I left the house with my roommate sleeping in the room. I didn't bother waking her up to tell that I was leaving, since that would cause war in the house. She hated it when she is being disturbed whenever she is asleep especially when it's nothing so serious. She would say,
"Clarinet, I have warned you time without number! Stop waking me up when I'm sleeping. Come on girl, you know more than this! Come on, act like one already." Then, she would sleep off without bothering to know what I had to say.
I don't know why many times, I still forget and get the same scolding for waking her up. Today, I guess I was totally bon my right senses or maybe something else is taking the hold of me and preventing me from causing a commotion.
I closed the door behind me and walked out of the compound into the street. I needed to take a public bus from the bus stop in the other street. It was not too far from the house, but I had to trek a little distance to get to the bus stop.
I started walking down to the next street in other to catch the next bus going to my place of work. This would take about fifteen to maybe twenty minutes walk. If I don't get there on time, or perhaps get there when the bus is filled up, then I will have to wait for the next bus and that might take about thirty minutes. I have less than that to get to work on time, atleast five minutes earlier than the late time.
I thought about Edison. If Edison was my boyfriend, I wouldn't have to trek to work everyday or use the public bus at all. I take the risks of using the public bus every work day and it is scary at times.
These days, Jide hardly has time and brings out time to spend with me. Each time I complained to him, he would give me flimsy excuses. The last time he said we were going to have a dinner date together. I got to the venue before him as usual and waited over an hour only for him not to show up. I thought I should wait for some more time before, maybe trying to reach him, but then it was getting late. So, I called that burger and he had the nerve to tell me that he wouldn't make it to the dinner date he brought up and arranged for it, then he ended the call while I was still talking. Such audacity!
He didn't bother to apologise or something. Like, for goodness sake, accept that you are at fault, that you did something wrong, then apologise. But no, he wouldn't.
I called him back to confront him of the mess he caused me and his wife picked the call. I had to bring up a silly excuse for her not to suspect. Summary of the story, I almost trekked home that night. If not that Juwie came to my rescue by booking a cab for me which picked me up from my location, I wonder what would have happened to me.
Now I am seriously thinking of dumping of him in the ditch. Afterall, he is not my boyfriend and he is no longer useful to me.
As Juwie suggested, I should just stick with Collins my boyfriend and leave that nonsense alone. I guess I should do that fast though, because if Juwie finds out that I was seeing Jide behind her back before she broke up with him and till now, she will probably chase me out of that house.. Atleast she could do it. Perhaps, she could leave the house to me alone, as she now has a wealthy boyfriend.
I will be so doomed if she does that anyway. She pays about seventy percent of the house rent, while I still struggle to pay the remaining.
I am always so unlucky in meeting men. It's either I meet the poor ones, or I meet the rich ones who are married and at the end I get kicked out of the relationship by their wives.
Well, this time, I'd kick Hide out of this relationship myself before he knows it. If he begs me to stay, then, hmmm, I will take a lot of money from him and still call of the relationship. That will be my payback to him for all the troubles he has been causing me.
Even though I need to be patient till my boyfriend Collins gets money, I still have to figure out how I could get extra money to keep me from running out of cash. I just hope Collins doesn't find out, then that's just the end seriously.
I was still walking to the bus stop when I noticed something get stuck on my sandal. It was just so embarrassing that I had to move to one side of the road.
I tried removing the thing that for stuck, which gave me a lot of trouble. Fortunately, after a little while, I was able to remove it successfully. I dropped the sandal on the floor and tried to put it on. I noticed it was loose and a bit free on my leg. So I checked closely and realized that the sandal for my right leg has been ruined.
What kind of a badluck is this? I thought bitterly. This sandal wants me to be sacked from work. No no no, it's not gonna happen.
I remembered that there was a cobbler just opposite the bus stop, so I will quickly go there, mend the sandal and board the bus immediately.
When I got to the bus stop, I saw that the bus was almost filled up. Then, I calculated that if the cobbler guy can use five minutes to finish up, then I will make it to the bus in time.
So, I went to the cobbler and asked him to mend my sandal. He told me that I would wait a little while so he could finish the one he had at hand.
I pleaded with him to be lenient with me, but he told me to relax. I had to explain my condition to him before he agreed to help me.
When he was done, I paid him and was about leaving when the left sandal did the same thing. I cursed deeply under my breathe. Luckily for me, he didn't bargain again, but helped me mend the sandal immediately.
As soon as he was done, paid him for the job done and ran out of this shop only to meet the bus leaving already. I screamed on top of my voice, asking the bus to wait for me and running after it.
A passerby had to calm me down and asked me to wait for the next bus which was there already. I had no other option than to listen to that simple advice and board the bus.
I saw myself shedding tears as I sat down on one of the seats. I could see my sack later waiting for me on my table as soon as I am reaching my desk.
A guy came and sat down on the next chair very close to mine. I didn't bother turning to see who it was or greet atlesr. I was so busy grieving with what I knew so well that I had lost.
Naturally, I am a late comer. Everyone in that office knows that, this is who Clarinet is. The funny part is that, I wake up early, finish my chores early but I still get late to work.
I am grieving for my work because, the last time I was queried for coming late to work, I was told that I would receive my sack letter the next time I get to work so late, so this is just the day.
"Hello, are you okay at all? The guy next to me asked politely.
"I don't know! I said, bursting into rears.
The guy looked at me, shocked for the first time. Then he tried calming me down.
"What's the problem? Is it something you can share with someone else? He asked.
I didn't answer him, I just looked at him, to know the face I was talking to, then I didn't say anything.
"Since I came here, you have been looking so gloomy. Is there something I could do? Is it medical related? Maybe we could call the hospital?
"No, no it's not that. It's just, I want this bus to move so fast. I am already late for work. I feel like crying. I said, trying hard not to cry.
"You can explain to them, they will understand. It wasn't your fault though." He explained.
"No, you don't understand. I am going to meet a sack letter on my desk as I get to work. It's just so obvious, my manager won't let it slide, I know him."
"Don't worry, have faith in God. Something, a miracle will happen you won't see any sack letter, okay." The guy said.
"Do you believe that? That faith actually works? I asked bewildered.
"Yes, I do believe it. You don't?
"To be honest, no, I don't think that stuff exist. It's just a fetish belief." I replied boldly.
"No it's not actually, it is real. You know what, let's do something. If you get to work today and you do not see a sack letter on your table, then you owe me a favor. If you get one, then I owe you three favors. You're in?
"Well yeah, makes sense."
"Okay then, can I have your contact then? He asked handing me his phone. I looked at his phone, then stared blankly at him, then he added, "atleast we need to check up on each other to know who owes who a favour right?
"That's true anyway. Here's mine." I took his phone from him and put in my number, then handed it back to him.
"So, what's the name? He asked.
"I'm Clarinet. Some people prefer to call me Claire though because they think Clarinet is too long to pronounce." I answered.
"I'll go with Clarinet then."
"So what's yours? I asked.
"I'm Paul by name."
I saved his number in my phone as well. We continued to discuss till the bus left the bus stop and I got to my destination. I waved him goodbye and got off the bus.
I waited for the bus to leave before I started walking down to my work place. It was just a five minutes walk from the bus stop to my place of work.
I could feel my heart beating so fast, my hands shaking, my legs jittering in great fear, my fingers were trembling and I couldn't hold my bag well.
As soon as I got to the entrance of the building, I stopped for a while. Then, I did the sign of the cross and walked inside, hoping and still disbelieving Paul's word.
On my way to my own desk, I walked past the manager's office quickly so I won't in any way tumble upon him. I saw other workers who were not in the same department with me though. They were talking about something which I couldn't place, but that wasn't my business, atleast for the moment.
I got to my desk, expecting to see a sack letter on my desk, but found nothing. Maybe my colleagues have taken it to make fun of me already.
But, no one was on their desk when I got there, I was curious to know why.
First of all, I sat down on my chair. I was very late to work and I deserved a sack letter, so there was no time to go around gossiping or looking for one, till I am sure this situation mine has been sorted out well.
About ten minutes later, one of my colleague walked in. She was surprised to see me as it was so obvious on her face.
"Clarinet, oh wow. Finally you made it to work. Hahaha very funny. So, why were you late to work today?
"Girl, you won't understand what happened to me today on my way to work. I missed a bus because my sandals got cut on the way. I had to find somewhere to get it mended. It wasn't funny."
"It's not a new thing. You always have good excuses to bring up every single time you come late. Hope you know this time it won't work your way right?
I didn't answer her this time. What was I supposed to reply her with.
"Well, you are very lucky though. The manager got a distress call from the police earlier, so he left before he could take notice big people like you." She said sarcastically.
"Are you really serious about what you just said now? I asked excitedly, then frowned and added, "or you are just joking with me or what?
"You think I have time to joke with you? Whatever. If you choose to accept what I just told you, that's yours to deal with. Or else, you can as well go and report yourself to the manager yourself whenever he returns." She said bluntly and walked to her own desk.
"Oh my goodness, this is incredible! This is so unbelievable, like damn! My job is still secure, oh my I am getting my pay this month."
"You are in the office okay, you can rejoice about that when you get home and also, pray that none of these guys here snitch on you. If not you are..." She made a sign of killing with her hands.
"Don't worry, I understand. Thank you so much, I really do appreciate." I answered, smiling like a skinned goat.
"No problem then."
"Uhmmm. What about rest of the workers, where are they? I didn't meet anyone on seat when I got here. Did anything happen?
"You don't wonder where the manager headed to and why? That's where everyone went to, to get gossip, as usual." She answered, pretending to mind her own business.
I laughed lightly then said, "why then are you not with them? You don't want to know?
"Not like I don't, but I want to focus on my job. I was given a new task this morning, so.."
I ignored what she was saying and went on to ask. "Why did he leave? What actually happened?
"I heard he was asked to come to the police station because of one of our staff here that was said to be missing some days ago."
"One of our staff? Who?
"I heard her name is Nancy, from the catering department downstairs."
"Oh Nancy, that lady. I know her. I know her yeah. She is missing? Seriously?
"So I heard girl. I think you should focus on your work as well, you have a lot of unfinished job though." She said casually.
She was right though. I thought about Paul, I guess I will have to call him later.