Say You're One of Them Webcast Transcript

Patrick: And, I don't know, it just gave you a little bit of hope. Like most of the stories, we don't really know how it ends, so this one hopefully had a good ending.

Oprah: Had a good ending. Well, thank you, too. Thank you, you two. You guys are so cute together. Best friends. Thank you.Now we have Ernestine from Cordova, Tennessee, on the phone. Hey, Ernestine. 

Ernestine: Hi, how are you doing, Oprah? 

Oprah: Hi. I'm good.We're both good here. 

Ernestine: Thank you. My question was, I really enjoyed the book. I ended up caring so much about the characters in the book that I wondered, has there been any plans to do a follow-up book to talk about what happens to those characters now?
 
Oprah: Not on my part. 

Uwem: (Laughter.)

Oprah: I'm just trying to, no. No, because that's the thing about the short stories. They leave you with this, this space where you think, well, the person went off into their life and whatever happened, happened. So I think to do a follow-up would sort of not do it justice. What do you think? I don't know.

Ernestine: I know.That's the only thing I hated so bad that it was a short story because I shared the perspective with my grandsons, my teenage grandsons and told them how blessed they are.

Oprah: Yeah.

Ernestine: To live in this country. And all the things that can go on in Africa. So you do end up caring a lot about the characters and you wonder what has happened to them or is there a way to, you know, to follow like a family and just find out exactly what happens. 

Oprah: Yeah. 

Uwem: No, I don't know whether I will do a follow-up or whether I can do a follow-up. You know, some people tell me, you know, what happened to Yewa, you know, the young girl in "Fattening for Gabon." What happened to her? We want to know. We want to know. I don't know. That's where the story stopped in my, you know, in my mind. I would have to sit down and create, you know, the story for the... It's not as if I know everything about these characters or their lives and then start writing. So I, I don't know. Maybe...

Oprah: No, I say don't. I say don't.

Ernestine: It would be great if you would. 

Oprah: I say no. 

Uwem: I don't know whether I can...

Oprah: I say no.

Uwem: I don't know if it's possible. 

Oprah: It's much better for you to think now whatever happened to her? Whatever happened to her? Than to than to have it all wrapped up in a pretty little package for you. That's the, that's the mystery of it. But you know..

Ernestine: I guess that's true.

Oprah: Okay. Okay. That's why we have different opinions. Thank you so much. Thank you. 

Ernestine: Thank you. 

Oprah: Our next story is called "Luxurious Hearses." It's about a teenage Muslim boy trying to flee the ethnic violence sweeping his city, but he has to hide who he really is in order to survive an interminable bus ride to safety. That was the longest bus ride. I mean, at one point, I guess you did this on purpose because I know you all probably felt the same way. I was, like, when is this bus ride going to end? And there was one crazy person after another on this bus. I guess that was, was that the point? 

Uwem: (Laughter.) I... I know sometimes in my country, you know, they say to you this bus will leave at this time, you know? 

Oprah: Oh, my goodness.
 
Uwem: And it doesn't happen. It's like, you know, you get to an airport, you know, to the airport from the time you get on the plane and they say to you, well, we've got a problem. They don't let you out and you are in the plane. So I, I thought about bringing that into...

Oprah: "Luxurious Hearses." 

Uwem: Yeah, into the story. 

Oprah: Yes. And you chose a Muslim boy. 

Uwem: Mm-hmm.