MY HEART BEAT
****EPISODE 4****
It was 4pm already and there was no sign of Miss Femi yet, Amanda thought to herself as she looked out the window of the massive sitting room in her father’s house. Miss Femi was never late, never. In the 6 weeks since her home classes had started, Miss Femi came at precisely 3pm four days a week without fail. So, what happened today, she wondered.
Nanny: “Mandy!” Aunty Ose, her nanny, called from the dining area, “come away from the window!” “Your standing there will not make your teacher come any quicker and if she comes and you haven’t eaten, you’ll only delay her….”
Amanda: “But I’ve done my homework, I want her to see it, I did it by myself, why won’t she come and see it?” Amanda whined hopelessly. She was getting better, Aunty Femi said so, she even knew her 2 times table now, where was Aunty Femi?
In her excitement to show her aunty her homework which she had done by herself, she hadn’t even felt hungry and now Aunty Femi had refused to come, why? What had she done wrong? She wondered as she rested her head against the leather chair and started crying.
Nanny: “Ha!” Ose exclaimed and rushed to gather the small body in her arms, “Okay, I’ll call her, stop crying, she will soon come, you hear?” She said as she cleaned Amanda’s leaking eyes and carried her to the dining table.
They had barely sat down when they heard Fiyin’s horn. “Daddy’s back!” Amanda shouted in excitement and rushed out of the house to greet her father.
Fiyin: “Baby girl!” Fiyin exclaimed as Amanda ran out of the house and into his legs. He grabbed her and threw her up, “How are you?” He asked and then saw the faint marks of tears on her face, “What happened?” he asked, concerned as he saw Ose standing by the dinning.
Nanny: “Nothing sir, she was just disappointed that her teacher had not come…”
Fiyin: “Why hasn’t her teacher come?” He asked in confusion. In the 6 weeks Femi had been coming to teach Amanda, he had noticed a few things he didn’t like about her but her skill, dedication and timeliness had never been in question.
Nanny: “I spoke to her just now and she said she was on her way, today was open day at the school and she couldn’t leave on time.” Ose explained quickly.
Fiyin: “Couldn’t she have called you or me to let us know, instead of letting Amanda cry?”
Ose just shrugged, not having any particular answer.
*************
Fiyin dropped Amanda who was now cheerier and grumbled under his breath. Femi was extremely scatter brained sometimes. While he liked her dedication to his daughter and her ability to teach, he was hard pressed to think of anything else he liked about Miss Olaosebikan.
She always dressed like a clown without a fashion sense, wearing ridiculous brightly coloured ensembles. She had a low self-esteem and was never assertive enough, she would never say the same things twice, always changing her mind if she thought what she said did not please her hearer and he had noticed she seemed to be suffering from an addiction to chocolate and all its variants, no wonder she was fat.
Once, he heard her talking to a guy he assumed was her boyfriend and he couldn’t help laughing, he couldn’t believe a creature like that had a man in her life but stranger things had happened. She was pretty enough, if you liked big eyes and full lips on a woman and she had lovely hair which was hardly ever made in any other style except weaving, she wore no makeup except the horrid orange lipstick that made her lips look even fuller and her sandals or slippers were forever cutting. Of the over 24 days she had been coming to his house, she had looked for a shoemaker at least 13 times.
He sighed and rubbed his beard, hoping that her horrible influence and taste did not rub off on Amanda who idolized her teacher. Of course, they wouldn’t be together long enough, even he could see Amanda had improved well enough under her Teacher’s golden influence. He was planning that by September, he would return Amanda back to normal schooling. It was April, that should give Femi less than 4 more months to permanently corrupt Amanda.
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On a brighter note, he thought as he went climbed upstairs to his bedroom on the first floor, he had a date with Tiwa. In the past few weeks, he had tried to get a feel as to how she would react to the idea of a date and when he realized she was forthcoming, he had played his shot four days ago.
Now, it was Friday and he had a plan to take her to his country club on the Island for a very relaxing time. He had every intention of getting to know her outside work, her past and everything that made her tick. He smiled to himself as he entered the shower, wondering just what his father would think when he heard. The Minister would be ecstatic.
He was picking her up by 5pm and he was wondering if he shouldn’t change his plans for the day from the island as the Friday traffic to that area might be ridiculous. They might end up spending most of their night in the car at that rate. He was still ruminating when he heard the door open followed by Femi’s voice downstairs.
**************
“Amanda!” She squealed in excitement. He didn’t have to be there to picture Amanda running into her outstretched arms. He had seen it often enough. He remembered now there was something else he liked about Femi, her voice. It sounded like whatever angels sounded like. Last week Monday, he had been going to the kitchen for a glass of juice, more to stretch his legs than anything else when he heard her singing. He couldn’t explain what he had felt that day and he had decided not to examine it too closely.
He had walked into the study that day and warned her never to sing in the house again especially when she was supposed to be teaching his daughter her lessons. He hadn’t expected a reply or defence and he hadn’t gotten one anyway. Voiceful or voiceless, Femi was a necessary nuisance and in 4 months, he need not see her in his house again.
He finished dressing, called Tiwa to ask her if she was ready, she said almost and he cut the call and left his room. On his way downstairs, he heard Femi talking to Amanda and decided to stop and say bye to Amanda. And to see what Femi was wearing today. And to see if her slippers or sandals was in need of mending. And to see if she still had on that horrible lipstick she usually wore.
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