Under the Udala Trees

One evening, as Ijeoma and Amina prepare for their baths, they experiment with running their hands over each other's braids and arms. In the hovel, this stroking extends over the rest of their bodies, and they kiss.

Amina says they “might as well be married” (118), but Ijeoma replies that they are too young to marry anyone. This was Amina’s first kiss, but not Ijeoma’s—Ijeoma tells Amina about the kiss with Chibundu. Amina’s kiss is “tingly and good” (119), opposed to Chibundu’s “chloroquine” kiss (45). 

During the New Yam Festival, seven months after the end of the war, the teacher is late in delivering his laundry to Ijeoma and Amina. Before describing the consequences of his lateness, Ijeoma stops the narrative to recollect her father’s ideas about infinity.

On the evening the laundry is late, Ijeoma and Amina are lying in bed. Their mothers encouraged discussions about dreams. Ijeoma dreamed of her teeth aching and falling out; Amina dreamed of floating away and being unable to return to earth.

Amina’s mother interpreted that dream as a rise in fortune followed by a fall.