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Aunty Ifeka laughed again, and so did Baby, as if she understood.
"Oh." Ola
"The Sardauna was an evil man, ajo mmadu," Aunty Ifeka said. "He hated us. He hated everybody who did not remove their shoes and bow to him. Is he not the one who did not allow our children to go to school?"
"They should not have killed him," Ola
Aunty Ifeka snorted. "Put him in which prison? In this Nigeria where he controlled everything?" She got up and began to close up the kiosk. "Come, let's go inside so I can find Baby something to eat."
The Rex Lawson song was playing loudly in Arize's compound when Ola
"It's not fu
"Sister, but it is fu
Nnakwanze was sitting on the floor at Arize's feet, rubbing her belly in light circular motions. He had worried a lot less than Arize when she did not get pregnant the first, second, and third year of their marriage; when his mother visited them too often, poking at Arize's belly and urging her to confess how many abortions she had had before marriage, he asked his mother to stop visiting. He asked her, too, to stop bringing foul-smelling concoctions for Arize to drink in bitter gulps. Now that Arize was pregnant, he did more overtime at the railway and asked her to cut down on her sewing.
He was still singing the song and laughing. A goat begging not to be killed: mmeee-mmeee-mmeee.
Ola
Nnakwanze made as if to help Arize up, but she brushed him aside. "I have told you people that I am not sick. I am only pregnant."
Ola
In the airport taxi, Arize taught Baby a song while Ola
The driver stopped in front of her parents' walled compound in Ikoyi. He peered at the high gate. "The minister they killed used to live around here, abi, aunty?" he asked. Ola
Later, her mother's driver, Ibekie, took them to Kingsway The supermarket smelled of new paint. Arize walked from aisle to aisle, cooing, touching the plastic wrappings, picking out baby clothes, a pink pram, a plastic doll with blue eyes.
"Everything is so shiny in supermarkets, Sister," Arize said, laughing. "No dust!"
Ola
"It's too expensive," Arize said.
"Nobody asked you."
Baby pulled down a doll from a low shelf and turned it upside down, and it let out a crying sound.
"No, Baby." Ola
They shopped for a while longer and then left for Yaba market, where Arize could shop for fabrics for herself. Tejuosho Road was crowded, families huddled around pots of bubbling food, women roasting corn and plantains in charred basins, bare-chested men loading bags into lorries with hand-painted wisdoms: no condition is permanent, god knows best. Ibekie parked near the newspaper stands. Ola
She took Baby's hand and led the way past the roadside hawkers who sat under umbrellas with batteries and padlocks and cigarettes carefully arranged on enamel trays. The main market entrance was strangely empty. Then Ola
Somebody from the crowd called out, "We are counting the Igbo people. Oya, come and identify yourself. You are Igbo?"
Arize muttered under her breath, "I kwuna okwu," as if Ola
Baby began to cry. "Mummy Ola! Mummy Ola!"
Ola
'What is happening?" Ola
Arize shrugged. "We hear rumors that they have been doing this in Kaduna and Zaria since the coup; they go out in the streets and start to harass Igbo people because they said the coup was an Igbo coup."
"Ezi okwu? Really?"
"Yes, Aunty," Ibekie said quickly, as if he had been waiting for the opportunity to speak. "My uncle in Ebutte Metta does not sleep in his house anymore since the coup. All his neighbors are Yoruba, and they said some men have been looking for him. He sleeps in different houses every night, while he takes care of his business. He has sent his children back home."
"Ezi okwu? Really?" Ola
"Things will calm down," Arize said, and touched Ola
Ola
"She will wear that white dress for her christening, Sister," Arize said.
"What, Ari?"
Arize pointed at her belly. "Your goddaughter will wear that white dress for her christening. Thank you so much, Sister."
The light in Arize's eyes made Ola