Behold the Dreamers

Clark is noticeably aged and curt the next time Jende drives for him in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Although Jende overhears Clark’s discussions with others on the car cell phone, Jende is unable to understand the concepts Clark discusses because he knows nothing about finance on Wall Street. The only thing that is clear is that something terrible has happened.

Clark had told Cindy about the impending bankruptcy before it happened. She had been surprised and not at all sure of what to do to comfort her husband. She was also afraid of what it would do to their financial status, she tells her friend, Cheri, during a conversation. The one cutback Cheri's husband has asked is letting the maid go and taking over the cleaning, a thought the two rich women find hilarious.

What Cindy keeps to herself is that Clark had told her that the fall of Lehman Brothers would have a domino effect that would damage the economy as a whole. Ordinary people would suffer, Clark told Cindy, but affluent people like the Edwards family would ultimately be fine. Cindy confesses to Cheri that what she really worries about is Clark turning to a sex worker to relieve his stress during this time. Cheri tells her that she is worrying about nothing.

Clark, meanwhile, feels guilty because he is part of the corrupt system that produced Lehman Brothers. Jende overhears him talking to his friend, Frank, about leaving Wall Street because he cannot bear the stain of what happened with Lehman Brothers. Clark is bemused with himself because he is beginning to sound like Vince.

Jende wonders how Vince is doing in India and hopes that the father and son will eventually reconcile. Jende is also worried about Leah, who has lost her job in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. For his part, Jende cannot believe that economic crisis of the kind to which he had grown accustomed to in Cameroon is now happening in America. Nevertheless, he is thankful that he still has a job.

As the weeks go by, the economy continues to tank, an “unprecedented plague” (184) like that the Egyptians had suffered in biblical times. The Egyptians “had chosen riches over righteousness, rapaciousness over justice. The Americans have done no such thing,” (185) Jende reasons, but the recession continues to deepen.

In the weeks following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Jende overhears Clark—now working for Barclay Bank as an executive, after its acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ financial services division—regularly set up meetings with sex workers at the Chelsea Hotel. As always, “Jende drove him wherever he needed to be next and asked no questions” (186). Jende feels keeping this secret for his employer cements a certain bond between the two men. Despite his belief in the bond, Jende says nothing when Clark returns to the car after one of these meetings without a special tie that he had been wearing on the way in. It’s so late that Jende can only hope that Cindy will be asleep or not notice.

One evening in early November, three days after the election of Barack Obama, Cindy asks Jende to keep a record of her husband’s comings and goings. Jende assumes it’s because she has noticed the missing tie. When Jende insists Clark is, like Jende, a hardworking man and explains that he feels uncomfortable with Cindy’s request, Cindy reminds him that with Neni’s pregnancy, it would be unfortunate if Jende lost his job.

Jende is unsure of what to do. Neni tells him Cindy has the right to know about Clark’s infidelity. Jende’s cousin, Winston, agrees during a visit to the apartment. Jende reminds them that he signed a confidentiality agreement when he took the job, so he is legally bound to say nothing. Jende had kept Clark’s secret even from Neni, whom he feared would feel less secure in their own marriage if she knew. Winston hits upon the idea of Jende blackmailing Cindy with the threat to tell Clark about her drug abuse.

Neni warns Jende that Cindy, despite her delicate appearance, always manages to get her way. Jende attempts to shut the conversation down by talking down to Neni, who leaves the room in anger. Winston warns Jende that if he’s not careful, he will be trapped in a foreign land—just like Joseph, from the Bible—due to the lies of a woman.

One morning, Jende tells Clark about Cindy’s request. Clark instructs Jende to tell Cindy everything except for the times he drives Clark to the Chelsea. Jende also tells Clark that Cindy has lost weight and does not look healthy. Clark smiles and tells Jende that Cindy would love to hear that she has lost weight.

For weeks, Jende gives Cindy the doctored diary for Clark. Cindy seems less depressed during this time, and Jende overhears almost no teary conversations in which Cindy cries over Clark. The couple even seems to enter something of a honeymoon one night after a gala at the Waldorf Astoria. A visit from Clark’s family at Thanksgiving adds to the air of happiness. 

The happiness ends abruptly when, two days after the gala, a news story about a madam and her clients (including former Lehman Brothers executives who now work for Barclays Bank and are identified by their company titles) at the Chelsea breaks in a tabloid. The story goes viral because the madam claims that some of her clients are using TARP money (federal funds used to bail out the struggling banks) to pay for the services of her escorts. Leah tells Jende that Clark is one of the executives named by his title. When Jende picks Cindy up later that evening, she is icily silent with him. When Jende offers to hand over the most recent edition of Clark’s itinerary, she rejects it.

Mighty cries during his drive to school one morning because, he tells Jende, the family vacation to St. Barthes is cancelled and he has overheard his parents having an argument over what sounded like divorce the night before. Mighty begs to spend time with Jende and Neni that weekend, but Jende gently tells him that his parents would never allow it. Neni will make him puff puff, a Cameroonian dish Mighty has wanted to taste ever since he heard about it, however.

Amatimba Monyenga, Jende and Neni’s daughter, is born on December 10. They nickname her “Timba.” Clark tells Jende to take off as much time as he needs since the family will be less busy during the holiday break. Days later, Jende receives a deportation order with instructions for him to appear in immigration court in early February. Bubakar assures him that with the court backlog, not much would happen for some time after the first hearing. The important thing is that Jende comes up with the lawyer’s fees that Bubakar will need to mount a defense. When Jende calls Winston for advice, Winston tells him that one of Winston’s former colleagues said that Jende’s case had all the hallmarks of having been mishandled by Bubakar, starting with the fabricated story of persecution.

Neni advises Jende that even if Winston is right, they have come so far with Bubakar that they might as well continue with him. Attempting to reassure themselves, “[t]hey urged each other to be hopeful, to believe that they would one day realize the dream of becoming Americans” (226). They each have bad dreams about their future and that of their children, however.

Unable to shake her fear, Neni decides to visit a church, Judson Memorial, in Washington Square. She took the two children with her to church the week before Christmas. Neni was disappointed with the lackluster singing of the mostly white, middle-aged crowd in the pews. They neither danced nor sang as enthusiastically as the churchgoers back in her hometown. The pastor, an older white woman named Natasha, and her parishioners were kind and enthusiastic afterward, however. Jende is skeptical of the church, telling Neni that maybe this white church simply wants a token black family. Neni explains that she will continue going to church because she saw a news story about a church that offered sanctuary to a man who was about to be deported. The idea of hiding in a church—and that Neni even believes he would do so—infuriates Jende. Jende says he would leave Neni and take the children back to Limbe before he would lower himself any further than he already has. Neni cries herself to sleep.

Stressed by events at home, Neni agrees to meet with Natasha, the pastor at Judson Memorial. At the meeting, Neni tells Natasha about Jende's deportation case and how much she wants to stay in America. Natasha assures Neni that the church will fight for the Jongas. On the way home, Neni sees protestors in Washington Square Park protesting the bailout of Wall Street. Neni imagines that if the church helps them, perhaps she will be allowed to be a protestor and a citizen one day. In African countries, dissidents are jailed when they protest.

At home, Jende is angry and continues to criticize Neni and call her an idiot, especially when he learns that she had gone into detail about their situation with the pastor, which is exactly the kind of disclosure against which the lawyer had warned them. Jende is so upset with Neni that for the first time ever she fears that he may strike her. It wasn't him threatening to beat her, she rationalizes, “but a grotesque being created by the sufferings of an American immigrant life” (237).

The week before Christmas, Jende picks up Mighty to take him to school. Mighty is upset because he has overheard his parents having an argument about getting rid of someone the night before. Jende suspects that the conversation is about him, now that the Edwards’ marriage is on the rocks. His fears are borne out when Clark tells him to come upstairs that day after Jende drops off Mighty. 

At Cindy’s behest, Clark fires Jende. When Jende receives the news, he is so angry that he questions Clark in a loud voice about why he has been fired, despite following Clark's instructions to fabricate the itinerary. Clark explains that it’s complicated and gives Jende his final paycheck, which includes double his monthly salary.

Neni attends a service at Judson and comes home in a light mood as a result. That night, Jende shares the news with her that he has been fired by Clark. It is fortunate for him that Clark has paid him two month's salary. Neni is furious and questions Jende sharply to find out if Mrs. Edwards is behind his firing.