Tomorrow Is Too Far
VATE Inside Stories 2014

This is the other story in the collection, which is told in the second person and it is considered the more powerful one by many reviewers. This story looks back eighteen years to an incident in the narrator’s childhood, one which has had a major impact on her whole life. The narrator reflects on the last summer before everything changed – her parents divorced, she never returned to Nigeria or saw her father’s family again. The memory begins eighteen years earlier in Nigeria at grandmamma’s place where the American-Nigerian narrator, her older brother Nonso and her cousin Dozie were all staying. Grandmamma favoured Nonso as the eldest grandson and the only one to carry the ‘Nnabuisi name’ …show more content…

188).

After showing Nonso how to pluck the coconuts, Grandmama cracked the coconut so that the milk could be shared amongst the children. She oversaw the sharing of the milk and made sure that Nonso always got the first sip.

You asked Grandmama why Nonso always got to drink first, even though he was a year younger than Dozie. She explained that Nonso was the son of her only son and would therefore carry on the family name, whereas Dozie was only the son of a daughter.

It was this summer that you found the shedded skin of the snake your Grandmama called echi eteka, ‘Tomorrow Is Too Far’ because it would kill you in ten minutes.

The main character made it very clear that it was not this summer that you fell in love with your cousin, Dozie. That had happened three years earlier.

The most significant thing about this summer was the death of Nonso.

No one in Nigeria actually called it summer. It was the time between the rainy season and harmattan season.

The weather could vary greatly, from pouring rain to bright and sunny. The day Nonso died it was mild, just light rain in the morning and lukewarm sun in the afternoon.

With Nonso’s death Grandmama worried about who would carry on the Nnabuisi name and protect the family lineage. The neighbour came over when she heard Grandmama screaming. She got you to tell her your mother’s phone number in America. She tried to protect you from hearing the conversation on the phone between your mother and your