Glimpsing Gold in The Seychelles – Part 2

The shadows began to lengthen over the sand as the sun sank slowly into the horizon. We cycled back to town in convoy with François and his family. Electra and I chatted to his parents about their holidays and their native Corsica. It was a surreal experience. Arriving at our destination, François asked me out on a date in front of his parents, somewhat awkward and definitely a first. ‘Meeting the parents’ done and dusted at least! We arranged to meet that evening at 8 pm at a bar in town. He didn’t have a phone so I promised to be there.

Later that day, enjoying sundowners and sherbert skies at another bar Electra suddenly squealed;

‘Hey, what the hell are you doing? It’s 8:30 pm, you were supposed to meet François at 8 pm!’

I arrived out of breath to find François sitting down amidst a sea of loved up couples, vacantly staring into his acid blue martini glass, a jolly sparkling cocktail umbrella his only companion. It was as if he had stumbled onto the wrong film-set and was in the wrong movie. He looked up at me with relief and excitement. It must have been 9 pm by the time I got there. I was happy he had waited.

‘I thought you’d changed your mind.’ he said with a wry smile.

‘No, I was looking forward to seeing you. I just lost track of time. You know how it is when you’re running on island time! There’s live music tonight at The Calypso down by the water. Would you like to go?’ I asked.

‘Sure, that sounds cool.’ François replied.

We walked down the small dirt track road, a bright corridor of Bougainvillea, cloaked by the twinkling night sky. By the time we arrived at The Calypso it was jumping, the band playing a mixture of reggae and funk.

‘Come on let’s dance’ said François, taking my hand and joining the throng on the dance floor. This song was slower, I rested my head gently in the nape of his neck, he pulled me closer, held my face between his hands and softly pressed his lips against mine; coconut kisses, a cool ocean breeze, in that moment everything was golden.

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