by Teisha Mott
Bianca looked at him, concerned. “You have someone here?”
Matt nodded. “Yes, a little girl I know... She had an appendectomy -- Janelle Smith?”
Bianca nodded. “Yes, I know her. She’s going to be fine.”
“Glad to know….”
“Bee…” Klao repeated.
“Alright, alright!” Bianca opened the back door of the CRV and flung her medical bag inside. “It was nice meeting you, Matt. Hope to see you again soon.”
“Same here, Bianca. Have a good weekend.” He looked at Klao. “So Klao, will you consider my proposition?”
“Yes,” Klao said, only because she wanted to get away from him, and not because she had any desire to go to dinner with him – pretty smile or not.
“Good.” He treated her with one for the road. “Bye, Klao.”
Klao gave him a little wave before starting the engine of her car.
There was silence in the CRV as Klao drove towards Liguanea. Through her peripheral vision, she could see Bianca grinning like a mad dog, but she refused to say anything to her. Let her sit there and grin. Let her sit there and think of a million and one love stories starring her and the ubiquitous Matthew St. James. She was not encouraging any conversation with her.
“Klao and Matthew sittin’ in a tree…” Bianca started as soon as they turned on Liguanea Avenue.
“I’ll put you out of my car, y’know!” Klao warned.
“What kind of proposition did he put to you?”
“The whole going out nonsense again,” Klao told her. “Only this time, he suggested dinner.”
“I just don’t get why you think it is nonsense that he asked you out.”
“I’m not going through this with you again, Bee!” Klao told her cousin, hoping that she would pick up the note of finality in her voice.
“You said I had never seen him, so I could not comment,” Bianca continued. “Now I have, and I’ve talked to him, and nothing is wrong with him…”
“There’s nothing wrong with him per se,” Klao had to agree. “But I just don’t want to go out with him.”
“It is so obvious he likes you!” Bianca sighed.
“What are you talking about?” Klao snapped. “How can he like me when he doesn’t even know me?”
“And that voice… He could whisper in my ear night or day!”
“Bianca…” Klao was glad that Bianca could not see her blushing.
“And how ironic that the two of you happened to be in the same place at the same time…”
“If you knew the value of my time, and could finish your duty in good time, we wouldn’t have run into him!” Klao pointed out.
“I know!” Bianca gushed passionately. “Can’t you see it, KoKo? It’s providence. It’s meant to happen. You and Matt! Wait and see if you don’t believe me!”
Klao rolled her eyes. She did not believe in providence. If there was any such thing she would be with Vishal Chadeesingh. If there was any such thing as providence, Ricard Shalkowski would have called her. It was not providence that made her run into Matt St. James everywhere she turned. It was damn bad luck – straight up!
57
On Time
chapter five
It had been the longest Monday. Klao yawned into her file, as she fought to keep her eyes open. It was three thirty, and she had already slept through most of the morning and her lunch hour. She was lucky neither of the partners had caught her sleeping at her desk, but she could not help it. New York with Bianca had been tiring. She had thought they would just pick up the cards, relax at Auntie Phoebe’s house, and come back home, but she should have known better. Bianca had dragged her into every bridal store she could find, from Vivienne Westwood to Vera Wang. She had tried on a million dresses, although she already knew she would be wearing an Izzy Couture wedding gown. She had checked out shoes, tiaras, invitations, stationery, home ware, even furniture! Klao thought Bianca must have been running on the energy of a thousand Red Bulls or something, because she was not in the least as knackered as Klao was. When Klao was trying, at 7:00 in the morning, to rouse herself out of bed to get ready for work, Bianca had called her, totally chirpy and yapping about something. Klao could not remember what. She could only remember that she was wondering why her body hurt so badly; why her eyes felt so gritty, and why her head was pounding. She wished she could have called in sick, but it was impossible. Marlene had a case in Mandeville that day, and she had to go to court to adjourn a matter for her. Besides, she was not sick, and calling in sick when she was not was just begging karma to screw with her.
Her desk phone rang, and the sound of it made her feel like someone had electrocuted her. She winced, and wearily grabbed it off the hook.
“Klao Persaud!”
“You sound like crap!”
“I feel like crap!” Klao responded to Bianca. “You know how that Ragashanti character from the radio talks about ‘big up all the girls that look good, and all the ones that pop down’? Well, I am the pop down one that he is talking about.”
“I’m sorry, Ko!” Bianca apologised.
Klao could hear the sound of her sneakers on the hospital floor. She wondered again why Bianca had not ‘popped down’. She sounded as bright and cheery as she usually did, and Klao knew she had been at the hospital since eight that morning, and would not be off until four on Tuesday afternoon.
“That’s alright,” Klao said, stifling a yawn. “I’ll be fine once five comes, and I can go home and cuddle up in my bed. I am going to sleep straight until morning…”
“Good!” Bianca said. “I was just checking in on you, though. Thanks for helping me out this weekend.”
“Hey, it’s my job as maid-of-honour,” Klao told her.
“And soon, everything will be turned over to a competent wedding planner,” Bianca said. “Can we screen some next weekend? I got a list from Andie.”
“Why not?” Klao shrugged. “Gives me something to do with my weekend apart from engaging in a staring competition with Minx. I swear that dog can stare down anyone!”
“Cool!” Klao could almost hear her cousin smiling. “Alright, I’m gonna go now. I have a pair of preemie twins on my watch, and I have to go check on them. Catch you later?”
“Bye, Bee!” Klao hung up and rested her head on her desk. It hurt so bad! She wished she could just go to sleep for five minutes. It was unfathomable how her cousins did it. They could stay up until all hours. Andie and Samantha, in particular, were good at pulling all-nighters. It came with their jobs. Sometimes Andie would be at work until midnight, liaising with China on some investment deal. She would be on her BlackBerry at home at two or three in the morning championing the cause of the almighty dollar. That was another reason Klao was not too excited to join Persaud Enterprises. Their interests spanned the globe, and she did not want to be called upon at an ungodly hour to deal with any issue. At Reyes and Green, her work was over at five PM, and that was good enough for her.
Not soon enough, it was ten minutes before five. Klao started to pack up her desk. She shoved a few files into her desk drawer, thinking that she had been a poor steward that day. Apart from adjourning the case for Marlene, she had done absolutely nothing to earn her salary. She tried to rationalise that there were days when she had done more than her fair share of work, so it was okay. After a good night’s rest, she would come in on Tuesday, her usual bubbly and effervescent self, and hopefully by Friday, she would have made up for the wasted Monday.
She dropped her BlackBerry into her handbag, and clicked on the Apple menu on her computer, and quickly selected the shutdown option. A second before she confirmed that she wanted her computer to shut down, her extension rang. She looked at the caller ID. Betty-Ann Reyes. Klao winced. Why, oh why, was Mrs Reyes calling her at five before five? She considered for one second ignoring the call, but coming off the firm dressing down she had received for running out that Thursday without sorting out the divorce issue, Klao decided that was not such a good idea
. Hopefully, Mrs Reyes had some sundry question that could be answered in one sentence or less, and she could be out by five.
“Yes, Mrs Reyes?” Klao answered.
“Klao can you come and talk to me about Charles v Dawkins and Palmer?”
Klao closed her eyes and resisted the urge to scream. Charles v Dawkins and Palmer was a personal injury matter that she was assisting Mrs Reyes with, and it was currently an albatross around her neck. She and Mrs Reyes were instructing the claimant, and they had been going back and forth for an eternity. Her research had included numerous trips to Spanish Town, where the accident that led to her client’s debilitated state had occurred. She had exhausted her parents, brothers, and Bianca with medical questions. She had begged counsel from Aunt Julie, who had not done litigation in years. She had even tried to get Samantha to ask Judge Malcolm for his opinion on the matter. The defendants and their attorneys were being pains-in-the-rear, and refused to settle the matter, or even co-operate. She did not want to discuss Charles v Dawkins and Palmer any time of the day, much less at five to five -- no, five -- in the evening when she was almost flat on her face tired.
“I’ll be right there, Mrs Reyes!” She said, trying to sound upbeat. She hung up the phone, and as she cancelled the request to shut down her computer, she dialled her secretary. “Ms Lawrence, can you pull the June Charles file for me please?”
Klao sat at her desk with her head in her hands. For the first time in her life, she was sorry she had not joined Persaud Enterprises. If she had, she could have called in sick that morning; or she could have left early, since she was not at her best. Although Andie and Samantha told her otherwise, she was sure working in one’s family’s company could not be as taxing as working with strangers. Samantha argued that she had to work twice as hard so the other employees did not turn up their noses at her and cry nepotism, and Andie said she had to bring in her share of investments, since a hefty portion of her salary came from bonuses. Klao did not agree. She decided she would find out soon enough. She would do one more year in Reyes and Green, then submit her resignation and join the legal high life – the life including corporate jets, power lunches and expense accounts…
“Here is the file, Ms Persaud!” Ms Lawrence entered her office without knocking, breaking her train of thought.
Klao looked at her and decided she was too tired to remind her to knock before entering. She had to tell Ms Lawrence some things over and over: do not send people in without announcing them first; knock before coming in, and no, it does not matter that I am not with a client; find out who is calling before transferring the call; check the submissions for errors before printing them…
“Thank you, Ms Lawrence.” Klao took the file. She stood and smoothed her palms on the front of her linen pants, and made her way to Mrs Reyes’ corner office. Maybe this would not take long, she hoped. Maybe…
***
“…Does Jesus care, I know he cares….” Klao sang along with TBC radio at the top of her lungs, not because she thought she was the second coming of legendary hymn writer, Fanny J. Crosby, but because singing helped her to stay awake and concentrate on the road.
It was nine fifteen, and she had just managed to escape Mrs Reyes and was heading home. They had discussedCharles v Dawkins and Palmer, then Mrs Reyes had segued intoMarshall v St Andrew Hospital, and a plethora of other cases that Klao thought could have waited until the following morning when she was not toppling over from exhaustion. Mrs Reyes finally released her at nine o’clock, and she had sped out of the office. She had never in her life so badly wanted to reach home. She wanted a cup of chamomile tea sweetened with honey, a warm shower, her puppy, and her bed. Stacy had walked Minx for her, so she did not have to worry that he had messed up the apartment. Klao just wanted to get home and cuddle him.
As she approached the Texaco gas station on Old Hope Road, she noticed that her gas light was flashing. Her father had instructed her again and again that she should ensure that her car had at least a quarter tank of gas in it at all times. She always forgot, and would only fill up when the light came on and she was running on reserve. Tevin had warned her that allowing her gas to run so far down could damage the engine. It was not that she did not want to buy gas, Klao thought; but who could join those queues? She did not have the time for that. From experience, she knew that once the light started blinking, she had enough for one trip to work and back. There was no line at the pump, so she decided to get some gas. She pulled into the station and opened the gas tank.
“Full tank, 90, please!” She instructed the gas station attendant, as she handed him her charge card and her ID.
“Sorry, Miss,” the attendant apologised. “The card machine not working.”
Klao rolled her eyes in annoyance. How could the card machine not be working? Even without checking her wallet, she knew she did not have any cash on her. Just as it was with getting gas, Klao could never remember to check her purse for cash before leaving home, or getting money from Anella before she left the office. Now, she was going to have to drive all the way into New Kingston to the closest Persaud Financials cash point to make a withdrawal. She only hoped there were no muggers waiting for her at the machine.
She thanked the gas station attendant, rolled up her window and drove off. Another song was playing on TBC. This one was about her soul loving Jesus. She did not know that one, but she liked it. Of course her soul loved Jesus. It loved Jesus more than any words could tell! She would have to Google that song when she got home.
The gas light was still flashing when, thankfully, she pulled into the drive-through cash point at Persaud Financials. She looked around for a security guard but saw none. She made a mental note to discuss that with her Uncle Andrew, Samantha, and Andie’s father, who was president of Persaud Financials. They ought to have a 24-hour security guard. What if someone got mugged? Persaud Enterprises would be liable for a lawsuit! Klao was remarkably paranoid at cash points.
Looking around as though she had stolen something, she pushed her card into the slot and entered her PIN. Twenty-thousand dollars should be enough to last her for at least a couple weeks, she thought. She tried committing the words of the song on the radio to memory as the machine counted her money. It was taking a while, and Klao got more and more nervous as she sat in the car and waited. Finally, the machine spewed out her cash in thousand and five hundred dollar bills. Without even bothering to check it, she stuffed the cash into her bag, and ignoring the ‘one way’ sign, which meant she would have to drive all the way around the building and exit through the back gate, she reversed out of the drive-through lane.
The moment her foot touched the accelerator, Klao realised her mistake. Three weeks ago -- the last time she had withdrawn money -- she noticed something new at the cash point. Persaud Enterprises had just installed a new sabre tooth device as a deterrent for people like Klao who would not obey the one-way rules. As the sharp jagged metal ripped through her two rear tyres, she felt her heart stop beating.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” She screamed, forgetting that her soul loved Jesus. “What the hell, man!”
She leapt out of the car forgetting her paranoia, and looked at her tyres. They were ripped to shreds.
“Son of a bitch!” She thought, as large tears formed in her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.
She got back into the car, carefully steered it into the parking lot, and shut off the engine. What the hell was she going to do?
Klao swiped at her eyes, and bit her bottom lip. “Effing Murphy’s law!” She thought, refusing to blame her current situation on her own carelessness. Her first rational thought was to call someone to come pick her up. But who? Bianca was at work, and since their return from honeymoon, Klao hated calling Andie and Nathan. She thought hard. Perhaps she could call Samantha. She dialled Samantha’s cell. It rang until it went to voice mail. Klao decided to call Jeremy. She received no answer. There was no answer from their house phone either. She wondered where everyone was. Then, again
st her better judgment, she called Andie.
“Not a good time, Klao!” Andie answered after one ring.
“But Andie, I…” She began, but was almost instantly cut off. Klao made a face in the darkness of her poor distressed car. It did not take a genius to figure out that she was interrupting some ‘funny business’. She was now totally scarred for life. Although she knew Bianca was at work, she decided to call her anyway.
“What’s up?” Bianca greeted her. “I thought you would be in some deep REM sleep by now!”
“I should be, but life’s a bitch and then you die!” Klao shot. She proceeded to relate the sad events of her evening to her cousin.
“Well, then…” Bianca began, and Klao knew she was going to get scolded.
“Please don’t bother with the lecture, Bee!” Klao warned. “I’m not in the mood for it. Could you just call Tevin and ask him if he could come pick me up?”
“I wasn’t going to lecture,” Bianca said. “And Tevin is not here. He went to Ocho Rios for work. He won’t be back until Thursday.”
“Well, isn’t that great!” Klao spat. Now she was officially in a bind.
“In any event, would you want to leave your car on the road?” Bianca continued. “Didn’t you say there was no security guard? Suppose you go back tomorrow and don’t see it?”
Klao was quiet for a while. She had not thought of that.
“Why don’t you call roadside assist?”
“I’m not on PE’s insurance plan, remember?” Klao pointed out. “I took the stinking policy that Reyes Green offered, and there is no roadside assist on it!”
Klao could hear Bianca being paged.
“Look, Klao…”
“Yeah, I heard,” Klao interrupted. “Go. I’ll try to call Sam and Jeremy again.”
“I’ll call you back as soon as I can,” Bianca promised.