Jember looks down at her uncle. He is on his back, like a beetle that has tumbled belly up, squat legs kicking the air above him.

You didn’t want to tell Eddie that his sister was an ashawo—but didn’t he already know?

The whole world conspired to make her fat. That’s what it had to be. When she thought of her gigantic ass atop legs that had no calves, her ass below a flat torso, it disgusted her. God and the ancestors had pranked her, sending all the curves to the wrong damned place.

We all hoped Kilpatrick would be canceled, that he’d soon be out of our lives. Lord knew, we were banking on it, especially those of us who’d done business with him. But just as our celebration was beginning, there he was, showing his face, like we knew he would.