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That night was not like every other night. It was cold, windy and awfully dark. Mama did not say a word all day. She sat in her warm hut sulking. News had reached us that evening, that the neighbouring village; where my elder sister, Amina, lived, had been raided the previous night by bandits. They burned down huts, slaughtered their cows and men and took women and children away.  What baffled me was that Baba wasn't disturbed at all. He went around in his normal routine--leading the cattle into the barn and giving them hay for dinner, with his radio pressed against his ear. He joined me on a raffia mat under the mango tree, to have fura da nono (fresh cow milk) since mama was too traumatized to make dinner. Our village was scaringly quiet. Even the cows were silent. One could only hear the zuuu sound of the wind backed up by the sound of Baba's radio. Usually, at this time, I would be at our neighbor's chatting and singing with the girls till midnight. Listening t...

Still holding his breath, James shouted at the top of his voice, "whiteman na winch oh!". The sight of the famous Eiffel tower was breathtaking and unimaginable to him. All he could think of was how the white man has succeeded effortlessly in building yet another Tower of Babel. He looked around him smiling, greeting everyone that looked at him. He would just wave and say 'hello' admiring everything his eyes could see. He seemed not to care.  "O boy, I dey Yankee oh!" "The boy don arrive". *** The cellphone rang. A very huge man dressed in black answered the call before handling it over to James. "Sir, you have a call from America". James bobbed as if halted by a military officer. He looked close around him with keen interest for the first time, only to realize that he was in the midst of four huge men. Two in front of him and two behind him. "What am I doing in the midst of these huge men?", he asked himself. He eyed t...