Sorry for taking so long to post this! I didn't realize that it had been almost a month since my last post to this story, until I looked at the date of my last post. For anyone who is still interested, here is my final part to the story. Sorry for the cheesy (I think) ending. But I had to find some way of ending it, or else the thing would have just gone on forever! Enjoy all... "Hello, Ousman," Pa Ali said nervously. "Hello," said Ousman, back to Pa Ali. Pa Ali and Ousman asked after each others' families, how each of them were doing, and then Ousman started, "I called to talk to you about Musukuta. She has told me what has happened between you yesterday, and I'm not happy about it, to say the least, but I wanted to talk to you first, before advising Musukuta on what to do." Pa Ali said, "What happened was wrong. I never wanted Musukuta to find out like that. I'd wanted to tell her. But her coming here, and seeinger at the door was a complete surprise to me! I didn't even know she was coming to the US, she didn't even tell me! Maybe she wanted to surprise me, but maybe if I'd have known she was coming, I could have dealt with things, I could have told Musukuta and prepared her, then she wouldn't have to have come all the way over here and been disappointed like she was." "What do you want to do about Musukuta?" Ousman said. "I'd like to at least talk to her. I have her luggage that she lost at the train station, so I'd like to at least give her that. But I would like to try to work things out with her. I still love her and want her as my wife." "What about the girl you're living with, Briana, is that her name?" Ousman said. "I'm not living with her anymore," Pa Ali said. "She got her things and moved out when she found out about Musukuta." Ousman and Pa Ali talked a few more minutes, and then Ousman put Musukuta on the phone. "Hello, Musukuta," Ousman said. "Hello, Pa Ali," Musukuta said back to him. "I'm sorry about what happened," Pa Ali started to say. "I want to try to work things out with you. You are still my wife, and we have a son, and I don't want to lose you. I don't know what happened with Briana and I, it started as something so simple. She used to come to the restaurant, and I enjoyed talking withher, and before I knew it, we were involved in a relationship, and I didn't know how to tell her that I was married with a son. I guess I just should have told her in the beginning, and maybe none of this would have happened." "Well, you seemed pretty happy with her when I saw you yesterday," Musukuta said. "And you didn't even try to come after me when she slammed the door in my face. As far as I'm concerned, you can have her. As for me, I've not decided what to do. I could either stay here in America, or go back to The Gambia. I had a decent life there. And I don't think it would be any problem finding someone to treat me right." This last statement hurt Pa Ali. He knew, in fact, that Musukuta would have no problem finding someone else. In fact, she had begged him to hurry up and get her over here, because dealing with all the men swarming around her was getting to be too much for her. And it seemed that in this regard, Musukuta had been much stronger than Ali had been, since Ali couldn't even bring himself to tell the one woman who'd pursued him that he was already married. It would have been well within Musukuta's rights to just pick up and leave him, if she wanted to, no matter how much that would hurt Pa Ali. A long silence passed between Musukuta and Pa Ali, as both of them thought deeply about their situation. As much as Musukuta could indeed find someone else, when she thought about it, she really didn't want to. As much as Pa Ali's involvement with Briana had hurt her, she still wanted to stay with him. Even though what he'd done was wrong, in a sense, she couldn't blame him. It had been hard even for her, not to give into the advances of the men who were after her. She had been lonely back in The Gambia without her husband, and no matter how much she tried to keep herself busy, her "busyness" didn't deminish any of her loneliness. It was tempting to give in, but she didn't do that, and she was proud of herself for that. And she couldn't understand why Pa Ali couldn't have done the same for her. But she understood, just the same. People do make mistakes sometimes. And at least he was making an effort to talk to her and try to work things out. "I at least want to bring you your luggage," Pa Ali finally said. "My luggage?" Musukuta asked, surprised. "The man from the train station called about it this morning. He said it was a sort of miracle that they even found it." Pa Ali explained. "Yeah, I know," Musukuta said. "I'd lost it in the train station, it was stolen when I had turned my back, and I thought it was gone forever! I'm so happy that they found it!" "I can bring it to you," Pa Ali said. "I'm supposed to go get it at the train station today." Musukuta thought for a minute. "At least if he brought my luggage down to me, it would give us a chance to talk," Musukuta thought. "OK," she finally said. "You can bring the luggage down. When are you coming?" "I'll try to get the next train," Pa Ali said. And at this, they both said their good-byes, and Pa Ali promised to call Musukuta back to let her know when his train would be arriving in New York. Pa Ali then called his job, to see about getting some time off for a "family emergency", as he called it. His boss didn't mind giving it to him, as Pa Ali hardly, if ever, missed any work. One of Pa Ali's friends offered to cover his shift as long as Pa Ali needed, which he didn't think would be any more than a few days. At this, Pa Ali packed some clothes and a few other things, and started for the train station. Once there, he went to the customer service office, as he was told to do, and retrieved Musukuta's lost luggage. He then purchased a ticket to New York, and waited for the next train. It was late evening when Pa Ali arrived in New York. Once he got off the train, he'd expected to see Musukuta there to meet him, but he found Ousman instead. They walked up to each other, greeted each other, shook hands, and started walking through the train station. Pa Ali once again started to apologize for the situation, but Ousman stopped him. "It's done, it's passed," Ousman said. "just make sure you are good to Musukuta from now on, and that something like this never happens again!" And that was all Ousman said about it. Ousman thought that he was going to give Pa Ali a good talking to, and Pa Ali thought Ousman was going to give him quite a lecture, but on seeing Pa Ali, and talking to him on the phone, there just didn't seem to be any point. They soon arrived back at Ousman's apartment. When they opened the door, Musukuta came to greet them holding Birama. Pa Ali put his arms around them both, and said how he was so happy to see them. They all went and sat down for a few minutes in the living room. The three adults needed to talk, but they didn't want to do it in front of Birama, so they spent the time playing with him, watching TV, and engaging in idel chit chat. Finally, Birama fell asleep, Musukuta put him to bed, and she came back and sat down in the living room. "What are we going to do?" Musukuta finally asked. "If I agree to stay with you, I don't want this sort of thing to happen again! And I want to also make sure that things are truly over between you and Briana. How can I be sure of that?" "Because she's gotten her things and has moved out of my apartment, and I've not seen her since then. And she's not called me either. I don't think she's coming back," Pa Ali said. "And what if she does? What are you going to do about that?" Musukuta asked. "Then, I'll deal with it," Pa Ali said. Musukuta wasn't totally satisfied with this answer, but if she went back with Pa Ali, and Briana resurfaced again, at some point, then she would just have to cross that bridge when she came to it. Musukuta expressed to Pa Ali how hurt she was by him, how she'd managed to not get involved with any of the men who pursued her, and she wondered why Pa Ali couldn't have done the same. She wanted to stay with Pa Ali, but it would take a while before she could trust him again. In the end, they agreed to stay together, though Musukuta made it clear that if this sort of thing happened again, then she would not stay with him. Musukuta and Pa Ali spent the next few days touring New York, playing with their son, and hanging out at Ousman's apartment with him and his myriad of friends. Finally, though, Pa Ali and Musukuta returned to Boston and Pa Ali's apartment. When they got to Pa Ali's apartment, they found a note, left by Briana. At first, Musukuta's heart sank. She thought how stupid and foolish she was to believe Pa Ali, but Pa Ali assured her that no matter what the note said, he was done with Briana. In the note, Briana related how hurt she was on learning that Pa Ali was married. She said that Musukuta's appearing at his door was a complete shock and surprised to her. Briana went on to say that she was sorry for being so rude to Musukuta, but that she was shocked and angry. She further said that she wished that Pa Ali would have just told her the truth in the beginning, since she'd never have gotten involved with him if she'd known he was married. She also said that she had no desire to speak with him, and that even though she may still want to be friends with him, she didn't think it was possible at this time. She wished him well, and there, the note ended. At this, Musukuta and Pa Ali were relieved, and they walked in to their apartment. The first thing Musukuta did, after a good night's sleep, was to clean the place up. Though Pa Ali had tried, he had not done an entirely good job in cleaning up the mess that was made from him and Briana's argument. As she straightened up some things in the living room, and also kept Birama from getting into things, she thought to herself, "I think I could stay here. Yes, I could stay here, maybe get a job, go to school. Continue my life with Pa Ali." Though Musukuta was still nervous about Pa Ali, she would rather take the chance and trust him, than to pick up and leve him and have to start fresh with someone else. At this, she looked out the window, at the sunshine, the kids playing outside, some older boys playing basketball at the nearby basketball court, at all of the activity outside, and she smiled to herself. THE END -- Visit my blog at: http://GinnysThoughts.blogspot.com/ いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい