A Country You Can Leave by Asale Angel-Ajani

Author:Asale Angel-Ajani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

7

Don’t go in search of love. That’s not how you find it. It finds you in the form of one smoldering person, say an Irishman on holiday who you lost in the crowd or the Moroccan whose wife interrupts. Outside of books, these are the purest forms of love. The loves rooted in a singular moment of hope and then it’s gone.

Since my night in jail and working with my mother at Rusty’s, she starts waking me up at the crack of dawn, standing over me, eating a piece of toast or drinking a milky cup of tea. Every morning.

“You can stop policing me,” I say when I have had enough. It’s 5:00 a.m., two whole hours before I need to even think about waking up.

She ignores me. “Chip-chop. We have an appointment.”

“But I have a science test today and a quiz in English.”

Yevgenia huffs. “Get your ass up. This won’t take long. I’ll get you back in time to take your precious exams.”

I eye her suspiciously. We hardly go anywhere together anymore but I know better than to ask where we’re headed, mostly because I might not like the answer. Her clothes offer no clues. She is what she considers “fully dressed,” wearing a black strapless tube of fabric the size of a dish towel.

“You’re wearing that?” I ask as I pull a sweatshirt over my head and jam on a pair of jeans.

“Are you wearing that?” she counters. “It’s too hot.”

“Well, if we’re not going to the beach then I’ll wear real clothes,” I say, eyeing her getup.

“Okay, okay.” Yevgenia signals that she’s done conversing.

She’s right. Though it’s nearly winter, the weather in the California desert is a trickster. I know the sweatshirt will be too hot by the afternoon. On second thought, I yank on a tank top and tie the sweatshirt around my waist. I hunt around for my shoes.

“Let’s go.” Her keys jangle.

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.