The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2010

J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31 in about an hour. And if we were lucky, we could take a taxi home with our purchases and still be at church by 10. Joyce hummed as we walked along the beach road, the sun’s early reflection taut over the water. “How did you like Kevin?” she asked me, carefully avoiding my eyes. “He’s okay. Why?” I asked. Joyce was a horrible liar, and I could see her eyes skittering somewhere above my fore- head trying to decide what genre of lie she was hoping I’d swallow. “Tell me, or I’m going home,” I said. “You can get the shoes yourself.” Joyce stopped and stared at me. “Kevin and Philip are not brothers,” she told me. “I found them on the Internet. They won the green card lottery and are willing to take us with them to America.” “How?” I asked breathlessly. Joyce snorted. “As their wives, stupid. How else?” She quickly gave me the details. She’d been concocting this plan for the past year but had only recently found someone willing to marry us. Auntie had paid a visa fixer to obtain our passports and the marriage cer- tificates. The interviews at the U.S. embassy would take place in one month. “But why me?” I asked finally. “You’re the one who wants to go to America, not me. I’m only 16.” Joyce eyed me critically. “Yes, but you could pass as 20 if we fix you up a bit. I don’t want to go to America alone, and this way we could go together, save money, and start over. Trust me.” So I did. The next few weeks passed in a blur. Auntie arranged for the visa fixer to come to our house while our mother F O C U S Auntie arranged for the visa fixer to come to our house while our mother was at the market and coach us on the upcoming interview.