We Build the Sunlight
by Ibrahim Abdulhakeem
I. The Fence Builders
posting December 30th
II. The Market Choir
posting December 31st
III. The Night School
posting January 1st
IV. When We Danced the Street Awake
posting January 2nd
I. The Fence Builders
They came at dawn with buckets and nails. The fence was to divide the town neatly—east from west, us from them. It was meant to stop the noise, the gossip, the drifting smells of burnt oil and roasted corn. But the builders were our sons and daughters, so we brought them water and bread.
I remember Tunde hammering the first post, saying, “We just follow plans.” Someone answered, “Whose plans?” Nobody replied. By noon the sun cooked the tin sheets. By evening, the fence shimmered like a blade in the sky.
Children slipped through holes to trade marbles. Mothers passed bowls of soup under the panels. The fence didn’t stop much—just reminded us to pretend.
When the wind tore the panels loose that first harmattan, we didn’t rebuild. We stood together watching the pieces dance off into the dust, free as if the land itself had rejected our separation. Tunde laughed, “Guess the fence knew better.” We laughed too, a choir of tired throats, the sound of walls collapsing gently.
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