Blue (7 page)

“Of course. Come in,” Anytha replied, as Inali crossed the threshold of the door, placing his hand on her upper arm as he slipped past her. She reached for the receiver off the wall and handed it to Inali, who punched in the number that had come up on his pager.

“Hey. What’s up?” Inali said to the person on the other end of the phone, pausing a moment as they spoke back to him. “Oh—okay, I’m actually at another camp member’s house. I’ll see if I can use their TV. Thanks for letting me know.”

Inali handed the phone back to Anytha, his fingers sliding across her hand as she took the phone from him and hung it back on the receiver.

“I’m sorry to be a bother, but can I use your television for a moment?” Inali asked as Delah peeked around the corner of the doorway into the kitchen. “There’s supposedly a story coming on the news about one of our projects.”

“Of course! Our home is your home! What channel do you need?” Delah asked, popping in from the other room and grabbing Inali’s arm to guide him into the living room.

Anytha walked to the doorway from the dining room and leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms. She watched as her mother joked with Inali and touched his arm while asking him if he would like something to drink. Inali nodded and asked for some water. Anytha heard his request and turned around to grab a drinking glass out of the cabinet. She went to the freezer to fill it with ice cubes before running the glass under the tap.

“Is that for Inali?” Delah asked Anytha quietly as she walked up to the refrigerator.

“It was supposed to be,” Anytha replied handing the glass to her mother.

“Oh, I’ll get it. Thank you though, honey. Glad I bought these when I did. You never know who might pop in for a drink,” Delah said, setting the glass of tap water down on the counter and reaching into the refrigerator to grab a cobalt blue glass bottle of mineral water.

Delah cut the seal around the top of the bottle and opened the cap. She walked back out of the kitchen, stopping to inspect her hair in the mirror before she made her way back into the living room and handed Inali the bottle of water.

Anytha felt frustration rise up inside of her as she watched Inali take the bottle from her mother. She reached for the glass of water on the counter and poured it out, the ice cubes clinking against the side of the metal sink. She set the empty glass back down on the counter and sighed as she turned around and walked back to the doorway of the living room, leaning again against the frame as the local news began to run Inali’s expected story.

“In local news, every week we at KBSJ recognize exemplary citizens in our community for their service and sacrifice to make Pretoria a better place to live. This week, we are recognizing Commissioner Inali, from the local Camp of the Practice of Blue, for his commitment to the advance of medical research and access to medical care in our city. With the help of his camp, Commissioner Inali has successfully raised enough money to renovate a historic building in downtown Pretoria into a new low-income women’s health facility, which will provide preventative care and contraceptive care to underprivileged women all over our city. We salute you, Commissioner Inali, and thank you on behalf of all of the citizens of Pretoria for your service to our community. We are proud to call you our KBSJ citizen of the week,” said the newscaster on the screen.

Across the screen flashed pictures of Inali cutting the ribbon on the new clinic and flashing his perfect smile to the camera as a small crowd cheered around him. Delah clapped her hands and tapped Inali on the shoulder in congratulations. Chester nodded his head and congratulated him. Inali was shaking his head, as if to tell Anytha’s parents to stop the congratulations.

“Well, this is embarrassing,” Inali said, turning around and making eye contact with Anytha for a moment. “I had no idea that this was what the story was about. He told me it was about one of our projects. I didn’t mean to come into your home for a pat on the back, I swear.”

“Oh, Inali, we know. But we’re happy that we got to share this moment with you,” Chester said to him. “Congratulations. You deserve it.”

“Well, thanks. I couldn’t do anything without you guys and the rest of the camp. It really should be the entire camp getting this recognition,” Inali said as he walked into the kitchen and set his bottle of water down on the counter next to the empty glass. He smiled at Anytha, who smiled back at him but then averted her eyes.

“I better be going. I’ve got to finish my run before a meeting in about an hour. Thanks for your hospitality.”

“Oh, you’re not going out to the courthouse today?” Delah asked, as Inali turned back around.

“Not today, unfortunately. I have a day full of meetings,” Inali replied with a straight, disappointed look on his face. “I’ll be there next weekend, for sure.”

“Oh—well, we are so happy that you stopped by,” Delah said as Inali walked through the kitchen. “Congratulations again.”

Inali turned to her and nodded, smiling again at Anytha. He turned back toward the laundry room and walked out of the back door, as Anytha locked it behind him. She turned around to see her mom putting away the dishes, and her dad taking off his shoes and sitting down on the couch in front of the television.

Anytha sat back down at the dining room table and sipped her cup of coffee that had become cold. She got up to microwave her mug, and her mother walked into the living room and sat on the couch next to her father. Anytha followed behind her and leaned against the doorframe.

“I thought you guys were going out to the courthouse?” Anytha asked, looking down at them.

“Yeah, I think we decided against it today,” Delah said, clicking through the channels on the television.

Anytha turned around and walked up the stairs into her bedroom, put on some makeup, and ran her fingers through her long dark curls. She couldn’t help ]thinking about whether the reason her parents decided against going to the courthouse was because of their newfound information that Inali wouldn’t be there. Anytha sighed as she picked out some clothes and tossed them onto her bed, trying to hold back the frustration she felt over her parents’ decision to stay home, and the probable reasoning behind it.

She had to get out of the house if she wanted to get anything done today. She couldn’t study in the dining room if they were in the living room with the television blaring loudly. She always felt guilty about leaving the house when she was frustrated with her parents, but sometimes their visible striving to impress people like Inali really frustrated her to the point of needing to escape. She couldn’t understand how her parents could be so embarrassed by someone like Inali finding out that they do, in fact, drink tap water. Inali was the last person her parents would want to believe just how magnificently middle-class they were. She sighed as she pulled on a pair of tattered jeans and a baggy white t-shirt, rubbed some balm over her lips and pursed them together, grabbing her backpack as she walked out of her bedroom and back down into the living room.

“I’m going to go to the coffee shop to study for a while,” Anytha said.

“Okay. Have fun,” Chester replied, waving a hand in the air and looking at her briefly.

Anytha gathered her books together from the table, tucked them into her backpack, and walked out the back door and into their detached garage. She placed her books in the front basket of her bicycle, and kicked the kickstand hard to release the wheels as she hopped onto the seat.

Anytha pedaled out of her driveway and made her way to her favorite coffee shop about a mile away from her home. She was elated when she saw that her favorite corner with the worn-in leather chair was vacant, and she set her books down on the seat to save her place as she went to the counter to buy a cup of coffee. She laid her money down on the counter, and the barista handed her a steaming mug that she carried back to her seat.

She thumbed through her books, highlighting pages and sipping her drink for hours, until her coffee had long turned cold, and her eyes needed a break from the black and white ink on the pages. She brought her mug up to the counter, walked over to the window of the shop, and sat down on the window-seat to look out over the street, lined with Jacarandas that were still blooming with life.

As she stared out over the neighborhood, watching the wind blow blue and purple flowers into the street, the large wooden door to the coffee house opened, and the bell on the back of it let out a jingle. A young man walked into the café, picking up a copy of the local newspaper that had been abandoned at a table along his way up to the counter.

Anytha watched him from the corner of her eye as he ordered his drink, and couldn’t help but overhear him conversing with the barista, who obviously knew him by name and knew his drink order by heart.

“One cappuccino with extra foam for Ari,” the barista at the end of the bar said, setting his cup on the counter.

Anytha couldn’t help noticing how handsome he was—it was obvious that the barista didn’t remember just everyone’s order like that. He was tall and thin with straight brown hair parted to one side. Anytha noticed his smile as he cheerfully thanked the barista and placed a few rands in the tip jar. She couldn’t believe that she had never seen him before, and thought for a moment that she might introduce herself, but realized that she really needed to get back to studying. She decided that if the opportunity arose organically, she would happily speak with him.

Ari picked up the cup from the end of the counter and scoured the shop for an open table, finally settling on one near Anytha’s corner. He propped his feet up on the chair across the table from him, opened the newspaper and began reading.

Anytha walked back to her table, and Ari made eye contact with her as she walked by, smiling and nodding at her as she passed. She sat down in her spot, pulling her knees up into the chair, and laid a book on her crossed legs. She reached for her highlighter on the table and noticed that Ari was looking at her again. She smiled at him.

He stood up, walked over to her table, and sat down in another leather chair across from hers. “Should I be surprised that I’ve never seen you here before? I feel like I have met everyone in this coffee shop, but I don’t believe I’ve ever met you,” Ari said, standing up and leaning over to shake Anytha’s hand. “I’m Ari.”

“Anytha,” she said, shaking his hand. “This is my study spot. But over the summer I wasn’t here nearly as much.”

“Oh, do you go to the University of Pretoria?” Ari asked.

“No,” Anytha said, laughing. “I’m actually still in high school. Will be graduating soon,” Anytha said, blushing a bit and looking away shyly.

“Oh! I would have pegged you for a little older,” Ari said, sitting back down in the chair. “I just graduated high school last year, though, so I’m not that far ahead of you.”

“Well, I do hope to go to the University of Pretoria next year. Still waiting to hear back about my application,” Anytha said, setting her highlighter down on the table. “Do you go there?”

“No, actually. I go to Vaal Tech. I took the last semester off to help my dad get his business started here in Pretoria, and I’m staying with them for the summer until school starts back,” Ari said, taking a sip of his coffee.

“What are you studying?” Anytha asked.

“Right now, social work,” Ari said. “But I wouldn’t doubt if it changes again. What are you hoping to study?”

“I really don’t know,” Anytha said. “I want to say art, but I’m still not really sure.”

“Ah. My major has changed three times since my first choice,” Ari said, chuckling. “That’s totally normal.”

“That’s what I hear. I’m actually more concerned with just getting out of the house. How are the dorms at Vaal Tech?” Anytha asked, laughing a bit.

“They’re pretty nice actually—and, let me just say—I completely understand that feeling,” Ari said. “I really liked Pretoria University, but there was something about being two hours away from my parents that just sweetened the deal for me for Vaal Tech. Plus, it is so much more affordable.”

Anytha smiled and closed her book.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents. And I like spending time with them,” Ari said. “But I like that Vaal Tech is close enough that I can come home to see them often, but I don’t have to live in the same city either.”

“I totally understand. I love my parents too, but sometimes I just need to do things on my own,” Anytha said, uncrossing her legs and setting her feet on the floor. “So, what has you in Pretoria for the summer again? Your dad’s business?”

“Yeah, my dad owns a catering company. We found a little building in town and opened up a kitchen,” Ari said. “He’s actually doing very well here.”

“Catering?” Anytha asked. “My mom might actually be looking for a caterer soon. Do you have a card or something that I could have?” Anytha asked.

“Are you asking me for my phone number?” Ari asked jokingly, reaching for his wallet and looking at Anytha with a wry smile. “You could have just asked for it, you know.”

“Well, I was asking you for your catering company’s phone number,” Anytha said, smiling and blushing a bit. “Don’t flatter yourself too much.”

“Okay, okay, well, I’ll just give you both,” Ari said. He smiled at her and pulled a business card out of his wallet, writing another phone number on the back and handing it to her.

“Thanks,” Anytha said, taking the card from him and flicking it between her fingertips.

“Well, I just stopped in for a pick-me-up. I’ve actually got to go,” Ari said, chugging the last of his coffee. “I hope to see you around. It was nice meeting you, Anytha.”

Ari stuck out his hand to shake hers again.

“It was nice to meet you too,” Anytha said, putting her hand in his and shaking it. Ari set the newspaper back down on the table, turned around and headed out the door.

Anytha smiled as she looked down at the business card in her hand and slipped it into a pocket in her wallet. She gathered her books and headed out the door, the bells ringing behind her as it closed.