The Struggles of Lamine

Chapter 3: Unveiling the veil

The late afternoon sun bathed the small town in a golden hue, casting long shadows across the high school grounds. Lamine and his sister, Aïssata, walked side by side, their steps synchronized but their thoughts worlds apart. Though they had barely known each other for a few weeks, a quiet sense of companionship had grown between them—an unspoken understanding that they were searching for the same missing pieces of a shared puzzle.

They headed toward the town’s public library, a modest brick building with ivy creeping up its sides. Inside, the air was cool and smelled faintly of old books. Lamine had suggested the library as a starting point; Aïssata had insisted on accompanying him. They made their way to the back corner, where records of the town’s history and old newspapers were kept.

For hours, they combed through archives, focusing on any birth announcements, missing persons reports, or adoption records. Lamine flipped through microfilm slides, the hum of the machine filling the silence between them. Aïssata poured over dusty genealogy books, her eyes scanning the pages with a focused intensity. Yet, no matter how far back they went, the story of their family remained elusive.

"There's nothing here," Lamine muttered, frustration edging his voice. He shoved the microfilm aside and leaned back in his chair. Aïssata glanced at him, her face impassive but her eyes revealing a hint of concern.

“We might not find what we’re looking for here,” she said, her voice calm yet tinged with a note of disappointment. “Maybe we need to look elsewhere. There must be people who know more... old neighbors, family friends.”

Lamine considered this for a moment. “Maybe. But I don’t know if anyone would talk to us. My parents… they’ve always kept things quiet, and they have a way of making sure others stay quiet too.”

Aïssata nodded, sensing the weight behind Lamine’s words. The siblings continued their research, but their hope dwindled with each passing hour. By the time they left the library, the sky had darkened, and a cool breeze swept through the streets. As they walked home, a silence hung between them, not uncomfortable, but contemplative—a shared acknowledgment of their unsuccessful search.

---

Meanwhile, across town, Lamine’s adoptive parents, Mamadou and Awa Diop, sat in their dimly lit living room. They had just received news of the new girl in Lamine’s life—his sister. The word had come from a fellow parent at the high school, someone who had seen Lamine and Aïssata together, and it sent a chill through the couple.

Awa’s hands trembled as she folded and unfolded a napkin on her lap. “Do you think she’s here to take him from us?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Mamadou, a tall man with a stern face, stood by the window, peering into the darkness outside. He turned to his wife, his expression set in a grim line. “She might be. And Lamine… you know how he is. He’s always been curious, always asking questions about where he came from. If she fills his head with ideas—if she tells him things—he might...”

“He might leave us,” Awa finished, her voice cracking.

Mamadou placed a hand on her shoulder, but there was no comfort in the gesture. “We’ve raised him. We’re the ones who gave him a home when he had no one. It’s not fair for someone to come out of nowhere and take that away from us.”

Awa nodded, clinging to the rationalizations they had told themselves for years. “We can’t let her do that. We need to make sure she stays away from him.”

They spoke in low voices, as if afraid that the walls themselves might hear them, plotting their next move. They decided that they needed to find a way to make Aïssata feel unwelcome, to push her out of Lamine’s life without being overt about it.