All Black, All Red

Chapter Two: Darkness, Old Friend

Saturday June 9, 2012

Terry took deep, slow breaths as the airport escalator descended. She pulled and straightened her figure hugging dress and. It was black as night with silver embroidery running down on either side of it at the seams. They defined – for the blind man – just how wide and inviting those hips of hers were. All around her were women; some in Burkas, some without, but all with men on their arms.

“Aiyaiyai… it’s going to be a long twenty four hours,” she said as she stepped off the elevator, dragging her suitcase beside her.

Pulling out the purple scarf she’d known she’d need from her carry-on, she stopped for a minute to wrap it around her head, taking care to tuck in all her hair beneath it. Satisfied, she continued towards a large yellow sign with an arrow that read: TAXI.

Behind her, a man in a baby blue track suit followed her every step, eyeing the swing of her derriere, even imitating it to amuse himself. Oh, how much fun he would have with that derriere. As he lowered his dark glasses to get a better look at his prize, a little red glow illuminated his irises. He took a leap and momentarily developed a bounce to his step. He couldn’t help it. He was feeling a little too good not to.

***

He sat with his elbows on his desk and his head in his hands. He’d just written an email to Julie that he couldn’t bring himself to actually send. He just stared at it; at his screen.

“You’re a grown man Moha,” muttered to himself, “You’re a grown fuckin man, why does that tiny 20-year-old scare you so much? She’s just a girl.”

Because you want her, that’s why said the voice in his head. You’ve convinced yourself that she’ll reject you, but your body wants her, I mean really wants her so no matter what your mind says, your body’s going to make you chase her.

“It’s true.”

“What’s true?”

He started. Hitting the escape button on his keyboard, he sharply raised his eyes to meet… hers. They were brown; a flaming brown. Just like the soils in Yatta. Oh how he wished to swim in those soils.

“Julie! Hi! What are you doing here? Thought you were out on assignment!”

“You know, I never go anywhere on Saturdays,” the one known as Julie said, her voice penetrating his very core, making him breathe a little faster.

“Really? Why?”

“I’ll tell you what I tell you every week, Moha. Weekends are slow as fuck. Nothing happens but political rallies and that workers’ union dude running his mouth about how important he is because – wait for it – he was once a worker too,” she was laughing now.

“Is it that bad?”

“Yes, that bad. I’ve watched so many Chris Rock stand-up comedy vids on YouTube that I’m sure I’m good on the entertainment front for about a year.”

“Nah, Chris Rock isn’t that entertaining.”

“What?”

“What, what?”

“You don’t like Chris Rock?” she sounded scandalized. I didn’t know how to continue without annoying her. If I changed my stance, she’d think I was a push over and if I did, she’d think I was humourless shmuck.

“Well, if you want to talk about stand-up comedians, start with ‘The originals’,” I said, using my fore and middle fingers to draw quotes in the air. “George Carlin! Now that was a funny guy. Ever watched or heard about his Seven Words performance? No? Look it up. Then there’s Richard Pryor, he was the first black stand-up comedian to make it big worldwide. Everyone from the all over the world came to watch him. Then there’s guys with puppets; Potts with his singing stuffies and Jeff Dunham with his dead terrorists and peanut. Now those are funny guys.”

“How come I’ve never heard about these people before?”

“One, because you’re a baby, and two, because you’ve had zero experience in office – self entertainment.” he teased her

With her mouth open and a wounded look to her, she placed a small punch on his shoulder.

“You think I’m a baby?”

“You’re under 25, you live with your mom and you’ve got that school girl glow so, yes.”

“And you think I’m inexperienced as well?”

She leaned into him. She got so close that he could feel her warm breath on his upper lip. And her eyes… those flaming brown eyes… He never once moved his gaze from them. Not even when he felt the tips of her fingers touch the side of his face, trail down his jaw and neck. Instead, he raised his own hand

How is this happening? He wondered as he continued to swim in them; those eyes. She broke eye contact, reclaimed her hand from his neck and walked slowly away knowing he’d follow.

Before he’d decided to do it, he was ravaging her in a bathroom cubicle, keeping one strong arm over her mouth to muffle her moans of pleasure. All he could see were those eyes begging him not to stop. So he kept at it, until she closed them, threw back her head and stiffened from head to toe. Spent, he staggered away from her, still completely confused at how he’d come from fantasizing about her, to actually having her. In a bathroom stall no less.

“What just happened?”

“I showed you just how much of a baby I’m not. Are you… entertained?” Pulling her little black dress with silver embroidery on either side of her hips back down, she calmly walked out of the cubicle, out of the men’s room and took the lift back to her desk on the sixth floor. At her desk, she took out her little compact mirror, lifting her upper lip, she sighed with relief. In that moment, a red flicker illuminated her already flaming eyes and then faded away.

Well, well Moha, you’ve done it now, haven’t you, the voice in his head taunted. He was shaking from his exertion and his face was wet with sweat. Fumbling with his trousers’ zipper, he staggered towards one sink, unsure that he’d reach it in the state he was.

“What the fuck just happened?” he asked half laughing and half expecting the sink to gurgle up an answer. Rather than go back to his desk and pretend to work, he went straight out of the building and took a bus home.

***

From the corner of his eye he watched her as she made her presentation. She proposed big things; a closer relationship between her country Kenya and Turkey; large investments that would see Kenya develop and Turkey become one of the most developed economies in the continent; the Chinese work ethic be damned.

Now in an exquisitely cut dark suit, he worked hard to keep from stopping the presentation, kicking everyone out of the boardroom and taking her right there on the table. Camouflaged by his tinted glasses, his eyes continued to glow, that low painful red glow that told him if he didn’t have her soon, he would explode something fierce. Instead, he held still and played the part of Kahuna at the head of the table.

“All right lady…” said Terry smiling at the only other woman in the room, “and gentlemen. As you can see, this is a fool proof idea and I look forward to any questions, suggestions and or counterproposals if need be.”

She watched as he rose from his seat, followed him with her eyes as he walked towards her. She accepted his hand when he offered it and nodded at his thanks. She only whispered:

“No. Thank you, for this opportunity.” With that, she collected her things and glided towards the exit. His eyes never once left her.