Read Online An African Affair by Nina Darnton - Free Book Online Page B

hung up. But his voice was replaced by a truly beautiful sound: a dial tone.

CHAPTER 9
    Lindsay got out of bed the next morning, high on the thrill of her new phone line. She was connected, and it was a heady sensation; she could phone the desk and the editors could phone her—well, that wasn’t quite as good, but maybe she could dodge those calls. She could also reach her friends and occasionally her mother, a worrier. She doubted that her father, busy with his new family, thought about her often—or, for that matter, that he ever had.
    She glanced at the clock: 7:30. She brewed the coffee and opened the door to retrieve the Nigerian Times from its usual spot next to the garbage heap, scanning the headlines as she walked back inside. The lead story was “Operation Feed the Nation a Big Success.” She knew that wasn’t true. There was no mention of the death of Babatunde Oladayo. No surprise there. She calculated how long it would take until the Nigerian authorities read the Globe and she pictured Olumide’s face when he was told.
    Just then, Maureen, her eyes swollen and her hair uncombed, came into the kitchen. She refused coffee, saying her stomach was still upset.
    “You know,” Maureen said, “I heard something at the office yesterday that made me wonder about the man who washed up on the high commissioner’s garden.”
    Lindsay sipped her coffee.
    “One of our office assistants has a connection with a dissident group called The Next Step . She claimed that one of their people was kidnapped and killed. His family was told he was lynched for stealing someone’s wallet, but they all saw him being taken away by the military police. Could that be the corpse you saw?”
    Lindsay took another sip of coffee, deciding how much to reveal. “I knew that,” she said, finally. “I wrote the story and was going to tell my paper to hold it, but then I changed my mind and told them to print it.”
    “Why did you do that?”
    “I don’t know—I hope I didn’t make a mistake. I just couldn’t let Olumide completely get away with what they did to him.”
    Maureen was silent.
    “I should have known you’d find out,” Lindsay said. “I feel bad that you’re sharing it and I didn’t.”
    Maureen shrugged. “That’s okay,” she said. “I told you a rumor. You actually witnessed an exclusive. I don’t hold that against you. And don’t worry—I’ll visit you in jail.”
    “Very funny.” Lindsay hesitated, then continued. “There’s more to the story. I was at a demonstration. I saw them club that guy and take him away.”
    Maureen’s eyes widened. “Did you put that in the story? Don’t answer—I know you did. Maybe I won’t be able to visit you.”
    Maureen placed two slices of bread in a pan on the stove. “Seriously, what do you think the reaction here will be?”
    “Not happy. But I don’t think they’ll move against me yet. I included all the quotes that mattered to Olumide in my piece on him. It wouldn’t look good if they tossed me out so soon just when he wants the West to believe he’s moving toward a democracy. But I’m pretty sure they’ll be watching me.”
    “I hope that’s all they do,” Maureen murmured. She shrugged. “Well, this exclusive’s yours. I’m next.”
    “Not if I can help it.”
    “Ah, but you can’t.”
    “We’ll see.”
    Lindsay smiled and retrieved some papers from the filing cabinet.
    “I have to read this before I—”
    “Oh yes, I almost forgot,” Maureen said. “You have a lunch date.”
    Shortly after noon Lindsay washed and dried her hair so it hung thick and straight past her shoulders. She slipped into a pair of white cotton pants and a pale yellow V-neck T-shirt. She dabbed on some lemon toilet water, grabbed a sun hat, a bathing suit, and a straw bag and went outside where John was waiting.
    The traffic was as bad as ever, and it seemed as though the government’s effort to improve it had made it worse. The army had posted red-capped