On Time (Persaud Girl)

by Teisha Mott

  “Hello, darling! I didn’t know you were out here! And you brought along puppy!”

  Klao turned to look at her grandmother, Sylvia Persaud. Grandma Sylvia was in her eighties, but still carried herself like she was thirty years younger. She was old and wrinkly, and her formerly inky black tresses were now totally silver, but her dark brown eyes still had a sparkle. Grandma was old, Klao realised, but she certainly was not cold. She was a fun grandma who took the girls on shopping trips. She claimed though, that when you are Sylvia Hailsey Persaud, founder of Izzy Fashions, you don’t go shopping. Shopping comes to you! Grandma and ‘her girls’ as she called her granddaughters – Kamilla, Samantha, Klao, Andie, Bianca and Margaux – would sit in the front row of all the NYC fashion week shows and make a note of what they liked. In subsequent weeks, the clothes would come to them – size and colour specific.

  There were many sides to Grandma Sylvia. She was Grandma Sylvia the sage. She always had some wise word to pass on to her grandchildren. Klao’s favourite of Grandma’s adages was, ‘Happiness is found along the way, and not the end of the road’. Grandma Sylvia was creative, and the original Persaud stylista. Aunt Elisabeth, Aunt Janise, Margaux and Bianca had nothing on her when it came to coordinating outfits. Grandma Sylvia was fiercely protective of her family. She only wanted the best for them, and she could spot a leach a mile off. That was why Klao had not particularly liked Grandma when she was little. It took Grandma Sylvia years to finally grudgingly accept Klao’s mother as her daughter–in-law.

  Kimberly DeLisser had not been who Sylvia Persaud had in mind for her first born son. She thought Kimberly was a leech – proud, poverty stricken Kimberly DeLisser, who put herself through medical school by applying for every possible scholarship, working three part time jobs, and modelling lingerie for Izzy. That was where Grandma Sylvia and Klao’s father had first met her. Klao’s dad thought she was an angel. His mother thought she was an evil spawn of the devil, and continued to think so even after the wedding. Klao remembered looking in her mother’s wedding album and seeing her grandmother fully decked out in black – including a black veil. There were some tense moments when Klao was growing up. She could recall Daddy practically having to beg Mommy to come on family vacations, and the strained politeness between her grandmother and her mother.

  Klao also noticed that the relationship between her grandmother and her Aunt Janise was far more comfortable. She thought it was perhaps because Aunt Janise was a fashion designer who also worked at Izzy. By the time she got to her teens, she realised it was much deeper than that. She also learned by the way – and she never told Bianca – that Grandma had not liked her mother either, and that was why Uncle Jeffrey had eloped while he was at Oxford taking up his Rhodes Scholarship. It had turned out however, that she had a right not to like Bianca’s mother, Chloe. Chloe decided when Bianca was two that she did not want to be a mother or wife anymore, and disappeared into thin air. Bianca was twenty-five – to be twenty-six in August -- and had never clapped eyes on her mother. On the contrary, Grandma adored Julie, Uncle Jeffrey’s second wife. She just could not get comfortable with Dr DeLisser, and Dr DeLisser could not get comfortable with her either. Dylan, Darrin and Klao were allowed to spend time with Grandma Sylvia, but not too much time. Klao never understood why until she was twelve, when she overheard her mother telling her father that Grandma was a mean old woman, who would poison her children against her. Daddy had commented that mommy was being paranoid. Klao did not agree. She stood in solidarity with her mother, and for the next few years, stayed as far away from Grandma as was possible.

  Imagine her shock and awe when Dylan and Darrin got into medical school, and Grandma and Grandpa suggested that the twins live with them. Imagine her greater shock and awe when her father and her mother actually agreed. Imagine her horror when, four years later, she, too, got into UWI and was told to pack her bags for Paddington. How on earth could her mother be willing to send her three children to Grandma Sylvia? Didn’t she love them anymore? That was the summer when “Flowers in the Attic” finally meant something to Klao.

  But living with Grandma and Grandpa was not as bad as she thought it would have been. There were donuts, but none of them were poisoned. Grandma may be cool towards her daughter-in-law, but she adored her granddaughter. Grandma was a dear, and Grandpa was a ham. Klao grew to adore them as much as Bianca and Samantha and Andie did, and sometimes she missed coming home and arguing law with Grandpa, and trying on the new outfits Grandma had bought… After law school when she had moved out for good, she promised them all her Sunday brunches. She had not managed to give them all her Sundays, but she gave them as many as possible. Grandma understood. She knew that Klao was young and single, and would want to spend her Sundays trolling for a husband.

  It was ironic, Klao thought, that Grandma used to warn them about pairing off too soon when they were teenagers, and now she was hounding them to get married. In Grandma’s opinion, twenty-five was a viable, marriageable age. Pairing up before that, like Bianca and Tevin, Andie and Nathan, and Samantha and Jeremy, was proof that there were too many added hormones in chicken, which caused the children to mature too fast. Waiting later than twenty-five like Klao and her brothers, and Phillip was begging to be labelled homosexual or philanderer, and just a ploy to annoy and to give the press something to talk about. Klao hoped Grandma would not give her any grief about being single today.

  “Hi Grandma!” She greeted her grandmother with a kiss on the cheek. “I was up in Bianca’s room… We had a fight…”

  “I thought as much when I heard doors being slammed,” Grandma noted. “How are you, my dear?”

  She sat at the picnic table, and motioned to Klao to sit next to her.

  “I’m fine,” Klao said half honestly.

  “What did you and Bianca quarrel about?”

  Before Klao could answer, her grandfather, Ravi, came out.

  “Klao Melissa!” He greeted Klao. “I didn’t know you were here!” He kissed her cheek, then his wife’s, and scratched Minx’s head. “It’s ten thirty, love. Where’s brunch?”

  “Isadore will take it out in a moment, Ravi!” Grandma said, with a roll of her eyes and a toss of her head. “Have a glass of juice and relax. Klao, please pour Grandpa a glass of juice.”

  “Can you make it a mimosa?” Grandpa asked, giving Klao a cheeky wink, and avoiding Grandma’s disapproving glare.

  Klao poured her grandfather a glass from the pitcher of orange juice that the maid, Isadore, had brought out a few minutes before. She most decidedly did not make it a mimosa. She looked at her grandparents. They had been married for almost sixty years, and as far as Klao could tell, they had never even had a fight. Her father had told her that they had separated for three years – back when he and Aunt Phoebe were fourteen. Grandma had taken Uncle Andrew, Uncle Jeffrey and Aunt Elisabeth and moved back to Connecticut, where she had been born and raised. She had left Grandpa Ravi in Jamaica with Aunt Phoebe and her father.

  Her father never told her what caused the separation, but it was during those three years that Grandma had formed Izzy fashions and Persaud Publishing, NY Inc. When they made up, their marriage, like their company, was stronger than ever. Klao wondered if true love always came out of hardship. All the people she knew who were in love had fought through seemingly insurmountable odds to find and keep each other – her grandparents, her parents, even Bianca and Tevin and Samantha and Jeremy. Even Andie and Nathan. Klao wondered what she was going to have to go through to be with the one she was going to be with.

  Bianca came out on to the patio, fanning herself with the newspaper. “Good morning grandparental units!” She greeted her grandparents.

  “Loving the dress, my heart!” Grandma said, sounding like 25. “You look ready for the runway.”

  “Thank you, Gran!” Bianca did a little twirl, and Klao scoffed.

  “Are you two arguing?” Grandpa asked, not missing a beat.

  “Klao is being spoilt!”
Bianca said flatly.

  “And you’re being something else that I will not say in front of my grandparents!” Klao shot.

  “Well, I don’t care who is being what,” Grandpa said firmly, as Isadore brought out the rest of the brunch. “I do not wish to hear it, or see it now. I don’t want to ruin brunch!”

  “Klao started it!” Bianca mumbled.

  “And I’m ending it!” Grandpa glared at both girls. “You are cousins, and best friends. You should not quarrel. You should love each other. After all, you don’t know how much time you have left with each other, and what is more important, you don’t know how much time you have left with me.”

  Bianca and Klao rolled their eyes simultaneously.

  “The time you take arguing with each other over what I assume is nonsense, you would spend reminiscing on all the good times we have had over the years. Or are you waiting for my funeral to do that!”

  “Grandpa!” Bianca glared at her grandfather. “I gave you a check-up last night, and you are in perfect health!”

  “I’m just saying…” Grandpa split a roll and buttered it.

  “You’re so infuriating sometimes, Grandpa, with your talk of death!” Klao put in. “Can’t you speak life?”

  “For real!” Bianca added.

  “Way to give them a mutual enemy, Ravi!” Grandma teased from behind her glass of Pellegrino.

  “Well, at least now they agree on something!” Grandpa quipped.

  Klao lifted her glass to her lips. She looked at her grandfather, and whispered a silent prayer that he would not die soon. Eighty-odd was not that old, she thought. He hoped he would be around long enough for her to have children. Her children would adore their great grandpa Ravi. Kamilla’s eight year old daughter, Serena, did; as did Caitlin, who insisted on calling him Santa. Grandpa just laughed and laughed when she did that. Santa, indeed! He spoiled Caitlin rotten. That was another reason Klao knew she had to get married quickly. She did not want to have a baby without being married; and she wanted to give Grandpa another great granddaughter to adore and spoil.

  “So, Klao, who was that man you were at La Fa with last night?”

  Grandpa’s sudden question caused Klao to spit her juice clear across the table, giving Grandma a shower of orange juice and saliva.

  “Mercy, Klao Melissa!” Grandma was not impressed. “Where are your manners?”

  “I’m so sorry Grandma!” Klao hurriedly got up to help her grandmother.

  “You were out with a man last night?” Bianca’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates. “That’s where you were?”

  Klao’s olive skin started to burn. Crap! “Where did you hear that, Grandpa?”

  “Paul Risoa told me!” Grandpa looked at Grandma. She was still traumatised from having a mouthful of juice spat on her. “You okay, my darling?”

  “What man were you out with?” Bianca demanded. “And if you had a date, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Paul Risoa is a horrible old gossip!” Grandma declared. “He is worse than his wife. Because he saw Klao with a man at La Fa does not mean he had to run and tell you all about it, Ravi! He is as disgusting as that horrible Tattler!”

  “He didn’t ‘run and tell’ me anything, Sylvie!” Grandpa rolled his eyes. “We were talking on the telephone and he happened to mention that he saw Klao at La Fa, and he sent over a bottle of wine for her and her date!”

  “Who did you go on a date with?” Bianca asked again. “Was it Megamart Matt?”

  “Who is Megamart Matt?” Grandma asked. She looked at Klao, concerned. “Are you seeing someone called Megamart Matt?”

  “Who is Paul Risoa?” Klao asked her grandpa.

  “You know him!” Grandpa said nonchalantly. “He is a second cousin of Sushil Baghaloo’s third wife – or is he the third cousin of Sushil’s second wife… I can’t remember. Anyway, you must have met him at some time or another, because he remembered you well, and thought you and your date made quite a handsome couple!”

  “I can’t believe you went on a date and didn’t even tell me!” Bianca lamented. “This breaks all the rules in the cousin book.”

  “Well, I for one am glad you’re dating,” Grandma declared. “Even if he does work at Megamart; and even if his name is Matt. At least now I don’t have to worry about people thinking you are a lesbian.

  Klao looked at her grandmother and wished that she had another mouthful of juice to spray on her.

  “I’m not ‘dating’ anyone, Grandma!” She said. “I went out to buffet with a friend of mine…”

  “Was it Matt?” Bianca persisted.

  “Yes. Yes it was Matt!” Klao finally admitted. “He was the one I called the other night to help with my tyre, and he came and fixed it and took my car to the tyre warehouse, and got new tyres, and I thought having a drink with him would be a nice way to say thank you…”

  “I knew it!” Bianca declared triumphantly. “He is so going to be your one! I could tell from that evening up at the hospital!”

  “Oh just shut up, Bianca!” Klao was sick and tired of her cousin. “We are barely even friends…”

  “For now!” Bianca said, and Klao wanted to numb-chuck her.

  “Who is this boy, Klao?” Grandpa asked.

  “Why don’t you go and ask Paul Risoa?” Klao said nastily. “I’m sure he knows everything about him already.”

  “Don’t be such a baby!” Grandpa said crossly.

  “He’s a gentleman!” Bianca contributed.

  “So you’ve met him?” Grandma asked.

  “Once, and he is very nice!” Bianca told her grandmother. “And he has a voice. You can just hear him singing ‘Ole Man River’!”

  “But he works at Megamart!” Grandma frowned. “How will it look – an attorney and a man from Megamart?”

  “He doesn’t work there, Gran!” Bianca said. She proceeded to give her grandparents her version of the Megamart incident, embellishing for effect, Klao noted.

  Klao tuned them out. She picked the capers out of her plate of scrambled eggs and frowned to herself. One date. One stinking date, and now, Bianca was going to marry her off with Matt. That’s why she did not want Bianca to know. Yes, she had enjoyed the evening with Matt. He was witty and fun, and maybe, just maybe he did like her. But he was not what she had in mind for her future boyfriend/husband. He was thoughtful, yes; polite, yes; pleasant, yes. He volunteered at a homeless shelter, for crying out loud. But when Klao had imagined her future, she had imagined it with someone a bit more… someone a bit less… She frowned as though the capers had done her something. She had imagined someone more like Ricard Shalkowski and less like Matt St. James.

  Grandpa was saying something to her.

  “Pardon?”

  “This Matt fellow sounds like a real keeper!” Grandpa repeated. “You should get together and get married – quickly, before I die!”

  “Oh, Ravi!” Grandma rolled her eyes at him.

  Klao did not respond to her grandfather, although she agreed with him. She wanted to get together with someone and get married before he died. But she knew that someone would not be Matthew Levi St. James. Not Matthew Levi St. James who was barely cute, and only looked barely presentable when they went out. James Dobson often spoke about being ‘unequally yoked’ not only religiously. It meant many other things, too, and Klao was certain that she and Matt would be unequally yoked. She was sure she would be more ‘equally yoked’ with Ricard Shalkowski, although Bianca would not agree.

  ***

  ‘How was brunch?’

  Klao held the BlackBerry in her palm, trying to decide how to answer Matt’s text. She wondered whether she should tell him that Paul Risoa had busted them.

  ‘Fine.’ She texted back. ‘How was the inn?’

  ‘Fine. Lots of hungry people. Full bellies now.

  ‘That’s good.’

  ‘What u doing now?’

  ‘Looking over a file. Court tomorrow. U?’

  ‘Looking over some notes. H
ave a meeting L8R.’

  ‘What kind of meeting?’

  ‘Church board.’

  ‘You go to church?’

  ‘Yup. You?’

  ‘Special Sundays. Should go more often!’

  ‘Perhaps I’ll take u with me one day…’

  Klao paused for a bit and thought how to respond to that one. Was he inviting her out on another date? To Church? Her heart leaped a bit. She had always wanted to go to Church, but she could never get company to go. Bianca insisted that she could not go every week, because when she was not working, she wanted to rest. Andie and Nathan, on the other hand, went to church almost every week. Andie was a staple in the church that she and her husband attended. They had gone while they were dating. They did their counselling there and even got married there. Andie was involved in a number of things, too. She taught swimming to the little children in the Adventurer’s Club that the church had. She even took Caitlin along sometimes.

  Andie had asked Klao to come to church with her and Nathan. She was sure Klao would enjoy it, and often regaled her with stories about all the characters that attended. But Klao could not go to church with Andie and Nathan. They went on Saturday, since Nathan had grown up in the Seventh-day Adventist faith. Going to church on Saturday, like drinking soy milk, was just not something Klao could wrap her mind around! But Matt was inviting her to church – or at least suggesting she go with him. She could go to church with Matt…

  ‘Sounds good!’ She texted back

  ‘U have a home fone?’ Matt texted. ‘Texting makes my fingers hurt. Plus, I much prefer hearing ur voice.’

  Klao hesitated for a moment. She wondered whether it was a good idea to give Matt her home number. Nobody except her family had her home phone number. Not even Marlene. Whatever! She shrugged and typed the seven digits into her BlackBerry and pushed the send button.

  Two seconds later the cordless phone on her desk rang, scaring the crap out of Minx, who was lying next to it on a pile of papers. Klao grabbed the phone, while giving Minx an apologetic pat on the head.

  “Hey!”