A cote de M. Djiboka
It takes all day just to explore our new house. The floor plan is unfamiliar, arranged in layers like a pastry. Every drawer and cabinet has a lock and key. Closed doors separate the kitchen from the bedrooms, the living room from the hall. We’re surrounded by a high walled and locked garden. Each salle de bain is large enough to include a love seat. Allison could easily learn to ride her bicycle without ever having to go outdoors.
Before we know the neighborhood, Astou calls to get directions here. Bronwyn asks a neighbor passing by who tells us to say we are “a cote de M. Djibo KA”. Apparently we are located next door to two Senegalese ministers of this and that, M. Dji being the Ministre de Maritime. Everyone knows the location of his home. We are to refer to his house the way we do to the Dehoux’s house on the corner at our Gwynn’s Island home.