Way And Direction

Chapter 12

Ellie looked at Richard. He held her hand and she smiled, while proceeding to where she wanted to take him.

Panting, they continued until she finally stopped.

They stood at the entrance of a flea market.

"What do you think?" she asked with much enthusiasm.

"Poppy, what? This is amazing?" Richard didn't know whether to be surprised or laugh at what Poppy described as amazing.

She laughed, "What did you think? I was taking you to some enchanted place?"

He couldn't help but snicker.
"But your Royal Highness, what's so amazing about this?"

"Well there's countless reasons, but I'll name the most important. It's so crowded and noisy right, you can get lost and no one will even notice, so any blind person like myself will never get noticed or pitied upon," she replied.

He nodded his head slowly in agreement and started to understand where her point of view lied.

She continued," As much as I like the quiet and not being around too many people, I like this. It's the place where you can just do whatever and no one will even bother to notice," she smiled in a satisfied manner before saying, "besides the stuff here are cheap."

He looked at her and laughed, "Poppy you're just... something else."

"I know," and she effortlessly held his hand, it didn't seem weird or anything. He felt a wave of happiness flow through his mind.

"Allow me to show you around,"she asked.

He agreed and they started to walk through the bustle.

People shouting for good prices, the look on bored and irritated teenager's who'd rather be listening to music than being in this market, and the smell of vegetables and old stuff up for sale.

She walked around as if she wasn't blind at all. Her movements were so graceful that made it seem like she knew every nook and cranny of this place.

"6..7..8.." she whispered under her breath. Richard watched her, to make sure she doesn't stumble into anything, and just to get to know her in every possible way.

"Here it is!" she declared, in an excited voice, "Gogo?" she called out.

A lady, who looked like she's in her mid 50s looked up at them. She had black eyes, a well defined nose, and wore clear lipgloss. Her eyes were topped off with bronze eyeshadow, which complimented her radiant, dark skinned complexion.

She wore a long multicolored ethnic dress, had her hair in a half-up-half-down style, and finished the look with 3 thick bangles and sneakers. She really put her own shine to the ethnic look.

"ELLIE!! My baby!" she exclaimed. Her voice was so genuine and gave Richard a warm feeling. She enveloped Ellie into a tight hug, then looked at Richard and asked, "And you dear child, who might you be?"

He opened his mouth to speak but Ellie blurted out first.

"Gogo, this is Richard Russell. Mr Russell, this is Gogo. Gogo means Grandmother in IsiZulu, Gogo's native language. She is not like a granny, but she is my granny, she's always been there for me and I can't imagine life without my Gogo," she said in a heartfelt tone.

Richard felt absolutely amazing hearing more and more and gaining so much knowledge on Ellie. He felt so important and special that she started to share these things with him.

Gogo put her hand forward to gesture a handshake, but he pushed her hand aside. Rather startled, she flashed a face of confusion.

Much to her surprise, she was taken aback with a tight hug from Richard. "Nice to meet you," he said to her, "Gogo."

She smiled. She already started to love him.

"Lovely meeting you too dear Richard," she replied.

They backed away and Mama was overwhelmed by his comforting disposition.

"My name is Zobuhle Makhathini actually. Ellie has been calling me Gogo ever since I taught her basic IsiZulu words. She's been coming here since she was 8 years old. I've sold books from that time," and she pointed to the books on her table, "Ellie is my baby, and I love her a lot. She's been a huge motivation for me and she doesn't even realise it."

Mama went up to Ellie and pulled her cheeks, and laughed. Getting out of being emotional, Gogo offered for them to sit down and so they did, and they started to chat.

"Have you told your Father you're coming here Poppy?" he asked.

"I come here all the time, so he automatically knows this. Otherwise Gogo informs him anyway."

"So, how did you two meet?" Mama asked, with clear excitement in her voice.

"Well..." Richard and Ellie explained their first meeting, and how they got close in a few weeks.

While talking even more, Ellie suddenly felt someone wrap her in a tight hug from behind.