Say You’re One Of Them by Uwem Akpan Read Free Book Online

textbook plus an exercise book,
d’accord?
”
    “Books for me?” I said, excited. “When?”
    “Tomorrow. You no go borrow book again for school. Since you like to read, you go
dey
read every night.”
    “Thanks, Fofo Kpee,” I said, and glanced at the new bike, as if to acknowledge that without it coming into our lives I wouldn’t have had what I needed for school.
    “Witout education, you children,
comme moi,
go just rot for dis town, where danger full everywhere. No, I go try make sure
say una
go
dey
rich. I go even make sure
say una
go come be like de children of our politicians and leaders.
Una
go go school
sef
for abroad.” He paused, then turned sharply to Yewa. “Hey,
mon bébé,
no problem if you no want be professor.
Abi,
you want become international businesswoman, yes? Anyway, you go
dey
cross dis ocean to Gabon, go come, go come, as if you
dey
go toilet,” he said, snapping his fingers and pointing in the direction of the ocean.
    “Give us a ride on the Nanfang,” Yewa said suddenly, in a petulant voice. I felt she wanted to be granted this, since she couldn’t sleep in the same room with the Nanfang.
    “Easy,
pourquoi pas?
” our uncle said, going over to pour her more juice. “
C’est tout?
”
    “Yes, take us out, Fofo, please,” said Yewa, turning around. She was struggling not to smile, trying to remain angry, as if she still had all the power.
    “Oh no, me I be responsible man,” Fofo Kpee said in a cooing voice, and smiled a large smile. His face creased and lessened the tension on his left eye, making the scar on his cheek look artificial. “How me go come risk
una
life when I never
sabi
how to drive de
zoke˙ke˙
yet? Gimme time . . . I go carry you go anywhere. . . .
Bois
. . .
bois.
Drink . . . drink.”
    “
Allons
Braffe! To see Papa and Mama!” I said.
    My sister quickly unstuck her mouth from the cup, swallowed, and said breathlessly, “Yes, yes, to Braffe . . . to Braffe!”
    “
Absolutement,
” Fofo said.
    “Tomorrow,” Yewa said.
    “No . . . impossible.”
    “Mr. Big Guy will ride us,” I said.
    Fofo shook his head. “Ah
non,
you want shame me,
mes enfants?
How me go arrive for Braffe village when I never fit drive my
zoke˙ke˙?
No, make we wait small. I go learn fast. . . . Even
sef,
I never get enough money to visit Braffe now.”
    “Papa and Mama will be happy to see us and the Nanfang,” Yewa said, and got up and came to sit on the bed with me.
    “Grandpapa will give you many handshakes. Grandmama will dance,” I said. “Hey, let’s go on Monday.”
    “Kotchikpa, Monday?” Fofo Kpee said incredulously. “No, I go first come your school to pay school fees on Monday. . . . School before pleasure, right,
mon peuple,
right?”
    “Yes, Fofo,” I said. When I looked at my sister, happiness had taken over her face. She started babbling about our family in the village.
    We hadn’t seen them for one and a half years, since Fofo came to the village to take us to live with him. Papa, a short chubby man with a stern face, was bedridden, tended by our dutiful and teary grandmother. Mama, a mountain of a woman, with an everlasting smile and restless energy, had already lost her bulk, become emaciated, and couldn’t walk to the farm without resting two or three times under the
ore
trees by the roadside. No matter how many times we asked, nobody volunteered any information about our parents’ sickness. Our relatives talked in hushed voices about it, a big family secret. However, by eavesdropping, I learned that my parents had AIDS , though I didn’t know what it meant then.
    Before we left home, our relatives gathered in our parents’ living room, and Papa and Mama told us to be obedient to Fofo Kpee, not to disgrace them by being ungrateful to him at the border town to which he was taking us. They said he would henceforth be our father and mother and that I was to show a good example to Yewa and to protect the name of our family at all costs. I promised