Beneath the Baobab Tree

ter

lieved that words

rontation. In books, love was slow and poetic. In real life, it was clumsy, loud,

i rarely spoke u

ood behind her mother like a shadow. At home, she spoke in yeses and nods. Eve

r ribs - gentle at first, then urgent, like seedl

er T

oments replayed in different variations: What if I had said somethi

the Literary Circle. Her hands trembled slightly as she clutched her notebook

he had forgotten. O

legs did

ar the shuffle of pa

re ea

n desks, legs crossed casually, sleeves rolled up to

swall

to be late," she s

e easily, but not too wid

the room was warm and filled with the scent of chalk and sun-warmed boo

oetry, righ

nod

we'll start w

to impress Tunde, girls who wanted to sit close. But when the session

ak for the ho

less throat o

t teachers. Instead, he asked questio

iceless?" he asked, glancing at the

nswered

and - slowly, as if rai

prised, but plea

means... being full of things to say

om fel

slowly. "Yes," he s

e that, some

ttering loudly, some still laughing over how Bisi mispronounced "

t the desk, orga

," he said without lo

to her cheeks. "I

"But when you do, you

hers, not her mother, not even her grandmother. Peopl

able to form a

added. "Keep coming. The cl

hat day not on he

der while Iya Ronke sat nearby, slicing okra and humming an old f

her mother said

lub," Kemi re

g. "Is that what the corper is teaching

n't make girls foolish. That some books helped girls find the truth in themse

said n

e helped st

e baobab tree, Kemi

the world forg

e hea

it was o

life, she wondered what it wou

just

nders