Section 8: Chapter 10 Summary

Ali next visits Esi late on a Sunday morning. Esi wakes in a good mood, and when she hears a car at the gate, she is delighted to see Ali pull his car beside hers in the courtyard. After greeting him, she withdraws from his pasionate embrace and demands an explanation for his absence. Ali claims that he was away on business and tried to call. When he had gone to his office after last leaving Esi's house, he had received an urgent message from his office in Abidjan and had to travel there. There is a reason that he has to go by his office nightly that he cannot tell Esi. Fusena phones there if he is not home by a certain hour. After Esi forgives Ali, they make love on her couch.

Some weeks later, Ali is clearly in...