by Teisha Mott
A while later, Klao paid their bill and they took their desert -- Matt had opted for a totally decadent bowl of ‘death by chocolate’, while Klao, considering her thighs, chose a fruit cup -- and moved closer to the stage. A team of contortionists all the way from China were doing an encore performance, much to the delight of the patrons of La Fa. A chunk of pineapple sat forgotten on the spoon between Klao’s lips and the cup as she watched in awe as a diminutive Asian woman twist herself into a pretzel while wrapped in a gauzy red fabric. She wondered aloud whether the woman actually had bones. Matt was equally impressed, and, although he wouldn’t admit it, a bit freaked out. He cringed as he saw a wiry looking, but well stacked man, execute a biologically impossible full split.
“That is just sick and wrong!” He commented, resisting the urge to cover his eyes.
“Not to mention painful!” Klao added.
The contortionists were prancing around the stage, obviously enjoying themselves. One girl lay on her face and pulled her legs over her shoulders and held them with her hands.
“Have you seen ‘Fantastic Four?”’ She asked Matt.
“Are you thinking ‘Reid Richards’ – the rubber man?” Matt responded. “I was thinking the same thing!”
“If you had a Superpower, what would it be?” Klao asked, as rubber girl knotted her body into another seemingly impossible position.
Matt thought about it for a while. “I don’t know. Perhaps I would want to be like Flash, and can run really fast…”
“I’d want to be invisible!” Klao decided. She finished her fruit cup, and subconsciously moved closer to Matt. He had long finished his ‘death by chocolate’, and he casually draped one arm over her shoulders. Klao was too taken up by the show to realise that she was suddenly snug in Matt’s arms. One of the male contortionists had picked up one of the females, holding her up in the air with the palm of his hands. She balanced effortlessly while she stretched and twisted her body. “I wonder how many times he dropped her before they got that trick right!”
“I think your superhero power would be mind reading!” Matt said, looking at her fondly. “Again, I was thinking exactly that. Besides, why would you want to be invisible? Anybody as pretty as you should want to be seen all the time!”
Klao did a double take and looked up. He was looking at her, still smiling. He said she was pretty. Of course she knew she was pretty. She had the Persaud pretty gene, although she had some phenomenal ones from her mother, too. But it had been ages since a guy told her she was pretty. Yes, the boys on the street when she went to and from court made lewd comments. She did not find those flattering. A few old men lawyers had complimented her looks on occasion. But for the first time in a very long time, a normal – or fairly normal – guy had actually looked at her and told her she was pretty! It felt damn good. Then Klao noticed something.
“You’re wearing contacts!”
“What?”
“You’re wearing contact lenses!” Klao pointed at his eyes. “I can see the edges!”
Matt smiled. “Well, not everyone is blessed with perfect vision!”
“Yeah!” Klao nodded, motioning to her own dark brown irises. “Like me. I’m 20/20!”
“Ah!” Matt sighed, pretending to be annoyed. “The perfection continues! You’re not only a ‘triple threat’, but you have perfect vision, too!”
The contortionists took their final bow, and the audience cheered. Matt stood and helped Klao to her feet.
“What do you mean by ‘triple threat’?” Klao asked, as they made their way to the parking lot.
“You’re pretty, you’re smart, and you’re rich! You’re a triple threat. You’re practically perfect.”
Klao did not think she could blush any deeper. “Well, I don’t know about being perfect. I am short and fat…”
“You’re not short and fat!”
“Of course I am!” Klao retorted. “Look at me!”
“I am!” Matt insisted. “And you are not short and fat! You’re petite and curvy!”
“Whatever!” Klao rolled her eyes, although she was thrilled inside that Matt did not think she was short and fat. “Anyway, before braces, I had really bad teeth. Too much thumb sucking between zero and eight…”
“Good thing your parents could afford braces!”
“I’m not a genius or anything -- just a really hard worker. From Kindergarten straight through law school, I worked hard.”
“Just like your grandpa. I can see that the chip did not fly far from the block! What else?”
“And I am not ‘rich’ because of anything I did. I’m just a run-of-the-mill trust fund brat. If my grandfather had not been a shrewd businessman forty years ago, I’d be like any other poor suffering Jamaican litigator!”
“A poor suffering litigator?” Matt grinned. “I have never met a ‘poor, suffering litigator’, Klao Melissa Persaud—triple threat!”
Klao rolled her eyes.
He walked her to her CRV, which she had parked next to his Tiida.
“So did you have a nice time tonight?” Matt asked, glancing at his watch. It was almost eleven.
“I did!” Klao confessed. “Although technically, I asked you out. So I should be the one asking if you had a nice time. So did you?”
“Definitely! You’re fun, even though you are a triple threat, and a Persaud snob!”
“So I am actually a quadruple threat!” Klao teased. “Pretty, smart, rich, and fun!”
“You certainly are!”
“So, what do you want to do now?” Klao asked. She, too, glanced at her wrist watch. It was hard to believe that the evening had flown by so quickly!
“We should head home,” Matt suggested. “This has been great, but I have an early morning tomorrow…”
“Doing what?”
“More do-gooder stuff!”
“What kind of do-gooder stuff?”
“I am going to troll the drive through ATMs and see if anyone reversed over any sabre tooths and need their tyres changed!” Matt responded with a cheeky smile.
“Why are you so cryptic?” Klao asked again, getting into her CRV. “Are you a superhero for real? Or a spy?”
“Nothing so glamorous,” Matt said, closing the door behind her. “For real though, have you ever heard of ‘The Wayside Inn’?”
“No."
“It is a soup kitchen and outreach centre. They provide a meal and a bath to street people. I volunteer there.”
“Wow. You are a do-gooder!” Klao was impressed.
“It’s not much to hand out a bath towel and soap and ladle up some soup and a plate of rice and peas!” Matt shrugged. “You want to come with me?”
“Can’t,” Klao shook her head sadly. “I’m having brunch with my grandparents tomorrow.”
“Sounds like fun! Put on your seat belt. I’ll drive home behind you.”
Klao slowly navigated her way from the Ravi P to her apartment. TBC radio was playing some really old hymns. She hummed along with one of her favourites -- ‘Oh Love that wilt not let me go’. Every two minutes she checked her rear-view mirror to see if Matt was still behind her. She felt safe and warm and content as she drove home. She really had a nice time out with Matt. She was glad she had actually gone out with him. They could be friends…
Before long, she pulled into her apartment complex and parked in her spot. As expected, Matt pulled in behind her and got out of his car to walk her to the door.
“So this was fun!” He said as she opened the door. “Can we do it again?”
“Why not? I had a good time – and I learned I am a ‘quadruple threat’!”
“Oh please! You must hear that all the time!”
“Not from a professional do-gooder who actually uses his Sundays to volunteer at a soup kitchen! It sounds different coming from you!”
It was Matt’s turn to blush. He stood at her door, rocking uncomfortably. Klao looked at the toes of her Rachel Zoe floral platform sandals. It was so long since she had gone
on a date that she was not sure if she should invite him in, or shake his hand… They went for almost a minute without talking.
Matt broke the silence. “Guess what?”
“What?” Klao looked up from her shoes.
“You forgot your wine!”
“What wine?”
“The wine that the man at the bar sent you!”
Klao recalled. His name was Paul – something or another. She smiled. “Oops! I hope he left before we did so he does not realise! I wouldn’t want him to be insulted!”
“Perhaps the host and the bartenders are going to have a party with it after La Fa closes!” Matt suggested.
“Perhaps!”
Silence. Klao hoped it would not stretch into another long intermission. Matt read her mind, and turned from her door.
“Well, I’ll see you soon, Klao!”
“Bye Matt!” Klao waved. “Call me when you get home, okay?”
Matt waved back and Klao watched him until he got into his car. As soon as he had gone out the electronic gate, she locked the door and went to her bedroom. She was feeling very happy. She had been on a date and she really had a nice time. And, unlike her very first date with Vishal, there had been no pressure to pretend to be all coy and demure, while all the time thinking how badly she wanted Vishal to grab her and kiss her. It was just a fun, well spent evening.
Minx was curled up in her bed as usual. Klao wondered why he could not sleep in his own bed. Perhaps, as Bianca often noted, she did not teach him enough manners. Then again, Bianca’s idea of a dog was a nondescript mutt that lived outside and was fed on table scraps. She could not be sold on the idea of a lap dog. Klao brushed her teeth and began her cleanse-tone-moisturise routine, while contemplating whether or not she really needed to take a shower. She was having Sunday brunch at her grandparents’ in the morning, and would have to shower for that…
Her BlackBerry was ringing. The caller ID showed it was Matt.
“I’m home!” He greeted her.
“That was quick!”
“Well, maybe I am a little like ‘Flash’ after all!”
Klao smiled. “Maybe you are…”
“Well, you go to sleep now,” Matt instructed. “Have good dreams!”
“You too!”
She ended the call and was about to replace the BlackBerry to her night stand when she noticed that she had a missed call. She checked the caller ID. It was not a number she recognised. Fortunately, the caller had left a message. She dialled voice mail, and her heart skipped a couple of beats when she heard the message.
“Klao, Ricard Shalkowski here. I’m a delinquent, I know. I should have called you ages ago, but was under a whole load of pressure at work… Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear any of that. Sorry I missed you… It was great catching up with you at the engagement party the other night. Maybe we could hang out some time. Give me a call… My number should have come up on your phone. Take care now. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed, in hope that I’ll hear from you soon. Bye!”
97
On Time
chapter seven
“So, are you going to tell me where you were, and what you were up to last night?” Bianca Persaud turned from admiring her reflection in her new Miu Miu summer dress and looked at her cousin.
Klao was sitting in the middle of Bianca’s queen sized bed, casually flipping through the Sunday morning paper, with Minx cuddled up under her arm. She heard her cousin’s question, but chose not to offer a response.
“Klao, I am talking to you!” Bianca glared at her, hands on hips.
“I know,” Klao responded smoothly. “I am ignoring you!”
“Well, stop. And get your pseudo dog off my bed!”
“Don’t talk about him like that!” Klao frowned. Nonetheless, she gently placed her puppy on the floor. “Being mean to Minx is not encouraging me tell you where I was last night!”
Bianca sighed. She hated not knowing something. She was always the first to know everything that was going on in her cousins’ lives, and it was driving her mad that Klao would not tell her what she was up to on Saturday night -- why she could not go to the movies. Bianca was willing to bet her entire trust fund that it had something to do with ‘Megamart Matt’, and she was dying to hear the details.
“Klao, do you remember when we were six, and I told you why those two dogs were joined at the butt?” Bianca asked, sitting next to her cousin.
“Yes,” Klao nodded absently, looking at the photographs in the style section of The Gleaner. She was thinking how lucky she was that no one from the press was hanging out at La Fa last night. She would have been mortified if she’d appeared in the paper on a date with Matt.
“And do you remember when we were ten, and I told you that I had found that picture of my mother?” Bianca continued. “I not only found a picture of her, but I showed it to you. For a long time, we were the only ones who actually knew what she looked like. Remember?”
“I remember,” Klao murmured. She also remembered looking into Matt’s eyes, and seeing the edge of his contact lenses. She wondered how he looked in glasses.
“And when we were twelve, I told you about Julie’s miscarriage. You knew about that before anyone else – not even Grandma and Grandpa had known when I told you…”
“I wonder why she never tried again…” Klao wondered aloud.
“I’m going to tell you now,” Bianca said. “She didn’t, because that one miscarriage ruined her. She would have died if she had tried to have another baby…”
Klao looked at Bianca. She had not known that. She just figured that Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeffrey had just been too busy to get pregnant. “That is so sad!” She declared.
“So are you seeing a pattern here? I always tell you things. I never keep things from you.”
“Bianca…” Klao began.
“Who did I tell when I liked Tevin? You! Who did I tell when I first got my period? You! Who was the first to know when I got into Med school…”
“Your best friend Macy!” Klao deadpanned. She recalled that she had been livid because Bianca had told Macy before telling her. She had told Bianca that ‘best friends’ were for a time, but cousins were forever, and she had been right. Where was Macy now? Somewhere in California, and only sporadically contacting Bianca by e-mail.
“That is not the point!”
“I thought it was!” Klao was enjoying torturing her cousin.
“Just tell me what you were doing yesterday, pleaseeee!”
Klao shook her head and got out of her cousin’s bed. If she had known that Bianca was going to spend the entire morning harassing her, she would not have come over for brunch so early. Perhaps she would not have come at all. She would have probably gone to the soup kitchen with Matt!
“I’m not telling you where I was!” Klao said firmly. “But I am going to tell you something else!” She ignored the dirty look Bianca gave her. “Guess who called me last night?”
“Who?”
“Ricard!”
“Ricard?”
“Ricard Shalkowski!” Sometimes Klao just did not understand Bianca. “Your fiancé’s best friend, and future best man!”
“I know which Ricard you are talking about!” Bianca rolled her eyes. “But what is he calling you for?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Klao was insulted. “Why wouldn’t Ricard Shalkowski be calling me?”
Bianca shrugged. “I just did not think Ricard Shalkowski would be interested in you…”
Klao began to get indignant. “Why the hell not? What is wrong with me?”
“Nothing! But Ricard is too subservient for you. He is into gazelles, not wildebeests!”
Klao’s dark brown eyes grew wide. “I’m a wildebeest!”
“You’re a strong woman!” Bianca clarified. “You would chew Ricard up and spit him out!”
“So now I am a maneater and a wildebeest!”
Bianca sighed, wishing she had not gone there with Klao. All sh
e meant to say was that Ricard was a bit too repressed for Klao. Klao needed someone with a personality; someone that would challenge her. Ricard was cute, but too vanilla.
“Just forget it!”
“Is it because he used to date your best friend Macy?” Klao asked, suddenly remembering.
“What?” Bianca wrinkled her nose. “Macy and Ricard ‘dated’ for six months in high school!”
“And you are holding out that when she comes to your wedding they will hook up again!” Klao could spot a conspiracy theory a mile away. “Then you and Macy can have all sorts of cute stories to tell – best friends marrying best friends…”
“You’re an idiot!” Bianca pulled her hair into a ponytail.
“Well, since I am such an idiot,” Klao trilled, throwing the paper to the floor, “why don’t you ask your best friend Macy to be your maid of honour? In the meantime, I’m calling up Ricard, and when we get married, you will not be my maid of honour.”
“You see because of how petty and miserable and stupid you are, when you finally get married, maids-of-honour will be fodder for fables!” Bianca spat meanly. “Like black death and the measles!”
Klao gasped. She could not believe Bianca went there. She huffed, scooped up Minx and stormed out of her cousin’s bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She stomped down the stairs of her grandparents’ home, and out to the back veranda, where the maid had set up brunch.
Bianca got on her nerves! Now she was sorry she came to brunch. She knew for sure that if she had gone to that soup kitchen with Matt, such liberties would not be taken… She remembered what Matt had said to her about letting people get on her nerves. He said nothing that anyone said got him pissed off, because he chose to be proactive rather than reactive. Klao took a breath. She had been reactive. She had started bristling up the moment Bianca asked why Ricard was calling her. She wished she hadn’t been angry…