Midnight Robber

Set apart from the main narrative in bold, san serif font, the first three pages are told by an unnamed first-person narrator who is addressing an unnamed “you” (1). At the end of the novel, it is revealed that this narrator is an A.I.—called a “house eshu” (327)—speaking to protagonist Tan-Tan’s unborn child, Tubman. The A.I. narrator describes Tan-Tan as “strong” with “skin like cocoa-tea” (1).

The narrator is on Toussaint, the mirror planet of New Half-Way Tree where the unborn child resides. New Half-Way Tree is the prison planet for Toussaint thieves and murderers. Tan-Tan’s story is about crossing between the “dimension veil” (2) between worlds.

This section begins on Toussaint Planet, moving into third-person narration and following Tan-Tan’s father, Antonio. The Mayor of Cockpit County, he has just discovered his wife Ione’s alleged infidelity with his friend Quashee. A female pedicab runner chats with him during his journey home, and he calls the house eshu. The A.I. says his wife, Ione, is taking a nap.

The unnamed runner turns the conversation to taxes and compares the tech-run A.I. autocars with the pedicabs run by human labor.