Tamil banana. Part 2.

So, we walked past the reception and nodded hello to the guys behind the desk. They looked at us strangely because maybe its a bit of a strange sight, you know, a young girl with an ancient dreadlocked dude. Or maybe it's not that strange, I don't know.

Anyway, we stopped in front of a private room. It was unlocked and thankfully he didn't hold open the door for me.

He went and sat at the dressing table and started mixing a brown paste with some water in a plastic bottle.

I planted myself firmly in the open doorway and tried to casually lean against the frame but I must have looked on edge because I felt pretty on edge.

A tall chubby Pakistani man wearing black plastic glasses was standing at the foot of the double bed.

His nose was red and puffy and he was assessing the situation through sideways glances.

Dreadlocks gave him the plastic bottle and he drank the whatever it was.

"I told you I'm a healer. You have to be careful about what you eat, so many things are poison, even the tomatoes. Come with me and I'll take you places." He held out the brown paste for me to smell. "These are herbs, there are 23 in here. They can fix any kind of problem you have with your breathing, you know, if you have a cold or flu or whatever."

The room was very white and the lights were very bright and I really didn't know what to say.

I edged into the room keeping the door wide open and behind me. The herbs smelled spicy.

"Here, this is for you angel," he held out a banana. "It's a Tamil banana, up from the north. I got them fresh from the tree."

"Yeah, I've known Russell for years and whenever I have a problem he fixes it for me. But he doesn't like it when I go to Ministry of Crab, he says its poison, but it tastes hella good. Do you wanna grab some food tomorrow?" He asked me from the corner of his mouth, with a sideways look.

I took the banana and looked at it. Then I looked at the Pakistani man.

"Uuhhm, I'm seeing someone...tomorrow," and I really hated that I didn't just say no because I didn't want to go. "So, Russell? I'm pretty tired by now, thanks for the.." I shook my head slightly and left.

I kind of wonder what would have happened if I had committed to the situation more, what story I would be writing instead of this. But anyway I climbed up to my room, sat on my bed and ate what turned out to be the tastiest banana I've ever had.