How Was Your Afternoon?

The incline...

 John got a call from Marcos* (a local friend) asking him if he could meet later in the afternoon to discuss a book they were both reading. John said he could and they agreed on a time.

When the time came, I kissed him goodbye and began prepping food for dinner. I figured he'd be gone a couple hours and planned the rest of our evening accordingly.  

However, after 3 hours passed I began to wonder where he was. Now I don't go straight to "Call-the-US-Embassy", but I do try to remain aware of times, locations, etc. when we're separated. It's just good practice.

I was breathing a prayer when he walked in the door smiling. "You are not going to believe this!" he said.

I poured him a glass of water and asked him what happened.

"Well," he said a bit out of breath, "It seems that Marcos has purchased a new car for himself. Well...new to him. It's a pretty old car."

He took a sip of water and continued, "He was waiting for me at the gate and told me to get in. I saw that there was also a woman and a man inside that I hadn't ever met before. I introduced myself and got in the front seat.

"I complimented him on his new wheels and he proudly revved the engine before he tried to put it into gear. Loud grinding gears gave me a clue that Marcos does not know how to drive a stick shift. We were on a slight incline which gave Marcos all kinds of trouble. He tried to take off in second, and third all the while cursing his brother who was supposed to have 'fixed' the car. It was definitely user-error for this, although Marcos would never admit it.

"We continued swaying up the hill and back down again until the car was flooded and would no longer start. Now the words for his brother carried up into the atmosphere loud enough for our neighbors to hear. 

"Marcos got out of the car and began stomping around the opened hood looking for a solution. Two men stopped alongside us and began fiddling with the distributor cap. The car would sputter to life for a bit while the man under the hood would bang and twist and shout.

"Eventually the man got the car running and took it to the top of the hill so that Marcos would have a fighting chance of getting out of the neighborhood."

I said, "Wait a second. How long were you right outside the gate?"

John answered, "We were there about an hour before we even started toward our destination! We finally arrived at the cafe where we were to talk, but I was still confused about the man and woman that were with us."

"Marcos introduced them, 'This is a friend, Abdi, and this woman is from Cairo. I met her last week when I was visiting there.'

"This did not help me at all. Marcos had said he wanted to talk with me, but now we had additional people with us. The woman, who was not a family member, clearly presented a problem because culturally she should not be with a group of men who are not her family and certainly not in one of the cafes where the men hang out, play backgammon and smoke sheesha.

"Marcos saw my discomfort and said, 'Don't worry. We can all talk.'

"Maybe I was projecting, but I could feel the eyes of the others in the cafe resting squarely on the back of my head. We chatted a bit about different things until I reminded Marcos that I had a meeting that I needed to attend.

"He protested, but turned his attention to the soccer game on the television and I took that as my cue that it was all right to leave. So many cultural nuances to navigate!

"A distinguished man was leaving the cafe at the same time I was. He asked where I was going. I told him and he directed me to an old Mercedes that was polished perfectly. He drove me to my meeting location and told me that any time I needed a ride, just ask. I thanked him and made it just in time."

John smiled at me, took one more long drink and said, "So, that was my afternoon. How did yours go?"

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*Not his real name