No Heaven for Good Boys by Keisha Bush

Author:Keisha Bush [Bush, Keisha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2020-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

It’s been four days since Idrissa sacrificed the lamb for the health and safety of their family and last night was the first night Maimouna did not fall ill with fever and spasms. Instead, Maimouna wakes with a deep fatigue within the pit of her stomach. Fatou tried to comb her hair this morning, but she pushed her away, preferring to sleep until noon. And so now with her braids fuzzy and her dress on backward Maimouna finally emerges from her room and makes her way to the kitchen, to start breakfast.

“Mama!”

Binta runs up to her mother in the kitchen.

“Mama?”

“Get away from me, child.”

Binta pauses, stares into her mother’s face for several moments, then runs out of the room.

“Aisha! Something’s wrong with Mama!”

She needs to get to Dakar. That’s what she needs to do. Find Marabout Ahmed, kill him, and bring her son home. Maimouna goes into her room and grabs her change purse, shoving it into her brassiere. Back in the kitchen she grabs the largest blade she can find and hides it in the fold of her ankle-length wrap skirt.

“Mama, are you okay? Is your fever back?” Aisha asks from the doorway.

Maimouna turns around quickly, searching Aisha’s face to see if she saw her.

“Go find your sister and help her prepare dinner, my love. I’m fine,” she says in a gentle and kind voice.

The sun is blinding and the heat causes her crankiness to rise. The world around her feels foreign and strange. She looks down the sandy path to ensure no one is outside. Her mind is racing, playing out different scenarios of what could happen when she arrives to Dakar. A flood of nausea and dizziness takes hold of her and she holds on to the side of a house for support. Deep breath. Think. Get to Dakar. Find Ahmed. Kill him. Bring Ibrahimah home. But first, she needs to get there. Find transport out of this suffocating little village.

She walks to the main road and hails a horse-drawn wagon. Several trees line the wide road on both sides, creating a shady corridor. The driver slows down for her; the dark-brown horse neighs at the disruption of his gentle gallop. She scrambles up onto the back next to several large bundles of hay, manure, and farm tools. Her shoulders sit hunched over, her eyes blank as she reimagines a scene where she rescues her son from the devil. With the knife in his belly Ahmed will be too slow to catch them. The wagon passes by Fatou walking along the side of the road, carrying a bucket of water.

“Mama!” Fatou yells at the departing wagon.

Maimouna looks past her eldest daughter, who looks at her with confusion and shock.

The wagon stops on several occasions with passengers getting on and off. After the last customer disembarks, the driver parks the wagon, leaves, and comes back to load it with several more bushels of hay. He works around her, never once asking Maimouna where she is going. By now, the high afternoon sun has calmed itself and is setting comfortably on the horizon.

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