Sanjay was surprised as he opened the door. Standing on the front step, in his affluent neighbourhood, was a thickly set black man several inches taller than him and as wide as the door.
A shock of white teeth broke the otherwise dark visage: "Hi, it's Leroy"
"Hello," said Sanjay weakly, still not at ease at the contrast between him and the black man. He quickly shuffled back inviting Leroy into his house, shutting the door behind them.
"My wife is upstairs getting ready so please take a seat," Sanjay said motioning towards the sofas. He then popped into the kitchen to get them some beers and then put on the TV which was showing a Friday night lower league football match.
"You ok?" said Leroy trying to break the quiet atmosphere.
"Haha, yes just a bit nervous I think. This is all very unusual for us," said Sanjay. "I was born here you see, you can probably tell from my accent. My wife, Kavita, she was born in India so she can be shy."
"Right," said Leroy nonchalantly.
"We don't really tend to socialise with nig..I mean black people so it's a bit odd having you in the house. I think that's my wife was really surprised when she came here at just how many black people there were in London. She has seen plenty of white people in india - tourists etc and on TV - but she had never seen any blacks," Sanjay explained.
"Yeah, well I've not been with an indian before either," Leroy said sipping his beer with his bright white smile splitting his dark face.
Sanjay smiled but didn't reply and just drank his beer. He felt extremely awkward having another guy in his house who wasn't a family relation, never mind a black man. He was in two minds whether to cancel the whole thing but then all the months of discussions with his wife would be in vein.
Sanjay had been married to his wife for several years now and they were both approaching their late 30's. Sanjay knew that after 35 the chances of his wife getting pregnant had reduced drastically. The problem, however, when they had gone to the doctor's had been with him rather than her. The chances of him getting his wife pregnant, even with treatment, were slim. His wife was on fertility drugs but every month when they had a pregnancy test, it was always a disappointing negative.
The problem was indian culture - after marriage, children were expected. A childless marriage was unacceptable to indian elders. Sanjay and his wife had gone through years of frustration and unhappiness, years of snide comments from friends and relatives.
Their white friends had suggestion adoption which may be alright for them but Sanjay and Kavita couldn't do it. There were two problems. The first was caste - the caste system in indian culture was strict, you can only be born into caste. The second problem was that adoption involved a legal process which left a trace. If anyone found out their child was adopted they would be ostracised from the community. Adoption was thus not thinkable. That only really left one course of action left to them - a sperm donor.
The UK is a predominantly white country but Sanjay had ruled out a white donor as the child would be too light skinned given that Kavita too was fair. An indian donor would be ideal but the indian community is too small and they were worried that news of the donation would be leaked and the couple would become a laughing stock.
The only race that therefore worked for sperm donation were negroes. Sanjay knew that negroes and Indians rarely socialised with each other, even though they might live in close proximity. Negroes and Indians would socialise with whites but rarely with each other. The couple were therefore afforded with some discreteness through racial boundaries and tensions. The skin colour difference wasn't often that pronounced either.
The fact that Kavita was fair for an indian would mean that the child would pass for Sanjay's who was medium brown.
Sanjay and Leroy continued to sup their beers. Sanjay couldn't think of much to say to someone who was so different from him - in terms of looks, culture and wealth. Sanjay could tell by Leroy's clothes and the small car he drove that he was much poorer than him. The fact Leroy spoke with a heavy London accent also drove into Sanjay's mind that he wasn't very well educated.
Half time on the football match started and Sanjay took this as an opportunity to go and check on his wife who was now upstairs. He came down a few minutes later and beckoned for Leroy to come up. He led the man to his bedroom.
"Kavita will be out in a moment, I'll just go and check on her," said Sanjay as he beckoned Leroy into the bedroom.
"Cool," said Leroy as he moved to sit at the side of the bed which was in the middle of the room. A few moments later, Sanjay came back in.
"She'll be out in a moment," he said as he moved to sit at the dressing table.
There was a slight sound then as the door of the bedroom opened and in walked Sanjay's wife Kavita. She was wearing a white bathrobe to her knees. Sanjay gave her a slight smile as she walked in and she smiled back. He noticed that she was wearing her make up and pink lipstick.
Kavita was 5'6'' and very slim as Indian girls tended to be pre childbirth. Her skin was a very light brown colour - she was fair for an indian girl. Like most Indians, she had big brown eyes and dark black hair. Her hair was straight and parted at the middle to her shoulders. She had a slim frame with a short torso but long arms and legs. When Sanjay's marriage had been arranged with her he couldn't believe his luck he could get someone so slim and pretty.
Kavita made her way to her side of the bed. Facing both men, she then proceeded to undo the tie at the front of her robe and took it off before placing it on her table at the side of the bed. Underneath she was wearing a pink camisole top and pink panties.
Kavita sat at the side of the bed next to Leroy but was a distance away from him. Sanjay noticed how her pink camisole matched her pink lipstick and pink painted finger and toe nails - he couldn't help but think how cute his wife looked as she was so slim and petite; she looked fantastic in pink.
As Sanjay looked across the room, was struck by the physical difference between his wife and Leroy. Though Kavita was long limbed, Leroy was much taller being over 6 foot. Kavita was very slim with pale brown skin whereas Leroy was very wide, muscular and darker. Kavita had small pretty lips and a long indian nose whereas Leroy had a big fat negro nose and lips.