RELEASE OF THE DOVES

Ruth Fawsie stood outside Hotel 680 and stared at it. She felt so out of place as it was. There she was in her blue dirt jeans tucked neatly into her black boots, and a turtle necked green top. Her big black handmade bag thrown over her neck and hanging on her hip, with the matching hat hang sideways on her head. She had a feeling this was not the kind of dressing people wore coming into a place like this. But she had had work to do before coming here and she hadn't had enough time to rush home and change as she had planned. She was tempted to call her sister and have her cancel, or even plan for another time, but her anticipation got the better of her. She had been looking forward to this moment the whole day, especially after the outcome of last night. She couldn't help but curse her sister for coming home the way she did the day before.

“You won't believe who I ran into today,” Christine said as she entered the house. She was a petite woman with a full bust. She was just a few inches shorter than Ruth and had pretty round black eyes that Ruth had grown to forever envy, though Christine always had them hidden behind her glasses. They both shared the inverted triangular face they had inherited from their mother, only Ruth rarely used make up, something Christine lived her life for.

“Oh, yeah, great to see you Ruth, look at how clean the house looks. Thanks a lot for doing that little sister!” Ruth said, mimicking her sister's voice with a smile on her face. Christine paused midway from removing her other shoe and threw a confused glance at her sister, then turned to look around at the room they had both left looking untidy that morning.

“Oh, yeah! You cleaned. Gee, thanks....back to the news!”

“Now I feel better!” Ruth muttered as Christine threw her bag on the seat next to the door and rushed to sit next to her.

“Ok, take a guess!” She said, her face filled with glee as she made Ruth turn and look at her.

“Ummm, do I get clues? Like an actor, a former teacher?”

“A former.....boyfriend!” She responded with a squeak and slightly jumped up and down on the sofa.

“O.k. Am getting worried here. Aren't you seeing Simon? I mean, isn't that kind of really serious?”

“Not my boyfriend, idiot, yours!” Ruth's brown eyes widened in shock.

“You've got to be kidding me. Feddy? I thought he flew out.”

“Not Feddy...he wasn't your boyfriend! You had sex once, that doesn't count.”

“Wrong, one night, two times, and it so counts!”

“Yeah well, it wasn't him.” Christine said brushing a stray lock of her hair from her face. “Think back, way back, like ten years ago, maybe more.”

“I give up. You know me, am not good at this. So.....why are you so excited about this ex boyfriend of mine?”

“You are such a spoil sport!” She said standing up and removing her coat, then heading over to the next room while she removed her jewelery.

“So who was it?” Ruth said as she stood up and followed her.

“Marcus.” She said as a matter of fact.

“Marcus?” Ruth asked, seating herself on her sisters bed. “Which Marcus?”

“Your Marcus, your 'oh I've been kissed by Marcus,” Marcus!” Christine watched her sister's reaction from her reflection in the mirror. The news had just the effect she had thought it would.

“The Mkonu's. That's....strange! Where...I mean..how? The last we saw them we were pretty young, how did you know it was him?”

“I didn't, he did! Didn't I ever tell you our faces never change?” And her excitement had immediately returned, sharing all the details of how Marcus had stopped her in the middle of the road and how they had finally ended up having coffee. “He's hot!”

“Yeah, and you are just about engaged!” Ruth threw back. She was not sure exactly what she was supposed to feel. She did feel an excitement, in a way. She rarely ever met people from her old home, and meeting Marcus would be incredible for relieving childhood memories. Of course there were some memories that were somewhat stupid, or irrelevant at the moment, like the kiss. It was probably something they could both laugh about now.

“Anyway, he wanted to meet you. Asked for your number and all!” She said as she stood up and walked out of the room. Immediately Ruth smelt something coming, something she was not going to like.

“And.....” she quickly asked as she followed her.

“Well...I said you had no phone....”

“I do have a phone!”

“Hotel 680, tomorrow at 11a.m. That's when I said you would be free to meet him!”

“What?” But Christine had already locked herself in the shower and turned on the water, so all her cursing and name calling bore no fruits. She had no problem meeting Marcus, he was an old friend. She had just been 11 the last time she saw him. But her view of life had changed over the years. Friends were part of somethings she rarely held on. She had her job, her home, and that pretty much defined what she needed in life. She remembered she had a meeting with the gallery people the next morning at 8am. The meeting would probably end by 10, then she would go and see whatever it is that excited her sister so. And after that, she had a feeling she was not going to hear from him again. But that night she had been plagues by dreams from her past, happy times they had been. Back before her heart hardened. And when she woke up, she was surprised to find herself worrying about something she had never worried about before. What was she going to wear?

The two doormen standing in front of the entrance started throwing curious glances at her. She quickly yanked the hat off her head and stuffed it into her bag. Then ran her fingers roughly into her dread locked hair. God, she was a mess. Taking a deep breath, she walked to the entrance with a forced smile on her face. Of course they stopped her to look into her bag, which she would have been surprised if they hadn't. What had Christine been thinking arranging a meet up in a place like this? She went up the stairs, trying to pretend the various stares thrown her way didn't make her quiver inside. Outside these walls, she rarely ever cared about what people thought. But all over sudden, here she was, worried about what people thought. Or to be exact, what Marcus would think upon seeing her. She stood at the entrance of the hotel and ran her eyes over everyone, trying to see if she would be able to pick him out. The room had only a few people in it and the task ended up not being as hard as she had expected. There were only three guys matching Marcus age bracket. One was white, the other had a date, and that left the man sitting at the far end of the room with his back on her. Slowly she started walking towards the suited being, cursing inwards for the millionth time as to why she hadn't changed. She was just about to reach him when he turned, as if on cue knowing she was there. She stood rooted to the ground as she came face to face with a face she could never have recognized. Her eyes instantly searched above his eyes for the scar she knew was there, and there it was. This really was Marcus. He was dressed in a dark blue suit that suited the place perfectly.

“Wow!” She said as she uprooted herself from where she was standing and made her way to him. “You sure have changed Marcus Mkonu, I don't even recognize you!” His lips turned into a bright smile which revealed a set of perfect white teeth. He reached for her and enveloped her into him in a big tight hug!

“Ruthie, this is really you?”

“Actually, am not sure anymore.” A nervous laugh followed. No one called her Ruthie anymore except for Christine. “Look at you, you are looking all....that!” she finished off waving her hands over him, lacking a better word to describe how he looked.

“And you, are looking exactly as your sister said you would!” He burst into a laugh at the shocked expression on her face. Motioning for her to sit, he took a seat opposite her and just sat there, looking into her eyes. Their gazes held for a while till she started feeling all funny inside and said the first thing that came into her mind.

“You have changed!”

“So have you! See, you even have breasts now!”

“Ok, I take that back, you haven't changed.” They both laughed. She liked his laugh. She liked the new, deep voice he had on now, all sultry and sounding like music to her ears. She could sit and hear him talk the whole day, she thought to herself. A mental kick followed. She hated men, she reminded herself. They were nothing but users and losers. Yet here she was, drooling about a man she had not seen in fifteen years.

“So where did you get them? Don't tell me you actually got a place that sold them!” His playful comment took her back to that day, fifteen years ago.

“So what's so different about her?” Ruthie asked for the thousandth time that afternoon as she raced her bike beside Marcus.

“She's a girl!” He responded as a matter of fact, then pedaled really hard and left Ruthie behind. A few minutes later, Ruthie caught up with him where he had stopped to wait for her.

“I'm a girl!” she said as she got off her bike and lay down on the grass beside him.

“No you're not, you're a baby.”

“I am not a baby! Babies cry and wear nappies!”

“You cry!”

“You cry too. I've seen you cry!”

“But Mamu is different, she just is.” Marcus insisted. Ruthie could sense he was getting frustrated with her questions but he wasn't making any sense.

“How so.” She asked as she pulled herself to a sitting position and watched him.

“She has breasts.” Marcus said, looking directly into Ruthie's eyes. Ruthie twisted her mouth in disgust.

“That's why you hurt yourself? Because of breasts?”

“I fell off my bike!”

“Because of breasts?”

“You are a baby, you don't understand!” He said standing up and reaching for his bike.

“Well, you ride with me all the time, you don't fall off because I have breasts?”She said innocently, pushing her bike beside his as they made their way up the hill.

“You don't!”

“You don't have breast, your chest is flat.”

“Oh.” Ruthie's face was expressionless for a while then she turned to him with a bright smile.

“Your chest is flat too, so am just like you. Thats good, right?”

“Nope. I'm a man. Men like women with breasts not flat chests.” Marcus had responded with a laugh. The next two minutes of the walk were spent in complete silence till Ruthie whispered.

“I'm going to ask my dad to get me some. My dad can buy me anything I want.” Marcus had laughed so hard his sides had hurt. She was 10, he was 13.