“Should I call him, or wait for him to call me?” Mari looked at her mobile phone. She had sent a text earlier and on reflection had transmitted it prematurely. The text said: “I really enjoyed spending last night with you - I can’t wait to see you again.” She looked at her phone, which had not rung all day and regretted sending it.

Mari met Dwinny in a nightclub on her 40th birthday. It was one of those nightclubs where it was dark and smoky and the vibe was rocking. Mari felt special when Dwinny pulled her for a dance. At the time, she had no idea what he looked like because he had skilfully spun her into his arms so that the side of her face rested comfortable on his shoulder. The DJ was playing: “you’ll never be lonely ever again – now I have you in my arms… you’ll be with me until the end...” and Mari was sure that the words were meant for her. She added significance to them.

What other reason would he have for asking her (out of all the others in the club) to dance to this tune? Even though she had just met him – she believed in love at first sight and sensed that Dwinny was trying to tell her something.
Dwinny’s positioned himself close to her for the next dance. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled. He didn’t ask her this time. He just put his arm around her waist and took charge. The coordination was spot on - she could feel his rhythm. She arched backwards to show him how agile a dancer she was. He held her strongly by the small of her back and pulled her into him - it was at this point she could see his face – ‘Hmmm! he is so good-looking!’ He had hair styled in twists but because his hair was silky, it looked more like waves.
His eyes spoke to her and then through his lips he whispered:
“Pretty girl, can you come home with me?”
Mari was shocked at first, and then flattered. [Come home with me? That meant he wasn’t living with anyone? That meant he must be serious – after all, you don’t invite anyone to your house!] She held onto her scruples for all of five seconds - they told her it wouldn’t be right. She wondered what he would think of her if she went home with him just hours after meeting him?
She thought of Justyna, a non-black friend of hers who had gone home with someone on their first date and they were still together, so Mari decided to use the analogy to justify accepting Dwinny’s invitation.
Dwinny looked younger than Mari. She estimated he was about 32. He was dark and his lips were full. His teeth sparkled in the dark every time the luminescent bulb spun around and shone down on to where they were standing. Dwinny pulled Mari towards him, making her feel weak and defenceless.
Louisa Marks’ voice echoed in the room “one dance – one dance just won’t do”. One dance merged into another, attributed to the dexterity of the DJ mixing the records. Mari could not tell when one record stopped and another started and Dwinny wasn’t about to let her go to find out.

“Let me have your number please?” He blew the words seductively into her ear.
“So don’t you have a girlfriend?” Mari asked [as if it made a difference]
“Just let me have your number please, I would like to see you again” he responded ignoring the question.
The “please” in the sentence reassured Mari that he wasn’t seeing anyone. He sounded earnest. She knew he really liked her, otherwise why would he dance with her so often? They exchanged numbers.
“Do you live by yourself?” Dwinny quizzed
“Yes, I do”
“So can I escort you home then?”
“No, you can’t - I mean.. we’ve just met”
“So don’t you like me?”
“Yes, I like you… but..”
“So? I would like to get to know you better. I can’t talk to you properly in this place, it’s too dark, I can’t see your face properly and besides there is too much noise”
Mari was unsure. She wanted to go with him (as sexy as he looked) but what would her friends say? No doubt they would call her “slack” or a “skettale”. But she would make an excuse. She had driven her own car so they were not depending on her to drive them home. Technically she could have snuck out, but if she did that she would feel guilty. She had to tell them something. She would tell them that she had a migraine but didn’t want to spoil their fun so she was leaving.
“Yeh right!” Cicelyn mocked as she heard the excuse and raised her eyebrows to the two other girls standing beside her. Mari knew they didn’t believe her but right then, she didn’t care. She felt Dwinny was the one and she wasn’t going to miss the opportunity of finding out! Mari allowed Dwinny to coax her into taking him to her place (not his, as he had initially suggested). A romantic night ensued and it was not until the morning, when he had gone that she felt uncomfortable. He could have at least said goodbye, she thought to herself – but maybe he was being considerate and didn’t want to wake her!
She recalled waking up in the night, seeing him fast asleep. In her excitement, she transmitted a text telling him how much she had enjoyed being with him and that she couldn’t wait to see him again. He would read it when he woke up. She climbed back into the bed beside him feeling light-headed. She put her arms around him and went back to sleep. When she woke up in the morning, Dwinny had somehow slipped from beneath her grip and left without waking her.
Mari waited for a response to her text, but none came. One hour passed, two then three hours passed. Mari started having twinges of regret. Why had she brought him home? Why had she sent that stupid text? She didn’t have the answers.
It was now 10 o’clock in the evening - should she call him? Maybe he had lost her number; or maybe he had had an accident. Supposing when he left her flat he intended to call her but someone mugged him and stole his phone, it was unlikely but anything could have happened! She had to give him the benefit of the doubt. Convincing herself that there had to be a good explanation for the silence, she dialled the number he gave her:
“Hello” responded a woman on the other end. Mari disconnected the call by closing the lid on her mobile phone. Her eyes welled up with tears.
After a while her phone rang. “I have caller I.D. Did you just call and hang up?
“Y-yes!” Marie stammered.
“So did you have the wrong number or something?”
“No. I wanted to speak to Dwinny, if he is there please” Mari responded nervously.
“Who? - Hold on a minute!” There was a deadly silence.
Another tear rolled down her cheek. Her heart started beating wildly.
She could hear Louisa Marks singing “one dance, one dance just won’t do” playing on their radio and wondered why it was taking so long for Dwinny to come to the phone. She could hear voices in the background but she couldn’t understand what was being said. Her instincts told her to hang up, but she didn’t want to follow them – so she waited…

* Why didn’t Dwinny phone Mari?
* What was the relationship of the woman who answered Dwinny’s phone?

FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NEXT ISSUE!

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