Читать книгу The Wolf at Number 4 - Ayo Tamakloe-Garr - Страница 7

prologue

MAYBE ALL THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE MR. ADDISON tried to rape me. For a man old enough to be my father, he sure was strong.

Mike would have slapped his palm against his forehead if he had found out. Then he would have hugged me or something, and then after, gone to break Mr. Addison’s jaw. Mike was wonderful like that. When I asked him what he saw in Hannah, he said she was “some woman.” Noticing my expression, he added, “You’ve always been more person to me.” Half an hour later he married Hannah in the suit I had bought for him.

So maybe it was Hannah after all.

A cold gust brings me out of my thoughts. I am cold and numb. My throat is dry and cries out for something warm and sweet and comforting. Uncle Johnny gave me my first taste of wine when I was fourteen. I remember that night so vividly.

Maybe it was Uncle Johnny, rather.

I bite back the tears welling up behind my eyes. Kind of the way Augustine had attempted to. Augustine had not been one of my best decisions. I hadn’t told Wolf this, but Augustine had sort of gone off the rails afterwards. I had not been good for Augustine.

Wolf—maybe it was him.

Or maybe his father or his mother?

Or Nii?

Or was it the cancer that took my father?

Or the miscarriage?

Maybe it was Junior.

Maybe it was Jeff being so self-absorbed.

Maybe it was the Fire-Eater’s animosity towards me.

Or maybe, maybe it was me.

Maybe all this happened because I was me. But then could I be anything else?

I shake my head. I’m beginning to sound like Wolf already.

Another chilly breeze hits me.

“Ͻdɔ!” calls the young dreadlocked man in the BMW to my left. He licks his lips. His invitation hangs in the air like a disembodied hand, caressing my chin and beckoning me towards warmth.

I look around the filling station in the middle of nowhere. I have to find somewhere to go soon, but everywhere—Cape Coast, Accra—is the deep blue sea. And the sea has proven to be anything but warm.

The devil is still looking at me, all of the me he can see.

I wrap my arms around myself. Boy, is it cold out here.

Boy, am I cold.