Catskills III; The Mysterious Barn (JULY 2015, NY)
Right beside the lodge was a tall barn, which we visited when we got to the lodge. The barn housed a few horse sheds, which had not been put into use for a long time. Sometime before midnight, Uche announced that he was going on an exploration. Going on an adventure was what we did when our lives were about jumping on swings in the school play zone, plucking fruits from trees and rolling tyres on UI’s Parry Road.
Grown (black) men with kids don’t go on “adventure”.
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I went to sleep, and he went out. On waking up the next day, I asked Uche- How did it go? According to him, he opened the door of the barn and was peeking inside until he heard some noise. He tried to discern if the noise was made by humans or animals but was unable to conclude. Suddenly, thoughts of a bear on the prowl came to his mind before he fled the barn for the house. I didn’t know how to address his flight- I suspect that the American in him was what led him on a midnight adventure to the barn that we had already visited. Fortunately, the Ijebu (Nigerian) in him kicked in, and he made a hasty getaway.
