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/

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