Summary

Chapter 2 begins with Mary and Belinda waiting in line outside the Kumasi Zoo. Belinda gives the attendant money for admission while Mary stares, compliments her hat, and asks to touch it. Belinda chides Mary, but the zoo employee goes along with the request, and leans forward. Mary continues to talk to the woman, but Belinda feels the necessity to keep Mary moving because she knows that this is an important day. The stewardess offers to give the girls a tour, and they enter the zoo.

As they walk, Belinda recalls the night before. Aunty and their guest, Nana, had called her outside to talk, and Belinda had assumed that she had made some mistake in her preparation of dinner. Nana first tells her to “be more lightened up” (9). She goes on to praise Belinda’s work and her care for Mary. Nana then...