GIVE ME A HEART
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CHAPTER ?
I sat still in my room, thinking about what she said before leaving. ” Can we be friends?”
What was she up to? I couldn’t tell. Then I felt something in my pocket and I dipped my hands into it and brought it out. In it, I found an envelope. Opening it, I discovered the fifty thousand naira bundle. I dropped it on my study table and stared at it for a long time.
Then I received a text. It was from her. She’d typed: ” keep to this little lot. It wouldn’t bring me any joy to know you’re hard up and I have something to help you over. Buy some food and start eating well. I’ll call you tomorrow. Love, Ronnie.”
I didn’t understand if she was flirting with me or just ridding me along but she was serious about my well-being. The fifty thousand naira clinched to it.
I got up and undressed. She was right about one thing though, I do look skinny. About ten years ago, I was muscular and bigger in size and flesh. Now I’m nothing more than a pack of bones. With this fifty thousand naira, I could get a good change of clothes, stock up my kitchen with foodstuffs and buy a briefcase for my interview. I don’t know if I’m going to get the job but if Ronnie said I should quit my only job, then there must be something special she had in-store for me.
I dressed up in my own clothes and returned the borrowed clothes back to the owner. I boarded a bike and went to the pizza villa. I couldn’t imagine myself doing this but I was going to do it.
I was supposed to be at night duty tonight but I wasn’t going to do it. And so I approached my boss and told him I quit.
Mr Ade stared at me for a long time then he barked. ” If this is a joke, cut it out and head back to work or else I’ll cut your salary like I did last month.”
” I’m sorry, sir,” I said as politely as I could. ” But I can’t continue to work as a pizza delivery boy forever. I’ve found something better doing.”
He growled then he relaxed. ” You’re being delusional, boy. There’s nothing better out there in the country. This is the job for you. There’s no job out there for a young man like you. Everyone’s stingy with his money these days, I should know. You might not know this but there’s a growing pandemic crisis in the world now. Soon all companies will be shut down and if this Corona virus of a thing reaches Nigeria, I’m telling you, only the food producing companies will go on. Any other jobs will be shut down. I Know this that’s why I always plan ahead. Think about it, Andrew. You have a better chance of making enough money if this pandemic enters the country.”
Even though I knew he was right, I still refused to be taken by his theory. ” I’m quitting, sir. I know I can manage myself and so can you. There are other boys out there who’d willingly do my job for you without complaint.”
After arguing back and forth, I left his office and returned home. I knew why he was reluctant to let me go. Unlike the other delivery boys, I was the most hard-working and honest. It’d be hard for Mr Ade to find another boy as hard-working and diligent as me.
On my way coming home, I bought yams, beans, rice, oil, onions, spices and seasonings, plantain and numerous foodstuffs. I ate well that night. I also bought some drinks and enjoyed. What can I say, I cannot come and kill myself.
The next day, I received a call. I was expected to be in High Bonds Incorporated at exactly 9:00 am. Ronnie had proved to me that she was a punctual person, I was expected to do the same. Besides, this was the biggest opportunity I’ve been praying for. If I blew it up, I’ll never forgive myself.
So I ran to my neighbor dude and borrowed his suit. He almost quivered when I gave him two thousand naira.
” Guy,” he rejoiced. ” The way I take broke now ehhh, you can keep the suit for the week.”
It was amazing how this guy’s clothes fitted me like a glove, as if we were twins. So I arrived at High Bonds Incorporated. It was indeed one of the biggest companies in Lagos with the lowest staff earning more than a hundred thousand naira every month. Even the company’s gate man was proud of his job.
I was prepared for the job. I had bought a briefcase on the way coming. In my briefcase, I had packed, some notes, two pens and two pencils, my primary and secondary School certificate and ofcourse, my mother’s Bible to wish me luck.
A security guard stood next to a metal detector and said, ” can I help you?”
” I’m Andrew Ogar. I’m here for the interview.”
The guard found my name on his clipboard. ” You’re here early.”
” I like to be early,” I said with a smile.
He rolled his eyes. He seemed to understand the employment saga. ” Go straight down the hallway and make your first left. There’s a staircase that’d lead you up to the interviewing room.”
I nodded and after taking a few breath, I walked in the door door. The hallway was soo impressive and luxuriously furnished. All around him, people in suits and formal wears walked up and down going about their normal businesses.
” Hello, High Bonds Incorporated,” I said with a sly smile.
I found the staircase and marched upwards. I expected to see an empty room but instead I saw ten other candidates. I felt deflated. I nodded greetings to all of them and found an empty seat.
I stared at these people with interests, many of them looked well dressed and stylish. Some of them looked like the types that have worked for other bigger companies. I recognized one lady who I usually delivered pizza to her in the bank. She was a manager there. I began wondering what was Soo special about being a business administrator in High Bonds Incorporated. It must be very well paying. Ronnie wasn’t joking when she said if I knew someone I would get the job. I guessed if I hadn’t met her, I wouldn’t be sitting with these people waiting for an interview.
After an hour, a middle aged man in a tuxedo came in and announced the first candidate. I waited patiently. The second went in after the first came out. These guys were soo brief with their interviews. They spend five minutes each with the candidates before calling the next one. When I was called, I got up slowly and went into the interviewing room. It was a conference hall and about five people were seated. Three women and two men. They stared at me as I sat down after greeting them all.
To my surprise, I saw Ronnie. She sat in the executive chair, chewing a gum. I wanted to wave at her but that would be soo inappropriate.
” What’s your name?” She asked as if she was knowing me for the first time.
I felt really uncomfortable with the business remote voice she used to address me but I played along with her. ” My name is Andrew Ogar. I’m from Cross Rivers State.”
” How old are you,” the other lady, a fat middle aged woman spoke Sharply.
” I’m twenty-seven years old, ma.”
She looked at me as if I had just insulted her. ” How many working experience do you have?”
I became really uncomfortable with this interview. ” I have ten years working experience.”
This got them going and the middle aged man in tuxedo spoke. ” That’s interesting, where have you worked.”
Most interview candidates lie a lot but I’m done with lying so I told them the truth. ” I worked for my uncle. He’s a merchant here in Lagos. I served under him for seven years. Then I learnt how to barb hair and I also got involved in road construction during my University years. After my graduation, I secured a job as a pizza delivery boy which I’ve been doing for two years at a stretch now.”
The room suddenly became quiet. They seriously wasn’t expecting this one. Then the last lady spoke. She was a head taller, with a big air of authority written over her face. She had one thing I was sure of and that was power. If I’m not mistaking, this was a lady you don’t mess with. A lady who is probably hard to impress.
” Do you have any talent whatsoever?” She asked me.
” Yes,” I said. ” I am good with card games. And I can also rap.”
She nodded. ” Do you bully, Andrew?”
That was a question that hooked me like a bone in the throat. I couldn’t speak for a long time. Where was that coming from? How did she?
Ronnie tapped the desk. ” Andrew, she asked you a question? We’re waiting for you.”
I woke up. ” I…well I don’t think so.”
Her frown went deeper. ” Mr Andrew, the company do not tolerate any forms of bullying here. If you are a bully or you might’ve some records of bullying back at your school or anywhere else you are free to say it else if you lie about it and you get employed and we found out, you’d be sanctioned immediately.”
I was still taken aback by this lady. Who on Earth is she? I said I wasn’t going to lie but I lied all the same. ” I have no records ma’am.”
She relaxed but I could see in her eyes that she didn’t believe me. ” That will be all, Mr Andrew.”
I left the interviewing room with a sour defeated look. I looked like a wet hen. I instantly ran out and looked for the restroom. My stomach was lurching the meal I ate in the morning. When I got into the bathroom, I vomited in the toilet.
I stayed there for a long time, knowing I had lost the job. I began wondering if Mr Ade was right after all. I should’ve known better than to quit the only job I that puts food on my table. I was only left with twenty thousand naira. Getting another job would be difficult. That lady would convince the other interviewers not to hire me no matter what Ronnie does. Why did she asked me that question? Could it be that she knew me from my secondary School?
Then I got another alarming thought. What if…..just what if….she was Veronica????
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