Date Night (Part 1)

She is worried.
She is peeping through her window via the curtain opening, gazing at the nearby hedge that makes part of estate fence, and breathes out restlessly.
It is Saturday. Saturday morning. And this evening is her date night. Her second date.
She is worried that it is the D-day and she still is not feeling prepared enough for this...

She now pulls the curtain aside from the window and moves across the room to get her phone that is laid on a stool by her bedside.
She slightly bends down, chuckles a little, swings part of her night dress to her left...
She checks her phone. Her battery is low. 20% charge.
There has been no electricity from around two in the afternoon of yesterday.
She looks at the time on the phone. It is 10.00am. She has woken up late. For the first time since she moved to this place, she is up late.

She types her passcode into the phone (a Huawei model of Android OS) - to bypass the security lock on her messaging app - scrolls through her most recent texts, breathes heavily and feels tinted.
He sent her a text last night reminding her of today - their second date.
And now she is scared - not of love, but of the reality of love, of dates and of falling for him.
She is scared that she likes him a lot more than she has ever liked any guy; that she always replies to his texts; that the very thought of him torments her in a beautiful way...
She pulls herself up and sits on her bed. Still not spread.
It is now 10.30am.
Saturday.

The sun is now shining directly across the room. Its rays are piercing through the glass revealing a beautiful and already cheered morning.
There are no birds outside. Her hood has no birds. It is a very still morning.
It is a still morning except for her lady neighbors next door that always wake up early to chat on Saturdays.
She feels disgusted. It is Saturday. Saturday. Yes, Saturday!! Why the heck should someone wake up that early on a Saturday morning just to blabber!!?

She wastefully glares at the iron sheets that are the roof over her room.
There is a hole up there. There at the corner. She sees it. Does it leak when it rains?
She stands up and moves to the place directly below the hole. Oh well, it doesn't. It doesn't leak. She proves this because it had been raining for a while and there should be some water, or, er, moisture around the place, right?

............

He spent most of his yesterday, Friday, daydreaming of today: the venue, the services, the way he's to behave on his second date so that the airs around his gentleman tag may not be spoilt.
In fact, if he'd cared too much, he'd still be mumbling over the date details in his mind.
But something came up this morning - something that requires him to be occupied for at least a good part of the day.
Anyway, it is a money deal and there is no way he's gonna be spending money without refueling his pocket.
He needs this money.
He needs it.
So at ten-ish, he gets his ride and goes to see his "deals buddy".
They get swallowed up in "deals stuff", realize that it is already 2pm, move on to their best lunch spot - the one they "discovered" the other day, order chicken and ugali and disappear into talk until 4pm.
4pm.

He is then reminded that there is a football game to be watched. Same time, a different place.
4pm.
He feels safe. He decides to go watch the first half of the game.
So they move: him and his "deals buddy".
The game is tight. The first half vanishes without a goal. Useless football.
Utterly useless football.

All this time, from 10.00am when he rode to meet his buddy up until 5.00pm when the first half of the most beautiful game in the world is done, he has not checked his phone.
Oh well, he received a few phone calls... but that was it.
Then it hits him: it is his date night!!
His second date night.
"Second dates are critical..." he remembers these words from his deals guy, "very important... they either kill or establish the foundation of a probable relationship..." he had continued.
5.15pm it is. The date is in 45 minutes time, 5 kilometers away...

His deals guy has gotta do something before his whole realtionships house comes tumbling down.
So he calls him from the football blowies...
"Hey man! Hebu come kiasi..."
(Clicks) "Dude, imagine it is now one-nil..." goes the deals guy, "...in favor of the other team..."
"Oh, like seriously, this is not the time for scores... kuna vitu za muhimu saa hii bana!"
"Okay man, I'm in big trouble. I'm in big big trouble... You remember the date thingy I mentioned to you about jana? It is happening in 40 minutes..."

Silence.

(The other guys in the football den are now shouting loud... it should be another score... two-nil or one-one, woreva...)

"Okay dude, calm down. Caaalm down. Take a deep breathe. Good. Do you have the venue paid for and arranged? And you have that crash cologne of ours with you, right? Get it. Okay, Imma take care of this... forget about the beautiful game, my boy is gotta make his probable girl proud..."
The deals guy calls for a taxi. (There ain't no taking chances leaving his boy driving under stress.) He instructs the taxi guy to work in 20 minutes sharp and achieve a double pay.
The work is done.
Sigh! Thank the good Lord for "deal guys"...

..................

30 minutes later, the guy is waiting...
10 minutes before time.
He is adjusting the cuffs on his shirt.
He is making tiny empty prayers.
He is breathing into his palms to taste the smell of his breathe.

He is taking gum from his pocket and is now hesitantly chewing it.
He is moving his head to the side and looking over his shoes, the back of his pair of trousers and clearing his throat.
"Lucky me...!" he thinks.

..................

On the other side, she managed to prepare lunch at 12pm, ate and started to think on whatever she was gonna dress in today.

It's gotta tantalizing. What? Yeah, tantalizing.
The blue dress? Nah, blue is too elegant...
The tiny black one maybe? No, that one is too revealing...
A formal blouse over a formal skirt? Muh! A maxi dress, maybe? A crop top? A... okay... ooookaaaay...
She had called her fashion-advise-fashion-sense girl...
"Hi Jay!? I mean, what does one wear to a date, er, eeehh, to a second date?"(Phone battery alert pings.)

Jane: "Si please lemme come over so we make you over... you need-a be a queen yo...!!"
Jane had come and done her thing... for 3 good hours!! 3. Good. Hours.
Dang.

So she was ready by 4.30 and was dressed in, er, well, her fashion-advise-fashion-sense girl knows her stuff... 

She reaches the date venue 5 minutes before time. 

"A perfect sense of punctuality...!!" she mumbles.
She steps out to see if her date has already come...
The place is beautiful. Really beautiful. 
In fact, the color code of the restaurant compliments whatever she is wearing...

As he waits for her after throwing away the gum and calling for a drink, 5 or so minutes later, there she stands.

"Oh well, she really is an amazing and beautiful creature of God" his mind quips, "Phew!!"
He stands up.
He smiles.
He compliments her looks and thanks her for coming...
He hugs her.
He pulls her chair.
She puts her bag on a bag holder by the side of the table, near the pole.
She swings her head to pull back her hair (as they always do...)
He asks her what she may take as a drink for a start...
As the waiter goes out to bring her her drink, the conversation begins...

TO BE CONTINUED...


Bonface Morris.