Summary

Ndibe is pleased that there are many Africans in Amherst, because he still has trouble relating to Americans, whom he still perceives as dangerous. He seeks out other Africans because he does not need to be guarded around them. He meets an African named Ike in a bookstore. Ike laughs when Ndibe introduces himself, because Ndibe’s first name, Okey, is pronounced like the English word “okay.” Ike reveals that he recently met a white woman who asked him, “Are you okay?” (85) Ike thought she was asking him if he was all right, but she was actually mistaking him for Ndibe. This irritated Ike, because he thought she was trying to seduce him, made up a lie, and then “changed her mind midway through the rite of seduction” (86). Now that he realizes Okey is a...