These are the facts of the case. Tijan was not a very popular man, it was true. His weekly column in the papers was a searing look into the behavior of the powers that be, and people did not love him for it. No one was safe from the wandering wrath of his pen - from the highest civil servant to the lowliest cleaning lady. At home he ruled with an iron fist - prone to bouts of temper and both verbal and physical abuse of his wife and children. If the maid made the smallest of noises during his afternoon siesta - his office was near his house - he would wake up screaming at the poor girl until all the neighbors could hear him, calling her a good-for-nothing and a disgrace while she listened, scowling, too afraid to turn her back on him.
His wife, Jama, was a tall slender woman, her body all angles and sharp corners. She was so tall she stooped when she walked.
