Page 17 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

Well, okay, then.

They primped me, along with two other women. Paint and this heavy jewelry. Bright-colored shawls. They looked amazing. Since they had no mirrors in the camp, I had no idea if I looked amazing. But the way the women fawned over me; my guess would be they thought so.

When we were finally ushered back outside, the women sat me back next to Blake. One of the women sat next to Lankenua and the other woman next to one of the other men who had been on the hunt today.

I wasn’t exactly sure why Moses wasn’t sitting next to Blake and me, given that he did the majority of the life-saving, working on Lankenua’s leg. Seeing as Blake and I were seated in a place of honor along with two of the hunters and the women, whatever their role in this happened to be, I figured my earlier assessment about the hero’s feast was right.

Mingati began speaking loudly to all the people standing around us. He gestured to us and the sky. There was dancing by several men. Then a woman loaded down with chunky necklaces and bracelets on both wrists thrust a cup at me. Several of the women used their hands to gesture lifting the cup to my mouth, and I took that to mean they wanted me to drink it.

When in the Serengeti, right? I took a large drink from the cup, and the liquid dribbled down my chin. The people cheered. It tasted very bitter and strongly of alcohol. I was commanded to hand the cup to Blake and he lifted the cup to his mouth to drink, too. The other men and women in our circle drank from shared cups as well.

Then Mingati laid a hand on my shoulder and one on Blake’s. He spoke more words, the people cheered, and he moved down the line. Once he’d finished, the feasting began, and whatever that beverage was started to take effect.

Typically, I wasn’t much of a drinker, but seeing as we had food but no water around to drink, I had no choice except to imbibe more. By the time Blake and I were ushered to a hut, we were holding each other up.

I smiled at Mingati as he appeared to give us one final blessing. Blake and I fell on the mat left for us and I passed out.

We were woken up the next day by a woman bringing a sponge bath into the hut. She smiled and said something in a kind voice, then quickly left us. I washed the paint from my body and dressed in my clothes. I folded the shawls, placing the jewelry on top of them to return them. Then Blake washed himself, dressing back in his own clothing as well.

Moses sat talking with Leboo and Mingati when we emerged from the hut. This Tanzanian heat had already started melting my white-girl skin from my body. I reached inside my bag and handed Blake my sunscreen spray.

“Can you get me everywhere? I’ll burn to a crisp out here.”

“That would certainly put a damper on the rest of our trip.” He lifted the can and began to spray me all over. I returned the favor for him.

“We ready to head out?” Moses asked. I was hungry, but I knew we had nonperishable snacks in the car.

“I’m ready,” I said.

“Me too,” Blake answered.

The people of this camp were so nice that I almost didn’t want to leave. They wished us well and Moses steered us in the direction of the trail again.

We were about an hour into our drive and I still felt really hung over. I’d downed three bottles of water on my own.Surprising the both of us, Blake’s phone rang. I didn’t know we could even get cell service out here. The curious look on his face told me neither did he.

When he answered I tuned out, giving him his privacy. It was only right since he’d done that for me.

The problem was when he hung up, he looked incredibly unhappy.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“No—shit. I have to cut the trip short. Family emergency.”

“Can I do anything?”

“I wish you could. Moses, I have to get back to the States. Can you get me to the airport?”

“Going now,” he replied. Well, this sucked. Given that we carried our backpacks with us everywhere we went, he had no need to head back to the hut, save maybe for the extra clothes we’d picked up on our travels, but he didn’t appear to care about those.

“There is something you can do, now that I think about it,” Blake said to me. I gave him my full attention. “Go back to the lodge and spend a few days there pampering yourself. We’re paid up through the end of the week.”

I jerked, almost like he’d hit me. “You don’t want me to come with you?”

“Glory,” he said and I knew I wasn’t going to like what spilled from his mouth next. “My relationship with my family is…complicated. They don’t know about you and with what’s going on, I’m afraid they won’t be very nice. Give me time to wear them down and make sure they’re on their best behavior when they meet you. I don’t want them scaring you off.”

“They won’t?—”

“Please,” he said, cutting me off. “Do this for me. I’ll call as soon as things are good, then I’ll bring you to Vermont.”

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