That thing around your neck

About the book: My father and mother looked at Nampaya's smiling face with silent concern, and I knew for certain that they were secretly wondering whether their son was a member of a gang or not. Sometimes I was convinced that he belonged to one. Gang members are known for their notorious reputation, and Namabia's reputation is widespread. The other boys would call him "the coward" and shake hands with him whenever they passed by, while the girls, especially the group of "big beauties" known for their beauty, would hug him as long as possible every time they greeted him. He attended all the parties, the quiet ones at the dormitory, and the louder ones in the city, and he was truly the favorite among the girls, and the favorite among the boys, and the young man who could smoke a whole Rothmans pack in a day, and was even famous for being able to drink an entire box of beer in one sitting. At other times, I thought he didn't belong to any particular group because his reputation had spread far and wide, and his style required him to befriend boys from different backgrounds, and not to be an enemy to anyone. I was also not sure that my brother truly possessed the qualities required—courage and lack of security—to join a gang. The only time I asked him if he was a gang member, he looked at me in surprise, through his long, thick eyelashes, as if to say, you should know more than to ask such a question, and he confidently replied, "Of course not." I believed him then. And my father believed him too. But the fact that we believed him didn't change anything, as he was arrested and accused of belonging to a gang. He told me this—"Of course not"—during our first visit to the police station, where he was imprisoned. Here is what happened: On one rainy Monday, four gang members waited in front of the university gate, ambushing a university professor riding a red Mercedes. They put a gun to her head and dragged her out of the car, then headed to the College of Engineering, where they shot at three boys coming out of lecture halls. It was noon. I was inside the adjacent classroom.