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    novel

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    297 views249 pages

    American Ah

    Uploaded by

    mahi
    novel

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 249
    yd BG CCW A ae UR ‘An honest novel about race with guts and lustre, Cea ere oe ca Se en ee een eee! eee eee er ea aut Oe aera Oana ato) eae es ea al OO eae aes Tee ed ee Cee et mess PU eee eernes c) Coe aT Seen ee ae passion ~ for each other and for their homeland ~ eee ee eas PUSS ES ore eae eee TURN TyVg SA eR Tees ae eC ee Mitra eed Se eU Mids) ATMESTATECOUK HMMM | MIN ; i ig CHIMAMANDA rein t acee ee tany WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION Eee Cer. zis ar PNP) CCl a mamma . AMERICANAH "SOME NOVELS TELL A GREAT STORY EOD Ro Tecate Uda THE WAY.YOU LOOK AT THE WORLD. Pe WU t oe er CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE grew up on the campus of, ‘the University of Nigerian Neha, Her work ret around the word, and hasbeen translated into over thirty Inguages She ste author of ‘the navel Purple Fie, which won the Commanwealth Writers Prize and Harton Wright Legacy Award Haas Yelbw Sx, which won the ‘Orange Prize (gow called the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction), the ‘world's top prize fr female writers: a short story collection, The Thing ‘Arend Your Neck and Americanah, which won the US National Book Critics Citele Award and was named one of dhe New Yr Tne Top ‘Ten Best Books of the Year In adiion to hee writing, Chimamands speaks _atmanycvents around the world. Her frst TED Talk, delved in 200 ‘vas ile The Danger af Single Story an is now one of the top ten most viewed TED Talks of alltime. Her second. We Shu Ale Fons, has helped to simulate a worldwide conversation abo feminism and was published as book in 2015. Chimamanda is committed to assisting young airing writers, and founded an ansual Writers’ Workshop in [igen for which applications come from around the woeld rom the reviews of American: ‘Superb - Amana is tha are thing in contemporary literary tion: Ish, big-hearted love story that also happens tobe a percngly funny social erie! Voge "An exteemely thoughtful, subtly provocative exploration of structural inequality of diferent kinds of oppresion, of gender roles, ofthe idea of home Subtle, but nor asd 0 pul its punches! Gruntion “Adie i eric on human interactions. [her] wring aways hasan legantshiaumer toi. Wiee,entriaining and nendingly perceptive npn on Soy ‘Along. satifjing aovel ofeoes-continental elationahips exile and the pall of home. Adichie' frst nove for seven year and well worth the wai Paid Ties “Vivid with everyday lived experience ~ As mach as Amerkansh dals sharply wth big questions about race and culewal difference, that doesn preclude domestic comedy asides about handbags and hai and stitshear a love story Tae ‘She isa sharp observer, with gift for capturing shoe aspects of euleure thatseem entirely eral to Africans and Americans. Read Ameren te enjoy the chance to visi three continent, abserve a wide aay of subcultures and meee complicated and interesting characters and 0 so wherever Adichie chooses to take us Send Tit In Adichie'® able prose socal comedy mingles with exltarel polemic tande che umbrella of an exuberant romantie lave story Pian Ties "Neither precious nor pretentious, though is polemical in it angeiest moments and ssi its best deen ‘An accomplished love story spanning thrge continents, his account ontsns rch insights into the iumigrant experience’ Mad unde, Books ofthe Year ‘Superb. a large, ambitious book. powertl.heartfele and evocative (Once agin Adichie excels with her depiction of Nigeria. The dialogue sparkles she sa witer of huge talent who just keepe getting better esr Review ‘Dazaling— Fanny and defiant and simultaneously so wis. rin Su Franco Crone ‘Witheringly enchant and hugely empathetic a novel that holds the discomting realities of our times fearlessly before us A steady handed disection ofthe universal human experience ‘New York Tine Bk Review “An important book. its strength and orignal ie with the meticulous observation abou ace’ Econom Also by Chimamanda Ngooi Adichie ear esl Or Fein Main in Fife Sages ‘We shoul Al Be Femini "he Thing road Your Nek Half ew Sn Purple Hicue CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE AMERICANAH ET 6900004017 AARRUPE Lary 4th ESTATE + London Poporsig samen tiger arites Cor stor wena ca ‘spo creat rly ah ee 08 ESR tad Sn 28 yt eoyh © Chinaman Ngo Adi 208 irene ore sanere Rae ais rom he Bra Libary ISBN 78-0-00-785684-8 Al igh rxeved No part of hs pbc mayb spot serenely Sane Try frm arty sy mew cent ech ‘or parmianh ofthe puis stock sedate fo then tht # shal nob Leda thou ha pbs? or cons oy fr of Saigo over tar an tin ht #pbsed and iain conn nln th condion ting Pate nd bound Gra tiny (Fle (UK) Ui, opdon CRO YY FSC" non zoftitenaonl organ eablahed o promote FBC ut re eprint contr ha oy come ‘ro frat a nsaged amet sl oar rd te ober conrolad woe Fed ut mor aout HarpeCalits ad te encom ‘ceuharprclingcosage ‘This book is for our next generation, nd ne-bis wi Tol, CChisom, Amaka, Chinedum, Kamsiyonna and Arinze. For my wonderful father in this, his eightieth year And, as always, for Ivara Part 1 CHAPTER 1 Temela Hked the tranquil greenness of the many tees, the clean stcetsand stately homes, the delicately overpriced shops and the quit, abiding air of earned grace, it was this, the lack of smell, that most appealed to her, perhaps because che other Ames: an cities she knew well had all smelled dstncly, Philadelphia had the musty scent of history, New Haven smelled of neglect. Balsimore smelled of bine, and Brooklyn of sun-warmed garbage. Bu Princeton had no sll. She Liked taking deep breaths hers. She liked watching the locals who drove with poired courtesy and parked thee ates model car ouside the organic grocery stoee on Nassau Steet or out side the sushi restaurants or outside the ce cream shop that hed ffey Aiferene favours incadingred pepper or outside the pos office where cffsive staff bounded out to greet chem atthe enteance. She liked the campus, grave with knowledge. che Gothic buildings with thei vine-Laced walls andthe way everything transformed, the alight of night, toa ghostly scene. She liked, most of al that in thie place ‘of affluent ease, she could pretend to be someone cee, someone spe cially admited into allowed American ub, someone adorned with Sut she didnot like that she had to go to Trenton to bra her ae lew unreasonable vo expecta braiding salon in Pinceton—the few black locale she had scen were so lghtskinned and lanichaired she ould not imagine them wearing brsids—and yet as she waited at Prineeton Justion station foc the tai, on an afternoon ablaze with heat, she wondered way there wis no place where se could bra her haie The chocolate arin hee handbag had melted. A few other people p= in the summer, smelled of nothing, and alshough vere waiting onthe platform, al of them white and lan, in short flimsy clothes. The man sanding closest whee was eating an icecream cone; she had aliays found it a litle iresponsible, the cating of ice cream cones by grown-up American men, expecially the cating of ice cream cones by grown-up American men in public. He turned to her and said, “About time when the tain finally read in, vith che familiarity strangers adopt with each other after satin it the disappointment of pubic service. She sid at him, The grey, haic onthe back of his head was amopt forward, comical arrangement to disguise his bald spr. He had to be an academic, but not inthe Jnumanives or he would be more self-conscious, A firm science lke chemistry. maybe, Before, she would have sid, "1 know tha peculiar [American expression that profersed agreement rather than knowledge, and then she would have started 2 conversation with hin, to sce ihe would say something she could use in her blog. People were flattered to be asked about themselves and if she said nothing afer they spoke, it ‘made them say more, They were conditioned to fil silences If they asked what she did, she would say wagucly, “write a lifestyle Mog” because saying “I writ an anonymous blog called Racetecth or Verous ‘Obserins about Amerison Blacks (Those Formerly Kav a Nee) bya [Now American Black would make them wncomfortable. She had sid i though. afew times. Once to adreadlocked white man who sit next 0 heron the tesin, his bar like old wine ropes tha ended in blond fuzz, his tatezed shire ween with enough piety to convince ber that he vasa social warcior and might make a good guest blogger "Race is toxaly oveshyped these day, black people need to gec over thetnseles, itsallaboutclass now,the haves andthe have-nots he tld hee evenly and she used it asthe opening sentence ofa pose itled "Not All Drcad locked White American Guys Are Down’. Then there yas the man from Ohio, who was squcezed nex to her ona fight. A middle man age: she was sure, From his boxy sit and contrast collar. le wanted t> know whar she meane by “lifestyle blog’ and she told hin, expecting him to become reserved. orto end the conversation by saying some thing defensively bland lke “The ony ace that matters i the haman race" But he said, “Ewer write about adoption? Nobody wants blac babies in chis country. and I don't mean biracial, I mean black, Even the black families don't want them” 5 He told her that he and his wife had adopted black child and their neighbours looked 2 them ax though they had chosen to become smartyts fora dubious cause, Her blog post about in, “Badly-Dressed White Middle Managers from Ohio Are Not Always What You “Think had received the highest umber of comment for that month She sil wondered ihe had read it. he hoped so. Often, she would it in eats, or aitports, oun satons, watching strangers, imagining their lives nd wondering which af them were likely to have read her ‘log. Now her ex-blog, She had writen the final post only days ago trailed by ewo hundeed and seventy-four comments so fat. All those readers, growing month by month linking and cross posting, knowing, somich mace than she dd: theyhad always frightened and exhilarated het, SapphieDerrida, one ofthe most Frequett posters, wrote: Ina bt apie by ow poral 1am taking hi, Cod lack ao pare he amd “Wechaye br plas come buck the lupheresy, Yow wed or revere, etre, fay end huge proving vce cate espace fr el overtone out on inportaeubjecr Reader like SapphieDerids, who reeled off states and used words ike "ef" in their comment, made [emelt nervous eager wo be Fresh and to impress, so chat she began, over time, 10 feel like vulture hacking into the creases of people’ stories for something the could use. Sometimes making. fragile links to race Sontetimes not believinghereel™. The mare she wrote theless use she became. Fach post scraped off yet one more sae of self until she Fel naked and false “The ice-ceam-eating man sat beside heron the tain and. to dis courige conversation, she stared fixedly a brown stain near her ec, a spilled frozen Frappucino, unl they arived at Trenton. The pla form was crowded withblack peopl, many of them fat, in shoe, Bimsy clothes. Ie stil startled her, what a difference afew minstes of texin tral made, During her frst year in America, when she took New Jersey Transico Penn Station and then the subway to vise Aunty Uju Jn Flatlnds, she was struck by how mostly slim white people go offt the stops in Manhattan and, as ce train went further into Brooklyn, the people lfe were mostly black and ft. She had noe thought of them 28 "far, though. She had thought of them as "big, because one ofthe first hinge her friend Gina tld er was tha “ft” in America was atbad word, heaving with moral judgement ike seupid” of “bastard” and not a mere description lke “short” or “tll So she had banished “fi from her vocabulary But ft” came bac to het last winter, after almoteshitteen years, when « man in line bebind her at che super ‘market muttered, “Fat people dont eed to be eating that shit as she paid for her gant bag of Tesios. She glanced at him, surprised, mildly offended, and thought i a perfect blog post, how this stranger had decided she was fat. She would fle the post under the ag"race, gender and body size" Bu back home, as she stood and faced the mirrors truth, she realized tha she had ignored, for too long, the new right ness of er clothes, he rubbing rogether of her ine thighs, the soc, rounder parts of her that shook wher she mowed. She a fat ‘She sid the word “ft slowly, funelling i back and forward, and ‘thought about all the other chings she had leazned note ayald in America. She was ft She was not cutvy ot big boned; she was fat. it ‘vas the only word chat fle ere. And she hd ignored, too, the cement ‘nher sul. Her blog was doing well with thousands of unique visitors ach month, and she ws earning good speaking fes. and she had a fellowship a Princeton and relationship with Bline "You are the absolte love of my fe” he'd writen in her las birthday and —and yet there vas cement in her soul. It had been there fora while an ead ‘morning disease of faigu,ableakness and borderlessnes.t brought with i amorphous longings shapeless dees, brief imaginary glnts ‘of other lives she could be living, chat over the months melded into a Piercing homesickness, She scoured Nigerian websites, Nigevian pro files on Facebook, Nigerian blogs, and each click brought yet another story of young perso who had recently moved back home, clothed in ‘American or British degres, to start an investment company. a music production busines, a shion label, maging, fastfood franchise She looked at photographs ofthese men and women and fle the dull ache of oss. as though they had prised open her hana and taken some thing of hers They were living her life. Nigeria became where she was supposed tobe, the oly place she could snk he roots in without the constant wage to tug them out and shake off the so. And, of course, there was albo Obie, Her frst love, her fist lover, the only person with whom she had never fle the nced 10 explain herself He was now athusband and father, ni they had not been in touch in years, yet she ‘ould noe pretend that he was nota part of her homesickness. ofthat she didnot often think of him, sifting through thee pss, looking for portent of what she could soe name “The rude stringer in the supermarkerowho knew what prob lems he was wrestling with, haggard and thin-lipped as he was-had intended to ofend hee thad inetead prodded her awake, ‘She began to plan and 0 dream, 0 apply for jobs in Lagos, She did ot tell Blane at fist, because she wanted to Finch er fellowship at Princeton, nd then ater hee fellowship ended, she aid ot ell hen because she wanted to give herself time to be sure. But asthe wecks passed, she knew she would never best, So she tld him that she was ‘ving bac home, and she added," have to knowing he would hear inher words the sound ofan ending "Why? Blaine asked, almost automatically, stunned by her an rouncestent, There they were, in his living oom in New Haven, awash in soft jazz andl daylight, and she looked at him, her good, be sviered man, and fel the day take ona sd, epic quality. They had Tived together for three yeas thee year fre fcrease, ike smoothly ieoned shect, ust thie only Sight, months ago, when Blanes eyes froze withblame and he refused to speak ro her But they had survived that fight, mostly because of Barack Obama, bonding anew over thele shared passion. On election night, before Blane kissed her, his face wet with teat, be held her eightly as though Obama's vieory was alo their personal victory. And now bere she was lig him it was ovee “Why?” he asked. He eaughe ideas of nuance and complexity in his dases and yet he was asking her for a single reason, the cae, But she fd not hada bold epiphany an there was no cause: it was simply Ua layer afer layer of discontent had settled in her, and Formed 2 mass that now proplles her. She didnot el him this, because it would hurt, him to know she had fel that way for a while, that her relationship with him was like being conten in a house but always sitting by she ‘window and looking ost “Take the plan” he said ro he, onthe last day she sa him, when she was packing the clothes she kept in hie apartment. He looked defeated, standing shimp-shouldered in dhe kitchen le was his house plant hopeful green leaves rising fom cre bamboo stems, and when she took it asuidden crshing loneliness lnced though hand stayed with he for weeks Sometimes, she sil fli. How was i possible to sis something you 1 longer wanted? Blaie needed what she was tunable to give and she needed what he was unable to give, and she steve this, the lors of what could have been So hereshe was, on aday filled with the opulence of sume, about to braid her hai for the journey home, Sticky heat st om hee skin “There were people thrice her size on the Trenzon platform and she looked admiring ar one of them, a woman ina very shor skirt. She thought nothing of slende legs shown off in miniskices—it was safe snd easy afterall wo display legs of which che world approved but the far woman’ act was about the quiet convietion that one shared only with onesela sense of ighenes tha others ule see. Her decision to:move back was similar, whenever she felt besieged by doubts, she ‘would think of herslfas standing valiantly alone, a almost heros, 50 sto squash her uncertain, The fa woman was eo-cooddinating 3 g70up of teenagers who loked sateen and seventeen years old. They ‘romded around, summer programme advertised on the front and back oftheir yellow Tshiets, laughing and talking, They reminded Lfemela of er cousin Dike. One of che boys dark and tall, with the lexnly muscled build of an atlete, looked jurlike Dike, Not hae Dike would ever wear those shoes that looked Like espadrilles. Weak kicks, Fhe would cll them, It wae = new onc: he fst used it a fow days ago when he tld her about going shopping with Aunty Uj. “Mom wanted to buy me these erazy shoes. Come on, Coz, you now I can't wear weak kicks!” emela joined the taxi line outside the station, She hoped her Arivee would nor bea Nigerian, because he pce he heard er accent, would either be aggresively eager to tell her that he had 2 masters degree the axi was second jo and his daughter was on the deans liseat Rutgers o he would drive in sullen silence, giving her change snd ignoring her “thank you’ all he time mactng humiliation, chat this fellow Nigerian a smal gi at chat, who pethape was nurse ora, sccountant or even 2 doctor, was locking down on him. Nigerian tax drivers in America wer all convinced that they really were no taxi drivers, She was net inline. Her taxi driver wae black and middle aged. She opened che door and glanced atthe back ofthe driver's set Mervin Sih Not Nigerian, but you could never be too sure. Nigerians tookonall sorts of names here. Even she had once been somebody cle ° “How you doing? the man asked. She could el ight away, with rele that is acent was Caribbean, im very well Thankyou” She gave him che address of Mariama African Hair Braiding. I was her fist time tthe salon —her eegular ‘one was closed becatse the owner had gone bak Cited Tooie to get marred bur twould look. she was sure, ikeall the other rican aie besiding salons she had known; they were in the par ofthe city that had graf, dank buildings and no white people, they displayed bright signboards with names lke Aisha and Fatima Aftican Hie Braiding they had radiator that were too hot in the winter and si conditioners tha did nor cool inthe summer, and they wer fll of Francophone ‘West African women braiders, one of whom would be the owner and speak the best English ad answer the phone and be deferred toby the thers, Often, chete was a baby ied t someone's back with a pece of tloth. Ora toddler asleep on a wrapper spread over a battered so Sometimes, older childeen stopped by, The conversations were loud and sift in Preach or Wolof oF Maine, and when they spoke En- sliah to customers twas broken, carious, ax though they had not quite ‘sed nto the Language itself before taking on a slangy American, ‘Words came out half completed, Once a Guinean braider in Phila! iia had tld femela, “Amma lke, Oh Gad, Azsomeh Ierookemany {epetitins fo Vfemels tounderstand cha the woman wassaying,"'m like, Oh God, I vas so mad: “Mervin Smith was upbeat and chaty He ake, ashe drove, about how hoe twas, how rolling blackouts were se to come “This is the kindof heat that kil old folks. 1 they dow’ have ae ‘conditioning, they have t9 goto the mall you know ‘The malls eee ait conditioning. But sometimes there's nobody to take them. People Ihave to take care ofthe old oll” said, his oly mood unfazed by Hemel lence. “Here we art” he sid, parking in fron of shabby block, The salon wa in the middle, between a Chinese cestaurant called Happy Joy and convenience tore that sold lotery ticket. Inside, the room was thick with disregard, the pine peeling, the walls plastered with lane posters of braided hairstyles and smaller posters that std QUICK TAX REFUND. Three women, all in Tshires snd hace length shorts, ‘vere working on the hair of seated customers, Asmall TV mounted ‘na corner of the wall, the volume a litle ro loud, was showing & [Nigerian fla man beating hie wile, the wife cow the poor audio quality jrcing Hi? Meroe said ‘They all umned 0 look at her bu only one, who had to be the “eponymoss Mariama, ssid, "Hi, Welcome” “Tlie to ge braids” *Wharkind ofbruids you wane” mela sid she wanted = medium kinky twist and asked how such iewas. “Two hundred,” Mariama si 1 paid one sixty last month” She had last baided her hair thee months ago ‘Mariama said nothing for awhile, her eyesback on the ir she was braiding, *Soone sixty? Hemel asked Mariama shrugged and smiled. “Okay, but you have ro come back next time. Sit dows. Wait for Aisha. She wil finish soon” Mariam pointed at the smallest ofthe braiers, who had askin condition, pinkieh-eream whorls of discoloration on hee arms and aeck that Tooked woeryngly infectious “Hi, Aisha.” Hemel sai, Asha glanced a Hemel, nodding ever x lightly er face lank, lmost forbidding in its expressonlesaness. These was something steange about her femela sr close to the door: the fan on the chipped table was ‘uened om high but did lie forthe seuffines in the room. Nexto the fan were combs, packets of hair attachments, magaines bulky with lose pages, piles of colourful DVDs. A broom was propped in fone corner, near he candy dispenser and the rusty aie dryer that hhad not been used ina hundred years. On the TV screen, afither wa beating cwo children, wooden punches that hit the ic above their head “Not Bad fahert Bad man” the other bride sid, staring a the “TVand flinching "You fom Niger?” Mariama asked, “Yes Iemela sid." Where ae you from?” ngand shouting, “Me and ey ster Halima are fom Mali Asha is rom Senegal” Marisma sid Als didnot look up, but Halima smiled at Kfemel, a smile chat {nits warm knowingness, sid welcome wa fellow African she would notsmileat an American in che same way. She was severly crossed, pupil darting in opposite directions, so that Ifemel fle thrown off balance, not sure which of Halima’s eyes wa on he ‘emelu fanned herself with a magazine “Is vo hot.” she sid. At least, these women would noe sy ther "You're hoe But youse From Ais “This heat wae every bd, Sorry the sir conditoner brake yster- ay” Mariama sai lemela knew the aie conditioner had not broken yesterday, it had ‘ben broken for much longer, peshaps ic had abrays been broken; sil she nodded and si cha peshape it had packed up from overuse The phone rang Mariama picked cup and aftera minute said"Come now” the very words chat had made Ifemel stop making appointments wie Afrcan har braiding salons. Come now, they always said, ad then you strived to find rwo people waiting o get micro braids and stil the ‘ener would tell you" Wait my ssteriscomingtohelp” The phonesang agrn and Mariama spoke in French, her oie sing and she stopped brsiding wo gesture with hee hand a she shouted int the phone. Then she unflded a yellow Western Union form from hee pocket and began reaing out the rumnbers, “Trois Cing! Non, non cing” “The woman whose hair she was braiding in tiny, painful looking comrows seid sharply, “Come on! Im not spending the whole day hese!” Sorry, corr” Mariama sid, Stil she finshed repeating the West ‘rm Union numbers before she contiaued braiding the phone lodged bberween her shoulder and ear eres opened her novel, Jean Toome's Cane and akimmed few pages. She had been meaning to read it fora while now, and imagined ‘he would like snce Blaine didnot. A precious performance, Blaine had calle it, in chat gently forbeating tone he used when they talked about novel, a though he was sure that she, with a litle more sime and alee moce wisdom, would come to accep tha dhe novels he liked wore superoe,sovels written by young and youngish men and packed with hits fascinating, confounding accumulation of brands and musie and comic books and ions, with emotions skimmed over, land cach sentence stylishly aware oft own sylishnes, She had ead many of chem, because he recomended them, but they were like cot ton candy that so easily evaporated from her tonguc memory. Se closed the novel: twas to0 hot to concentrate. She ate some melted chocolate sent Dike a text to call her when he was finished swith basketball practice, and fanned herself She read the signs onthe ‘opposite Wall-NO ADJUSTMENTS TO BRAIDS AFTER ONE WEFK, NO PERSONAL CHECKS, NO REFUNDS—but she cacfilly avoided looking st the corner of the room because she knew that chimps of rmouldy newspapers would be stufed beneath pipes and grime and thing long rote Finally, Aisha Bnished with her customer and asked what coloue| emelu wanted for het har aeachments "Colour fur: "Not god coloue” Aisha sid promptly. “That what Uwe cloakdirey. You don't want colour on™ ‘Colour one is too blac, ook fake,” Ifemel sai, losening her headweap. "Sometimes I use colour two, but colour fur is closest to nny naural colous” Aisha shrugged, haughty shrug, a though twas nother problesn iThee customer didnot have good taste. She reached into a cupboard, brought out ewo packets of attachments, checked 10 make sure they were both the same colour She touched Lene hae," Why you don't have relax?” Tike my hair the way God made i” "Buthow you comb i Hard to comb Asha su Iemelu had brought her awn comb. She gently combed her hai dens, sft and tightly coiled until it framed her hea like aha, Ie ‘not hard to comb if you moisturize it propery she sid, siping into the coaxing tone of the proselyizer that she used whenever she was trying to convince other black women about the merie of wearing their hate natural. Alshs snorted she leary could not understand wiry anybody would choose suffer through combing natural hai instead of simply relaxing i She sectioned out fem ha, packed ele 3 attachment fom the pile onthe table and began deftly to eis, “les too tight” Ifemel sid “Don't make i ght” Because Aisha kept twisting tothe end, Hemela thought thae perhaps she had not understood, and so Lemels touched the offending braid and sai, Tight igh ‘Aisha pushed her hand avay “No. No, Leave it. Ie good: e's ght” femels sad. Please loosen i” Mariama wat watching them A flow of French came from he. Asha loorened the braid, “Sone.” Maria sid, "She docart understand very well” But femel could see, fom Aisha face, chat she understood very ‘vel Aisha was simply a true marker woman, immune to the cosmetic pceties of American customer sevice. Memela imagined er working {na marke in Dakss, ke the braiders in Lagos who would blow thie ‘poses and wipe their hands on their wrappers, oughly jerk thee cus tomes eads to postion them better, complain about how flor how hua orhow shoe the hie was, shoutout to passing women, while al the time conversing roo loudly and beating too tht "You know het” Aisha asked, glancing the television screen ‘wha ‘Aisha repeated herself, pointed at che actress onthe screen No. eel sid But you Nigerian “Yes, bat I don't know hee" Aisha pettred tothe pile of DVDs on the able “Before, t00 much soxdoo. Very bad. Now Nigeria fim is very good Big nice house” Teme thought lite of Nollywood filme, with their exaggerated histcioncy and chic improbable pls, but she nodded in agecement Ibocrsse to heat “Nigeria” and "good" inthe sme sentence was lux ‘eve coming from this strange Senegalese woman, and the chose tosce inthis an auguryof he retuen home, Everyone she had told she was moving back seemed surprise, ‘expecting an explanation, and when se suid she was doing because she wanted to, puzzled lines would appear on foreheads “You ae closing your blog and selling your condo to go back ro Lagos and work for a magazine chat doeene pay that well” Aunty Uju had said and then repeated hovel as chough ro make Iemela sce the gravity ofher own foolishness. Only her old fiend in Lagos, Ranyinudo, had made her return seem normal. "Lagos is now fll of American returnees, 9 you bette come back and join them. Every day you see them carrying bottle of water as if they will de of heat if they are not drinking water every inate” Ranyinudo said. They had kept in touch, sho and Raydo throughout the years. At fis, they wrote infrequent leters, but a8 eyrcafés opened, cell phones spread and Facebook flourished, they communicated more often, It was Ranyimudo who had told her, some yeacs ago, that Obinze was sting married, “Meanwhile o, he has serious money now. See what Yourmissed” Ranyinudo had said. lfemels feigned indifference to this news She had cutoffcontact with Obinze afte alan so much ime had passed, and she was newly ina relationship with Blane, and hap pily easing herself inca share life, Butaftershe hangup, she thought endlessly of Obinze. Imagining hin athis wedding lft her with fel ing like sorrow a faded sorrow: But she wat pleased foc him, she old herself, and to prove to herself that she was pleased for him. she decided ro write to him, She was not sure ihe sill used his old aes and she sentthe e-mail half expecting tht he would not reply but he did. She didnot write again, because she by then had acknowledged her own sna stil-burning igh. Te was best ro leave things alone {Last December, when Ranyinudo tod her she had run into hia at the Palms mall with his baby daughter (ad ene sill ould not picture ‘his mew sprawling, modern mall in Lagos ll hat came to mind when she tried was the camped Mega Plaza she remembered) "He was lookingso clean, and his daughter io fine” Ranyinudo said-—Hernel feleapangacall che changes that had happened in his ife ‘Nigeria film very good now Aisha sad again "Yes" Iemelusaidenchusatially. This was what she had become, a secker of signs, Nigerian films wese good, therefore her move back home would be good. * You from Yoruba in Nigetia” Aisha sid No. Lam Igbo” You Igho?” For the frst time, a smile appeated on Aisha’s face smile that showed as much of her small teth as her dark gums. think you Yoruba because you dark and Igo fae 1 have two tybo ‘men. Very good, Igbo men take care of women el god: 1s Aisha was alos whispering, « sexal suggestion inher tone, and in the mito, the discoloration on her arms and neck became ghastly sors. feels imagined some burstingand going, others faking, She Tooked away. ‘Igho men take care of women real good,” Aisha repeated. “I ‘want macy. They love me bat they ay the Family want Igbo woman. Because Igbo marry Igbo always Hemel swallowed the usge to laugh. "You want vo marey boh of| them’ "No." Aishs made an impatient gesture, “I want marry one But thisthing ste? Igbo mary Igbo always?” “gbo people marry al kinds of people. My cousin's husband is Yoruba, My uncle's wifes fiom Scotland” ‘Aisha paused in her twisting, watching Hfemela in the mirror, 8 though deciding whether to believe her My site say it is tre. Igbo marry Igbo always" she sid How does your sister know “She know many Igbo people in Africa, She sel loth ‘Where ese?” InAlvies ‘Where? In Senegal” Benin, “Why do you say Afric instead of just saying the country you meat?" Temmls ated. ‘Aisha clicked. "You don't know America, You say Senegal and American people the iy, Wheres that? My frend from Burkina Faso, they asker, youe country in Latin America?” Aish sumed wisting aelyamile on be face, and chen asked, af Lem could not possibly tuderstand how things were done here,"Hovw long you in America” Memels decided then that she didnot tke Aisha all She wanted so url the conversation now, so that they would say only what they needed to say during the sx hours i woud take to braid herbi, and to she pretended not to have heard and instead brought out her phone Dike had stl not replied to her ext He always replied within min sates, or maybe he was sil t basketball practice, o with his fends, vatchiag some silly video on YouTube. She ealed him and lefa long, rmesige, easing her voice, going on and on about his basketball prac tice and wat tas hot up in Mastachusers and was he stil aking Page tosee the movie today. Thon feling reckless, she composed an e-mail to Obinze and, without permitting herelf eo reread it, she sen it off, She had writen that she was moving back to Nigeria and, eve chowgh she hada job waiting for her. even though her car wasaleady ona ship ‘bound for Lagos, it suddenly fle rae fr the frst time. ree ddd ‘moe back o Niel ‘Aisha was not discouraged. Once Hemel looked up from her phone, Aisha asked again, "How Tong you in America?” "Hemel took her time puting her phone back int her bag. Years go she had ben asked similar question, ata wedding ofone of Aunty Ujus friends, and she had sid wo year, which was the truth, but the jeer on che Nigerians fice had eaught her that, to ean the prize of being taken seriously among Nigcrans in America, among Africans jn America indeed among imigrants in America she needed more years. ix years, she began tsay when itwas jst cree and al. Eight yes, she said when ie was ive, Now that twas thirteen year, ying scemed unnecessary but she lied anyway. Fifteen years” she ssid “Fifteen? That long ime,” A new eespect slipped inc Aisha's yes You lve here in Trenton?” "ive in Princeton, “Princetos.” Aisha paused. “You student?” “ve juse finished a fellowship." she said, knowing that Aisha would not understand what fellowship was, and in the rare moment that Aisha looked intimidated, Ifemelu fel perverse pleaure, Yes, Princeton, Yes, thesortof place chat Aisha could only imagine the sort of place tht would never have signs tha ssid QUICK TAX REFUND; people in Princeton didnot need quick tax refunds “But I'm going back home ro Nigeria. Ifemelu added, suddenly emorsful “Tm going next week” “Tosce the family “No. 'mmoving back. To live in Nigeria” “Why Whar do you mean. why? Why not Better you send money hack, Unles your father is big man? You have connections?” v7 ve and job there” she aid You may in America fifteen years ad you jast go back vo wos?” Aisha smirked, "You can stay there? “Aisha reminded he of what Aunty Ua sad, when she finally accepted that Ifemelu was serious about moving back—Wall ou baile tocage-and the siggestion, that she was somehow irevocaby altered by America, had grown thorns on hee skin. Her patents, roo, seemed ro think that she might norbe able to “cope” with Nigeria. “AC least you fe now an American citizen, so you can always rtutn to America” hee father had sid, Both of them had asked if Blaine wuld be com: ‘ng with her, sheie question heavy with hope. Ie amused her how ofeen they asked about Blane now since had taken them a while to make peace with the ida of her back American boyfriend. She imagined them nursing quit plans forher wedding: her mother would think of caterer and colours, and her father would think ofa distinguished friend he could ask to be the spoasoe. Reluctant to atten their hope becaute took so lile ro keep them hoping, which in tuen kepe thers happy. he tld hes father, "We decided I wil ome back Gest and then Blaine will come after afew weeks” “Splendid her father said, and she sid nothingelse because twas bes f things were simply left at splendid Aisha tugged lite too hard at her hae “Fften years in America ‘ery long time," Aisha sud, at though she had been pondering eis *You have boyfriend? You marry?" “Tim also going back to Nigeria ro se my man” Vemelu sad, sur prising herself My man, How easy st wast ie to steangers, ro create ‘wth strangers the versions of our lives that we have imagined. “Ob! Okay!” Aisha sid, exited; Hensel had Snally given her 2 comprehensible reason for wanting co move back “You will marey?" "Maybe. Well sce ‘Oht” Aisha stopped twisting and stared at er in the miror, a dead state, and Hemel feared, foe 2 moment. chat the woman had airvoyant powers and could tell se wat ying want you se my men. all hem. They come and you see them, incl call Choke, He work cab dever Then Emeka, He werk ecu rity. You se them “You don't have to cal them jut to mect me” ‘No. [call them. You tell them Igbo can erry noe Igbo, They listen to you” "No, realy. Ica do that” ‘Aisha kepe speaking 25 f she hadoe heard, "You tll them. They listen to you because you their Igbo sister. Any one is okay. I want femela looked at Asha, small, ordinary ficed Senegalese woman with patchwork skin who had two Igbo boyiiends,implassible as it seemed, and who was now insistent that Lfemelu should meet them and urge them to marry her. It would have made for agood blog post “A Peculiar Case of a Non-American Back, or How the Presses of Tnmigrant Life Can Make You Act Crazy” CHAPTER 2 eer ee honeymoon in Morocco to say he wanted to keepin touch and wanted. roralk sometime he did not reply “The taffic was moving A light rin was falling, The child begga ran along his doe eyed expression more theatial, his motions fran tHe bringing his hand ois mouth, again and agai, fingertips pursed together, Obinze rolled down the window and held out hundred naira note, From the review mietor, his driver, Gabriel, watched swith grave ditapproval ‘Gor bless yo, oa the child begga sid Dont be giving money 1 these beggars sie” Gabriel sald “They tell ich, They ate using begging to make big money. [heard about fone thar builes Block of sx flats in ja” So why are you working as a diver instead ofa begga, Gabriel" ‘Obinze asked, and laughed, alee roo heaetiy: He wanted t tll Gabriel thathis given from university had just e-mailed hit, at ally his gvfiend from university and secondary school. The frst time sheet him takeoff herbe, she a on her back moaning softly he ir gets played on his head, and afterwands she sid, "My eyes were open but Id not see the elling This newer happened before” Other girls \would have prtended that they had never lt another boy touch them but nother never her. There wasa vivid honesty about her. She began to call what they did together cdg, their warm entanglements om his bed when his mother was out, wearing Gnly underwear, touching and ‘ising and sucking, hips moving in simulation. lea orci, she conc wroteon the back of his geography notebook, an fr along time afterwards he could nat lock at thar notebook without a gathering frison, a sense of secret excitement, In university, when they finally stopped simulating she began to call kin Ceiling, i a playa way, ‘suggestive way--but when they Fought or when she retreated into ‘moodiness, she called him Obinve, She ad never called him The Zea, his fends di, "Why do you call him Ceiling anyway” his fiend ‘Oksradiba once aked her, on one of those languorous days afte First semester exams, She had joined group of his fiends siting around ‘filthy plnic table in a ber palour off campus. She drank from het bottle of Malina, swallowed. glanced at Obinze and std, “ecause hae isso tall his head touches the eclling, cant you see" Her deliberate slowness, the small smile that stretched het lips, made clear that he svanted thom to know that this was noe why’ she called him Ceiling Uhad he wa not tll She kicked him under the rable and he kicked her back, watching his Laughing friends they were all litle afraid of er and a litle i love with hes, Did she see the ccling when the black American touched he? Had she used “rl” with other men? upset him now to think tha she might ave His phone rng an for confused moment he thought ic was Lfemelt calling from Amica, Dating, ele 1 m0?" His wife, Kosi, always began her all to him with those words: Where are you? He never asked where se was ‘when he called he, but she would ell hin, anyway: 'm us petting to the salon. Tm on Thied Mainland Bridge, Ie was as ish needed the reassurance of theit physicality when they were not together. She had ‘high gcish voice, They weze supposed tobe at Chief «house forthe party atreven-thirty and iewas already pasts, Hetoléherhewas in traffic “Dur is moving and weve just turned {to Ozma Mbadkive, Ii coming” (On Lokki Expressway, the traffic moved swiftly in the waning rin and soon Gabriel was pressing the horn in fron ofthe high black gates, ‘of his home. Mohammed, the gareman, wiry in his dirty white caf ‘am, flung open the gates and raised a hand in greeting. Obie looked at the tan colonnaded house, Inside was his furniture imported from Inaly his wie, his two-year-old daughees, Buc, he nanny Christan, his wife sister Chioma, who was on a forced holiday because univer: si leeurers were on strike yet again, and the new housogid. Maris, ‘wo had been brought from Benin Republic aftr his wife decided that [Nigerian housegicls were unsuitable, The rooms would all be cola conditioner vents swaying quietly, and the kitchen would be fragrant with curry and thyme, and CNN would be on downstairs, while the television upstairs would be rurned to Cartoon Network, and perv {ngitall ould be the undisturbed air of well-being, He climbed ut of ‘the car. His git was stiff. his legs difcule oie, He had begun inthe pst months, o fel Bloated from a he had acquired-the Fail the houses, the cas the bank aecounts—and would, rom time to time, be ‘overcome bythe urge ta prick everything witha pin, to delae ital. to befice. He was no longer sure, he had in face never been sure, whether liked is fe because he eally did oe whether he Hed it because he was supposed to “Darling” Kes sad, opening the door before he got tot She was allmade-up, her complexion glowing, and he thought, as he often di what a beauifal woman she was, eyes pevfctlyalmond-shaped, 2 star tling symmetry to er features. Her crushes dres was cinched rightly atthe waist and made her figue lok very hourglssy He hugged he, carefully avoiding her lis, painted pink an lined ina dake pink Sunshine in the evening! Ai! Up” he said. "Chief doesa need pputon ay lights a the par. once You asive” Sie laughed. The same way she laughed, with an open accepting enjoyment of her awn looks, when people asked her "Ts your mother white Ae you a alEcare?” because she was so fsieskinned, It had always discombitd him, the please she took in being mistaken for tied race “Daddy-daddy" Buchi said, running to him in che slighely off balance manner of toddlers. She was fesh from her evening bath wearing her fomered pyjanis and smelling sweetly of baby ation “Buch-buch! Daddys Buch!" He swung hee wp kised her, mized hernece and, because it always made her laugh, pretended theowher down onthe Boor, “willyoubathe or as change?” Kosi asked following him upstairs, where she had lid ou 2 bie cftan on is bed. Fe would have pre- ferred a dress shiet ora simpler cftan instead ofthis, with is oveey decorative embroidery, which Kos had bought for an outrages sum from one of those new pretentious fashion designers on The Island, Buc he would wea eto please het “Tljust change. he said “Hlow was work” she asked, in the vague. pleasant way that she always asked, He told her he was thinking about the new black of Aats he had jase completed in Parkview. He hoped Shell would rent itbecause the ol companies were always the best renters never com plaining abou abrupe hikes, paying casilyn American dollars so that, nobody had to deal with the Rctuating naira Don't worry” she said, and wuched his shoulder. “God will bring Shell. We willbe okay, daring” ‘The fats were in fact already rented by an oil company but he sometimes told her senseless lies sch as this, because a par of him hoped she would ask question o challenge hi, though he knew she 3 ‘would not, because all she wanted was to make sue the conditions of thee life remained the same, and how he made that hsppen she lef trl 1 im, cmns’s PARTY WOULD bore him, a5 usual, but he went because he went 9 all of Che's parties, and each time he parked in font of Cie’ large compound, he remembered the fist time he hed come there, with his cousin Nneoma He was newly back from England, had been in Lagos for only a week, bur Nacoma was already grumbling shout how he could not juste around inher lat reading and moping “Ahn ahn! © gi Are you the fist person to have this problem? ‘You have to get up and hustle. Everybody i hustling, Lagos is about fasting” Nneome said. She had thick-palmed, capable hands and ‘many busines interests; she tailed to Dubai ro buy gold, 0 China to buy women’s clothing, and lately, she had become distributor for a frozen chicken company “I would ave sid you should come and help me in my business but 2, you are too soft, you speak woo smuch English. L need somebody with gage she said. ‘Obinze was sil reling from what had happened to hin in Eng” land, sl sulted i ayers of his own self py, and wo hear Naeoma’s

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