BIRDSONGS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

　　A Nigerian woman’s love affair story with a rich Nigerian business man. At the outset of the story her car happens to stop next to a car where seemingly her lover’s wife sits. While she looks at her, she remembers things she shared with the man. He morbidly pays attention to his wife and the woman at the same time although he declares he would not prevent her from going her own way. He even uses CwithaD (Cock with a Dick) sign with his wife, whose humor he originally discovers while talking with the woman. He also tries to let the woman listen in the music over her cell phone which he and his wife are listening to at the concert hall. He is such a bastard. The woman cuts her connection with him, hating him and at the same time wanting him to separate from his wife. She has inferiority complex with his wife. She feels defeated by her. 　　While she was waiting for the traffic to move, her irritation breaks up, lowers the car window, and shouts at the woman in the next car, “What is your problem? Why have you been staring at me? Do I owe you?” But she was actually helpless how to control her anger and anguish. 　　The technique of beginning at a traffic situation and ending with the same scene is worth imitating. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus (2003) and Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and she has recently published a collection of short stories titled The Thing around Your Neck (2009). She has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007) and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2008).