Martha had an uneasy feeling. She spent the entire morning praying. She just knew something was wrong. She couldn’t quite place the feeling but she just knew that all was not well. She had stayed up late the night before to finish the TV show she was watching. There was an elderly woman who had, amongst other things, kept her husband in bondage (in Martha’s opinion, anyway). One of the things Martha was uncomfortable with was this woman’s insistence that her husband should “understand” that she doesn’t like sex and that her husband had no choice but to live with it. Martha considered it hypocritical that this woman that didn’t ‘like’ sex managed to get pregnant 3 times and have kids that she doted on while the man was trapped in a marriage where he could not express himself.
Martha also found it odd that there were no signs of devotion between Yeside and Wole. She resolved, though, to mind her own business and let God show her how she could make a difference in the lives of the Akingbades and others that God would bring her way as she took care of Olamide. She had heard God clearly tell her to take the job, though she had earlier vowed not to work with children under the age of five. She discovered that it is easier to deal with kids that have a longer attention span. She almost did not show up for that interview.
First, her sister called her early that morning complaining about how her son suddenly took ill. Martha offered to help her watch the boy while her sister went to work. Eventually, their other sister, Grace, realized that her office was observing the public holiday so Martha was free to attend the interview. Then, Martha realized as she was dressing up that the shirt she had planned to put on had somehow slipped from where she hanged it and found its way to the floor, rumpled. The other option was a dirty red shirt. There had been no power supply for about a week. Martha was not in the mood for struggling through anything. As she looked through her things to find the Akingbades’ number in order to call and reschedule, she stumbled on the purple shirt that Blessing had given to her as a birthday gift a month ago. She had forgotten all about the shirt and pants. She quickly brought that out and found it decent enough for a job interview as a nanny.
She had sat for and passed the Senior Secondary School Leaving Certificate in flying colors about 3 years earlier. Unfortunately, their parents died within a space of two months, scuttling the plans to get her into a University. Blessing’s husband was barely struggling to cater for his family and there was no one to help. She had to take the first job she got as a nanny caring for an aged woman. The woman had passed on about three months ago and she was so elated when Blessing told her about the job with the Akingbades.
Martha decided to pray about the job offer as she was dressing up for the interview. She didn’t quite get an answer as she set out. Just as she boarded the last bus that would get her to the venue, she saw a vision of the man, woman and child she was going to meet. She could also see a dark cloud hovering over the family in that trance. She saw the woman holding her hands out, begging her to help them. She then heard the Holy Spirit assuring her that it was okay to help them.
She almost ran out of the eatery when she saw the Akingbades. They were putting on the same clothes she had seen in her trance. The interview had gone on for about 30 minutes when they both cut it short and told her that they would get back to her. They looked like they had been there for about 2 hours before. It appeared she was not the only one interested in the job.
When they called her back to resume, she was thrilled, though she spent time praying about the dark cloud she had seen in her trance. She hadn’t thought much about that trance till this morning. She felt like the dark cloud was about to be revealed.
“How are you doing dear?”
Wole smiled at Martha in a weird way. Martha wondered what was going on in his mind. Was he not going to work? She wondered if he truly went to work as he claimed. There was something really dark about today’s smile.
“Good morning sir”.
“Where is Olamide?”
“I just dropped him off in school, sir”
He still had the dark smile and she wondered what he was up to.
As he was about to say whatever it was that was on his mind, his phone rang.
“Guy, how far?”
“E be like say the tin fit work. I even checked the newspapers. It seems we can look at supplying cables; there may be an opportunity there. I’ll make a few phone calls and get back to you”
“She dey o; she don go work. I am working on that plan. Guy, you are a genius o. I couldn’t have come up with a better plan. I’m about to make my move now. After that, things should move fast. My guy, your head is there”
The laughter was dark again.
***********************
Yeside had an urge to pray. She also had a meeting with Barrister Ikedia. If she took off 15 minutes to pray now, she’ll be late for the meeting. She decided to pray when she got back from the meeting.
The meeting went really well. All the notes she made were on point. Everyone commended her and another partner joked with Barrister Ikedia that if he wasn’t careful, Yeside would be leaving his team to work for him. Yeside glowed and enjoyed the compliments. It was indeed a glorious day. She actually forgot to call Martha, Olamide and Wole as she got busy with the day. She also forgot to pray after the meeting. Her ‘To-do’ list was even longer after the meeting. She decided to pray by lunch time. Somehow that also got moved to later in the day.
She managed to pick Justice Anjola’s call at about 12:30pm. She asked her mum to please help her check up on her people. She had exhausted her 20 minutes phone call opportunity talking with her mum. Her day was too choked for phone calls.
**********************************************
Justice Anjola felt like telling Yeside to slow down. She seemed too consumed with work. She remembered how she was when she was Yeside’s age. She was just as consumed with work. Thankfully, her hard work paid off and she could afford to take time off here and there. She always wondered, though, if things may have been a little different if she had slowed down a bit. Was there anything she could have done more to keep her little prince with her?
She quickly braced up and called Wole. As usual, he didn’t pick her calls. She may just pay him a visit in his office; she had to set him straight! She quickly called Olamide’s school and confirmed that all was well.
She called Martha next and it just kept ringing. She tried two more times before Martha picked the call, panting.
“Why did it take you so long to pick the call? Where are you?”
“Sorry ma. I was in the sitting room and my phone was in my room, ma”
Martha did not particularly like Justice Anjola but she had to respect her as an elder and as her boss’ mother. She obviously had a lot of influence over her daughter. All she had to do was make a negative comment and Martha’s days in the house were numbered.
“Who is watching the TV in the background?”
“It’s Oga, ma”
“Oga who?”
“Daddy Olamide, ma”
“He is in the house? Please give him the phone. Thanks”
As Martha got to the sitting room, she found Wole in his boxers. She quickly handed him the phone and told him Mama wanted to talk to him.
She could hear his monosyllabic answers as he responded to Mama.
After about 3 minutes, he called her out to come for her phone.
As she got to the sitting room, she found him in the sitting room stark naked…
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