I Guess I Just Don't Get It

The next day we only had a light practice in the morning, and the rest of the day off to do whatever we wanted. As soon as we had returned to the hotel after practice, I took a quick shower and changed into some dark wash skinny jeans, a white tank top, and a gray sweater, with my Toms and emerged from the bathroom after drying my hair to see Sergio waiting for me on my bed, already showered and changed.
"How in the world do you get ready so fast? Did you actually wash, or just change?" I joked, grabbing my purse and putting my phone, a Droid X, inside it before turning back to him. "Come on! We gotta go!"
"I'm coming, what's your hurry?" He got up and opened the door for me.
I looked at my watch. "Nine hours is not enough time to fully admire a whole country. And I want to see as much as I can."
"So can I assume you want a tour guide?" He asked, smirking down at me.
I lightly hit his arm. "Don't smirk at me in that way you do. I always feel like there's some joke you get but I don't."
He laughed and led me over to the check in counter and said to the boy at the counter, "Have you lived here your whole life?"
The boy, who actually looked to be around seventeen, nodded slowly, eyes wide; he clearly knew who we were.
"Would you be interested in giving us a tour today? I'll pay you very well, I promise you," Sergio asked.
The boy glanced at me before replying. "Well, I would, but my family is expecting me home in two hours."
"Your family can come! I'd love to meet them!" I smiled, stepping in.
The boy looked very surprised at my offer. "Are you sure? My family can be kind of overwhelming. And I don’t know if I can get off right now, my boss probably wouldn't understand."
"I think he'll understand, if he finds out what your reason is."
He eyed us for a second before nodding and disappearing behind a door, presumably to ask his boss. He reappeared a few minutes later, smiling widely. "He said I could go! But, it's kind of a long walk to my house..."
I smiled at him. "No worries! We have the whole rest of the day. But could I get your name?"
He smiled, "My name is Kojo, sorry. Well, if you want to go ahead?" He asked, motioning towards the door. We both nodded and followed him.
As Kojo walked ahead of us, Sergio whispered, "All day huh?"
I elbowed him. "Shut up. I'm trying to be nice, sorry if that inconveniences you."
"No, no, just wondering," he smirked and took my hand as we walked.

We arrived at Kojo's house half an hour later, a very small house with what looked to be three rooms at most. He motioned for us to follow him inside, so we did, and I don't know about Sergio, but I was shocked at how many people were in such a small room. Two adults, presumably Kojo's parents, were sitting on the floor, surrounded with four children, all under the age of around seven. They all looked up, startled, as we came in.
Kojo began speaking to them quickly in African, and Sergio and I stood there by the doorway awkwardly as he explained. Finally they turned to us and spoke in broken English, "You want tour?" The father asked. "From Kojo?"
We smiled and nodded. "We'd really love to see things most tourists don't, you know, get the real experience," Sergio explained.
"And we'd love it if you'd join us," I added.
The two of them glanced at each other as if asking the question 'Why?', but then, as though unsurely, agreed.
I smiled. "Great! Do you need any help with them?" I eyed the children, knowing how much trouble they probably were.
"Oh um, yes, please, if you would. Could you take Amadi?" Deka, the mother, asked.
I nodded and took the baby girl in my arms. She was maybe a year and a half, and completely adorable. She had the darkest skin I'd ever seen, with dark brown eyes and chubby cheeks. "She's gorgeous!"
Deka smiled and thanked me. I could tell she was still trying to figure out what was going on as she rounded up the other three children. I soon found out the father's name was Kione. Apparently, Amadi had a twin brother, Jabulani, who was handed to Sergio. Jabulani immediately took to Sergio's hair, having never seen anything like it before. The older two brothers, Owethu, four, and Simba, ten, were left to walk alongside us.
Finally we were on our way. We had agreed to simply walk a ways before actually going in a certain direction. We talked nonstop the whole time, and surprisingly only a small fraction of it was about soccer. We actually mostly talked about their lives in Africa.
Eventually we passed by a group of kids playing football, and Simba and Kojo joined them when the boys yelled for them to. Kojo turned to us, "Are you going to play?"
Sergio glanced at me, but I was neither dressed for it nor did I feel like it. "I'll stay, you go and play with them. Go on, make their day."
He smiled and gave me a kiss before handing Jabulani to Deka and following Kojo and Simba. Deka and I found a spot to sit and watch for a while, as Owethu wandered off somewhere and Kione followed him, leaving the two of us with the twins. We only sat and watched for a while as the three of them fell into place quickly, passing and dribbling around the mass of boys from ages around six to teens. I mostly watched Sergio, well, only watched Sergio, as he tried to dribble through a group of about ten boys. I shook my head and laughed quietly. Somehow Sergio managed to fall to the ground, thankfully not on anyone, and the smaller boys dog piled on top of him.
"You love him, don't you?" Deka asked.
I slowly turned my head to her, smiled, and nodded shyly. "Yeah. We told each other last night."
She smiled as well. "I can tell. You two are so perfect for each other, you balance each other out."
I raised my eyebrows. "Balance each other?"
She nodded. "I've only known you, what, an hour? And I can already see how the two of you rely on each other. You shift your balance to your other leg, he does the same. You put your hair behind your ear, he throws his around like he does. I'm sure you get the idea, and know what I'm talking about, no?"
I had no idea what to say. "I'd never thought about it, or really noticed it, even, but yeah, maybe you're right. It just sounds so...far fetched, though, doesn't it? I mean, that kind of stuff doesn't happen anymore, not in real life. It sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?"
Deka looked at me. "It's only far fetched if you say it is. Anything's possible, you, of all people, know that."
I shrugged. "I suppose so. Sometimes, though, it just seems so unreal. Sometimes I wake up and wonder where I am, and what I've been doing for the past year and a half. I think I'm crazy for ever agreeing to any of this. I mean, I could die out there. No one's expecting me to actually be able to change the course of any of the games or anything, assuming I'll actually play."
"You will."
"What?"
"Play. Prove the nonbelievers wrong," she replied. "You're not crazy. You're just brave enough to do what no other woman has ever been brave enough, or good enough, to do. There's much to be said for that."
We sat for the next fifteen minutes in silence, more or less. Finally Sergio led Kojo and Simba back over, so we stood up to wait for them. When they got closer Sergio smiled even wider and picked me up and spun me around in a circle. I laughed and threw my arms around his neck so I wouldn't fall. "Sergio! Put me down!"
He finally did and we took the twins back.

Two hours later and it was almost seven o'clock, so Deka figured we would want to find somewhere to eat on our own, assuming we were tired of the kids, or something. She had already recommended a restaurant for us, and we were saying our goodbyes and thank you's. It had been kind of difficult to give the twins back, and even they didn't want us to leave; Jabulani clutched onto Sergio's hair, almost pulling some of it out, and Amadi had a death grip around my neck.
"Thank you so, so much for putting up with us today, I know how much of a handful Sergio is sometimes," I said, laughing with Deka. "We'll definitely come back and see you guys before we fly back to Spain."
She smiled. "That would be wonderful! Have fun tonight, but not too much fun," she grinned mischievously. "And good luck for the rest of the tournament, we'll be cheering for you."
I hugged her as I said, "Thank you so much, honestly. I can't thank you enough. And, of course, Sergio agrees." We glanced at him just as he completed a somersault, to the cheers of Simba, Jabulani, and Owethu. "I should get him away from the kids before he gives them bad ideas, I'll see you soon!"
She waved goodbye as I put my hand in Sergio's and dragged him away, dusting him off as best I could.
"Sergio, you are encouraging bad habits!"
He only grinned wryly. "I don't think so. We professional football players have to be flexible, you know."
I glanced behind us to see Simba doing his best to copy Sergio, but only succeeded in falling on his side in the dirt.
"See, Sergio? That's the kind of things you make children do. Things that end up getting them hurt and dirty."
He only shrugged and gave me his ever classic, smug smile before wrapping his arm around my waist.