Segun Afolabi is a Nigerian novelist and short story writer. Born in Kaduna, he spent much of his childhood moving between countries as the son of a diplomat. His story Monday Morning won the 2005 Caine Prize for African Writing.
Segun Afolabi
Monday Morning
From The Obituary Tango: a selection of works from the Caine Prize for African Writing. New Internationalist Publications Ltd., 2006.
"I want to piss," the boy said in their language...The mother scanned the area, but she could not find a place for her son; there were too many people beside the trees, talking, laughing...The boy and his father hurried towards the lake. The father was glad to see that his son could find relief. They did not notice how people looked at them with their mouths turned down. Sour. The eyes narrowed to slits. The breeze blew and the ducks and swans floated past. The boy was afraid of them, but his need to evacuate was too urgent. Steam rose from the stream that emerged from him as it fell into the water, and he marvelled at this. There was so much to understand that was new here.
The boy and his family are staying at a hostel after fleeing the violence of their own country. "The sign at the building read Hotel Excelsior, but this was not a hotel...The linen was stained with the memory of previous guests, the rooms sang with the clamour of too many people." An outing to the park provides some respite.
They joined the people on the path as they strolled though Regent's Park...A breeze gathered up leaves and pushed the crowds along. A clump of clouds dragged across the sun. People pulled their clothes tight around themselves. The mother adjusted her scarf so there were no spaces for the wind to enter...She shoved her mittened hand back into her coat pocket and watched the children as they drifted away. After a moment she called, "Ernesto, come away from there," to her eldest boy. They had wandered towards an area where people were playing a game with a ball and a piece of wood, and she did not want there to be any trouble.