(Maisha) Just Do What You Want

Ms. Park had left some time ago to attend some fansigning for Coco. He looked kind of upset to leave but he begrudgingly got up and said goodbye to Kulsum and her parents.

A few minutes later, Ahmed Uncle approached the table. I think he was waiting until Ms Park had left.

She probably scared him.

He struck up an entire conversation (well it was more like a one sided rant) on why he believed The Famished Games was the best franchise ever written. It was actually a very well thought out argument but I was still stuck on question twenty-one of my worksheet, and I couldn't think in the noise of the café. It seemed as though everyone had decided to show up today. It was at times like this I realized how much of a genius Genu really was. He always just sat peacefully in his little corner with headphones on, living life with an energy drink in hand (or some other substance that made his eyes red, if you get what I mean).

Lucky Auntie eventually finished her cup of tea and left with her family. Maybe I should get going too.

Yep. I should’ve run when I had the chance.

Because at that very moment, HE walked through the door.

How did he even find this place? Why did everybody choose today, of allllll the days in the calendar to come to Café Eris?

Is Rahim Hossain a stalker?

I couldn’t escape to the bathroom quick enough for him not to spot me. His face lit up as he walked over with his stupid expression and his stupid backpack and his stupid self.

“Hey, I thought I’d find you here. Can you help me with chapter 8? We have that bio test tomorrow, we can study together.”

I just stared at him.

“So… should we start with questio-”

“How’d you find this place?”

He looked around, “Oh, I was just in the area.”

I narrowed my eyes, “Then why’d you say ‘I thought I’d find you here’?”

His face grew paler, “Uh, this just seems like a place you’d go to.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“...”

I sighed. Maybe if he ended up doing well on tomorrow's test he’d stop pestering me. I flipped open the textbook and pointed.

“What’s the answer to question 4?”

“B,” he said confidently.

No way.

“Rahim, do you not pay attention in class? The times that you’re actually awake, that is?”

“I do but like, I just don’t get it,” he shrugged.

I buried my face in my hands. My head hurts. The voices in the café swelled. I could feel the heat rising to my face. I breathed in and tried to breathe out but instead ended up saying;

“EVERYONE SHUT UP!”

But of course no one did.

This was Café Eris afterall. My outburst was drowned out by the chatter and buzz.

The only person who looked taken aback was Rahim. He silently got up and came back with a glass of water in hand.

“Ok. You didn’t hear this from me but, just cheat,” I said taking the glass.

He scratched his head cluelessly, “How?”

I pressed my eyes shut.

“I’ll give you the answers. During the test, sit next to me.”

He gave me a blank stare.

I rolled my eyes. “What do you want to do after highschool? Do you even need to take biology and math and all the other classes you’re failing?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. I just took them because my parents told me to.”

Oh, I get that. Dammit now I kind of feel bad for him.

“Well then, what are you good at?”

He shrugged again.

“What’s your highest mark?”

“An 89.”

“In WHAT?” I pressed.

“Home economics.”

“What’s your lowest mark?”

“8%.”

I sighed, “IN WHAT?”

“Biology.”

It took me a minute to process what he had said. “Hold up. YOU HAVE AN 8% IN BIOLOGY?!”

“Yea, that’s what I just said.”

Oh my god. I was set up for failure from the start.

“Ok, so just drop it and take something else. There’s literally no way you're passing at this point in the year.”

He stared and shrugged AGAIN as if he’d never considered that as an option before.

“What are your future plans?” I asked impatiently.

Before he could shrug for the 23943746th time, Scanta interrupted us and spread out his arms in a grand gesture.

“Rahim! The possibilities are endless!”

Do they know each other? Also what the heck is he doing? Also, can I go home yet?

“Uh, hello… sir. Have we met before?”

Scanta totally ignored his question. “So, tell me, what are your hobbies? I consider myself a pretty great mentor you know,” he said, taking a seat. He snapped to get Tristan's attention, who was collecting empty glasses from another table.

“Tristan. Special order on the house for three milkshakes straight away! One cotton candy, one-”

He looked at me and Rahim expectantly.

“Strawberry?” said Rahim.

“Same for me,” I added.

“-two strawberry! STAT!”

Poor Tristan flinched and rushed to the kitchen.

“So,” Scanta turned his attention back to us and clasped his hands together, “The future. Scary isn’t it?”

Please. I thought about this until 3AM last night. I don’t want to talk about it.

“YES,” I replied to him, a little too loudly.

Scanta gave us a devilish grin… or maybe it was a sympathetic smile? I’m not sure. It was difficult to decipher him these days.

“The passing of time, growing older, growing apart, starting anew...” he trailed off. He almost looked sad.

He was right though. It was scary. What if things go wrong? What if they fall apart? Not just in your own life but the people around you. It’s not like you could just hit a button and restart.

“What are your career plans after you graduate Maisha?”

I ran my finger along the edge of the table, why was I so nervous to answer this? “I’m going to university for statistics.”

“Cool! What about you Rahim? Any ideas?”

“Nope.” There was an uncomfortable pause. “I’m not really good at anything.”

Scanta slammed his hand on the table, “NONSENSE!” Tristan, who was approaching us, almost dropped the milkshakes he was carrying.

Scanta took the tray out of his hand and put his arm around Tristan's shoulder, “Look at Tristan. He’s a plain dude, ya know, unassuming and all. But get this! This average, boring, simpleton looking fellow goes to DESIGN SCHOOL! Would you believe that?!”

Tristan looked annoyed. The fact that Rahim looked him up and down only to say “Wow” didn’t really help either.

Scanta released Tristan from his death grip and continued, “You know, I consider myself somewhat of an expert in the realm of careers, I’ve led many, many different lives.”

Rahim, without hesitation, said, “Well, that sounds kinda shady.”

Yeah, sounds about right to me.

“Oh of course! But there were normal jobs too.”

Rahim and I looked at each other to check if we had heard that correctly.

Scanta kept rambling on, “I was a pilot at one point - I owned three plane repair companies and was practically a certified expert in the field. This one time I sunk one of my planes in the St. Bawrence river, it was a whole hassle to rescue so that’s what inspired me to get into the repair side of the industry. But I feel like you kids aren't becoming CEOs anytime soon so let me give you a better example-”

Rude.

“-When I was 18 I went to Switzerland and worked in a restaurant kitchen. I started off as the dishwasher but you know, they really saw potential in me, so I got promoted to Sous Chef the next week. Good times.”

Rahim and I looked at each other again. “Interesti-”

“I was a talent agent for global artists, and other types of agents too. I practiced as a mental health professional for kids, like a mind doctor of sorts. And then I was a professional athlete’s trainer for a while. Me and an old friend also talked about opening up a business together some day, though that one fell through.”

I could sense the slightest bit of melancholy from the last bit of what he said. Hey, maybe Scanta had dreams once too. Maybe he really was just like the rest of us.

“Oh, I also worked on the government's team of scientists long ago, but you didn’t hear that from me,” he winked.

Nevermind. I think he’s delusional after all.

I glanced at Rahim and was shocked by the face he was making. He had completely stopped drinking his strawberry milkshake. I’d never seen him so interested in anything. “What’s been your favourite job so far?”

Scanta chuckled. “Café owner of course!”

Woooow. Totally didn’t see that one coming. Although it was somewhat endearing that out of all the jobs that could’ve made him rich or famous, he chose to be a humble café owner.

The sun was beginning to set. Scanta looked out the window as a spotted golden hue filtered through, “Yes. This world is definitely my favourite.” He smiled pensively, “I’m sure you kids would love some excitement, but I think peace is the best.

There he goes again getting all melancholic. What the heck does that even mean, crazy old man? Wasn’t he born in peacetime too? Is he going to say he was a soldier during one of the world wars too? Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was that old. Whatever. I’ve been here way too long.

Before I could announce my departure, Scanta stopped Genu who was walking past us lazily. “Genu! As someone who’s in an unconventional career, why don’t you share some words of wisdom with the young ones?”

He smiled dazedly and ran his fingers through the tangled mess on top of his head as he thought of what to say.

“I’m gonna be honest with you kids. I’m a computer science major in a good university. There’s lots of jobs in my field.”

Rahim’s smile quickly melted.

“But, I could do what I do even without that piece of paper. And... I really like my work. Because I love this city, and I love this café you know. Everyone’s good at something, kid. You just gotta find the right space for you, and maybe that isn’t a big fancy school.”

He put his hand on the back of his neck and shrugged, “Just do what you want.”

Rahim was listening intently the whole time. I know that shrug really resonated with him.

“Also, aren’t you doing well in home ec? That’s like cooking and stuff right? You should ask the big boss here for a job,” he pointed his thumb at Scanta, who looked thrilled that someone had referred to him as ‘big boss’. “I’m officially referring you to work here. I already helped out that one,” he said, nodding towards Tristan who looked stressed out of his mind.

“Thank you so much for your lovely inspirational speech. I was truly moved,” Scanta said. I couldn’t tell if it was sarcasm or not but Genu seemed so spaced out, I don’t think it really even mattered.

“Alright. I’m out.” He held up his hand to say bye and left without looking back.

‘Just do what you want’… huh.