“Oh my gosh! He’s here early. Mom don’t park yet.”

As I slowly and as casually as possible drive past the man my daughter had been talking to me about in superlatives,

“Mommy he has the sweetest smile or he is super smart”,

I noticed everything about him was familiar. The way his tall frame took upon a slight slouch . The way his dark eyes and hair made a contrast against his tropical brown skin. He looked up from the sidewalk cafe and seemingly stared through the tinted windows right into my eyes. For a moment I was frozen. 

“Mom!” I quickly came to senses but knew I was going to revisit that moment at a later time - sooner than later. 

“Honey you look lovely”. I said hoping to ease her jitters. It is quite unsettling when your daughter is so smitten with a man. It feels like there’s a tag scratching your back from your t shirt. You know it’s there, but also know there is nothing you can do in the moment to fix it. Even so you are acutely aware it until you can. 

I parked the car and we started out walk to the doors that we were to meet at. As we approached him I felt a Deja Vu about the entire situation. Do I know this man? No. Not possible. I couldn’t. I said out loud only to myself. 

“Kira you are a fast walker”! 

She. paid me no mind as she nearly skipped into his arms. 

“Hi Niko”!

“Hey my Kira.”

His kira? My tummy starts hurting and I immediately want to be home in bed. 

We sit down and Kira immediately eyes yet another person she knows , and her social butterfly comes out. I watch as she goes to greet them wide eyed and joyful. My body pans back to his face and in an instant I know that I know him. As if falling down a manhole of time i land in the time where I first met him. 

Worlds away from where I was I remember that night. My husband and I were at our favorite neighborhood bar that serves decent food, has good camaraderie and even better bartenders. The regulars and staff had become our friends over a period of 4 years or so. Sometimes the nights were quiet with he and I talking about the kids after a particularly hard day. Sometimes we would interact with everyone and barely speak to one another. This night likened to the latter.It was a light easy evening talking with the Jb (kitchen staff)and the bartending staff. It wasn’t too loud or dead just a chill Wednesday night. A tall man I’d never seen walks directly to my husband and put his finger to his forehead. He had the confidence of a regular but judging by everyone’s expression he was known by noone. He starts talking quietly but furiously, and I wonder if they know each other. He continues and his goons back him and I notice several others of us are concerned. Karen the bartender is looking definitely annoyed and JB the cook out of the kitchen for socialization observing, Maybe just a drunk guy and a case of mistaken identity. My husband with dreadlocks and brown skin is a ubiquitous archetype in this metropolitan area. I heard my husband say “ Hey I don’t know you. What are doing right now”? 

“You know what you did. I bet you won’t be a big man now.”

“What? What you sayin? What you want?”

My body freezes and it’s as if someone has turned off the sound in the movie. Like a bomb has gone off and everything is moving in slow motion. 

From the corner of my eye I see a half human half animal of a man walk up to my husband. He was like hulk without the green. His dark red crew neck fit tightly on his body. The tall guy and him change places and the tall guy walks out the door. Hulk pulls his arm back and the next thing I see is my husband slide down the wall he had been cornered into. .In that moment I can hear my heart beating. 

Ba boom wake up. 

 Ba boom this is real.

 Ba boom get help. 

Ba boom the kids. 

 Ba boom are there guns. 

 You have to move! 

I turn to Karen and say “I’ll be back. My body starts walking toward the door. I get outside and finally my emotions and physical body become one again. I realized I don't know why I’m there or what I planned to do. Either way my purse and phone are in the bar.I dash back in and grab my purse from the stool. I see there are people that have helped my husband up and he is alive and talking. “Thank God” I whisper to myself and head out the front door.

Once I get outside I see him. Sitting on a park bench outside the me bar smoking a cigarette which I desperately need at this point if the night. So on a crazy whim I walk up to him. 

“ Can I bum a cigarette”

Instantly I realize I have low key tried to befriend my clear enemy by asking for something. Strangely enough

he is pulling out his pack of camel lights to share with me. We’ll at least he’s not totally heartless I think to myself but I have to admit I’m more confused than I was before. I take a cigarette definitely unsure of whether it is ok but his eyes seem neutral at this point. 

He hands me a lighter and I finally see him. I scan his face quickly evaluating his sanity through his features. His hair is cut -very recent - tapered but long in the front. His eyes are dark and deep like a wells with no water. I take the lighter grateful I didn’t have to ask and light my cigarette. The first pull crumbles all the fight it fight and calms me. I take a seat next to him and ask 

“What happened in there”.

You won’t understand. 

Try me. 

Silence 

“Anja! My mom is right over there”!

Jolted I am catapulted back to this time.

I take the last seconds of our time alone to ask

“Do you remember me?”

He responds as if expecting the question

 “I do”