Obinze is illegally in London, having followed his mother form Nigeria on a six-month visa. He first works cleaning toilets and then with the National Insurance number of someone else that takes a percentage of his salary. The only way to stay longer is to get married. This will be arranged by a couple of Angolans, costing Obinze a fortune. But when the guy lending his insurance number asks for a rise, 45% of Obinze’s salary, Obinze refuses. He will first lose his job and then, on the day of his wedding with Cleo, get arrested by the police and sent back to Nigeria. This short story is a chapter from Americanah, Obinze being Ifemelu’s teenage love. A dramatic short story about trying to find a better life elsewhere.
“Cleotilde flung herself on the ground and began to cry. She may never have visited her father’s country, but he was convinced at that moment of her Africanness; how else would she have been able to fling herself to the ground with that perfect dramatic flourish? He wondered if her tears were for him or for herself, or for what might have been between them. She had no need to worry; the policemen barely glanced at her.”