Hearts On Fire

35: Horse Riding

They were done with the ice cream and instead of Al-mustapha to drive directly back home, he took a different route. She was engrossed at the city of Sokoto, taking it's night view through the window as she smiled to herself. She turned to look at him when she saw a man selling slippers by the road side with other things, her eyes got to the one pair of slippers and she fell in love.

"Will you please stop? I want to buy that!" She exclaimed, and Al-mustapha looked at her with a smile before he slowed down and parked by the road side. He had to reversed so they could stop right by the sellers side and Fatima Zarah smiled at him.

"Am I running your wallet down? I need that slippers please, it's cute." She pointed at a navy blue slippers and even though Al-mustapha didn't see the beauty in most things, he believed it was beautiful. And he could imagine the way it could look on her feet as she walked lazily around the house.

"No, you aren't running it down. Use it as much as you can. Call the seller, he's on your side." He smiled at her and she did as he said, she called the seller and he rushed toward their parked car.

"Good evening, Hajia. Which of the shoes do you want?" He pointed at the heap of shoes and Fatima Zarah answered him with a smile before she pointed at the navy blue one. He got to where the shoes were kept and brought it along with a leather.

"What's the price?" Al-mustapha asked, and she looked at him waiting to hear the price.

"It's 3500, sir." The moment the words slipped out of his lips, Al-mustapha opened his wallet and Fatima Zarah stopped him before he could even pull the cash out.

"You have to negotiate the price first, Al-mustapha." She hushed and he stared at her with an expression and spoke how he didn't know what she meant. Yes, he knew what the word meant, but to negotiate like how? He wanted something from this man, and he said the price. Is he supposed to negotiate about it?

He watched her with amused eyes as she negotiated the price with the seller and she turned to look at him with a smile, "Now, give him 3000. I will feel bad to bad this slippers for 2500, but I feel that's its actual price. Is it because you see us in this flashy car?" She teased the seller with a laughter and he shook his head with a smile while he collected the money from Al-mustapha.

"Thank you sir, I wish you a safe sojourn." He smiled as Al-mustapha drove off and he turned to look at her. She was staring at the shoes, flipping them both way and she even had the right one on her feet as she admired how it looked on her. He didn't know where all this enthusiasm came from, how could you be this excited just because you bought a shoe?!

"What are you so excited about?" He asked out of mere curiosity, and she chuckled before she looked at him.

"Have you ever bought something new and felt like you couldn't wait to lunch it because it's so beautiful and you love everything bit of it that you can't wait for the right time to use it?" She asked, putting the shoes back in the leather and she kept the leather by her side, as if someone was going to snatch the shoes away from her.

Al-mustapha chuckled, he didn't understand where this conversation was going. He couldn't remember the last time he felt true happiness, if he could recall; he had never felt what happiness was like. He was just there, living. And of all the things he knew make people happy, he didn't know buying a new shoes did make poeple happy too. Well, maybe it was just Fatima Zarah that got thrilled over a new pair of slippers.

"No, I don't know that feeling. What is it like?" He asked, and she heaved a sigh before she looked at him, as if trying to find the right words to make him understand what she meant by that.

"Okay, what about this; When it's eid time, when you were a kid. You know we have new clothes sewn for us, new shoes, everything is fresh and new and we keep checking our wardrobes, trying hem on, not letting out friends see them because we have to wait for eid day? That feeling, that anxiousness, that joy of having something new that you can't wait to launch. I still have that feeling when I buy a new thing. Now, do you understand what I mean?"