The year I came to America began at the American embassy in Lagos. It is one of the many memories of my last days in Nigeria I recall vividly. We were all waiting like defendants for the judge’s verdict. Will it be favorable? Will it not? Were the questions that probably roamed our minds. We were anxious, even our brief infrequent conversations were tense. Quick vapid twitch of the lips replaced our smiles, there were no laughter. As typical of a regular morning in Nigeria, it was very hot and the shades of the dispersed coconut trees outside the embassy provided little respite from the sun. Besides, we were all…

Folake was committed to doing something crazy and I am supposed to dissuade her. It was not really unlike her to come up with very ridiculous ideas that were never carried out.  But this time around I could tell she was dead serious with the look in her eyes, and that scared me because this is the worst idea of hers till date. I began to say, Folake you can’t do this, but realized that was a fallacy of moral reasoning, telling a person they can’t do something for the same reason they want to do it. So I tried another tactic, “Folake do you still love him?” Folake did not blink,…