Summary

Sade remembers the moment her mother was shot in their driveway, her father attempting to save her and “halt the growing scarlet monster” (3). She sits numbly in the house while family members arrive with a doctor who proclaims that her mother was shot in the heart and had no chance of surviving. The family members are overcome with grief, and Sade “wanted to rush across, grab hold of Mama, squeeze breath back into her – before it was too late – but she could not move” (4). Sade begins to believe that her father, a prominent and outspoken journalist, was targeted for his views. She feels “suffocated by arms and voices” (5) and excuses herself to her father’s study.

The phone rings as Sade enters the study and she answers to hear a threatening message from an unidentified man. She calls for her Uncle Tunde who...