My Sister, the Serial Killer

Tade sings to a little girl scared of needles. Even people in the street pause to listen. Korede, in love, behaves jealously with the child’s mother.

Korede takes food she has prepared to Tade on their lunchbreak, which he appreciates. As she returns to the waiting room, Ayoola walks in “as though she has brought the sunshine in with her” (51). Korede’s colleagues cannot believe she is her sister. Korede tries to usher her out, but Ayoola and Tade meet, and his voice becomes “suddenly husky.” 

In school, students bullied Korede for her looks. She “was hardened and ready to protect my sister” (55), but when Ayoola started secondary school, a senior asked her on a date the very first day. In school, while the boys drew Korede “with lips that could belong to a gorilla and eyes that seemed to push every other feature out of the way” (54), Ayoola attracted the attention of older boys.