He’d learned several South African
languages in order to deal with his
customers, so he’d spoken with her
fluently when they met. But in that
moment I realized I’d never actually
heard her say anything in English
other than: “Yes.” “No.” “Hi.” “Bye.”
That’s it: “Yes.” “No.” “Hi.” “Bye.”
Babiki was so shy that she
didn’t talk much to begin with, and
I was so inept with women that I
didn’t know how to talk to her. I’d
never had a girlfriend; I didn’t even
know what “girlfriend” meant.
Someone put a beautiful woman on
my arm and said, “She’s your
girlfriend.” I’d been mesmerized by