Pigment by Renee Topper Page A

blocks away from the incident. She hails a taxi and they ride on side streets until they are out of the traffic and continue to the airport. They just make the next flight by ten minutes. The plane is too full for them to sit together. Kennen didn’t even ask if they could. He’s pissed at her for lying to him, for being so reckless. It’s better they are five rows apart or he would say something that other passengers would hear and he might say something he’d regret.
    They land in Mwanza and she goes ahead of him toward where they parked the van. She thinks it’s best that they aren’t seen walking together, so that they draw less attention.
    The hour and a half flight didn’t cool Kennen down. He throws their bags into the back, slams the door shut then gets in the drivers seat. Aliya moves the handle on the passenger side to get in but it is locked. Kennen hesitates before unlocking it, not sure if he really wants to let her into the van. She taps on the window and he won’t look at her, but does unlock it. She gets in and they drive.  The tension between them speaks louder than any words could.
    Once outside of Mwanza, “Kennen...” Aliya starts to speak.
    But he cuts her off, “What in God’s name were you thinking?”
    “Did you see Rhadi?”
    “No. And it’s lucky for him I didn’t.”
    “I’m responsible for my own actions.”
    “Yes, you are and he is for his.” He looks at her, her arms crossed in a defensive posture. She practically stomps her foot on the floor and looks out the window. She can’t look at him either right now.
    “We couldn’t tell you...” She starts to explain for why she assumes he’s mad.
    “You could have, Aliya. You should have. What you did was reckless. Do you have any idea of what you’ve done? What you may have cost us? You? Me? The kids at the camp?”
    “We have to go to extremes to have an impact.”
    “Oh there’s Rhadi in your tongue now. Boy, he’s brainwashed you. I thought you were smarter than that.”
    “No he hasn’t, Kennen. I have my own mind. And what we did today will make a difference. You’ll see. We’ll have international media attention...We’ll save lives...”
    “You don’t get it. You’re lucky you weren’t, we weren’t all killed. What was in that white powder of all things!”
    “It was just flour.”
    “Bully for that.” He says, slightly relieved.  Then he’s fueled by the new thought, “Nobody knows that. Could have thought it was anthrax or cyanide or some other chemical. They opened fire on you!”
    “I didn’t...”
    He cuts her off again “No, you didn’t. How did he get down to Dar?”
    “He took a non-commercial flight. A friend of his is a pilot...”
    Kennen hits the steering wheel with his fist and pulls over to the side of the road. “So, my name is the one they’ll find on the flight records and hotel records.”
    “They won’t look for you.”
    “They will look for anyone with a connection to the albino cause, to anyone with a connection to Kuchuna. And the airline tickets and hotel room are in my name, traveling with an albino, I might add, who is now also a terrorist.”
    “But, we’re foreigners, they can’t do anything to us.”
    “What are you smokin’? We can’t do any good in jail, Aliya. But we’d be safer if the government had us. We should turn ourselves in. Tell the authorities everything.”
    “But you didn’t even do anything!”
    “There’s no proof I didn’t and I was traveling with you and I work with Kuchuna and Kivuli and I’ve history as an activist. We should turn ourselves in.”
    “We can’t, we have to go back to Kivuli for the kids.”
    “How long could we do that for? Before they come for us, I mean? And they will come. And I don’t mean the government. I mean the people you pissed off today, the people who create the demand and pay money for albinos. Those are powerful people and they will come for us.”
    Aliya is still and quiet, but her mind is