodded. He laughed.

Yes, I know. But, haba, now. Childhood friend." "Nice one. No way." She'd gotten up and followed him

"So how old was I when you knew me?" to the door.

"I was here the day you were born. You shat on me once me." Relaxed now, he grinned at her. "So where've you been?" "Buj," she muttered, face flaming.

He seemed unaware.

"Nice place." "It's just there. It's

She shrugged airily, redeemed somewhat. hotter."

They'd come out of the house and were drifting across the compound toward the gates. Plants, watered, brittle-green in the cool November sunlight. "You haven't seen anything yet. Wait till it's around like Christmas. Nobody comes out after six." "Oh, God." gate. ring!" He grinned over his shoulder, told her shed get used to it. # Nana was surprised when Eso told her about him. "I have never heard Abi, She suddenly realized she'd trailed him halfway to the

When she stopped, he didn't break his stride. "Your town is bo-

that boys voice in this house. Hmm, these oranges, sweet. James?" Papa agreed. "He said he grew up not far from here," Eso said. her. "Down the street. He said he knew my mom."

Nobody looked at

Nana said, finally: "You were born here. You and your mother stayed here until you were three." Eso stared at her. Tired old question. "What about my father?" It thudded out her mouth and rolled away,

wobbling, to collapse on its side in the middle of the dinner table. Papa peered over his spectacles at it, chewing.

"Your mother came here to give birth to you. out of his house because of Louis. Christians. "You may not see him again." about. "He avoids us.

Her father kicked her

They were very strict...

She had to remember who he was talking

For some weeks now, I haven't seen him."

"Even if you see him, you don't go and be talking with him. Otherwise, finish. Because that's how they are." # The next time, she caught him walking down the street. "My name?" he said when she asked. "I won't laugh, I swear." They were the only ones on the pretty street. It was getting very cold now. She could believe that stuff about six o' clock. Don't." God." "Youll laugh."

"It's... Starry, Darling. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

He grinned good-naturedly and waved her on. "As in, what where they thinking, she?" "How are they?" she asked after a while. "Your peeps. Your family." "Oh. I'm the only one around, actually. curiously. He looked her over

What about you? How are the rest of your... peeps?" Never met the parents on her side. And you know

"My mom's in Dubai.

my dad better than I do, so." He let the silence hang a little. really his fault. She hissed. "You know, actually, it's not

He's just different." He was the one who decided - -"

"Oh, please.

"No, forget about the Going. It happened from the beginning, he's been different from the beginning. People didn't just understand." "He doesn't want to see me. How do you understand that one?" Starry Darling shook his head, but said nothing. "How long have you known him? It's like you like him a lot." They

each took a moment to ignore the naked awkwardnes that had begun to stalk the conversation. The guy smiled, even. "I do. then. I've known him since I was eleven. And friendly. He was, like, very cool Rikyen was

People just naturally liked him.

with him then, too." "Really?" Eso felt a thirst so deep it was a pain inside her. "How... was she?" "They were just happy and very lovely, he remembered. they were made from light. Louis was about my age. It was as if

Your mother used

to fry akara at this very junction."

They'd reached the main avenue. "I used to

He started to scan the watery traffic for an autorickshaw.

help her sell sometimes. Louis didn't have a job at the time." Eso snorted. "Has he, ever?" "He was working," Starry Darling said at once. before deciding to Go. "He worked very hard

I think its very surprising that he decided He frowned thoughtfully. Maybe it's

to go in the first place.

because everybody loved him so much." # Later, Eso would skulk through her grandfathers gates, way past her curfew, and there would be Rikyen's big, shiny Abuja car parked in her grandfather's compound. Nana would tell her (later still, after

flogging) that Rikyen had driven in shortly after noon.

She'd asked

to see Eso, she'd been told she was out; she'd been invited inside but she'd declined and she - - Nana - - had thought she'd driven away. Sitting beside her inside the plush Toyota, Rikyen (she'll be hunched over the wheel, asleep, when Eso finds her) would begin to speak in brisk, flat tones. She'd met Louis in UJ. never came to class. They were both medical students, although he He was the childhood friend of her first They got married two months

university guy, a boy named Prosper. after they met in Prospers room.

She proposed.

"Two months after that, he told me he was Going." Shell pull in a deep breath. Her voice quiet. would tell his parents. smile. "I begged-oh. I pleaded. I said I

Or go to the Police."

Shell give a horrible

"Or end the marriage.

But he'd already decided, so I went

with him." It was a heady time. reached their town. come. Ninety-eight, ninety-nine. Computers had

There wasn't much Internet yet, but that would Would you be left

It was the New Millenium, the End Times.

behind?

If ever there was a time to go, it was then.

Twenty-four thousand young Nigerians disappeared that season. There are very few cases of return. Keep in mind, these guys weren't any

yeye guys. They were brilliant. As in, the cream of our crop. And they couldn't find their way back. And Louis, captain of his tiny band. A boy prophet and two juvenile disciples.

"Two?" Esoll ask her. Oh, there was Rikyen, of course. Prosper. # Rikyen will tell Eso the truth. when the lies will all come out. But when she stops talking, that's For example: how everybody had loved And then there was this fellow,

Louis so much. She'd written his name on the insides of her thighs, over and over again, with a razor. He'd loved her too, she knew. For a while, in their glory days of ships and mathematics. He used to call her his midnight sky, his very own starry darling.