The Death of Vivek Oji

An omniscient narrator still details the past:

On the day that Chika brings Vivek back home from university, there are political protests happening in the streets due to the upcoming elections. Chika gleans from one of the protestors that Abacha, a military general who served as the head of state of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998, is dead. Chika murmurs, “Thank God,” then, “It’s a new day for Nigeria” to Vivek (112).

As a result of a seven o’clock citywide curfew, Vivek can no longer take his nightly walks, and he insists on spending the night outside in a plumeria tree instead. In the morning, he is covered in mosquito bites and chicken feces.

Kavita invites one of the other mothers, Rhatha, over with her two daughters Somto and Olunne, whom Vivek knew as a child. Rhatha pries about how Vivek is doing. Kavita brushes off Rhatha’s questions, saying that Vivek is just sensitive and needs a break from school. When the sisters return from Vivek’s room where they visited him, Kavita expects them to report back about Vivek’s health—however, they say nothing. Kavita realizes that “somewhere within the walls of Vivek’s room, allegiances had shifted, unseen pacts had been made, and Somto and Olunne had stepped out carrying Vivek’s secrets in the elastic of their ponytails” (117).