Saturday, January 25, 2014

The First Time

'OMG! he is cute', she blurted, walking over to have a better view at a Facebook picture on the screen across her desk. 
Her colleague remarked, 'cue up girl! Umar is quite the charmer - boys and girls want him alike'.
'That is a familiar name!' Mima is excited, she rudely hoists herself in front of the screen. Staring blankly at his photos, memories rush back, and her eyes clouds with emotions - it was indeed him!  
'My Umar!' She blurts amidst exasperated sighs, 'after all these years...'
The ensuing events seemed awkward, as she predicted, it was meant to happen - this way, or the other. Afterall, she was the master of the plot. Umar, though 3 years older, was well aware, he accepted his place early enough in the relationship. He loved her too much - that was all that should matter.
'Secret Santa' was a Christmas tradition at Primary School-  everybody brought a gift to a pool and picked a random number from a sock. Successively, each person then picks and unwraps a gift on the spot. If you didn't like yours, you had one chance to exchange it from already opened gifts of others.
As an unwritten rule, whoever picked the 'weirdest' gift was often the brunt of jokes. He wasn't as lucky, his prized pick, a  mini guitar, was immediately snatched, now he had a  teddy - baby Jesus.
No one wanted a teddy - baby Jesus, it was the worst gift this year, but he had lost his chance to take another gift.
Mima, the new girl - brave, curly hair, with missing front teeth - walked up to him and smiled, 'may I have your baby?', she asked, 'you can have my Snow Ball, it's magical!'
He reached out for the exchange but she held back, 'there is a condition', she continued, 'you must volunteer to be my husband; I am 'Virgin-Mary' in the Christmas recitals'. He agreed.
It is 2013, 20 years has passed since they first broke up. He was impatient and she had wanted the first time to be special; now she was ready.
The door bell chimed and disrupted the moment, Mima opened her eyes, he had been watching her - grinning, she smiled back, knowing she belonged at the top of the list. As he started towards the door, he kissed her softly on the forehead and muttered 'come down in a few, I'll make coffee'.
The door creaked close, she stared at the ceiling, reminiscing, 'this is where I belong'. Her gaze wandered, it caught her eye - the Snow-Ball by the dresser - he kept it!
She meets him at the door and tries to conceal her excitement, and the 'Snow-Ball' bulge.
Umar is staring blankly at the baby dropped off in a basket with a note, They look confused, she looks happy. Trembling, he hands her the note and says, 'baby, just like the first time, will you have my baby?'

©Ub Matthews - 240114


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