“Oh my god! … Do you think she’s sick?”

“I don’t know … might be convulsions.”

“Oh no! I don’t want anything bad to happen to her … I was just beginning to like her!”

“And how are we meant to get help if it gets to that …? It’s not like our shouts would go that far …. And in this neighborhood, they´d probably just think that we were being a nuisance!”

“Oh wait! I’ve just thought of something else!”

“What?”

“If she dies … who’s going to feed us? Like what would happen to us?”

“Morbid much?”

“But it´s a real thing … you know we have to think about things like that!”

“Shhh! Look at her. Is … is that a smile?”

“Oh yeah … You’re right. Is this what they mean when they say someone died happily in their sleep?”

“She’s certainly not sleeping!”

“You know what I mean …”

“Do I though?”

“You can be such a bore!”

“Were we not just speaking about imminent starvation and now we’re at my entertaining skills?”

“Ah ha! You see! You thought it too … Without her, we could well starve!”

“Ok fine I thought it too. No need to make a fuss about it. … What is she doing?”

“Maybe she’s only stretching.”

“Like that?! Why? Doesn’t seem very relaxing to me.”

“You know they’re all strange. Must be something in their food.”

“Yeah well, at least it doesn´t look like she’s about to keel over so that’s a relief.”

“Food! Yum!”

“Is that all you think about?”

“Food is an important topic. More interesting than the …”

“Whoa!” “Whoa!”

“Did you see that?!”

“Oh my god!”

“Is she broken?”

“Do they break?”

“I really think we should do something?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know … You go over and see if she’s okay.”

“Why me?”

“You´re the one who’s not thinking about food all the time.”

“What, pray tell, does one thing have to do with the other?”

“Well, why not you?”

“…”

“Look, we need to do something, and she’s not likely to do anything drastic!”

“Wouldn’t you say that all she’s been doing since she came in, is the very definition of ‘drastic’?”

“Go!”

“Okay, okay! Just know that I’m ready to skedaddle if things go sideways.”

“Don’t worry … so am I!”

“I hope you’re watching closely … I’ll need someone to give an explanation to my relatives if things go wrong.”

“I’m your only relative.”

“Well, there you go.”

“Good luck!”

***

Wanji had just come home to her comfortable and stylish modern uptown apartment, from a night out. They had just closed an important deal at work, and she had been out celebrating with the team. She’d had to leave the bar a little earlier than she would otherwise have preferred, because she had an early start the next day. No rest for the fierce corporate girl-boss working in a Fortune Global 500 company. She was not married and had no kids. After law school, her focus had been on her career, and she was now living her dream life. 

She was listening to Fally Ipupa on her earbuds in her dimly lit living room. Fally had this sexy enchanting voice, which felt like warm honey coursing through her veins. It made her entire body sway as she longed to capture the promises that he whispered quietly into her ear in a language that she did not understand. Fally had helped carry the light mood from the bar into her cab drive home and now into her sparsely decorated living room. 

She began dancing in the style of the Congolese artist. Fally presented in his every graceful movement a beautiful presence that seemed to bring all things together. It was all about the waist. Knees slightly bent; arms held out with hands uplifted and splayed as if in supplication to the gods. Shoulders & neck immobile while the mid-section exploded in frenzied activity that brought the hips and buttocks sashaying elegantly to the beat. She opened herself up and let the music enter into her very being, while moving with the carefree lightness of the Angeles.

When the song climaxed, she rolled on the floor in a summersault and burst out laughing! As she lay on her back on the floor, she reflected on how good it felt to be as playful as a child rolling about on the floor, if only for a minute. The pressure that had been building up within her in the months of intense negotiations that she had just come through, gave way. She felt that she could start connecting back to herself. She promised herself that she would not let it go so crazy next time she had a deal to close. A promise she had often made, and broken.

She was brought back to the present by her cat lightly pressing its body against her extended right foot. She had recently rescued 2 adult male cats from the animal shelter, and they were still getting used to her. One was as dark as night and the other, white as snow. They were brothers somehow (or so the shelter had claimed). They’d needed to vacate their previous home when a new baby started developing an allergy. Wanji had been glad to bring them home with her . She hoped that they would help bring more life into her space. More colour into her life.

She had been giving them time to get used to her and their new home. Her heart warmed when she saw that one was comfortable enough in her presence to walk over and say hello. The other hung back, cautiously watching from the doorway, but she was sure that it would only be a matter of time. She felt warm and fuzzy inside.