The Icarus Girl

Jess can’t stop thinking about the shadows she saw earlier in the evening in the Boys’ Quarters. She sneaks out of bed to the roof balcony, but she doesn’t see any light or movement in the windows of the Boys’ Quarters. The next morning at breakfast, Jess’s mother says she is going to try to write four pages front and back every day. Jess doesn’t like her porridge, and her mother sends her to find Aunty Funke and ask whether there is anything else to eat. Jess passes one of her aunts and two of her cousins peeling cassava to make gari. Jess’s father tries to help by peeling cassava, but he struggles and eventually gives up. Jess finds Aunty Funke washing dishes and gives Aunty Funke her unfinished bowl of porridge, telling her she’s not hungry. Jess’s cousins Bisola and Bose come in. Bisola tells Aunty Funke that she is trying to braid Bose’s hair, but she can’t find the candles she needs to burn the ends. Aunty Funke yells at Bisola for losing the candles, and Jess runs out of the kitchen.

Jess sneaks out to the Boys’ Quarters. Inside, everything is covered in dust. Jess walks along the corridor, hoping to find a staircase.