ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY 1981 (Part Eighteen)

Gina was looking at me directly in the eye as she began to turn the button that reclined the car seat. The moon came out of a clump of clouds and highlighted half of her face, as she pressed her back against the front seat, flattening it almost completely on the back seat. Her teeth, as she smiled at me, looked perfectly even, and they sparkled like diamonds in the dark.

“You are a handsome man, Uncle Mo,” Gina said. “Your mom must be very beautiful.”

“Thanks, Gina,” I responded. “My mom is beautiful indeed, but everybody thinks his mother is beautiful.”