What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky

After the death of her husband, Buchi and her two young daughters moved in with Buchi’s sister’s family. The three share a mattress, and one morning Damaris, the youngest girl, wets the bed. The older daughter, Louisa, worries that their aunt will be angry, so she helps her mother prepare to wash the sheets. Buchi makes a small breakfast and provides tea and bread for Lawrence, the gardener, and joins him on the steps. She informs him of the bedwetting as an implicit request to be gentle with the girls. When they first moved, Damaris, who stopped talking after her father’s death, would have fits of emotion, while Louisa channeled her fear of being kicked out into being well-behaved and helpful. Lawrence initially didn’t care for the girls due to his experiences with Buchi’s sister’s children, but he softened toward them. Damaris started following him around, helping with weeding and feeding the chickens. A runt chicken named Kano became like a family pet, and it and Damaris follow each other around.

Buchi’s sister, Precious, doesn’t like Buchi being friendly with servants, so when Buchi hears her sister call from inside the house, she quickly grabs Lawrence’s cup of tea. Precious hands Buchi the phone, telling her that her friend Ijeoma is calling. Ijeoma and Buchi have been friends since primary school and have reached several milestones together: marriage, births, and deaths. Ijeoma’s daughter, Soma, died of sickle cell anemia just prior to the accidental death of Nmandi, Buchi’s husband. Buchi tells her that while living in Precious’s house may have been good for Damaris, it has increased Louisa’s anxiety. Ijeoma reiterates an offer to have Louisa live with her under Soma’s identity, as Ijeoma needs help with her six children. Buchi is reluctant to send her daughter away to be a caretaker.

After the phone call, Buchi and Louisa wash the sheets and get Damaris clean and dressed. Damaris stands before Buchi, and Louisa explains that Damaris wants something to feed Kano. Buchi gives her some cereal for the chicken and notices that she carries an activity book, which Louisa says is a story about Kano.

The rest of the morning, Buchi gives lessons to the girls. Nnamdi hadn’t been good with money, so now Buchi doesn’t have enough money to send the girls to school. Precious says she will talk to her husband, Dickson, about helping in some way, but in exchange for staying with her sister’s family, Buchi has to clean and make dinner for them every day.

On the steps, Lawrence left the girls a small bag of garden eggs and peanuts. She calls the girls to have the snack, and Damaris saves some for Kano. As Buchi cleans, she reflects that Precious and Dickson fail to understand what grieving children need. They sometimes boss Louisa around, but Buchi refuses to let her scrub their toilets. Precious and Dickson keep their room locked while they’re out of the house, but they leave their daughters’ rooms open while they are at boarding school; however, Buchi’s girls cannot go in them or play with the toys they were welcomed to when they visited as guests. In retaliation, Buchi is breaking off the legs of dollhouse chairs when she hears Louisa gasp from the doorway. Buchi asks if she wants to help her fix it, but Louisa shakes her head, unwilling to enter. Buchi asks if she’d like to play with a doll, and Louisa nods but runs off before she’s tempted into breaking a rule.

Buchi recalls the accident that killed her husband. The family had pulled over to help a couple with a stalled car on the other side of the road. A truck driver swerved to miss one of the stalled car’s occupants and instead ran over Nnamdi. Damaris was in the back seat of the car and saw the whole thing.

Buchi encounters Dickson, who says that his wife told him Buchi wanted to talk to him. Buchi excuses Louisa, but Dickson insists she stay and then makes Buchi explain why she can’t afford to send her daughters to school. Damaris then comes screaming through the kitchen with Kano at her heels. Dickson jokingly remarks that he should kill that chicken. Louisa doesn’t understand that it’s a joke and tells him he can’t do that because Damaris is writing a book about him. Dickson doubles down on his joke, saying Damaris should write a cookbook. Louisa starts hitting him before her mother pulls her away. Enraged, Dickson calls for Lawrence to kill Kano. He slaps Buchi when she tries to intervene. Buchi then goes out to Lawrence. He doesn’t want to kill Kano, but Buchi begs him to, knowing that things will be bad for them if he doesn’t.

That night, they have beef for dinner. Lawrence killed the chicken but hid it in a bucket in case Damaris came by. He told her Kano went outside the gate. Buchi later threw Kano’s body into the trash for burning. She tries to make amends for her harsh language with Lawrence, but he is distant. After Damaris is asleep, Buchi asks Louisa if she would like to visit Ijeoma.