Fortitude

30-Food

"Elizabeth!" Taji exclaimed then burst into laugher. It was comforting to see him ease up.

》《

So our date turned into a group plot. That's what you get when you have a friend like Blue bird, persistent about keeping things pure between us. It was kinda annoying, but I appreciated her effort anyway. She, Mark, Taji and I went bowling that Saturday night. Mark was a pro at this. He cleared the pins on nearly every shot he took. He obviously came in first, me second then Taji and Lily tied at last place.

"So it's clear that our beloved light skins are terrible at this," Mark joked as he gave me a high five making Lily and Taji scoff.

"Let's just go get lunch," Lily said. We had decided to use one car, Taji's of course. Lily insisted that she wanted to drive and Taji let her. We were driving away to a restaurant we had agreed on before Lily suddenly changed her mind when we passed a street food area.

"Guys, could we grab a bite, please. Wait why am I begging. I'm the one driving." And with that, she turned around and took us back there. "What's the plan Blue bird?" I asked.

"Can we just be normal Kenyans for once?" She answered as she dug through her purse.

"Says the Ethiopian," Taji joked and we laughed.

"*We pointi usiniambie kitu! (Don't tell me a thing you pointi)" She shot back at him.

*(Pointi is the name we use for mixed race people)

"See, light skinned problems," Mark turned to whisper to me and I chuckled.

We alighted and went straight to the food stands. In the 24 years I'd been alive, I had never taken street food. It was kinda strange considering I lived in a neighbourhood where it existed in every other corner. I really didn't want them to notice but when you have a friend like Lily, nothing goes unnoticed.

"Love, why do you look lost? Don't tell me you've never eaten here before," she said with a chuckle. I sighed and it was enough to send the message.

"Wait, you've never eaten street food?" She gasped a bit too loudly making the men snap their heads back at us with puzzled expressions. I bowed my head and nodded.

Please don't make fun of me.
Please don't make fun of me.
Please don't make fun of me.

"What?" Taji and Mark exclaimed.

"Mutura... smokie pasua... mahindi choma... smocha... bhajia mwitu... something, anything? " Mark asked as I shook my head at every food he mentioned.

"What do you wanna try first?" Taji asked as he draped his arm around my shoulder. I was glad that at least one of them was being civil about this. We walked from stall to stall, pilling up as much as we could carry then carried everything to the car.

"Please don't get any sauce on my baby," Taji said as we placed the food on the bonnet.

"I thought Raz was your baby?" Mark joked and received a hard nudge on the ribs from Taji making us laugh. I was mainly laughing to hide the blush creeping up my face.

Lily and I sat cross legged on the bonnet as the guys stood beside us. Taji pulled out some pocket tissues from his pocket and handed them to me with a grin. I smiled back, completely blown that he remembered my OCD tendancies. With my laps guarded from any smudges, each of them handed me everything one after another. I had really been missing out on a lot. Everything was way better than refined restaurant food. We washed everything down with juice as we just enjoyed each other's company.

As we watched the sun set on the orange sky behind the stalls, Taji wrapped his arm around my waist making me twitch. He leaned over and asked, "Would you like to go to Chiswick with me?"

I shot him a bewildered expression then asked, "Where's that?"

He grinned then said, "Some place in London."

London!
What!
Oh my goodness!
Wait, why?

"So..." he asked interrupting my thoughts.

"Uhm... why?"

"My sister Terry is getting married to a Brit called Bobby. She wants me to go visit before their wedding and I wanted to tag you along, if you don't mind,"

"Of course I'd love to come! But you'd have to convince my parents first though."

"Yeah, I know," he answered with a nervous laugh. "I could ask them when I drop you home."

"Today?"

"Yeah, why not?"

The guy doesn't waste a single second.

"Uhm... okay then. When are you planning to fly out?"

"Mid December. Anytime after 12th and before Christmas eve. I don't want you to miss any Christmas tradition you have and I don't want to mess up our annual memorial."

"Memorial?" I asked and he gasped then face palmed himself. It probably wasn't something he was planning to slip out. He sighed then answered.

"I've never told you this. But my mum passed away when I was fourteen." He started and it attracted the other two's attention. He looked down and sighed again. My heart broke a bit upon seeing him like this. I couldn't even begin to imagine how shattered he felt back then. I placed my hand on the hand around my waist and he looked up at me. I smiled at him and it probably made him feel better because he smiled back. He continued with the story.

"She had cervical cancer but also wanted a son. So they adopted me,"

That explains a lot.

"I didn't really know how bad it was till the last two years she was around. She'd gone through chemotherapy and actually got better. But when I was around 13, it metastasized. The pain was too much to bear at home so we took her to hospital to try and extend her days. We barely left her side on her last days. The last time we spoke, she left me in the managerial position I'm in right now. She was part of the board in charge of the company and decided to do me one last favour. The very next day... she left."

Lily sniffled as he finished speaking and he gave her a smile that spelled out it's okay.

I honestly felt quite stupid for assuming that just because someone drove a 60 thousand dollar vehicle, their life was picture perfect. Taji had been through a lot at such a young age, yet he somehow looked all put together.

"It's okay guys. It was for the best, she'd suffered way too much. I actually came across a scripture some time ago from I think Job 1:21 The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord. I'm good."

Not so long ago he was just some client. Now, seeing how fast he'd grown spiritually, my heart melted at every second. I never thought that a new believer would be the one to make me re-evaluate my relationship with Christ, but I really needed to up my game. Taji was everything I ever wanted with a cherry on top. He didn't deserve being around someone plastic.