Yasmin Sharif knew that Stephanie Claude was trouble the moment she walked into the Little Mogadishu Restaurant on that particular Tuesday evening, sauntering in with a bright smile and confident stride, like she owned the place. The young Haitian Canadian woman had that unique swagger common to those gals from the City of Montreal, Quebec. A style, confidence and sassiness that the gals in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, couldn't match.
"Keep your eyes on her face and not those dangerous curves," Yasmin told herself, in a quiet voice, as the beautiful young Haitian Canadian woman drew closer. The gal looked like Hollywood actress and singer Rihanna, only a bit curvier, and with more ass. A whole lot more. Yasmin, who had a definite weakness for younger women, found this walking temptation about as welcome as strawberry cheesecake on a platter...on the first day of one's diet.
Yasmin Sharif had lived in several African nations, starting with her native Somalia, along with Ethiopia, Yemen and South Africa, prior to moving to Canada in 2000 at the age of twenty one. She definitely could tell the difference between Afro-Caribbean folk and continental Africans. The Rihanna look-alike who walked into Little Mogadishu was definitely from one of the numerous isles of the Caribbean...
Moving to the City of Ottawa, Ontario, after living in places like Johannesburg, Puntland, and Sana'a, hadn't been easy for Yasmin Sharif. As a tall, dark-skinned and curvy, Hijab-wearing African Muslim woman in a world that worshipped short, skinny white gals, Yasmin learned to draw on her own strength to persevere. She went to the University of Ottawa, earned a business administration degree, got a loan and started her own restaurant, Little Mogadishu.
Along the way, Yasmin Sharif discovered in herself a sexual preference for women, which put her at odds with the cultural norms of the Somali Canadian community and the rest of the Islamic community. Yasmin tried to repress her sexual feelings for women, but couldn't. In time, she learned to accept herself as a gay black Muslim woman. To the Canadians Yasmin was an oddity. To the Muslims Yasmin was an aberration. Yasmin stopped caring what anyone thought and decided to live life on her own terms. Let the haters hate...
"Hello, gorgeous, is the owner around? I'm here about the kitchen job," Stephanie Claude asked, smiling frostily while looking Yasmin up and down. On that day, Yasmin was ready to close the restaurant for the evening. Her employees, a delivery guy named Arif, and a kitchen gal named Josephine, had already gone home for the evening. As befitting her status as manager and owner of the restaurant, Yasmin stuck around to take care of those things which she could only entrust with herself.
"I'm the owner, and, we're closing, I'm afraid you'll have to come tomorrow," Yasmin said, and she looked at the young Haitian Canadian woman, who looked sexy and scandalous in a black T-shirt featuring well-known Haitian artist Tonton Bicha, blue jeans and black leather boots. In spite of the cold, she wasn't wearing a jacket. This one must be Canadian by birth, Yasmin remembered thinking.