Le Blanc

Gabriel has barely made it back to Africa before Josine starts calling him *Le Blanc*. The nickname lands somewhere between a joke and a diagnosis, especially when he freezes at a Bujumbura market, gawking at avocados, papayas, and mangoes like a tourist. After decades spent being the African in Europe, Gabriel discovers the peculiar discomfort of being read the other way around. Homecoming, it turns out, is no guarantee of belonging.