50
a carwash and smiled, You need to be strong Nnameya as if she had an
alternative.
‘How far we are going?’ Meya asked Kayita’s brothers. ‘We might need
to fill the tank.’
‘Only to Nsangi,’ one of them replied.
‘Don’t try to lose us: we shall call the police.’
The van drove off rudely. When the three brothers returned to their car
they informed Nnam.
‘They are taking him to Nsangi, Nnam;I thought your house in Nsangi is
rented out?’
Like a dog pricking up its ears, Nnam sat up. Her eyes moved from one
brother to another to another, as if the answer was written on their
faces.
‘Get me father on the phone,’ she said.
Meya set the phone on speaker. When their father’s voice came Nnam
asked,
‘Father, do you have the title deeds for the house in Nsangi?’
‘They are in the safe deposit.’
‘Are they in his name?’
‘Am I stupid?’
Nnam closed her eyes. ‘Thanks father thanks father thanks thank you.’
LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE
Page 50