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‘I think that Mike would like it to be more.’
‘You’re right,’ I admit. ‘But he knows it would never happen. He’s been very good to me and I’m sure he’ll be a good friend to you. I couldn’t have come out to see you at Christmas if Mike hadn’t lent me the money.’
‘Then he is a very kind man.’
‘Yes.’ I decide to fess up about Lewis Moran as well. ‘There is another man.’
His eyebrow raises.
‘There’s nothing in it. He’s been pestering me,’ I tell Dominic. ‘I had one disastrous date with him before I met you and now he won’t leave me alone. Every now and again he turns up at the house. I just wanted you to know in case he does that and I’m not here. I’ll put the word out that you’re living here now and hopefully that will get the message through to him. If it doesn’t, then you have my enthusiastic permission to scare him off.’
Dominic nods thoughtfully.
‘Come on. We need to go before the shopping centre gets busy.’ We leave the house and jump into the car.
‘Can I drive the car, Janie?’
‘Do you have a driving licence?’
He shrugs that he doesn’t.
‘Then maybe not.’ Though having seen the way Dominic can throw a vehicle around the African plains, I’m sure the roundabouts of Milton Keynes would hold no fear for him. ‘We’ll have to organise for you to take a test here.’
Dominic smiles at me. ‘I cannot believe that I live here now.’
‘Me neither.’
In the shopping centre, Dominic stands and stares in awe. ‘These are all shops?’
‘Yes.’
‘I have never been in a place like this,’ he says. ‘How can people need to buy so many things?’
‘I don’t know. It’s just the way we are here.’
‘I am a Maasai warrior,’ he continues. ‘I should not be afraid, yet my heart is pounding in my chest.’
‘That’s a normal bloke’s response,’ I assure him.
‘Are you being serious?’
‘Yes. Most men are terrified of shopping. We’ll be in and out like a flash,’ I promise.
‘There are so many people. This is a very busy place,’ Dominic remarks.
It’s true that the shopping centre is filling up now and the crowds mill up and down the aisles, but it’s still early. ‘This is nothing. You should come here on a Saturday.’
‘I do not think I wish to do that.’
‘Probably a good idea.’ Even I try to avoid coming here on a Saturday, when retail frenzy is at its peak. For Dominic it must be utterly mind-blowing. His nearest shop in the Mara – a mud hut with a few dozen items for sale – was a ten-kilometre walk or more. This must seem like shopping heaven – or hell, depending on your perspective.
In Tall Boys, the middle-aged lady who comes to assist us goes all silly at the sight of Dominic. She clucks around him like a mother hen, helping him as he struggles with the buttons of the shirt he’s trying on.
‘Oh my,’ she keeps saying. ‘Oh my, oh my.’
But in no time, she finds him jeans that not only fit him on the waist, but also go all the way down to the floor. We buy a couple of shirts and sweaters, the jeans and a pair of smart trousers and a warm coat. They have shoes here too and we discover that Dominic is a size fourteen. It’s the first time he’s ever worn full shoes rather than sandals and he’s walking as if he’s got flippers on his feet. I get him a pair of smart shoes, and trainers too.
‘I will not need all these things,’ Dominic protests.
‘Oh, you will, lovely,’ the attentive assistant assures him. ‘You will.’
‘My whole family does not have this amount of clothing.’
It’s hard to remember that Dominic has nothing more to his name than a couple of red shukas, a blanket and a pair of sandals, that the things we take so much for granted are completely alien to him. When we send his family some money, I should also put a parcel together of my surplus T-shirts for his mother and his sisters.
‘This is a land of plenty,’ he says. ‘You have it all. Food, clothing, money.’
It’s a land of profligate consumerism and waste, I think, though I don’t correct Dominic. Already seeing how little he has compared with how much we have has left me feeling slightly ashamed. I’ve always been quite careful, but ever since meeting Dominic I’ve made sure that I don’t throw any food away and all my old clothes go to Oxfam. They’re small things, but it’s a start.
Mike’s clothes go into a carrier bag and an hour later, we leave with Dominic looking absolutely gorgeous in his Western outfit.
