Born a Crime

in flashbacks, snippets, driving to a
place I’d never seen, seeing people
I’d never seen. It was flat, not many
trees, the same dusty red-clay dirt
and grass as Soweto but with proper
houses and paved roads and a sense
of suburbia to it. Ours was a tiny
house at the bend in the road right
off Toyota Street. It was modest and
cramped inside, but walking in I
thought, Wow. We are really living.
It was crazy to have my own room. I
didn’t like it. My whole life I’d slept
in a room with my mom or on the
floor with my cousins. I was used to
having other human beings right
next to me, so I slept in my mom’s