Nnedi Okorafor - Lagoon

“Where the hell are you?” Festus yelled.

“Relax. I’m fine.”

“You should have called to let me know that,” Festus growled. “You disappeared from your own after-party!”

“Sorry, o. Trust me, I have a good excuse.”

“I thought you’d been kidnapped.”

“I wasn’t,” Anthony said. “Listen, Festus, I have a job for you and the boys.”

As he told Festus an abbreviated version of all that had happened since he’d left the club where he’d performed, he strolled to the window. The gate in front was high, but flimsy. People could see the entire house but someone would have to open the gate to get to the front door. A good space for a crowd. As long as it stayed polite.

Festus reacted just the way Anthony had hoped. He exclaimed with surprise and asked a thousand questions. Then Festus came up with the perfect way to alert Anthony’s fans about the “Mad mad Anthony Dey Craze free concert” that would take place on the lawn of a small Victoria Island home. “Through radio, social networks and word of mouth,” he said. “Everybody go know!” Anthony could hear Festus grin his toothy grin. At heart, Festus was an instigator, so he didn’t feel guilty about the fact that it was all a ruse to bring people together for something outlandish.

“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” Festus said.

Anthony pulled at his short beard and bit his lip. He did… sort of. “I do.”

While Anthony planned with Festus, Adaora’s children, Kola and Fred, peeked into the room from the hallway. When Anthony didn’t notice them, they oh-so-quietly tiptoed across the room to the stairs leading down to their mother’s lab.

Kola had to work hard not to burst out laughing. Fred wasn’t helping. He always started giggling uncontrollably whenever they sneaked past adults. Kola had to stop for a moment; her belly was cramping from holding in all her laughter. It was funny but also really annoying. Somehow, they made it to the lab entrance.

Bellies aching, they descended the stairs and peeked in on the alien. Preoccupied with her book, Ayodele didn’t seem to notice as the two cautiously crept into the lab and hid behind the fish tank. All was silent except the tank’s bubbling filter. Kola softly tapped on the glass to get a yellow butterfly fish to swim out of her line of vision. She was about to sneak closer when Fred grabbed her arm.

“What?” she hissed.

“Scared!” Fred whispered.

“Don’t you want to speak to a real live alien ?” Kola asked. “Like the ones in the movies?”

Fred vigorously shook his head. “I’ve changed my mind.”

“Well, I do,” Kola said. She stood up straight and nervously grabbed a handful of her long braids. “Hello.”

Ayodele smiled, though her eyes didn’t leave her book. “Greetings, children.”

“I’m… Kola and that’s my little brother, Fred.”

Still cowering behind the fish tank, Fred waved a feeble hello.

“Are you really an alien?” Kola asked.

Ayodele closed her book and looked at Kola. “By your definition, yes.”

“Well, how come you look human?”

“Would you rather I didn’t?”

“Why not appear as yourself?”

“Human beings have a hard time relating to that which does not resemble them. It’s your greatest flaw.”

Kola liked this answer very much because it made sense. In cartoons, even the animals who could talk also had to look human. That had always annoyed her brother. She stepped closer.

“How come you speak English?” Kola asked.

“So you will understand me.”

“Can you speak Hausa?”

“ Ii ,” she said, with a nod.

“Igbo?”

“ E-eh ,” Ayodele said, nodding again.

“Russian?”

“I can if I get close to someone who can, yes. You cannot, so I cannot.”

Kola had to agree. She could indeed speak Igbo and Hausa and not Russian. “Do you like it here?”

“I do.”

“You might have liked the United States more,” she said. “They’ve got more stuff. And if your spaceship is broken, they can probably fix it better.”

“Our ship is not broken.”

“My mother says the waters are all dirty and dead because of the oil companies,” Kola said. “Will you all be all right in there?”

Ayodele laughed in a knowing way that made a thousand more questions germinate in Kola’s head. “Yes,” Ayodele said.

“Can you die?”

“Maybe. Probably not.”

“ Na wao ,” Kola whispered with awe. She leaned against the sofa, now only a foot from Ayodele. This was the most interesting person/thing/whatever she’d ever met. “So, how old are you?”

Philomena came running down the stairs. “Kola! Get away from her… get up here! Fred!”

His fear for his sister, and of the strange woman who looked like his aunt in Asaba, finally exploded and Fred went running to Philomena, the only person other than his parents who could get his sister Kola to behave. Kola reluctantly left Ayodele’s side. “We just wanted to ask some questions,” Kola said, when she reached Philo.

“I’d never hurt them,” Ayodele said.

Philomena pushed Kola up the stairs. “Why would I believe anything you say? I don’t even know what you look like, let alone what you will do to us.” She rudely sucked her teeth and over her shoulder muttered, “Nonsense.”

“Maybe you should try asking me, then,” Ayodele said flatly.

Philomena was halfway up the stairs. “Stay away from the children.”

“School will bring you more success than marriage,” Ayodele said, raising her voice.

Philomena turned and glared at Ayodele.

“I know what your boyfriend is planning and I know why you told him about me,” Ayodele said. “In the end, only you can make yourself happy. Finish school. Forget him.”

Philomena dug her nails into the wooden banister. Then she ran up the stairs.

No matter how carefully Jacobs walked, his heels made too much noise. Click, click, click. The hallway of the abandoned secondary school amplified the sound. It was afternoon and the sun shone brightly outside, and he was wearing his favorite long black dress and high heels. They’d parked right beside the building and quickly run inside. Right now was a terrible time to draw attention to himself, but he couldn’t show up to this meeting speaking the Pidgin English he spoke with the guys, nor could he arrive dressed like a “guy”. He needed to present this new development to his friends as himself . He needed to show he was serious and unafraid.

“Walk faster,” Jacobs instructed, wincing at the sound of his footsteps as they picked up speed.

“It’s been such a weird day,” said Fisayo, her heels clicking just as loudly. “Everything being closed, all the checkpoints… the wahala at Bar Beach. My God, Jacobs, I don’t know what I saw last night, but whatever’s going on is not over.”

“Trust me, I know,” he said, putting a strong arm around his sister’s shoulder and giving her a squeeze of reassurance. He was glad she was OK. He’d hated leaving her to walk Bar Beach looking for work alone. Usually he stayed around to at least make sure she was OK, but last night he had eaten some bad soup and thus had a bad case of indigestion. And look what had happened to her.

Worse yet, she’d probably want to return to Bar Beach when they finished here. She’d go home, change and get herself ready and arrive at Bar Beach in the evening. Right now was the best time to pick up the safest johns. Late-afternoon johns were looking for a girl to spend an evening with and this usually included fine treatment and a meal. Evening johns were crueler and looking for something less companionable.