My Arabian Knight

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I have fallen in love.


He’s tall, dark and handsome, with a caramel complexion and a sexy swagger. He’s intelligent, entertaining, and emotionally expressive to boot. His hobbies include foraging, wandering and being ornery. We’re a complementary pair, although he has to stoop about 3 feet to plant one on me. His name is Abu, Abu Dhabi Camelidae. He hails from the Middle East and the Sahara.


The first few days here, he was all, “'tis but a kiss I beg, Why art thou coy?” And I was all, “Why doth thou bother?” But on Day 6, as I was walking him home, sparks flew, birds chirped, stars danced, wind blew and grass grew. And we’ve been inseparable ever since.


The irony is that I traveled all the way through Senegal and Mali, but had to come to Massachusetts to find my Saharan Sweetheart. Our relationship is slowly building, as we only have about 2 hours alone each day. We take walks in the morning and in the evening, with a ritual that starts out something like this:


Abu swaggers over, sometimes timidly, slowly arching his down head towards me, lips flubbering all over my face, exhaling into my cheek, his coarse hair rubbing my forehead. Grunting, he sometimes nuzzles my neck as I scratch behind his ears. I swear I heard him purr once. As enjoyable as this all is for me, I must admit that the intimacy is still a tad awkward - after all, he is a 9-foot tall, ruminating, one-hump dromedary camel.


But there’s nothing in the world like a camel kiss, and there’s nothing more fun than playing lil’ girl Touareg in the lost desert of New England.

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Photos

Planting One On Me
Libs flubbering excitedly, upper palate showing.

Abu Dhabi Camelidae
His majesty.

Relationship-Building
Sometimes, we need to take a moment and talk things out.