The Girl Who Crossed the Line by Tikiri Herath

Author:Tikiri Herath
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: iron-willed heroines, global travel adventure, international foodie, international thriller, Coming of age, Tanzania, East Africa, Foreign girl, Orphan in distress, Assassination, Innocence, Death, strong female protagonist
Publisher: Rebel Diva Academy
Published: 2017-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH my homework the next night, alone at the dinner table when I learned of my parents’ plans.

My stomach was full of spicy grilled eggplant, a crispy green bean stir fry and the yellow fried rice with peas my mother liked to make on Friday nights. These Friday night dinners weren’t great for an alert mind. I was barely keeping awake.

My parents were in the kitchen, cleaning up as usual. In between their conversation, I could hear the chink of china and the squeak of the faucet as it opened and closed.

My school books covered the dining table. I liked to spread myself when I did my homework because it made me look and feel busy, even if I wasn’t progressing very far. And that night, I was desperately sloughing through an algebra exercise, dozing over my books, wishing I was elsewhere.

“Did you hear from the embassy?” my mother asked.

What embassy?

“They didn’t reject us yet,” came my father’s voice in between a cupboard being opened and shut. “If all goes well, they’ll ask us to come in for a security check soon.”

Their words wafted toward me through the kitchen door, my mind half on the math puzzle in front of me and half listening in to what was going on in the kitchen.

“Security check?” asked my mother.

“Fingerprints, photographs and all that. We’ll also have to sign a paper to agree on them doing criminal checks in every country we lived in.”

“How long will that take?” My mother sounded worried.

“A few months if we’re lucky. We’ll have to be patient. They have a process in place to make sure everyone’s checked out before they emigrate.”

Emigrate?

I’d heard that word before. That sounded serious. I wondered what my parents were up to now.

“So, you think it’s promising then?”

“Hard to say. I’m doing everything I can.”

I wondered vaguely where we’d go to next.

Back to Kenya where I was born? To Botswana where I’d heard they have amazing safaris. To Namibia? Zimbabwe? Or maybe to South Africa? I felt a jolt of excitement go through me. I’d heard Johannesburg had shopping malls the size of a city and I’d never been to a real shopping mall before. Then, maybe Shanti would stop thinking I’m a girl from the slums. Maybe I could invite Chanda to visit me or maybe even stay with us so she could get to see the big city too.

My father let out a sigh. “There’s so much paperwork to do and we’ll have to wait a long time, but I know it’s worth it if we get in.”

“That’s true,” said my mother, “At least, Asha will get to go to a high school in America.”

I sat up.

America?

“It will be safer there for her too,” said my father, “and for us.”

America, like the America Tanya comes from?

I was on full alert now. I put my pencil down and turned to look at the open kitchen doorway.

I couldn’t see my parents bustling inside the kitchen but I could hear them.

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.