On Time (Persaud Girl)

by Teisha Mott

  Klao snickered. Mary was so caustic!

  “Anyway, I decorated.” She went on. “You like?”

  “Very much!” Klao replied.

  “Thank you!” Mary looked pleased that Klao thought she did a good job decorating. “I am a freelance interior designer, you know – Sheena and me. We also coordinate weddings and other events. We’re incorporated and everything – a little company called ‘Inspirations’. After Sabbath, I will show you our portfolio. Come change in here.”

  She pointed Klao to what was apparently the guest bedroom.

  Klao placed Minx on the floor and removed his leash and warned him not to jump on the bed. As she slipped out of her dress and into her denim skirt and tank top, something hit her. Mary was a wedding planner! Bianca’s wedding was in five months and she still had not found a planner. She wondered whether Bianca would allow Mary and Sheena to do her wedding! She would ask her later. Mary would be so pleased.

  “Can you do a wedding in five months?” She asked Mary as she entered the kitchen, Minx tucked under her arm.

  Mary was putting a foil container with what appeared to be lasagne into the oven.

  “Who's getting married in five months?” Sheena asked.

  “My cousin, Bianca!”

  Both girls turned to look at Klao. Klao wondered whether she had said something wrong.

  “You want to ask us to do Bianca Persaud’s wedding?” Sheena squealed.

  “Well, Bianca needs a wedding planner, and …” She did not finish her statement before she found herself being thoroughly hugged by Mary.

  “That would make our day, our month, our year and our life!” She screamed, hugging Klao so tightly that she could hardly breathe. “She would not even have to pay us. If word went out that we did Bianca Persaud’s wedding, we would be made! For life!”

  “Well, I have to ask her first, and make her look at your portfolio!” Klao said, as soon as Mary had let her go, and she could breathe again.

  “Please do!” Mary begged. “You would be my best friend for life!”

  Klao felt strangely pleased. She would be Mary’s best friend for life. She hoped the portfolio was impressive, because Bee was a hard customer. Mary and Sheena would be beyond disappointed if she did not like their work, although, Klao thought, based on how nice Matt’s house looked, and how stylish Mary was, she could not imagine Bianca not liking her work. She looked at Mary as she moved efficiently around the kitchen, organising the pre-cooked dishes for lunch. She had changed into a long lavender skirt, with a lavender and white top. She even wore lavender flip flops! She was clearly a stylista of the order of Grandma Sylvia!

  “Can I help do anything?” Klao asked, feeling a bit weird just standing around and watching.

  “Matt said he did cornbread,” Sheena said from the sink where she was washing some lettuce leaves. “Look in the fridge for it, and put it in the oven.”

  “Matt made cornbread?” Klao giggled. “Matt can cook?”

  Again, Mary and Sheena looked at her strangely. This time she was positive she had said something wrong.

  “What?”

  “You don’t know anything about my brother, do you?” Mary asked.

  “Well, I…”

  “This entire lunch – Matt!” Mary informed her. “Everything from scratch – the callallo quiche, the vegan lasagne, the grilled salmon and eggplant…”

  Klao did a double take. There was grilled salmon and eggplant? That’s what they had last week at La Fa.

  “He even made this chutney extra spicy and tried it out on Marvin in the week!” Sheena added. “Because he said you like spicy food!”

  “Well, that is something else I’ve learned about Matt today!” Klao said, blushing a bit. Matt had told his friends all about her! She opened the sliding door that led to Matt’s back patio, and put Minx outside. She gave him his favourite ball and bone to play with, so he would not get in their way.

  “Well, my brother is a man with many sides!” Mary pointed out. “He’s not just a simple Minister who cannot coordinate his clothes. He’s very, very special.”

  “Yes, he is!” Klao blushed under the queer look that Mary was giving her.

  “One more thing, Miss Klao Persaud…”

  “What?” Klao was scared that Mary was going to give her the ‘hurt him and die speech’ that she had heard Dylan and Darrin give to all the boys who had ever come into her life – and Bianca’s and Samantha’s and Andie’s lives.

  “I don’t scorn your dog or anything,” Mary said, “but please wash your hands before you touch Matt’s special cornbread!”

  ***

  “This is what I like to see!” Matt declared, entering the kitchen, with Marvin Stewart in tow. “The women folk hard at work in the kitchen – cooking the victuals, tending the hearth…”

  “And the man coming in from the field, smelling like his mule!” Klao quipped. She had graduated from placing the cornbread in the oven to setting the table.

  “Right on, KoKo!” Mary high fived her, and Matt rolled his eyes.

  “You joining forces with my sister against me, Klao Melissa?” He asked, pretending to be hurt, although he was pleased his sister and Klao were apparently bonding. He had learned in the week that KoKo was what her brothers and cousins called her, and from time to time, they would add ‘nut’ to it – KoKo Nut. It was cool to hear Mary calling her ‘KoKo’. “You all cannot gang up on a poor, defenseless preacher man!” He picked up Minx who had found his way back inside, and was making himself at home in Matt’s house.

  “There is nothing poor or defenseless about you, preacher man!” Klao said, looking at him, with her hands on her hips. “And please do not hold Minx on your clothes like that! He will fur you up!”

  Matt looked at her and smiled. She was wearing an apron over her denim skirt and tank top. He was positive Klao Melissa Persaud had never worn an apron before in her life.

  “What you looking at me like that for?” Klao asked, feeling a bit self-conscious.

  “Nothing!” Matt put Minx on the ground and turned away. She was wearing his red and white apron which read ‘Kiss the cook’, and he was wishing with all his heart that he could follow that instruction. “I’m going up to change. Anything else needs to be done?”

  “We’ve got it!” Sheena told him. “Marvin go and hang up your jacket and wash your hands.”

  Matt hopped up the stairs two at a time, trying to clear all thoughts of kissing out of his head. He had a conversation with a few of his colleagues when he was at La Sierra, and they had all agreed that kissing was a part of the love act, and should not take place until they were absolutely positive that the girl they wanted to kiss was the one. He had thought about kissing girls – a lot – but the yen had never been so overwhelming before he had met Klao. Matt knew, as he often told his young people at church, that a thought becomes a problem when you dwell on it. He had to get through the rest of the Sabbath without even considering kissing Klao.

  “Do you people eat like this every Sabbath?” Klao asked as she placed the platter with the eggplant that Matt had grilled on the table.

  “Yup!” Mary replied, stepping over Minx. “Sometimes here, sometimes by Sheena and Marvin…”

  “But never at your house, because you can only warm up!” Sheena teased.

  “Shut up!” Mary flipped her off. “Anyway, Klao, since you and I are talking, can Minx eat people food?”

  “Just a bite at a time or it makes him sick,” Klao told her. “I have his dinner in my bag. He can have it later.”

  She surveyed the table. Everything was ready. It looked like Christmas, and Klao felt just as happy as she did then. Granted, Christmas with the Persauds was a much larger event than this, and she did not have to help with anything. She just had to turn up, and watch as grandpa Ravi made a big deal about saying the grace and carving the turkey. Since last Christmas, the job of grace and turkey carving had been turned over to her father, the next oldest Persaud male – a pos
ition Dr Michael Persaud relished. Klao smiled a bit, wondering where her father was at that moment, and what he was doing. He was a cool, supportive dad, and he loved to tease. She wondered what he would think of Matt…

  The ringing telephone brought her back to the present.

  “Like clockwork!” Mary declared, grabbing the cordless from the counter. “Hi Mommy! We’re fine! We’re about to have lunch…”

  “How did she know it’s her Mommy?” Klao asked Sheena.

  “Sister Gwennie calls every Sabbath at this time!” Sheena told her.

  Klao listened to Mary chat with her mother. “Yes… Matt… He did good… Zacchaeus … Yes… Both services… Upstairs… Me, Matt, Sheena, Marvin and Matt’s friend, Klao… Klao… I don’t know…”

  Klao wondered what Matt’s mother was asking about her. Mary cleared up her question.

  “My mother wants to know what kind of name is ‘Klao’!” She said.

  “’Klao’ is Kru, a language of the Niger-Congo language family, primarily spoken in the Congo, and some parts of Sierra Leone!” Klao responded with a smile. “My mother thought it would be a cool name for her only daughter!”

  “The kind of name her mother made up!” Mary told her mother, obviously not digesting any of what Klao said about her name's origin. “Yes… Yes… Yes, she is… Mommy, I can’t ask her that!”

  Again Klao’s interest was piqued, but this time Mary did not tell her what her mother had asked. Klao felt slightly embarrassed. She picked Minx up and fed him a bite of cheese.

  “Yes…” Mary continued. She balanced the phone between her ear and her shoulder, as she placed a few pots into the sink. “Yes, Mommy…. No…. Okay…. Alright… I will… I said I will… I will, Mommy, promise… Alright… Love you… Matt! Pick up!”

  A few seconds later, she hung up the cordless and flung it on top of the microwave. Klao looked at her.

  “My mother says hello,” she told Klao. “And I’m also supposed to eat at least one slice of tomato today!” She made a face, obviously thinking tomatoes were nasty.

  Klao was dying to ask her what her mother wanted to ask her that she couldn’t. Was it something about her family? Was it something about her? Was it something about – horror of horrors – how she felt about Matt? Klao wondered how strange it would look if she went upstairs and tried eavesdropping on Matt’s side of the conversation. Perhaps she could go up under the guise of getting her BlackBerry… Or Minx’s leash… Or Minx’s dinner… Yes. That was still in her handbag in the guest bedroom.

  But before she could gather her nerves to go up, Matt came bounding down, with another cordless phone attached to his ear.

  “Yes…. Yes…” He tugged Klao’s ponytail. “Of course… You know Mary cannot cook…”

  “Doesn’t choose to cook!” Mary yelled.

  “Of course…” Matt made a face at his sister, and scratched Minx’s forehead. “Of course… Yes… I will… I know… I know… You will get grandchildren… Yes, before you die… I’ll have one of the boys from church knock up Mary… Sorry… It was a joke… I know it’s not funny… I’ll make sure I give you one… promise… I’ll ask her… I will… Love you too!”

  He hung up the phone and placed it next to its twin on top of the microwave.

  “Daddy wants to know how you didn’t ask to talk to him!” He told Mary.

  “Daddy’s head side!” Mary said. “I spoke to him this morning before church.”

  “You know that they don’t like when you play favourites!” Matt reminded her, taking a seat at the table. “You talk to Mommy; you ask to talk to him, too.” He looked at Klao. “Sit next to me.”

  Klao did as she was told. “Your parents phone you every Saturday?” She asked.

  “Every Saturday?” Marvin scoffed. “Every day is more like it. You wouldn’t think they are big grown people!” He took the seat next to Mary after helping Sheena with her chair.

  “I think it’s sweet that they call you every day!” Klao opined.

  “Except when I’m late for work, and Mommy calls just to find out why I have not yet left for work!” Mary commented. “That time it is annoying.”

  “You are just spoilt children!” Sheena said. She looked down at Minx who was staring at her. “Klao, your dog is staring at me.”

  “That’s what he does!” Matt said. He motioned for Minx to come to him, and Minx obeyed. “And, we are not spoiled children.” He turned to Klao. “Our parents couldn’t have any children for years, and then BAM, when they were in their forties, they got pregnant!”

  “Yeah!” Mary piped in. “After being married and childless for almost twenty years, they had twins! I’m their miracle, and Matt is their brawta. Of course they are going to smother us!”

  Klao could totally understand that. Marvin was annoyed.

  “Miracle my tail?” He said. “Too much Clomid is more like it. We not going to eat?”

  “For that comment, you’re doing the dishes!” Mary said. “So who’s going to grace?”

  “I graced last time!” Marvin piped in.

  “And I graced the time before that!” Sheena added.

  “Klao should grace – she’s the guest!” Mary suggested.

  “Agreed!” Matt jumped in.

  Klao flushed. She was usually the last person called upon to grace when she was at home, but she did not want to appear ungodly. “As you wish!” She said.

  Matt took her hand in his, and everyone closed their eyes. Klao repeated the grace Matt had said when they were at La Fa.

  “Copycat!” Matt teased, when she was through.

  “It’s a grace, isn’t it?” Klao returned.

  “Well, yes. And it was well rehearsed!” Matt carved a slice of cornbread and placed it on her plate. He winked at her. “Try that. It is my special cornbread.”

  “And he guards the recipe as though it is the keys to the Kingdom!” Sheena commented, as she fixed a plate for Marvin.

  “Well, those I don’t guard as closely!” Matt disagreed. “I think the keys to the Kingdom are to be shared with everyone. But my special cornbread recipe – goes with me to my grave!”

  Klao smiled as she tasted Matt’s special cornbread. It had a layer of something gooey in the middle. She listened as Matt and Sheena got into an argument about his refusal to tell her what that something was. She was happy – content was more like it. She was having a special lunch with a bunch of special people who had made her and Minx feel special and welcome. She could get used to this, Klao thought – hanging out with Matt and Mary and Marvin and Sheena. They were smart, simple people, with a whole bunch of opinions on everything, from spiritual issues to politics. And Klao was impressed, when, Marvin, while rinsing the plates to stack them in the dishwasher started arguing about stem cell research. It was hard for her to believe that the same untidy, dirty-looking man who had dropped off the tyre, and who had so uncouthly spat on the ground in disgust at the West Indies Cricket Team’s performance that day, could expound at great length on the issues surrounding bioethics and the sanctity of life! Before she knew it, it was five o’clock, and time to go back to church for the evening’s programme.

  Klao got into the front of Matt’s Tiida and fastened the seatbelt. She looked over on the back seat to ensure that Minx was okay in his travel bag. He was quiet – apparently asleep. Mary and Sheena were travelling back with Marvin in his Hilux. Mary would collect her car later.

  “Did you enjoy your lunch?” Matt asked, smiling at her.

  “Very much!” Klao smiled back. She had enjoyed her lunch. She ate vegan food and did not gag. Matt’s grilled salmon and eggplant rivalled the one they had at La Fa, and the cornbread – ‘sell off’! “I didn’t know you could cook!”

  “Well, I was always hungry when I was little,” Matt explained. “So I had to learn to help myself.”

  “I especially liked your special cornbread,” Klao said. “Wanna hook me up with the recipe?”

  Matt looked at her. “Did Sheena set
you on me?” He asked.

  “No… Why you think I couldn’t want it for myself?”

  “Because, number one,” Matt explained as he turned down Beverly Hills, “I don’t think you are the cooking sort…”

  “What you mean I’m not the cooking sort!” Klao asked indignantly.

  “Well, are you?”

  “I wouldn't win a cooking competition, but I can manage!” Klao told him, more than a bit insulted. “I wouldn’t starve to death!”

  “Somehow I don’t see you, Klao Melissa Persaud, hopping around the kitchen and mixing a cornbread batter!” Matt decided. “You look like the type who would have the maid do it for you.”

  “That goes to show you don’t know anything!” Klao rolled her eyes at him.

  Matt chuckled at her annoyed expression. “And number two, Sheena is a smart girl. She knows the best way to get my recipe is to go through you!”

  “Me? Why?”

  “Because I don’t think I could tell you no – if you truly wanted it!”

  Klao blushed and looked at Matt. He was looking straight ahead, his hands in the perfect ten o’clock/ two o’clock position as he navigated his way down the hill. He couldn’t tell her no? How sweet! She smiled a bit.

  “So are you hooking me up?”

  “Tell you what,” Matt decided. “Whenever you have a craving for cornbread, let me know and I’ll bake you one, okay?”

  “Anytime?”

  “Anytime!” Matt promised. “Day or night. Just call me and say ‘cornbread emergency’, and I’ll put on my apron!”

  “I’m holding you to that!” Klao warned. “Make sure you can deliver!”

  “Baby girl, I’m Matt St. James! I always deliver!”

  Klao did not say anything more. She did not know what to say. Soon, they had pulled into her complex. Klao quickly deposited Minx into the apartment, warned him to behave himself until she got back, and got back into Matt’s car.

  “Thank you for being kind to Minx.”

  “Why would I be anything but?” Matt asked, looking a bit concerned.

  Klao shrugged. “Nobody else seems to love him as much as I do. Bianca treats him so badly. Andie and my brothers don’t think he is a real dog… You are one of the first persons I have met who has ever been nice to him.”