A story about strangers I've met before, and how we lived together happily ever after in a Stone House with a guardian cat

There is nothing in this world that feels like going in circles. Heading in the same direction. Seeing things coming and going back. I met Joe on the terrace in Dar er Salaam. I met Ramy and Malina on the balcony in Stone Town. In the beginning, it seemed like we are never going to make it out of town. Together we were like rolling ball of chaos trying to be a square or a straight line. Yet, it felt like we’ve met before, we have understood our ways long time ago, and we’ve known each other for a while.

Joe lives in his own timeless bubble. There is no close, soon, or in a minute. Things disappear, get lost, and they take time. They float in a happy limbo. Joe can focus on all of them, while being focused on none. He is a true lord of the Selfie Stick. He likes photographing the limbo of things, getting lost and being found. Conversations have no endings and no beginnings. He jumps on a dialog and leaves it in the middle, sometimes he knows and sometimes he does not know what is it that we are talking about. He teaches you that there is no point in knowing – the fun of it is to jump in and jump out. You find him talking to all (ALL) random people that happen to be passing by. You find him coming back after three hours while he left you just for a little while. When he makes breakfast it actually is a dinner time.  A true gift from bubbled agent of chaos – soul food, lots of loving and a big, smart heart. 

Malina lives in a bubble that is not that far away from Joe’s planet. When these two would go and search for something, we would know for sure – we shall not have it anytime soon, plus – they will get lost and they will need to be found.  Malina is a true observer. She loves grasping at people wandering around limbo of things. She loves framing the moments and truly – she does love everyone and everything around. All pictures you see here - this is us, us and Paje through Malina's eyes. Well, maybe apart from this one.

Ramy, well … about Ramy. In this limbo of things, he’d get everything done. In no time. He would be seeing things ahead and backwards and make them work for us. The godfather. The daddy.  He’d see through wonderfully weird people. Like those who put bottle of water and two cups outside, just to proudly drink it later and collect the energy of sun. He sees through everyone’s bubble. Just right into its heart. Most of the time he’d be giving you jars of Nutella and biscuits. Go, take it, how could you say no to that? And lord, he was crazy about Husky – our guardian cat. Cat with magic powers of appearing everywhere – in the fridge, in the toilet, in your coffee cup – the cat who was watching our back. Ramy knew how things work in Paje – that there is nothing outside now, outside Paje and there is no way out. 

Me? Ramy would say I was the mamma. Malina would say I was the glue of the bubbled group. Joe wouldn't say anything - he'd be thinking of something else, just as he should. 

I was heart broken when they left. And so I wrote this story. Story in which we have lived together happily ever after in a little bungalow, in a place far, far away -  a place called Paje Stone House. We decided to stay in our bubbles and never, ever go out. We will see each other very soon. We will all go back to Paje, cheesily happy with things that go in circles. We will tell new stories and see how good things really do not change that much. In our bubbles, in our own time.