Chapter 7

Abstract

After a sumptuous lunch, Abdoulaye suggested a siesta. Being exhausted from the physical and emotional displacements of the journey, Omar willingly obliged. As soon as he lay down on his brother’s bed, he fell into a shallow sleep, tossing and turning in the still afternoon heat. He dreamed of his mother, remembering her face the day he left Tillaberi for Paris. Her unblinking eyes bore into his soul, filling him with a deep remorse. Maybe they both realized that Omar had decided to abandon his family’s way of life. On that day, Omar’s mother neither smiled nor waved goodbye. Her face seemed frozen. Years of living in the households of sorcerers, who are not supposed to betray emotion, had fashioned in her a deep stoicism. As he was about to turn his back on her, he noticed a single tear rolling down her cheek. What had he done to his dear mother? Why had he forsaken her? Omar bolted awake in a cold sweat.