Week 1

Akachi

“Do they have these back home?”

Did he really just ask me that?’ I thought. There's no way he could have been serious. They had warned me that people in the states tend to think immigrants are lacking knowledge, but this couldn’t be real. I give time before responding. He could have been joking. But I sat there with a slightly dumbfounded face long enough for me to know he was not joking, and for him to think I didn’t know what he was talking about. 

“Do we have…restaurants?” I asked

“Yeah um, I mean like these, sit down places and stuff?” He quickly spewed in response

I could tell he didn’t mean to offend me so I gave a quick “Yes” and we continued walking. This is why I hadn’t talked to Adam very much. He was my new roommate and I was grateful for helping me there. I had invited him on my walk because I had hoped he would show some things I was not used to around the compound. It had only been a week, I was expecting to be wowed by city life, the “American Dream”. But truthfully, this seemed very familiar. I had always imagined if I ever made it to the US I would be in shock. All the bright lights, a new atmosphere, the opportunities. But as we walked the streets and alley’s I was underwhelmed. The blacks walking in groups, the chipped paint and graffiti on old buildings, even the littered roads. If I squinted I could almost pretend I was still in Cameroon. But whether walking American streets or otherwise, I wouldn’t imagine I'd be walking with a white man! Not to mention live with one! He would ask me more ignorant questions and I would give him one-word answers. It was not a fun walk.

Adam

“Do they have these back home?”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel like an idiot. I look at him, he thinks I'm an idiot too. I don’t know why I said that, I panicked. But in all honesty, the longer he took to answer the more unsure I became that the answer would be yes. Now I didn’t know what to think.

“Do we have…restaurants?” He asked slowly

“Yeah um, I mean like these, sit down places and stuff?” I quickly spewed

I don’t think that was a very smooth save. I don’t think he thought so either. In hindsight that was a dumb question. But I kinda realized how unprepared I am at this. Akachi has been in the states for a few days now and I still can't read him. He’s really reserved. When I helped him unload his stuff in the apartment he barely said a sentence. Since then he's always been at school or the library. We go to the same college and I still never see him! I know we don’t have to be best friends or whatever but id like to get to know my roommate a little. So when he invited me to go on a walk I was hoping I could spark some convo but I got nothing. I don’t know anything about Cameroon (didn’t even know it was a country until about a month ago). I’m really not sure how much he knows about…stuff. I know that sounds bad, but I just can’t tell. Some things in the states just amaze him but I can never guess what or why or else I’ll just look stupid again. He doesn’t exactly seem impressed by the neighborhood either. I tried to talk about other things beforehand but nothing was really sticking, except for the restaurant thing but that didn't land quite right. I asked some more questions as we walked. He didn’t say it but I could tell he wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t a fun walk.

`

Week 2

Adam

I always have a little anxiety on the last Thursday night of the month. It's just me, an overhead light, and a scattered table of endless bills. I swear the mess of papers and invoices just gets messier and messier. Like I don’t even know where these things come from half the time. I had a roommate now so that helped but honestly not as much as I’d hoped. Don’t get me wrong, living off-campus is still the best option but I still have to scrape my cash together every month to afford it. I might pick up some more overtime shifts at the store but I'm gonna hav-

“MY GOD!”

I jumped a little and yelled across the apartment

“Akachi, you alright?”

“Come here!” He yelled in response

I went to the kitchen and he just pointed to the cabinet. I opened it and knew that he saw the rats. They were gone by now but I could see the droppings and here their pitter-patter

“Sorry man there's an infestation in the building, it gonna be a while before we get an exterminator”

“Adam, my friend, why do you live like this? We should move nah?” He asked

“Ha! I wish! Who's got the cash for that?”

He kind of pauses and just looks at me. Then he looks over my shoulder and sees the bills on the table in the living room. Then he kind of just apologizes and goes back to cooking. What was that about?...

Wait, how much money does he think I make?

Akachi

“MY GOD!”

I didn’t mean to yell as loud as I did but I think I’ve had enough. This compound is not what I had hoped it would be. We live in a rather poor area. I could live with that, but RATS? How can a white man live like this? If I reported these things to home they would think me mad.

“Akachi, you alright?”

“Come here!”

He looked preoccupied but he had to see this. He walks in and opens the cabinet. But he doesn't yell. I assume he doesn't know they were there so I get ready to explain when he tells me

“Sorry man there's an infestation in the building, it gonna be a while before we get an exterminator”

That's it? That's all he had to say

“Adam, my friend, why do you live like this? We should move nah?”

“Ha! I wish! Who's got the cash for that?”

I froze. It was the last thing I ever thought I would hear from him. I looked back at the table I saw working at. I don’t know how I didn’t realize, but those were bills. They stretched across the whole desktop. And I knew he had been there for at least an hour. 

All the stories. All the uncles and Aunties who made it to America. They spoke of the whites as if they walked on streets of gold. But Adam, he was the palest man I had ever met. And yet there he was scratching to find cents let alone gold. He didn’t look how they would paint him. His stressed but hopeful face was more like mama's than anything else. Who is this man?

I just apologized and tried to find something to eat, making sure to whatever I open I sealed tightly.

Week 3

Akachi

I get back from classes every day at 3 and every time I do I resent this compound more and more. The place is always filthy and smelling. These people have no care for their living area. It is shameful. I try not to think about it too much. I just head straight for my building and plan to rest before I start studying. I enter and I can hear something playing on the TV speakers.

“Hey Akachi, you’re back?”

“Yes. How are you? And what is so loud?

He turns it off and pops his head through the doorway with headphones on.

“Oh yeah sorry about that, you weren’t in the house and the neighbor is all at work so I usually crank it pretty loud when I play.”

I followed him into the living room where he continued

“You wanna play? I could use a second”

I was a bit hesitant to agree but then I realized what he was playing

“Is that ‘Devour’?”

“Yeah, how did you-”

“I and my older brother would play from time to time”

I hadn’t played this game in years. I had lost my original one a long time ago. I didn’t know Adam enjoyed video games. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t very good but he was having fun even when I beat him. For a moment I had forgotten that he was more than my roommate. He was a person with his own interest and personality, a fun personality at that!. It was weird, we had something in common. Cool

Adam

“You wanna play? I could use a second”

I can’t lie, I wasn't totally sure if Akachi knew how to play video games. I know, I know how that sounds, but I just didn’t know. But I didn’t let him know that (wasn’t gonna make that mistake again)

“Is that ‘Devour’?”

“Yeah, how did you-”

“I and my older brother would play from time to time”

I handed him the other controller and we started playing. He was good, really good. He said this is one of the few games they could get growing up so he played it all the time. It was why he wanted to be a programmer. We had been living together for 3 weeks we go to the same school and I still didn’t know that somehow.

Honestly, after a while, I stopped paying attention to the game. I started getting more into the conversation. I couldn’t get over how old he sounded. In a wisdom kind of way. We were both in our 20s but he somehow was past that, he had a plan, clear goals, and was already halfway there, and on top of that he was destroying me!

Week 4

Adam

Working in fast food has got to be one of the weirdest jobs out there. It looks so easy and it kind of is but then some days…some days you’re breaking up a fistfight between a customer and a cashier (that’s not what happened today, but I still felt beat). And I had classes earlier this morning. My battery is just dead. As tired as I am I try to pry my eyes open. I'm gonna make a cup of coffee, do the laundry and all the other house stuff for a few hours, make something to eat, and figure out how to go to sleep if I'm still hopped up on caffeine. I know this isn’t exactly the best plan but it's not exactly like I got options here. I just gotta get through it. We're gonna get through it. I walk in.

“Akachi, you home?”

“Yes, welcome back. Give me a second.”

He was doing something in the kitchen but I didn’t really notice. I was too stunned by the mess in the apartment. It was gone! When I left this morning I promised Akachi I would clean up my mess in the living room, I'd finally clean the bathroom, and I kept telling him id arrange the pantry. But it's all done. He even did the laundry! 

“Adam, you hungry?”

I walk into the kitchen cautiously. On the one hand, I’m really happy I can just relax the rest of the night, but if this ever happened in my family someone was “not mad, just disappointed”

“Hey man, I'm sorry about the mess, I promise I was going to clean it as soon as it got hom-”

“Nonsense, it's ok. I made fish stew and there’s rice in the pot.”

He made me food too! And it smelled fantastic! I kinda feel stupid. When Akachi first got here I thought he wouldn’t know all that much. I was ready to show him how to do chores work the appliances and everything else. I was an idiot. From the looks of it, he could show me a thing or two.

Akachi

“Adam, you hungry?”

“Hey man, I'm sorry about the mess, I promise I was going to clean it as soon as it got hom-”

“Nonsense, it's ok. I made fish stew and there’s rice in the pot.”

I could tell on his face he was a bit confused and I think I knew why. With most people, I think I would be upset to live with someone who doesn’t clean up after themselves, but I couldn't bring myself to be upset with Adam. He’s not like this on purpose. He works from morning to evening. School and work almost every day. We do split rent but he pays all the other bills. I respect his work ethic. I had the day off and I still don’t know that many people in the city so I decided to help him a little bit. Besides, I was looking for an excuse to cook for him. He eats 50 cent noodles constantly. He needs some real food.

Week 5

Adam

It was around 11PM. Akachi and I take this night class together on Friday’s so we had just gotten back to the apartment. After a little bit we both ate some leftovers and then we somehow just started talking in the living room. I don’t know why or how but we did. And it got deep fast. He just asked me a question and it went from there.

“Adam I have to ask. Why do you work like this? You’re killing yourself.”

Now trust me, I was well aware I work day and night. But there was something about somebody telling me I do. Weirdly I was glad someone acknowledges I worked really hard, but at the same time…why am I doing this? Is it worth it?

“Sometimes I don’t even know man. I just have a lot to do I guess”

“I know. The bills just keep coming right?”

“Yeah but it's not just that. I just want to support my mom too. She’s not going to be able to retire at this rate. So if I get a job and go to college she’s got on less mouth to feed and I can support when I get a real job. She’ll never admit it but I'm her best hope of getting out of debt. Can’t let her down.”

I don’t think I had ever told anyone that. I don’t even think I told my mom that. But I just felt like he would get it. Like I said, it got deep fast.

Akachi

“Yeah but it's not just that. I just want to support my mom too. She’s not going to be able to retire at this rate. So if I get a job and go to college she’s got on less mouth to feed and I can support when I get a real job. She’ll never admit it but I'm her best hope of getting out of debt. Can’t let her down.”

Who really was this man? He was more than skin. I could see it clearer than ever now. We were the same in this. In his face, I could see my face, in his voice my own. It was like he was reading my life like a book with his eyes closed, he didn’t even know he was doing it. He was more than skin, he was a man who knew me, who knew what I felt. How?

“I tell you. My parents did not want me to leave. But I’m doing these things for them. At home, we’re all stuck where we are, where I can go up and I can bring them with me.”

Adam

It was like looking into a warped mirror. He was so different. It didn’t make sense that we would share this much. But a lot of things don’t make sense I guess. If I wrote a memoir on my life I might’ve considered asking him to write it. He knew exactly what I had felt for so long but had never said aloud. Who is this guy?

“I hear that. Sometimes I just want to quit you know. If I had even a few more options I would have quit work AND school years ago.”

Akachi

Yes! Exactly!

“I tell you. These professors want for kill me! I understand why people drop out of school in this country so much. But we… were survivors nah?”

Adam

I knew he could write my memoir!

“Yes sir! We’ve come too far, we ain’t stopping now!”

Akachi

“Not today my brother!”

Adam

We kind of just talked like that for another hour or two. Didn’t even realize it was past 1AM until it was close to 2. I don’t know what happened really. It's like the flood gates just opened and we just poured out. It took a while but we just clicked.

Akachi

I won’t lie and say I expected to bond with Adam at all during my time here, but I’m glad I was so terribly wrong. It was like someone flipped a switch and we just got to know each other.

Adam

I still don’t know that much about Africa but I think imma try and learn a little. It's the least I could do. Don’t want him to go back to thinking I'm an idiot

Akachi

He really is just another man. A good man, I see that now.

Adam

I'm not sure how Akachi feels about that night but I know how I do.

Akachi

I hope Adam feels the same way when I say…

Adam and Akachi

That night I made a friend.