Script fragment

On the 7th of May 2003, we finally reached the Nigerian border …
where armed customs officers inspected our car.
Father and Simgam were inexplicably detained …
Until, at dusk, a round-light Mercedes appeared from behind the border.
Out stepped a large rotund man in a white lace tunic …
on it a pattern so elaborate …
that I thought I could see the Eiffel Tower in its folds.
This was Simgam’s boss.
He greeted the guards in a familiar fashion …
touching foreheads three ways as Simgam was released.
Father was to be fined ten thousand naira …
for attempting to import a dead rabbit.
Money he did not have …