PEOPLE ISH: SPIRIT

 

SPIRIT

    I'm studying a handout and getting groggy this fine Sunday afternoon in my department's building; a short time after one of my yawns this person walks past, makes a U-turn and comes back, a tight smile on his face. 
Geek alert!!! The glasses, the smile, the intensity of his gaze. I like...

  He joins me on the bench, his arm trembles a little as he cleans the seat; this is the last thing I need now, right now I don't want any social fumbling around me, I'm already exhausted from the heat wave, "Bikonu ,what is that smell?" I ask myself, it's pleasant, too pleasant for a geek. In my experience, geeks smell like they've been indoors for too long, a stuffy aftermath imbues their bodies and personalities; sometimes they smell like unwashed, sweaty clothes, but this one, he smells...
  We talk, we have similar interests, we exchange numbers, we talk some more.
We talk God, feminism, Forex, sexual abuse and he actually listens.

  He asks me to call him 'Spirit' which is funny because there's no obvious reason I should, his real name is Great.
  Turns out he is an ethical hacker, so there's his reason (I guess?) Or maybe not. 

  The intensity and warmth in his eyes are almost contagious, it's just dampened  by self-consciousness: the rapid blinking; his thoughts as fast as lightning, bumping into each other, talking way too fast and being considerate all the time. And what's that smell? Money...

He sends me some rhymes and it takes two seeings to grab his drift.
  The rhyme is about going forward and having to put up with jealousy and  a girl who has soft skin but a hard heart.
  This is not usual for me, the delay in recognizing what was being said.

  Life is getting better, I told him so much, he taught me just crypto.

  Isn't life good when you have someone in it who sincerely asks you, " You grab, ba?"