Laila blames her vanishing libido on moving into Kasim’s apartment. She tries to remember the last time they had sex and feels guilty when she cannot recall offhand. Days pile on days and weeks on weeks. Dating a TA once felt illicit and exciting; she would take him to bed between classes and still be up for more at night. Now it’s a Tuesday night after her closing shift at the housewares store, a job one rung lower than the office assistant position she was recently let go from,...
Nothing the eye can see will make it bleed. -Igbo Proverb
The other nurses hated me.
I wanted to believe it was not malicious but stemmed from mystery because they found me impossible to read. A year ago, when I was posted to this hospital, Jos General Health and Medical Centre, they had been curious to know more about me. Apart from the hallowed tales of my matron who introduced me as “the brilliant nurse Nye...
1.
Maisie’s on the verge of something spectacular. This, we know—and not because the nanosecond upticks of her gait, pulse, blinks, aerobic functions, shuddering fast-twitch muscles are all textbook, or whatever. Not because North’s screens and heat sensors and remote-control body cameras are blaring their siren songs, moaning something is about to happen, what could it be? Well: We know what’ll happen. Because Emily had scouted hundreds of potentials before settling on the Tour Guide...
