There were no walnuts in Walnut Lane. Bambae hated the inconsistency with a passion. I had decided to transplant some into the backyard for their sake [it is hard to live a good life when your spirit animal was deranged].

My mansion sat in the middle of other mansions but I didn't feel crowded at all [it took ten minutes to get from one front door to the other]. It had twelve bedrooms, a garden, indoor swimming pool and a bad ass chandelier hanging down the living room ceiling just to name a few. It had been bought with the collective money of my family and given to me to manage [seeing that I am the oldest child]. I wish I could say that it was quite fun living there, but I didn't do well in echoing silence [after a while, Bambae's voice became uncharacteristically mitchy].

I live with my best friend, Cherry, and her husband, Derrick. Cherry is the one that had introduced me to the things of the world. We had met in University, where she had been my bunkmate in a dorm containing twelve girls [oh, how remembering the days in The Trigger fills me with nostalgia]. We had both made it out of Africa and landed smack in the middle of White Man's land [it had been like seeing heaven. I remember saying, "Now I know why our ancestors called it White Man's land. The streets are so clean, they could be white!" We had both laughed at that, seeing that Cherry had just eaten a cookie that had fallen to the ground.]

My brothers and father didn't live in the mansion either, they all stayed with their significant others [one particular brother with a harem of six] in houses and apartments all across the nation. See the contrast? Need me to spell it out for you?

None of them was a third wheel.