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 who saved numerous patients in the Army hospital in Kaduna,” there was nothing else they...
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...
This summer, everyone is drinking Aperol spritzes, and Simon orders one now. I would love an Aperol spritz, he says to the waitress, emphasizing that word—love—in a manner he never does with Andrew, his ostensible boyfriend, who is sitting across from him on the patio of the Moroccan restaurant. Between the heat and the cadaveric reek of New York City in July, Andrew is already sour and sweaty, and when the waitress turns to...
