Sitting in the living room armchair, Daniel tapped his foot lightly, betraying an impatience and annoyance he tried to keep as quiet as possible in front of his mother. Behind him, the echoes of chaotic conversations and shouts faintly reached the young boy's ears from the window, making him grit his teeth.
That idiot… it's been 30 minutes now.
He'd had time to watch an entire episode of The Passion of the Heart with Inès and Ma, and another one was about to start.
And Jojo still hadn't come back.
This is the first time he's taken so long to eat. Usually, he stuffs his face like a pig and finishes in under five minutes.
A dark feeling that something was wrong now clung to Daniel… No, that feeling hadn't left him since earlier, when he saw Jojo struggling in his sleep for several seconds. He had a strange expression on his face when he woke up, the same one he wore before getting up to go eat.
It reminded Daniel of bad memories. Memories from three years ago, when Jojo came to live with them for good, accompanied by Daniel's father, Gaby. When young Daniel had gone to greet him at the door, not yet understanding the depth of the trauma Jojo had been through, he felt his heart sink. Jojo's eyes were downcast, but the look in them was terrifying. It was an indecipherable look for an 11-year-old like Daniel at the time, and even now, he couldn't fathom the full weight of the emotions behind it. Daniel only remembered that, in that moment, seeing his friend like that, his own eyes had welled up, as if in sympathy for tears Jojo could no longer shed.
Now that he thought about it, it was also around that time that he saw his mother cry for the first time, when the news came the day after the Yeumbeul disaster through a phone call from the main hospital in Keur Massar. The whole house had been plunged into an anxious atmosphere since the previous evening, when a special news report at 6 p.m. alerted the entire country to the nightmare shaking the town of Yeumbeul. Daniel didn't understand all the implications at the time; he only knew that chaos had taken over the neighborhood.
Some were preparing to leave Keur Massar despite warnings from the authorities advising against movement until an evacuation order was given and a team was sent. Others gave in to complete hysteria, locking themselves in their homes and barricading themselves in a corner. Then, finally, there were those who stayed glued to their TVs, listening to the news in horrified silence. That was the case for Daniel's family.
Dad kept pacing back and forth in the living room, Daniel recalled. He kept trying to reach the Badjis, but the call wouldn't go through. Maybe by then, it was already too late…
The possibility left Daniel lost in thought for a moment before he shook his head.
Enough dark thoughts. Maybe I should go check on him?
Daniel hesitated. Normally, he wasn't the type to worry about such things, but another old memory came back to him, natural given how much his thoughts had wandered in that direction. The day they officially took custody of Jojo, Inès had pulled him aside. There was a sense of urgency and gravity in her eyes, tinged with a melancholy that quickly captured the child's attention.
"Daniel," she had said, gripping his shoulders firmly, "promise me you'll never ask Jojo about what happened to him."
The child had immediately nodded in agreement.
Three years later, Daniel had kept that promise diligently, because deep down, perhaps he was afraid to know.
Maybe he dreamed about that specifically? If that's the case, maybe he needs to be left alone for a bit?
That could also explain why Inès hadn't pressed too hard despite his flimsy excuse.
As Daniel was lost in his thoughts, a shadow in the corner of his eye silently crossed the doorway. Inès subtly flinched before turning around to find a satiated Jojo. His gaze seemed to have returned to normal, to Daniel's great relief.
"By all the djinns, you scared me," Inès exclaimed. "I didn't see you come in."
"Sorry," Jojo mumbled with a sheepish smile.
"Are you feeling better now?" Ma asked with a concerned tone.
"Yeah, much better!" the boy replied with a wide grin. "Sorry for worrying you."
"Well, you sure took your time," Daniel said, standing up from his armchair. "We don't have a second to spare…"
"Wait, wait, wait," Jojo cried out as Daniel was already on him, dragging him out of the living room by the arm. "What did I miss?"
"What?" Daniel asked, annoyed. "You mean the series? Alejandro broke up with Catalina…"
"Wait, what?" Jojo exclaimed. "But why?"
"Because he loves Lucia?" Daniel replied, pulling his friend who refused to budge.
"I still don't see what the problem is…"
Daniel stared at Jojo for a few seconds, at a loss for words. A brief silence followed his comment before Ma burst into laughter.
"Unbelievable," Inès muttered, exasperated, looking at Jojo.
"What?" Jojo defended himself. "I just think Catalina is prettier than Lucia."
"You're digging yourself deeper," Daniel commented, shaking his head, one hand on Jojo's shoulder.
"Beauty has nothing to do with love," Ma added, trying to control herself, a trembling smile on her lips.
"…You can have both…"
"Okay, let's stop there," Daniel cut in as a bombshell had just been dropped. "We'll talk about your twisted mindset another day, but for now… let's go!" he added with a growl, managing to drag Jojo away before Ma and Inès could pounce on him.
They opened the house door and turned left to avoid the stairs leading upstairs, heading toward the outer door. Meanwhile, Jojo couldn't help but ask:
"But seriously, what did I say?"
"The fact that you're asking that with complete seriousness is honestly concerning," Daniel commented, the sunlight slightly blinding him as he stepped through the door.
MTOA was a small neighborhood in the north of Keur Massar, one of the five districts of the Dakar region, the capital of Senegal. Its structure mainly consisted of a well-aligned row of houses, each different from the next, forming sandy roads and dead ends in a somewhat random manner for someone unaccustomed to it. Daniel's house, for example, was located between two multi-story houses on a large cul-de-sac that mainly served as a playground for the kids who frequented it. However, entering and leaving MTOA was relatively easy; the main road was paved for the occasion, and it was the only one not made of sand and rubble.
It wasn't the most idyllic setting in the region, especially considering its proximity to Malika, but it had a rather friendly atmosphere.
Everyone knew each other, and no real social differences separated the residents. It was one of the advantages of these neighborhoods that seemed to have been lost somewhere and had no desire to be found, as its inhabitants were content with things as they were. A lively and joyful atmosphere… driven most of the time by the children. From morning to night, it was games and endless conversations, expeditions into abandoned or under-construction buildings, soccer matches around the caïlcédrat tree, races, and wrestling, among other things. Most of these games had become a bit childish for Daniel and Jojo's age group, but there's no age limit for play, nor a specific time, for that matter.
With a smile, they headed toward the group of friends arguing just to the left of the Carvalho house's door, on a small path of rubble and bricks abandoned there for construction work that would never see the light of day. Daniel was eager to find out what fun adventures awaited them today.