Chapter 8: The Secret Booklet

Until the night of my coming-of-age ceremony, when my mother entered my room holding a small booklet…

She moved with a purpose, her wrapper sweeping softly over the raffia mat. The moonlight cut across the floor. Women’s liberation, Chief Democracy and Chief Science, the Three Great Mountains—she spoke not of real mountains, but of the great challenges in life we must cross—human dignity, independence and liberation…

As I listened to my mother’s slow narration, my mind just exploded.

It felt as if someone had opened a window inside me, letting in a wind full of memories and old dreams. So many familiar words made my whole body tingle.

Each phrase was like an echo from a past life, ringing through the silence. I grabbed my mother’s slim hand, eyes full of tears, and blurted out, “Odd changes remain unchanged?”

I held my breath, hoping she’d finish the line, heart pounding like bata drum. My voice shook, full of hope and fear. I already imagined the scene: my mother would finish the next line of the slogan, and we’d hug and cry together.

Like sisters across time, holding fast in this strange land. I wanted to complain, “Mama, you’ve hidden this from me for so long!”

How could she keep such a secret? If I’d known we were both from the same place, couldn’t we have just talked freely behind closed doors?

So many questions pressed at my lips, but all I could do was squeeze her hand tighter, willing her to understand.