The Other Side of Truth Read Free Page B

for you. We shall all miss you.” Their aunt struggled to keep her words steady.
    Sade’s voice was choked. How could she speak without becoming confused and jumbled? Yet if she did not use these few minutes, when would they see Papa again and be able to talk to him face to face? She sat down beside him, leaning her head against his chest. Femi inched toward him and Papa drew him closer. Feeling the strength of Papa’s arm around her, Sade heard herself ask in a small voice, “What will they do to Mama?”
    She was taken aback at her own question. She did not want to think of Mama laid out on the stretcher. Yet she needed to know.
    “The doctors have to do a post-mortem. They must check what is the cause of death. When that is over, she can be prepared for burial.” Papa spoke gently.
    “Where?” Femi asked gruffly, his head down.
    “In our home village, if possible. We have to see. Look,we shall still be able to talk over the phone and—”
    Papa broke off as Uncle Tunde poked his head around the door.
    “Sorry to interrupt. It’s time to leave. We have to get through the traffic.”
     
    Uncle Tunde had driven his car around to the back compound.
    “It’s better if no one sees you,” he said bluntly.
    He opened the rear door and pointed to the floor between the seats.
    “Squeeze in down here and I shall cover you up.”
    A dark gray blanket lay on the backseat.
    Femi’s face wrinkled in protest.
    “You can be sure your uncle will make me lie down there when we go out!” Papa embraced the children quickly.
    “Look after each other,” he said huskily. “We shall be together soon. O dabo .”
    Mama Buki’s cheeks were wet as she kissed them. Sade clambered into the vehicle and crouched down in the narrow space. Femi followed and a few seconds later the blanket covered them like a great thunder cloud.
    “Femi?” Sade whispered. “Are you all right?”
    She stretched out her arm to touch her brother. Her fingers clasped something knobbly, his knee. Usually when they played in the dark it was a game, full of giggles and weird sounds intended to frighten each other. Now Femi made no response apart from a muffled sniff.
    “Femi?” she repeated.
    He jiggled his knee as if to shake her loose. Sade withdrew her hand and hugged herself tightly. She listened to Uncle Tunde open and close the trunk, climb into the front seat and slam the door. Each movement carried different vibrations. They were being swept away from their home and from Papa, submerged in darkness. The engine was revving now and they were leaving. To some unknown place. Only a few hours ago Mama had been carried away under a blinding-white sheet. Not seeing, not hearing, not feeling. But Sade could still hear and feel. She dug her fingers into her palms, wishing she could stop all sensation.

CHAPTER 4
“SO, YOU TWO WILL BE MY CHILDREN”
    HUNCHED UNDER THE BLANKET , Sade heard Joseph clang the metal gates behind them, locking away the single-story white house in the compound that was home. Joseph had known them all their lives and they had not even said good-bye.
    Sade tried to imagine what they were passing. Leaving. The avenue of palms and the giant-leafed plantains clustered at the corner. She and Femi used to believe that the street-ghosts hid behind them. Then Mr. Abiona’s grocery table under the spidery almond tree, with tins, bottles, pots and boxes stacked high like colorful acrobats balancing on each other’s shoulders. Whatever Mama ran out of—soap powder, matches, shampoo, palm oil—Mr. Abiona managed to produce it with a knowing smile. Sade would have liked to say good-bye to him too. She had seen him this morning, his cheeks squashed between his hands. His mouth open. Speechless. He was one of the first people to come running from outside…to see Mama lying in the driveway. He must have heard the shots. Perhaps he had even seen the gunman’s car speeding away.
    Already Femi was squirming, although the journey hadhardly