Our Sister Killjoy

Content Warning: This section includes discussions of anti-Black racism.

Sissie is staying in a small Bavarian town. She lives in a youth hostel that used to be a castle. When she is on a walk by the river, Sissie meets a young German mother who asks her if she is Indian. There used to be two Indians who worked in the local supermarket, the woman explains, and she liked them both a lot. Sissie remembers her West Indian (Caribbean) neighbors who decided to move to Canada with their two children. They were stranded in Liverpool for months before they finally arrived. The husband died in a workplace accident almost immediately. The wife and children tried to move to New Jersey to find a relative, only to learn that the relative had been shot and killed. Sissie realizes that the German woman is unusual for having liked the Indian supermarket workers at all. 

The woman introduces her baby as Adolf, noting that her husband is named Adolf, too. Sissie explains that she is from Ghana; the woman asks, “Is that near Canada?” (24). After Sissie tells her a little about West Africa, the woman introduces herself as