I stared after her as she walked off to church. Why is it so hard to tell her how I feel, I wondered. I was deep in thought and didn’t notice Sam approaching.

“What ya thinking ’bout?” he asked.

“Who said I was thinking?” I retorted.

Sam gave me a ‘Come on, man, I know you’ look.

“You were doing the eyebrow thing that you do when you’re deep in thought,” Sam said laughing.

Sometimes when I I think, I like to raise my eyebrow.

“Nothing,” I said, while blocking the sun from my eyes with my hands.

“Hey, man, you are always thinking. It will just give you a headache, my friend,” Sam said laughing.

“Hey, Sam, and I suppose that you never think about girls,” I said to him as he went into my house.

He stopped in the doorway and walked back to where I stood in the sun.

“Bra, that’s the last thing I want to think about.”

I nodded with a smile. “And, why is that?” I ask, folding my arms.

“You see,” Sam starts as he puts his arms on my shoulder, “girls are only interested in you if you have money.” He made the hand signal for money.

“Not all girls are like that, Sam,” I said.

“You sure?” He looked at me closely. I wanted to think about it but Sam saw it coming and stopped me. “Please, bra, it’s not even a matter to think about.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” I said.

“Good,” Sam said as we walked into the house.

It was good to get out of the sun. “Hey, Sam, I’m just asking for advice. Let’s say there is this girl that you like … how do you tell her how you feel?” I ask him while Sam was in the kitchen pouring some juice.

“No!” Sam responded.

“Yo, Sam, where you at?” I asked.

“In the kitchen, dude!”

“Did you hear what I said?”

“Yeah, I heard ya.”

“So, how would you tell her?”

I went into the living room where Sam was sitting sipping juice and watching TV.

“C’mon, bra, did you really ask me that question?”

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

Sam exhaled hard. “Lemme just say this, Bongi… you are asking the wrong person for advice on girls.”

I raised my eyebrows. “OK” was all I could get out.

“So, who is this girl that you are thinking about?” Sam asked.

I waited a few second being trying to answer… “It’s… It’s…” I stuttered.