A knock on the door gives Bella a start. Then she calls, “Come in,” and Dahaba walks in, leaving the door ajar. Bella realizes that she is instinctively blocking her niece’s view of the rest of the room, perhaps because she doesn’t want anyone else to know about the broad sweep of her own intentions.
Dahaba asks, “What are you doing?”
“N-nothing!” Bella stammers.
Dahaba walks farther into the room and looks around, as if checking that everything remains as her father left it — except for a half-open drawer, which she now goes to.
“You looking for something?” Bella asks.
“Do you have any tampons, Auntie?” While Bella rummages for some in her travel case, Dahaba says, “What is the word for tampons in Somali?”
Bella chuckles. “I doubt we have a word for it.” Then she remembers how in her youth, when tampons were not yet available in Somalia, women back home had to make use of strips of cotton, which had to be washed several times a day. In the Mogadiscio of the late eighties, they were again difficult to obtain; in those days, pharmacies would run out of all manner of daily necessities.
“Here,” she says, giving Dahaba several.
Dahaba dashes out of the room, and Bella pushes the door gently shut on the pretext that she will be changing. Then she resumes searching the room, albeit with consummate caution. But she doesn’t lock the door, not wanting either Dahaba or Salif to suspect her of foraging among their dad’s things. Bella is certain that even Aar had secrets somewhere, but this is not something the offspring of a beloved parent find easy to believe.
Another knock on the door puts a stop to Bella’s search.
This time it is Salif. “Would you like me to book a table at a restaurant if Mum and Padmini are joining us?” he says through the door.
Bella opens the door, but he is too timid to look at her because she is not yet decently dressed. What a charming, sweet boy, she thinks, as he stares at his fingernails.
“Which would you rather do, go out or bring in takeaway?” she asks. “For me, either is fine.”
“Let’s eat in,” he says. “There is more privacy here.”
“I see your point,” she says.
“And they may be late.”
She wonders if she should mention that their mother was close to an hour late yesterday evening. But all she says is, “Fair enough. The food can wait if they are late, and we can warm it up in the microwave.”
He says, “You know that whatever we decide either Mom or Dahaba will fuss about it. But you know what?”
“What?”
“Fuss or not, they always eat the food you place before them.”
Salif suggests sushi and claims to know where to get the best in Nairobi.
—
After allowing Salif and Dahaba computer and TV time, Bella decides to be a taskmaster for a change. In the sweetest way possible, she reminds them of their mother’s first visit here, and she says that given they haven’t as yet been in touch with the maid and that the corners of the rooms have been gathering dust and fluff wouldn’t it be a good idea for each of them to clean their room? Bella offers she will do her room, two of the four bathrooms, and all the areas that are of common use — today, at least.
They each do their part, Salif playing heavy metal, Dahaba fussing a little and then playing her choice of rock, and Bella saying nothing to either of them. They take a break at about four and shower, readying mentally for Valerie and Padmini’s visit. And since Bella has no idea what either woman would tell either child about her sexuality, Bella decides not to bother, much less worry about the matter.
Dahaba wants to know if she can invite friends home to meet her mother this evening, and Salif is of the view that the best way to welcome a person home is to cook — and maybe they should cook instead of bringing a takeaway. But when neither Bella nor Salif thinks that Dahaba’s suggestion is good, and when neither Bella nor Dahaba is of the opinion that Salif’s idea to cook will fly, Dahaba is the one who sulks briefly, retreats to her room and showers, then reemerges as if nothing has happened.
At six, it is time to pick up the sushi, but Dahaba doesn’t want to go. “What did I tell you?” says Salif. He puts the alarm on downstairs and tells her to stay up in her room while they are out.
She says, “You think I am stupid?”
He promises to get her a Big Mac, just the way she likes it. He turns to Bella. “She has the woman’s thing, I know,” he says.
Bella thinks about how the world has changed. As a young woman growing up in Somalia, she would never have told her brother about her “woman’s thing,” as close as they were.
—
In the car on the way to pick up the food, Bella debates how much of her own suspicions about Valerie she should air to Salif. But they have been gone barely five minutes when Dahaba telephones, asking how soon they will return. “Just stay put,” Bella assures her, “and we’ll be back before you know it.”
Salif says, “Dahaba hates being alone.”
The food court offers an assortment of fast food, but also a variety of international cuisines, mainly non-African: Indian, Chinese, and Japanese. Salif swears by the Japanese place despite the unlikely location. Bella gives him a wad of cash for the sushi and goes to order Dahaba’s Big Mac and some Indian food for good measure.
“I hope she doesn’t change her mind when we bring her what she asked for,” says Salif. “She can be a terrible brat.”
Within the hour, they return, bearing a variety of dishes — far more than they can eat today even if Valerie turns up with half a dozen Padminis.
—
By a quarter past seven there is still no sign of Valerie. The children are hungry, but Bella is happy to see that their banter has lost its sharp edge.
“Here, Chipmunk,” says Salif, offering Dahaba a chip.
“Give it here, you beastly thing,” she says.
They have a taste of the tikka, eating with their fingers, and put the rest of the food in the oven to stay warm and in the fridge to stay cool. Then they go back upstairs — Bella to put Aar’s room in order, Dahaba to continue watching a movie on the Internet, and Salif to learn the result of the Champions League game between Bayern Munich and Arsenal.
At eight-thirty, they reassemble in the kitchen and eat at the table. Salif says that eating at the table makes him miss his dad, who was a wonderful cook and made dinner for them whenever he was in town.
Bella recalls that Valerie can’t cook to save her life, although she is a stern critic of other people’s cooking — the food is always too salty, too spicy, the steak too well done, the rice undercooked. But she refrains from badmouthing Valerie in front of Salif and Dahaba.
Salif offers to wash the dishes, Dahaba to dry them. Salif says to Dahaba, “Since you have a visitor, I don’t mind if you go up to your room. I’ll wash and dry.”
Dahaba, a bit slow, says, “What visitor?”
But Bella sees where he is going with this joke and berates him for not keeping the promise he’d made regarding his treatment of his sister. Where does he get this macho thing, which is nothing like Aar? Helping Salif to grow into a young man who treats women with due respect is going to be work, Bella can see. She puts the leftovers away in plastic containers and says to Salif and Dahaba, “Help yourselves whenever you wish.”
They wish each other good night without referring to the guest who did not show up or call, and they head back to their respective rooms.
—
Bella sits up in a stupor, woozily unsure where she is and whether she is dreaming or awake. She hears a girl loudly weeping and a man’s voice comforting her. She puts on her nightgown and goes out to check. She stands in the doorway of her bedroom, trying to determine where the sounds are coming from and who is making them. She can see that the doors to the two rooms opposite are ajar. She finds the first room empty, but when she taps on the door of the second, the speakers fall silent and she pushes in without waiting to be invited.