"Kate!" calls out the waitress, clutching our coffees and toast. We are sprawled on picnic blankets courtesy of the park side cafe.
She spreads raw sugar around her coffee and sits up, one hand still clutching the coffee but arms wrapped around her knees.
"Will you?" she says.
"Will I what?" I say.
"Be Yahwhey that walks with me."
"Um, be your god?"
"No but my trusted friend, the person who walks with me, no matter how fiery the path, how muddy the track, how wild the winds. Will you walk with me?" She stares hard at something i can't see and I wonder what she is asking or if she even means to ask me.
'Sure I will" I say. I can't see any fiery paths coming up but I do love her as a friend and will be there for her. She takes a mouthful of her coffee with one hand still clutching her knees defiantly with the other.
"I need you" she says looking at me gently, with a funny look of honesty and sadness but maybe not vulnerability.
"Chill out!" I say. "You will be fine."
She hugs me and changes the subject. I don't see her again for a while and I don't see that side of her for even longer.
