The Wife ESCAPED!

When Timmy arrived at the office, the first thing he did was request an audience with Olly. But the messenger had hardly left when his phone rang. It was his mother. He picked it up immediately.

“Hi, Mo…”

“Is it ready yet?”, she demanded, cutting him off.

“No, Mom. But it will be… today. Don’t worry, just relax. Like I told you before, it’ll be in your hands tomorrow. I promise you.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “I trust you. Please don’t fail me o. If I don’t have it or if it’s not specially prepared, all my friends…”

“I understand, Mom. You don’t need to explain.”

“It’s not just for me o. It’s for your own good too. As the mother of a famous fashion designer, I have to look the part, so they’ll all be jealous of me. That’s how you’ll get big big customers from every corner. You know I don’t roll with low class people na.”

“I know, Mom. And I won’t disappoint you. Gotta go. Talk to you later. Love you!”

He disconnected the call and breathed a sigh of relief. It was smart of him to have ended it in time otherwise she would have switched to uncomfortable topics like if he’d gotten a girlfriend and things like that. She never made a secret of her wish to see him get married as soon as possible, but Timmy himself had no such plans, at least not for years to come. His phone rang again and he looked to see who was calling this time. Tracy. Now, what the hell did that vixen want?

“Hello Trace. How…”

“Timothy, how dare you! How dare you punish Jimmy for being with me, eh? Have you gone mad?!”, she shouted over the phone, causing him to put it away from his ear.

“Hey Trace, calm down. I didn’t punish him. I just told him to try never to come late again and…”

“I don’t care! I don’t care what you told him! Look, let me warn you… don’t you ever punish or scold him again. If you try it eh, you and that your secondary school girlfriend will see pepper in my hand.”

“I hear you, Trace. Just breathe. Calm down, okay? Now, there’s something that Mom would need…”

The beep told him she had disconnected the call and he dropped the phone with a sigh of frustration. He had wanted to arrange to send their mother’s attire through her… but come to think of it, that might not be such a good idea afterall. For all he knew, Tracy might hold the clothes ransom and demand payment of some sort from his mother. He’d just have to send it through one of those road transport companies. He would have taken it himself if only he had the time.

“What’s up?”, Olly said as he walked into the open office, breaking into his partner’s thoughts.

“Yeah, Ol. I uh… wanted to see you.”

“For what? Any problem?”, Olly asked, sitting down across from him.

“Nah, not really. Just wanted to ask you something. Now I can’t remember what that is,” Timmy murmured, scratching his head.

His friend sat patiently, watching him as he tried to remember what he had wanted to ask him.

“Yes! I wanted to know… how much does university education cost around here? I mean, the whole uh… time of study.”

Olly hissed.

“I think say na better thing you call me for before. So you made me leave what I was doing to come and answer JAMB question abi?”

“Come on, Olly. I’m serious,” Timmy begged. “I need to know w…”

“Then why must you ask me? Do I look like the Director General of University Fees Pricing Board? By the way, what do you even need such information for sef? I thought you finished all your schooling abroad?”

“Well, I… I..,” Timmy stuttered.

“Anyway,” his friend sighed as he got up to his feet, “after you have finished eyeing, you can go and find your answer in a more appropriate place. And don’t forget to add things like accommodation, feeding, transport, sudden tuition increases, handouts, bribes, skill acquisition and many other nonsense fees. Good day.”

With that parting shot, he walked out of the office, leaving his friend more confused than ever.

“Whew!”, Timmy exhaled and leaned back on his chair’s headrest. How could only one individual afford all these things Olly had just mentioned? And what if the sudden increases applied to not only tuition fees? He shook his head in confusion, and then froze immediately. His eyes were wide-eyed and staring fixedly as his ears perked up in super alert mode. Was that not Tracy’s voice coming from the hallway?

As he heard the sound of high heels clicking on the floor outside his office, he didn’t bother waiting to find out. Quickly, he jumped off his chair and dove for the large cabinet beside the door!

*****

“When is your exam coming up?”, Mary asked as Caro cleared the plates after they’d had supper.

“Two weeks,” the girl answered just before she went off to the kitchen.

Mary waited till she returned before saying what she really wanted to tel her.

“Your… Timothy has given you holiday until you finish writing the exam.”

“He came here?”, Caro asked, not so happily.

“Hmm mm. I called him… with the credit that you bought for me. Nonsense. You are now my Madam that I have to report to you who came and who did not come,” she hissed. Frankly, it was high time she rein in this daughter of hers and force her to stop seeing men as enemies that must be avoided at all cost.

Caro sat in silence and focused on her fingers. To be honest, Mary had given her a lot of latitude, even more than Trisha had given her and that was saying a lot. The tone with which she sometimes addressed her bordered on complete disrespect – as if they were age mates or equals. If it were her biological mother back in the village, something even remotely close to that could earn her some serious pummeling and starvation for the rest of the day. But before she could apologize, Mary threw her another question.

“So you are enjoying this your work very much, abi?”

The tone didn’t sound harsh or angry and Caro did not even understand what she meant, so she just stared at her in mild confusion.

“Come, let’s go outside,” Mary suddenly instructed.

Caro obeyed and grabbed the long bench that was used to sit on the verandah and followed her outside. She put the bench down and pushed it close to the wall, so it would be possible to rest their backs against the wall. Mary sat right in the middle, still clutching the bag she had brought with her and Caro joined her on the bench.

“I think it’s very beautiful,” the woman said, smiling at her.

Caro still had no idea what she meant, but she had a strong feeling that she was going to find out very soon, so she said nothing and waited.

Mary opened her bag and slowly extracted its content. It was late evening, but darkness was still no less than several minutes away, so Caro could see clearly what the woman was doing. Mary held the cloth in both hands and unfolded it with a swish.

“Ha,” Caro gasped as she recognized it immediately. It was her favorite design! A long purple sleeveless frock with a knee-high slit on the right side, gold lace-embroidered hem and waist-line, and a V-neck topped with a hood.

“Very beautiful,” Mary said again, looking lovingly at the dress. “I think it’s too small for me, so you’ll wear it. I’m very proud of you, my dear.” She looked at her daughter and found Caro grinning from ear to ear. At that moment, she realized she had never seen the girl like this before. She must be very passionate about fashion, yet she never tried to look fashionable.

“I’ll sew one for you,” Caro confidently proclaimed.

“Ah. I will like that o. How much?”

“Ah ahn.” Caro looked really hurt.

Mary chuckled. “Go inside and wear it and come and pose for me.”

Now back to grinning even wider than ever, Caro grabbed the dress and rushed into the house. Few minutes later, she came back out, a different personality altogether.

Mary was not surprised as her daughter, chin up and body held straight and proud, paraded in front of her in a typical model’s catwalk. Her height, figure and bearing made Caro a perfect fit for modeling, but Mary would prefer to see her daughter do something much more responsible. Though tonight, she would gladly enjoy the show.

She watched with pride as Caro took off the hood and made another catwalk to the other end of the imaginary runway. The girl stopped and showed off her design with one hand on her waist, the other hand hung loosely beside her and her right leg stretched out.

“Whoow!”, Mary greeted the pose with a clap, beaming proudly and the suddenly shy Caro ran back inside the house to hide her blushing face for a little while and change into her old clothes.