The Thing Around Your Neck

A young Nigerian woman, Ukamaka, living in Princeton, New Jersey watches coverage of a Nigerian plane crash. Ukamaka has spent the day calling her family in Nigeria, watching news coverage, and wondering if she knew anyone on the flight. She is surprised when there is a knock on her door, as she is not expecting anyone. Her downstairs neighbor who is also Nigerian is at the door, and he asks if he could come in so that they can pray together about the plane crash. Ukamaka is slightly hesitant, particularly at the effusiveness of her neighbor’s prayers, but lets him in and prays with him. As his prayer goes on, Ukamaka begins to feel a shivering and wonders if it is God.

After he prays, Ukamaka’s neighbor introduces himself as Chinedu. He begins to tell Ukamaka about how he heard of the plane crash that morning. He also heard about the Nigerian First Lady dying that morning, and at first he didn’t realize that they were separate incidents. Ukamaka continues to worry about the plane crash, specifically if her ex-boyfriend Udenna was on it. Chinedu says the country of Nigeria is in God’s hands now. Ukamaka thinks about asking him to leave but does not, as he is giving her hope that Udenna is alive. She tells Chinedu about Udenna, and he tells her God is faithful. Immediately afterward, Ukamaka’s phone rings. It is her mother, telling her that Udenna and his sister were supposed to be on the flight but they missed it and are safe. Chinedu comforts Ukamaka as she cries in relief.

Ukamaka invites Chinedu to stay for lunch. She asks him whether the idea that God protected Udenna means that he didn’t protect the people who died. Chinedu says that “God’s ways are not our ways” (130). Ukamaka thinks about when Udenna broke up with her, saying their relationship was only out of habit. Chinedu sees a picture of Udenna and Ukamaka and asks about their relationship, saying he saw them together two months ago. Ukamaka thinks about how she can tell that Chinedu grew up poor in the bush and how Udenna would have been uninterested in being his friend because of that. As they begin to eat lunch, there is an announcement stating that there were no survivors in the plane crash. Chinedu says that there are too many things in Nigeria to pray about.

Ukamaka tells Chinedu that she doesn’t know what she would have done if Udenna had died and says that he always made her feel lesser in the relationship. Over the next few weeks Chinedu continues to visit and they become friends. Ukamaka notices that Chinedu is very kind and friendly to everyone in their building when most of the others keep to themselves. They go out grocery shopping together one day, and Chinedu says he is fasting and that the prayer is too personal for him to share. Ukamaka complains about Udenna and says that Chinedu doesn’t know what it is like to love an asshole. Chinedu says he does and reveals that he was in a relationship with a man for two years in Nigeria. He tells her about his ex-boyfriend, Abidemi, the son of a rich man who he broke up with when Abidemi revealed he was getting married. Chinedu tells Ukamaka that Abidemi wanted to stay with Chinedu and then go home to his wife at night.

A few weeks later, Chinedu confesses to Ukamaka that he is not studying at Princeton and that he is in the US on an expired visa and is expecting to be deported soon. Ukamaka brings him to her Catholic church, though Chinedu is Pentecostal, and tells him about the shivering she felt the first day they met while he prayed. They go into the church and sit; Ukamaka assures Chinedu that they will find a way to keep him from getting deported. As the mass begins, Ukamaka thinks about how different it is from mass in Nigeria.