Affairs in Senegal

Diegane's Baptism

Diegane's doom, Jamesu

JoJo
Fatou Mbodj

1. It started, last year, with a pepiniere in my backyard with the EE Club and Diegane Saar and Kyla.

2. It went till trees are magg and rainy season started - need to outplant. I keep pressuring him but I have accident and go to Dakar, Annemarie comes, Jen comes, 3 summer camps and Diegane has doom - so the pressure only increases and the trees gets bigger - rainy season waaja finishes.

3. I meet Farba Diouf and fall inexplicably, uncontrollably, hopelessly and helplessly, STUPIDLY impossibly in love with him. He is perfect, intelligent, hysterical, confident, hard working.

4. Diegane and Farba Diouf continue to tease me about when I'm going to invite them to Nguekokh and cook them ginaar.

5. I cook twice with JoJo and Fatou Mbodj starts asking me when am I going to come cook with her.

6. Diegane comes to dig holes and says he should have broken fast here but since I didn't prepare him anything, he can't.

7. They both tease me again and tell me to stay and break fast in Djilor. Diegane says, 1 for 1, they have to come to Nguekokh (I went to Diegane's baptism.) I say tomorrow, you come, we do compost, then Fatou will make us ginaar.

8. Arrange it all with Fatou and Lira.

9. Njouk dies, we must postpone.

10. 3:00, leave Ndiomdy in hot sun, 3:45 get to Djilor, Diegane is broke down in Passi.

11. 6:00 we leave Djilor, on two broken down motos.

12. We only bring the compost from Modou Ndiaye's to school. Bakh and Laity are there - Bakh is mad I didn't call him. Farba is beautiful when talking with them.

13. They want to go home. I panic. "But Fatou cooked for you!" (I told them this 1000 times in Djilor but Farba supposedly thought I was only joking.)

14. Diegane's bike is broke down. Farba tells me to go ahead, but they end up coming ahead and I am last.

15. Fatou is laughing telling me that she didn't cook, Lira did. I don't know what is going on.

16. I bring the tray out with kenkeleba and bread, shaking. Farba says its beautiful.

17. Farba gets a phone call saying someone is waiting for him. I am panicking. Fatou says, no one cooked. She knew they wouldn't stay so she was going to wait until they came.

18. So they leave, stopping to greet Mam Diene and Fary on their rediculous motorcycles. Running around in circles to start them. A small red toy and a big white with multicolored neon flames on the side.

19. And so this day, that I practically skipped home about and then worried about all day today (on account of feebar bi) - did not barely happen at all. All that happened was I acted like a nervous self conscious freak and God told me - stop your heart from yearning for the impossible.