“Where the gods keep office hours” In the private cabin of Tarmo’s jet, somewhere over Mali, Elena collapses. What follows is not a dream. I press my palms flat against the tile, lower my head, and let the water wash over me for a while. But under the relief, the same question bubbles up—the one…
Tag: the chronicles of a memory cartographer
The Holographer’s Atlas
Maurice ’85/’91 In 1985 my mother left with Kahlil Gibran, her piano, and the ice-cold brain food she had served on a daily basis. What remained was my elderly father, a smaller house in the village, and suddenly — space. I stopped cycling thirty kilometres to school. I was tired of doing what was good…
The Holographer’s Atlas
The Constant There are men who loved you and failed you in the exact way that you have others, and you file them under known coordinates and navigate accordingly. Decades pass. Children grow, postcodes change, land numbers too, bad decisions, good ones, everything in between. Coasts remain. You teach yourself to call it nostalgia whenever…
The Memory Cartographer-Book V The Alkebulan Chronicles- Part II
Chapter 21 The White Queen Moves His final words fall cold, deliberate, like a blade laid flat, not put away. “So this one…” A pause, heavy as breath itself. “This one is on you.” I meet him with a glare, unflinching. “Just because I refuse to be used as some anthropological rook in your endless…
The Memory Cartographer-Book V The Alkebulan Chronicles-Part II
Chapter 19 Amellal The airport swallows us whole, its air heavy with dust, sweat, and kerosene. I settle back against the cart seat, my hand resting instinctively upon the curve of my belly. Departures have always lifted me—each voyage a renewal, a flight into possibility. But this time my spirit drags. It begins suddenly—a bloom…
The COMC Files – Alkebulan
PART II Chapter 18 The Drum Decides The sun, not yet harsh, dapples the dust ahead. Chickens perform bewildered little dances around our feet as we move through the market’s fraying patchwork of tarps. Karim cradles a paper twist of dried mango and grins. “Do you think the grandmother’s cloth is actually for luck, or…
The COMC Files – Alkebulan
PART II Chapter 17 Ticking Time I wake to the dim room, to the bright startled green of Karim’s eyes inches from mine. “Ah, you’re back! Did you find her?” “Yes. She’s alive — by Ladoga. And Karim…” I search his eyes. “Asdar said there isn’t much time.” For a moment neither of us moves,…
The COMC Files – Alkebulan
PART II Chapter 16 Don’t Let Go Mrs. H’s voice crackles through, worry unmistakable beneath the composure. “Elena! Finally. We haven’t had a single word since San — you’re driving the London office mad. Is it a connection issue, or are you simply intent on giving us all ulcers?” “Sorry, Mrs. H. A little of…
The COMC File – Alkebulan
PART II Chapter 15 Listening at the Crossroads The plan — as I’d promised myself back in Conakry — was to hike the hills above the village. “What was I thinking,” I mutter, looking up at those long inclines, my belly full and heavy with new life. Instead I wander through dusty lanes and flowering…
The COMC Files – Alkebulan
PART II Chapter 14 Madam Raby’s Pizza Hotel Tata in Labé is a cosy inn settled in a green, flower-filled enclave. We’re greeted by Madame Raby herself, the gardens quiet, fragrant steam from the kitchen carrying a blend of Guinean stews and, improbably, some of the best pizza I’ll find west of Naples. Our bungalow…
The C.O.M.C. Files 