a picture showing moyo okediji sitting next to his artwork

PUBLIC PROPERTY

ByMoyo Okediji

***This is a story that my Luo friend told me. She says it’s from among the Luo people of Kenya.

In Yoruba we call it “Àǹfààní àdúgbò.”

Please help me translate Àǹfààní àdúgbò to Oyinbo.

Wife 1: Our husband has not yet returned home?

Wife 2: No o. It is now 11 pm.

a picture showing moyo okediji standing next to his artwork

SONG OF THE BANDIT 2: The Return

ByMoyo Okediji

2: The Return

He was flying back “home” for the first time in his life.

At thirty-six, he felt that he had waited a little too long.

But better late than never: this is the moment he had been waiting for all his life.

He peeped out through the window of the aircraft as it descended toward their landing, with the building, vehicles and roads becoming bigger and bigger as the plane drew nearer the landing ground.

a picture showing moyo okediji sitting in fornt of his artwork with his hand placed in his chin

SONG OF THE BANDIT 1: The Stupid Man

ByMoyo Okediji

“Ina jin yunwa, Sule,” said the short, stocky man holding the cellphone.

“You are always hungry,” hissed the tall one. “Yaro will soon be back. Then you can eat yourself silly. I only need a cigarette. Really, really. bad. If I don’t have a smoke soon, walahi, I will kill this stupid man. He makes me jittery with his stupid coughing. If he coughs one more time, walahi, I will blow off his head.”

With his heavy boots, he delivered a severe kick to the fellow sitting on the ground. The blow caught the man in the ribs.

The three of them were directly under the shade of a large mango tree, its huge branches drooping from the weight of fruits hanging all the way from the top to the lowest branches.