Day 15: Girl Talk

With life, you just can’t know.

I stopped by the toy store for the usual afternoon French/English chat with Ayam. Only today, she said, no, the store was closing and she wanted me to come to her home. I hesitated for only a moment, and then let myself be led along the dirt streets of our neighborhood. Although to anyone from a developed country, it might not appear to be a wealthy section of Dakar, in fact, it is. The absence of paved streets and manicured lawns, accompanied by an absence of children with begging bowls, is an indication that we are in a high-end socioeconomic suburb.

Anyway, along the way, we picked up Ayam’s best friend Mary, who lives around the corner. Mary speaks fairly fluent English and is a commercial pilot. Twenty-eight years ago, she went to flight school in Ft. Worth, has a fantastic sense of humor, would have been a killer shortstop on any softball team, and—just my guess—would be really comfortable hanging out at Marie’s Crisis in the West Village.

Nicest part: Hanging out, just being one of the girls with Mary and Ayam, who really are the very best of friends. With life, you can't know. Sometimes you just gotta go.