Sunny and the Mysteries of Osisi by Nnedi Okorafor

Author:Nnedi Okorafor [Nnedi Okorafor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781911115588
Publisher: CASSAVA REPUBLIC PRESS
Published: 2018-05-18T04:00:00+00:00

20

ROAD TRIP

It was days before Christmas, and Chukwu had come home from university. Sunny was in the kitchen cooking rice and stew when she heard him drive into the compound blasting Nas. Sasha would have been impressed. Nas was Sasha’s favourite rapper of all time.

Chukwu was with his best friend who’d nearly gotten him killed, Adebayo. Sunny eyed him as she added the last of the chicken wings to the stew and set it on low heat. She knew Adebayo but not that well. When he came by, he’d disappear into her brothers’ room with Chukwu to play video games. As they grew older, they’d immediately be off to play soccer or join those boxing matches Chukwu had never told her about or whatever they did.

The Adebayo whom Sunny knew was from that fateful night with the Red Sharks. He hadn’t seen her, but she’d seen him. All she could think now as she approached him and her brother, both of whom were bobbing their heads to the loud music, was that this idiot had slapped Chukwu across the face. How were they still friends? And from the swollen looks of the muscles bursting from their designer T-shirts, they’d continued working out in that dank sweaty basement of a gym.

“Welcome,” Sunny said, smiling at Chukwu as she walked up to the car. “How na dey?”

“I dey kanpe,” he said, giving her a hug. “I’m fine.”

She looked at Adebayo and felt a cool satisfaction when even with his muscles he seemed to shrink in her presence. “Good afternoon,” she said to him.

He grunted, “Hello.”

Sunny waited for Chukwu to greet their parents with Adebayo, drop Adebayo off at his home, and come back. She cornered him in the kitchen when she knew Ugonna was in his room submerged in a video conversation on his computer and their parents were watching a Nollywood film in the living room. Chukwu was microwaving some jollof rice and two large pieces of goat meat.

“Is that supposed to be a snack?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, moving past her to sit at the table. He flexed his arms as he put the plate down. “Gotta feed these.”

Sunny rolled her eyes and grabbed two plantain. “Want some?”

“Of course.”

She brought out a knife and sliced the first one down the skin. She removed the thick peel and put the plantain on a plate and did the same with the next. “So how have things been?” she ventured. “At school.” Her back was to him but she didn’t have to look to see that he’d stiffened.

“Very well,” he said.

“Good.”

“Next semester, my biology professor wants me to be his assistant lecturer.”

This time Sunny stiffened. To be a student lecturer was a highly respected position that students fought tooth and nail to get. It gave you valued teaching experience and broadcast to everyone that you were a top student. In addition, it showed that you had clout. It was one of the biggest reasons people joined confraternities.

“Really?” she said.

She turned around to find her brother looking straight at her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.