I kind of knew Captain’s work routine and as a rule, we didn’t spend a lot of time on the phone during work hours. My exams even made things worse as we reduced the talk time some more. We would only exchange a couple of text messages during the day.These, and not seeing Captain that weekend made me miss him so much. I just wanted to be with him, spend time with him and couldn’t wait to see him the following weekend. I was actually planning to spend a night. Unfortunately, he cancelled on me…he had to travel again.
He could tell, over the phone, that I wasn’t happy with the development. He said he was sorry and promised to come see me in school on Friday before leaving for the trip. At least, that was better than nothing.
When a military car pulled up to our BQ that Friday, I rushed out only to see that it was one of Captain’s orderly and the maid at the house.
The maid informed me Captain had been trying to reach me all day but the service was really poor. He could not make it as promised; his meeting at Abuja was rescheduled for an earlier time so he left for the airport sooner than he had planned.
They brought me Egusi soup because I had told Captain I was craving it. The maid helped to bring the things inside.She could tell I wasn’t very happy…but what could I do? Work called and knowing the nature of Captain’s job, I had to cope somehow. As she was about to leave, I gave her some money, I also gave her some of my clothes that I had stopped wearing…I had always done this from the time I moved into Captain’s house. This was one of the things I learnt from Deola.
She thanked me and as she was about to step out, she paused for a moment…it was as if she wanted to tell me something. I asked if there was a problem
“Auntie…you have been really nice to me and my conscience will not let me rest if I see something that could hurt you and don’t tell you
I don’t want to lose my job either because this is how I take care of my younger ones”
The confusion on my face could not be hidden but then the orderly showed up at the door to check on her and remind her of heavy traffic they could experience if they didn’t leave soon.
“Don’t worry ma, I will see you when you come to the house” she said as she hurried out of our room.
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