Swing Time

The narrative flashes forward to the day after Aimee’s son’s birthday party in New York. Fernando was only invited so he could accompany Lamin without too much public attention. Aimee rented an apartment ostensibly for Fernando and the narrator, but really for Lamin. Lamin doesn’t yet have a visa. When he goes back to Gambia, Fernando and the narrator will return with him so that the narrator can write a final report on the school. Lamin is helping Aimee incorporate African dances into her first live show in a long time. Lamin has quickly become accustomed to living luxuriously. Even so, the narrator notices that Lamin has moments of homesickness and concern for his village. Fernando is heartbroken over the narrator’s rejection, and they have a difficult time getting along.

The night of Aimee’s big show, the narrator can’t force herself to go even though she knows she must. Instead, she peruses YouTube for videos of her favorite Black dancers. When the show is over, the narrator looks at blog and Twitter posts about Aimee’s concert so the narrator can pretend that she was in attendance. She is gratified to see Tracey’s blog calling out Aimee for cultural appropriation.

The narrator returns to Gambia with Fernando and Lamin. Lamin readapts to the clothes and mannerisms of Gambia. The narrator is disappointed to discover that Hawa is engaged to marry a conservative Muslim preacher. Fernando points out that sometimes when people want freedom, what they actually want is meaning. Lamin is also upset that Hawa will marry. Despite his relationship with Aimee, he has always been in love with Hawa. In an argument, Hawa accuses Lamin of faking love for money.

The narrator returns to London on business for Aimee. She meets with her mother, who has lost weight and broken up with Miriam. Tracey reached out to the narrator’s mother after Tracey’s son was expelled from school. Tracey believes this was motivated by racism, but the narrator’s mother looked into it and discovered that the school had good reasons. Since then, Tracey has been sending several abusive and aggressive emails a day. The narrator’s mother feels guilty that she didn’t do enough to help Tracey when Tracey was a kid.

Miriam calls the narrator to tell her that the narrator’s mother has Stage 3 cancer. The narrator’s mother doesn’t want her to know. The only thing the narrator can do to help is to get Tracey to stop emailing. The emails are a mixture of political accusations, local community complaints, and a bevy of accusations that the narrator’s mother never liked or supported Tracey. The narrator is struck by the hate in these messages and their sheer length and number.

The narrator goes to Tracey’s public housing apartment. She meets her three children, all of whom have different fathers. Tracey has changed in the last few years; she’s heavy-set and no longer a dancer. Her mother has died. The narrator tells Tracey to stop harassing her mother, and Tracey accuses her of being part of the system that oppresses Tracey and her children.

The narrator returns to Gambia with Aimee. Aimee is considering developing a sexual health clinic, but this is a sensitive issue for the villagers. Lamin avoids Aimee, and no one can figure out where he is. When Aimee and the narrator hold one of the villagers’ newborn babies, the narrator feels so desperate for the baby, Sankofa, that she feels like she’s drowning.

The narrator goes to Hawa’s compound, where she finds Lamin. Hawa has left to get married but will return the next day to visit. Lamin doesn’t want to be with Aimee because he needs to have children. There is a mutual attraction, and the narrator “knew then that it would happen between us, that night, or the next, and that it would be a commiseration offered with the body, in the absence of any clearer or more articulate solution” (411).

The next day, the narrator is reunited with Hawa. A dance is held for Aimee, and the narrator learns to dance. Hawa says the narrator and Aimee dance like Black women, even though they are white.

The narrator returns to London while Aimee is in Iceland for promotion. The narrator is surprised to find a newborn baby in Aimee’s house—the same newborn they had held in Gambia. Aimee arranged for a rapid adoption, and no one questions how this occurred.

When the narrator returns to Gambia, she tries to find out what the villagers know about the adoption, but no one will talk about it. Hawa has moved away with her husband. Lamin and the narrator meet up to have sex, though “whatever passion existed between us was directed through the other person toward something else, toward Hawa, or toward the idea of being loved, or simply to prove to ourselves our own mutual independence from Aimee” (421). One morning, as she sneaks away from Lamin’s compound, Fernando confronts her. She begs him not to tell anyone, but it’s too late.

Back in London, the narrator discovers a two-page document detailing how much money Aimee paid for the Gambian baby. It’s an enormous amount, even by Western standards. The baby brings a great deal of joy to the house and elevates Aimee’s status in the press.

A month before Aimee fires the narrator, the narrator helps research Black performers for a photography exhibit Aimee is planning. The narrator focuses on Jeni LeGon and is disappointed to discover that LeGon was rarely cast in anything but small maid parts and was never respected on sets. This crushes the narrator’s childhood fantasies of Jeni LeGon’s successful and subversive career.

In New York City, the narrator awaits another trip to London; Lamin’s visa has been approved and he will soon move to that city. After the narrator receives texts from Judy accusing her of being a “whore” and a traitor, she realizes Fernando has finally told Judy about the narrator’s relationship with Lamin. The narrator finds her belongings packed into boxes on the sidewalk. She doesn’t know where to go because all the people she knows are connected to Aimee. With only 30 days to leave the country because her visa is reliant on her employment, the narrator texts Darryl and James, an older married couple she met at a dance cabaret show on one of her nights off. They stayed in touch but were not exactly friends. Still, they welcome the narrator into their home and set up the guest bedroom for her.

Judy sends the narrator a copy of the non-disclosure agreement she signed at the start of her employment forbidding her to ever speak about her time with Aimee. Enraged, the narrator sets up a fake email address to anonymously send the details of Aimee’s adoption of the Gambian baby to a gossip site.

The gossip sites track down the narrator. Aimee’s camp claims the narrator is a disgruntled and immoral former employee, but the internet celebrates the narrator as a whistleblower. Eager to placate the narrator, Judy arranges for her to fly back to London and stay in an apartment for a few nights. The narrator pays for Lamin’s ticket to London.

Tracey releases the old video of her and the narrator dancing at age 10 to Aimee’s first song. Public opinion of the narrator changes because their dancing is so provocative. Tracey develops online aliases to bash the narrator on different social media platforms.

The narrator returns to her mother’s apartment with Lamin, but her mother has checked into hospice; she is very ill and is clearly going to die soon. After Lamin leaves the apartment without saying goodbye, the narrator is relieved to be rid of him but becomes lonely. She writes aggressive emails to Tracey and calls Fernando, desperate to speak to anyone.

Fernando has stopped working for Aimee. When Fernando visits London, he reveals that he’s been in touch with Lamin, who is in Birmingham and planning to study. The narrator is relieved that she no longer has any planes to catch. She finds peace in her walk away from Fernando and to her mother’s apartment.

When the narrator visits her mother in hospice, the only thing her mother wants to talk about is all that she didn’t do for Tracey. The narrator’s mother suggests that the narrator take in Tracey’s children. One day, the narrator decides to go to Tracey’s apartment instead of visiting her mother in hospice. Her mother dies that day. The narrator sees Tracey on her balcony, dancing with her children.