TWENTY

I was scrolling through the TV channels of the annoyingly smart TV in my room when something caught my eye.

Ms. Lucy?

She was acting a block buster movie and she was great at it, it felt so real, her tears, her joy, her rage...she was a great actress.

No wonder she was one of the best.

I was just enchanted by the movie when my ringing phone woke me up from Dreamland.

I checked the message and it was that my roots had been found. My great grandparents hailed from Ghana and Niger, two West African countries, but I only needed one so I picked Ghana.

I needed to get as much information on that country as I could. I had forgotten the wi-fi password so I needed Mark's help.

"So you're a Ghanaian?"

I nodded.

"And how long do you have to submit the project?"

"About two weeks."

"That's just enough time."

"For what?"

"To get the documents ready."

"For what?"

"We're going to Ghana."

I widened my eyes. I had never left my country before and now I was going halfway across the world?!

I smiled widely and nodded.

I packed my bags the next day as the plane was about to leave and as usual, Mark was already...ready.

He called a cab as he couldn't just abandon any of his cars in the airport.

We got there and I saw...

Booty O's...

Booty O-s were literally the best snack of them all. They were made of golden sponge cake which swirled with chocolate. They were also covered in chocolate, with a jelly surprise in their middle.

I looked at Mark and he walked towards the machine, put in some money and punched the numbers.

I was drooling as the spring slowly rotated to move the snack forward.

It got closer then stopped...

I furiously yelled at the machine, shaked it and hurt my knuckles on its glass door, my efforts were futile.

"Let me try."

Mark kicked it and four Booty O's fell down. I happily picked them up and he payed for them.

We got into the plane and sat down in first class. Mark had already told me why he didn't sit in coach but rather in the expensive first class.

It wasn't because it was comfortable, but because he didn't want too much attention.

I munched on my snack as the plane took off. It tasted boring and I knew why, the low pressure we were flying through weakened my sense of taste by 50%, therefore I couldn't taste that well.

I watched the window till I eventually dozed off on Mark's lap.

He just rubbed his hand on my shoulder, feeling like a load had been taken off his back.

Mark had to go to the bathroom so he gently placed me upright on the seat.

He was walking when an air hostess bumped into him, pouring hot soup on him.

He was scalded and squinted his eyes, tightened his teeth and made a fist, trying to control the intense pain.

"Oh I'm so sorry sir, I didn't pay attention to where I was going."

"I didn't either, it's okay."

"Let me get you a napkin."

"No, I'm fine, I can wash myself in the bathroom."

Mark looked at her as she went back to the kitchen, he'd realized she was the only woman he remembered who had looked into his eyes without being stupefied.

He just went to the bathroom and poured water on his arm.

He went back to his seat when the air hostess came back with a napkin.

"Jeez, I said it's okay."

"How do you know my name?"

"Wait, your name is Jeez?"

"No, I'm just kidding, I'm Catherine."

"Nice to meet you Cathy, I'm ..."

"I know, Mark Hawkins, I love your shoes."

"Really?"

She nodded and started walking away when one of her heels broke and she almost fell, then he caught her...

She breathed heavily as she looked at him.

He pulled her up and said,"Are you okay?"

Never had she been this close to a man.

Their eyes met, she was so close, she could feel his warm breath, tickling her nose.

She was quiet for several seconds then said,"I'm fine...thank you."

She walked away.

Mark took his seat and placed me back on his lap, he didn't know why, but he missed the air hostess.

I opened my eyes when Mark tapped me and said,"We're here."

I looked down to see the thick green forest and smiled widely.

The plane landed and we got off. Mark had already made a hotel reservation at the Blue Moon hotel.

I was excited to see all the people who looked like me. I had only seen about ten dark kids other than myself in the states and none were in the richer school.

At the hotel, Mark was going through a tourism brochure and showed it to me then asked,"Where do you want to go first?"

I looked at all the attractive sites before saying,"The Kénté(how I mentioned it) village."

"Okay, so that's our stop tomorrow."

I was so excited, I wasn't researching on Google, I was actually there and could describe everything in detail.

The next day, we were on our way to the village...