Sankofa(73)

She was a judge but she was also in Kofi’s debt, as was almost everyone in this country. How could you condemn your savior?

“You must have some questions for me,” she said.

“I do. When the photograph of Kofi and me went viral, you said it came at a crucial moment.”

“That was when I still thought you were his mistress. Papa is considering contesting the next election. Nothing official yet, still unannounced. But you can see how such a young mistress might make him look unserious.”

“And a daughter?”

“Oh, Bamas don’t mind illegitimate children. Precolonial Africa was a polygamous society. Maybe one or two journalists might ask about you after the announcement.”

“Announcement?”

“Well, people would want to know who this new woman always seen with the Adjei family was. I’m sure somebody recognized you when we walked in. We could even do a television interview, answer all the questions once and for all. Me, personally, I find the holiday romance between Papa and your mother charming.”

“It wasn’t a holiday,” I said.

“Of course. Anyway, it’s not as if you have to come on the campaign trail. This is not America, where sons and daughters mount the podium and make speeches before an election. I go along with Papa because I’m a public figure, but Kweku doesn’t. He can’t even stand for long periods.”

“It won’t be necessary. I’m returning to England soon.”

“Really? I thought you might stay. Papa has grown fond of you.”

Fond of. I was a trinket for the Adjeis to hold on to, a new creature for their zoo.

“You’re all so entitled,” I said.

She narrowed her eyes. It was a look she used in court, perhaps, to quell anyone who threatened the Adjei rule of law.

“We don’t notice. It comes as naturally as our skin color.”

Yes, that was it. If I had been raised here, I would never notice standing at the front of the queue.

“Was he a good father?” I asked.

“Absent and strict but loving.”

“Kweku said he put him in jail.”

“Yes, I remember that. He was very stubborn. Papa doesn’t like his children to cross him. It wasn’t a bad cell. I visited him.”

She smiled and Amir came to clear our plates.

“The bill, please,” Afua said.

“On the house,” Amir replied.

“Really. That’s unnecessary.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Perhaps I can show your friend around town, if she’s here for a while longer. If that’s all right with you, my lord?”

He gave me a card with a phone number written on it.

“You don’t need Afua’s permission,” I said.

“Of course. Anytime you’re available, I’m free. Just call me.”

Outside, the driver was waiting in the car with the engine off and windows down, slowly baking in the sun.

“Amir has a child,” Afua said, once we were in the backseat.

“So do I.”

On the drive back, she answered a phone call and left me to my thoughts. I did not care for the future Afua had mapped out for me in Bamana, an appendage to the Adjei machine, but what future did I have in London if I refused Robert’s offer? My house suddenly seemed a distant, grey memory on a silent, graveyard street. I had already attempted life on my own there without much success.

Afua walked me to the front door and pressed her cheeks to mine.

“Thank you for lunch,” I said.

“The pleasure was mine, me nua.”

“Pardon?”

“It means ‘my sister.’”

“Me nua,” I said.

When she was gone, I lingered in the hallway entrance. The sun shone through the stained-glass windows and cast colored lights on the floor. It was fine workmanship, worthy of a cathedral, worthy of the Adjeis.

Kofi had not asked me to stay but he was fond of me, Afua said, and I was drawn to him by some strong homing instinct. Staying would be casting my lot with the powerful and standing against the Kinnakro Five, against Marcellina and Abena chained to a stake in the ground. There was no space in Bamana for neutral Adjeis.



Kofi does not come that day or the next. Sule is still trying to get me out of the country. I save Amir’s number but I do not call him. Robert’s declaration has left me once again feeling bound by fidelity. There is no one to ask for advice. I know Rose’s opinion, and I can guess at Katherine’s because of her faith. And what of Anna?

I would never have come to Bamana if Robert and I were still a couple, but then I also wouldn’t be stuck in Bamana. My marriage did lend a certain stability. And what of love? Robert no longer loomed so large in my mind. Coming to Bamana had put him in perspective.

I wear the dressing gown, which is starting to take on my musk. My canvases do not arrive. I lie on the floor several times and try to see the woman in the painting. The artist must have been a man to obscure her so completely, to pile her with paint until she disappeared.

On the opening night of my exhibition at Martha Reuben’s gallery, she invited me to answer questions. It was the point in the evening where all the guests were tipsy and thus supposedly full of goodwill.

“I noticed none of the figures have faces. Can you tell us why?” The question was obvious and I was grateful for it. My answer was practiced.