It was in the town of Zomba, where the mist rolled down from the mountain like a tired ghost seeking to rest, that stories again began circulating about Bwalijo. Everybody knew him, although nobody truly […]

Everyone knows not to cross Kobe’s sidewalk. It’s an unspoken rule, an urban legend. The only people who adhere to it are tourists or suburban Atlantans.  Atlanta is a summer city. Most people usually go […]

Blood spurted from his nostrils in twin rivulets, coursing down his cheeks. It cascaded over his lips, gathering in his mouth before overflowing into viscous streaks down his chin. A crimson torrent shot from the […]

I don’t remember the exact day I realized I did not belong in my own life. Maybe it was the morning the adhan drifted over Karaye like a weary breath, calling the world awake while […]

When they got to a well-lit road, they hopped from one streetlight to the next, double-checking their bags’ contents, marvelling at the yield, budgeting on-the-go, their teeth a golden yellow in the shimmering light.

The rats in Rahman’s ceiling have a certain music to them—a haunting melody that can’t be mistaken. In the morning, it’s a lilting la-dee-da; by night, a muffled dee-dum, dee-dum. Their shrieks swell and sink […]

In the bank lobby, a little boy of seven walked up to me and slipped his hand into my palm. He was looking up at me and smiling. A woman stepped up, said, “Don’t mind […]

I I looked at the wall gecko hanging on the wall close to my favourite suit. I was hoping for some inspiration. Maybe three nods from the crawling being should do the trick. I started […]

After a week in our house, furious Aunty Coreen left. She’d located a Professor friend who taught at the University to host her. The Professor friend telephoned our house for help finding Uncle, but Daddy spoke to her at length without committing to anything apart from lists of names and places. Even Mama, in the years of being married to Daddy, had never heard these. Finally, speaking in Kiswahili, Daddy told the Professor about Aunty Adelaide, and that he and Mama didn’t want to break his new marriage. He had taken so long to settle, they said

When he took the hand, the three of them began to ascend. Nothing to be done by anyone but to watch as the sun glowed behind her head like an apparition, and the breeze caught and billowed the hem of her loose wrapper.