I first spotted him walking around the Bay Shore Mall one fine Thursday morning. What started out as yet another dark, boring mid-August day in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, brightened up real quick for yours truly thanks to a certain vision of masculine beauty. Tall, lean and athletic, with chocolate-hued skin, short, curly black hair and a goatee. This one could give Hollywood star Will Smith a run for his money in the looks department.
Clad in a blue silk shirt and black dress pants, the brother looked good enough to eat. With long strides, he cut through the crowded Bay Shore Mall like a knife through butter. I followed him around discretely, and watched as he entered the bookstore. Imagine my surprise when I saw him pick up the well-known novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
"Interesting book," I said, as casually as I could, and the tall, dark-skinned brother looked up, apparently noticing me for the first time. I'd been trailing Mr. Cute Buns here for a good fifteen minutes, ever since he caught the escalator, and he just noticed me. I studied anthropology back in my university days and when I theorized that women's attention to detail might make us better hunters than men, whether in modern times or prehistory, many in the classroom actually laughed at me. Today, though, I seem to be proven right.
"Oh, yeah, I have lots of friends from that part of the world, and one of them recommended it," the brother said, pursing his lips. Yeah, he's even better-looking up close, if a bit slow on the uptake. He smiled at me, and I wondered what he must be thinking. Men often don't know what to make of me because I like to boldly accost them, for a variety of reasons. This one held the book in front of him as if shielding himself from little old me, and I found that wryly amusing.
"I'm Andisha, from Afghanistan," I said simply, and held out my hand for him to shake. The brother looked at my hand, smiled a bit and then shook it gently. I bet he was surprised by my forwardness. Nice and polite, hijab-wearing Muslim ladies in Ottawa aren't forward with the menfolk. Good thing I'm not one of them. For a man with such large hands, he's got a very gentle handshake. Nice. I waited with baited breath for him to take the hint, and finally Mr. Cute Buns deigned to tell me his name.
"Good to meet you, Andi, I'm Bilal Kamoun," the brother said at last, and I grinned. Men are so innocent sometimes it almost amuses me. I would never tell my last name to a person I just met, whether male or female. Bilal here is definitely from Central Africa, probably Rwanda or maybe even Central African Republic. Bilal is a common first name in West Africa and parts of central Africa. It's the name of the beloved companion of our prophet Mohammed.
Our tall, dark and handsome friend here is not West African, though. Bilal is from much further. That much I garnered from his last name. The red and black backpack he's carrying has the Carleton University Ravens logo, and since this brother appears to be in his mid to late twenties, I'm guessing he's either a fourth-year undergrad or a graduate student. Dammit, I should have been a detective.
"Excited about the start of school?" I asked abruptly, and Bilal grinned, and then told me how excited he was about starting his graduate studies in civil engineering at Carleton. Bilal got a bit loud, and I grinned and pressed my index finger against my lips, and the brother lowered his tone somewhat. Smiling bashfully, Bilal apologized for his loudness, and I shrugged.
"Glad to meet a fellow grad student, I'm doing anthropology at the University of Ottawa," I managed to squeeze out, and Bilal grinned and launched into a discussion of stuff he'd seen anthropologists do in the Discovery Channel. I stifled a frustrated groan, for the inaccurate portrayal of anthropologists on television irks me, but Bilal's infectious good humor must have affected, for I managed to stop myself from ranting.
"I could totally see you in the jungle studying animals, like an Arab version of Jane Goodall," Bilal said, and I looked at this tall, handsome young man and flashed him a smile a shark would recognize. Jane Goodall is perhaps the most well-known person from my field of study, and her work with primates is legendary but that doesn't mean I like the comparison. Seriously, there's a lot of hard-working women and men in my field who seldom get proper recognition for their contributions.
"Perhaps someday," I said to a smiling Bilal, and absentmindedly picked up a copy of Arabian Jazz by renowned Jordanian-American author and Portland State University professor Diana Abu-Jaber, and headed to the checkout counter. Bilal was ahead of me, and like the gentleman he is, he offered to let me go first. I reluctantly accepted, temporarily deprived of seeing his sinfully sexy ass. Bilal paid for the book with his CIBC debit card, and then exited. I watched him go, with a sigh. Oh, well. Nobody wins them all.
I walked out of the bookstore, and figured I'd head to Starbucks to grab a coffee, and guess who I bumped into? The handsome Mr. Bilal. Grinning, he approached me and I smiled and looked him up and down. Small world indeed, eh? Seriously, some guys are thick in the skull and just don't get it when a lady is at least curious about them and it's frustrating. I was all set to place Bilal in that category. Well, looks like I spoke too soon.
"Sister, I forgot to tell you, I work for an event management firm, and figured I'd give you my card," Bilal said, and he smilingly pulled a laminated card out of his well-worn brown leather wallet, then handed it to me. I nonchalantly picked it up, and put it in my purse. Seriously, I was excited since I thought Mama was cute but a lost cause, and this turnaround definitely surprised me, in a most pleasant way.
"Thanks, Bilal, I'll pass it along, you know, help you out with your business," I said, and sealed the deal with a wink and a handshake. Bilal shook my hand, and held onto it a moment too long, then smiled and let go. He said something about having to catch a bus to Carleton, and I nodded and waved him off. Nice ass, I thought to myself as I watched Bilal made a dash for the nearby elevator.
I was all smiles as I got in my beat-up little Passat and drove back to my place in suburban Kanata. What a promising morning, I thought. Oh, um, it seems that in all the excitement, I might have missed a step or two. My name is Andisha Khairzad, and I was born in the province of Nimruz, Afghanistan, and raised in the City of Montreal, Quebec. My parents, Aziz and Azra Khairzad left Afghanistan in the 1990s for political reasons.
I left the lovely metropolis of Montreal in the summer of 2008 and I studied anthropology at the University of Ottawa. I graduated in 2012 and these days, I work at a call center in the east end of Ottawa. Nothing glamorous. I'm the slightly accented female voice on the other line when you call, all frustrated and stuff, about your credit card. The job pays nineteen dollars an hour, but it's not all it's cracked up to me. I, um, work for the collections department. Which means I go after delinquent account holders, those of you who owe money on your credit cards and won't pony up the dough. The job is frustrating because I hear all kinds of excuses and bullshit from people. I miss face to face conversation. Being on the phone is stressful.
Well, not all face to face communication is fun. Had a bit too much of that with my former husband Ali Haidari, a hot-tempered dude I made the mistake of marrying. Our families were close, and we were both students at the University of Ottawa. If you're at all familiar with Afghan society, then you'd know that the pressure to marry is great, especially for the girls. Well, I got married, endured a lot of mistreatment during those eighteen months the marriage lasted, and now I'm happily divorced. My parents and I are estranged, and at the age of twenty six, I am living my life for me.
I went home, and that afternoon, I called one Bilal Kamoun. The Central African stud was surprised to hear from me so soon, and I reminded him that I was bold, not at all like the women he must be accustomed to meeting. Yes, I'm a Muslim woman living in Ottawa. No, I don't play by any rules other than my own. That's what independence means. Bilal picked up on that, and seemed keen to see me again.
"What are you doing tomorrow? I was thinking we could catch a movie or something," Bilal said, and I waited a few seconds before answering, even though I was pretty much expecting him to at least try to ask me out. When guys get a gal's number, they tend to wait a day or two before calling us. I find that stupid. Life moves pretty fast. Within a day or two, an attractive gal could meet someone new and forget all about you. Think fast, fellas.
"Hmm, what movie were you thinking of?" I asked coolly, and Bilal started raving about Jurassic World, which I'd seen twice with my girlfriends. One of my co-workers, Arlene, is a big science fiction buff and she even as toy dinosaurs on her desk at work. She dragged me to see Jurassic World, which was okay, although the storyline could have been better. I wasn't interested in seeing it a third time, not even for Mr. Cute Buns.
"Heard great things about Straight Outta Compton," I said, and Bilal fell silent at the other end. I almost instantly regretted my choice. Sighing, I slapped my forehead. Great way to be stereotypical, I thought. Afghan gal about to head out to the movies with a black guy insists on seeing a flick about Hip Hop. I'm not that socially clueless, I swear. I think I spend too much time around the white girls at work. I'm starting to pick up some of their habits.