by Teisha Mott
“135!” Marlene told her.
“No, it looks more like 134,” Anella said. “The needle isn’t quite on the 5.”
“Okay fine.” Marlene agreed. “But it is definitely over the four. Let’s make it 134 and a half!”
Klao did not care if it was 134 or 135. The fact was that she was way over her ideal weight.
“Oh my God!” She moaned. “I’m a heifer!”
“That’s what contentment does!” Marlene told her, not being one bit helpful.
“That and having a boyfriend who takes grilled salmon and cornbread for your lunch!” Anella added, rubbing salt into the wound.
Klao thought she would faint. Of course she had put on weight. Who wouldn’t put on weight, the way Matt fed her? Plus, she had stopped going to the gym. In fact, she had not been to the gym since the night she had met Matt in Megamart, and that was June -- four months before! No wonder her suits were feeling snug. No wonder she was feeling so tired when she walked to court. She was turning into a fatty! Pretty soon, she would be a candidate for ‘The Biggest Loser’! Well, that was going to change! Starting tonight, she was going back to Gymkhana. She was going to join the Pilates and spinning and aerobics classes, and she was going to get a personal trainer. She was not going to look like a pat of butter at Bianca’s wedding. She had to lose 15 pounds to get close to her ideal weight, and the journey would begin tonight!
***
“Klao you are not fat!”
“Yes, I am!” She told Matt, as she navigated the CRV around the Hilton’s parking lot, trying to find a suitable parking spot. “I weigh one hundred and frigging thirty-five pounds and it is your fault!”
“My fault? How is it my fault?” He had been looking forward to spending the Monday evening with Klao, and was more than disappointed to discover that she was actually going to be at the gym until 9. And they made a rule that for safety’s sake, he would not come to her house after 9.
“Yes, your fault!” Klao adjusted her BlackBerry on her shoulder and reversed into an open spot. “With your cornbread with the creamy thing in the middle and your pancakes and your curry fish in coconut cream… Don’t cook me anything else ever in life, Pastor Matthew L. St. James!”
“Ko, you are not fat. You are beautiful! You look healthy.”
“I don’t want to look ‘healthy’ Matt! I want to be a size 2!”
“But I don’t like girls who are size 2!”
“Well, that is your problem! Look, I have to go. I’m late!”
“When am I going to see you?”
“Tomorrow, probably. I will work out with my trainer in the morning before work, so we will have the evening free. I’ll call you when I get home!” Klao did not wait for him to respond. She ended the call, grabbed her gym bag and hurried into the gym in time to catch the beginning of the Pilates class.
***
Klao stood on the scale in the weight room of the gym and frowned. She had been exercising faithfully every day except Sabbaths for two whole weeks. She had four hours per week with the personal trainer that Samantha had recommended and two hours every evening by herself. Yet she had only managed to drop four pounds. Steve, the trainer, had ‘kicked her butt’, pretty much in the form of Gillian from ‘The Biggest Loser’, yet all she managed to drop was four stinking pounds? How did those people from The Biggest Loser drop 18 pounds in one week? All she had been eating was salads, and she recalled staring longingly at the cheesecake that Matt had made for dessert last Sabbath. She did not know how much longer she could resist his food, but she had to. She had to get back down to her 118 pounds. Her mother had told her she was being ridiculous – that she looked beautiful and healthy, but Klao was adamant.
“The Pilates not paying off for you?”
Klao was jarred back to the present by the sexiest sounding accent she had ever heard in her life. She whirled around wondering when Jude Law had joined Gymkhana and no one had bothered to tell her, and stared into a pair of dark brown eyes that belonged to a dimpled smiling face. It was him. It was the consultant guy from PwC. The one that she and Marlene used to salivate over way back when. The one that she had gone to the gym to meet the night she had met Matt. He was talking to her!
“Not so much, no!” Klao replied, quickly stepping off the scale. She did not want him to see what she weighed. Not that it mattered. She did not care about him anymore. She was with Matt now.
“Well, don’t worry about it too much,” PwC boy continued. “You look fine just the way you are.” He looked at her. “I was wondering how I hadn’t seen you here in a while…”
“What?” Klao was a bit stunned.
“You used to come all the time with your friend, and then you just disappeared!”
“Well, I got busy!” Klao blushed, not believing that he’d noticed her.
“The timing was off, I guess. I was just getting up my courage to say hi!”
Klao could not believe her ears. “What?”
“You’re Klao Persaud, right?”
“Y-yes…”
“Yeah, well, I have wanted to say hello… but I couldn’t just come up to you. After all, you are Klao Persaud. And then when I decided to grow a pair, you disappeared. But you are back now, so here goes. I’m Chadwick Johaar.”
Klao looked at his outstretched hand and thought that she was stuck in some strange alternate universe. Sexy PwC Consultant boy had noticed her all this time, and wanted to say hi, but didn’t have the balls to? This was un-freaking-believable.
“Nice to meet you!” She said, finally recovering. She shook his hand. “Klao Persaud – but then again, you already knew that!”
Chadwick smiled, and Klao looked at his lips. They were the most divine lips she had ever seen. And the accent made them even sexier.
“Where are you from?” Klao asked.
“South Africa,” Chadwick replied. “I used to be with PwC there, but then I got shifted here to work on a project. That was two years ago, and the project has long been completed, but I’ve grown accustomed to the sunshine, so I decided to stay. Are you done for the evening, Klao?”
Klao… Her name sounded so beautiful when it was being repeated in a South African accent.
“Perhaps you could join me for a smoothie at the juice bar?”
Klao glanced at her watch. It was 7:15. She had only done one hour that evening, because she wanted to go home early and do some work on Rupert’s case, and then Matt was coming over. But how could she say ‘no’ to the South African PwC consultant with a name as sexy as Chadwick Johaar? Perhaps she would have one smoothie. Matt was not coming until 8, so she had some time.
“Sounds great, Chadwick!” Klao smiled as she grabbed her gym bag. She was wearing her sexy gym outfit that day, and she hoped she did not smell like sweat.
“Please, call me Chad! Let me take your bag!”
Klao thought she had morphed into a James Bond movie. This Chad was a dream. He was South African Indian, with shiny black hair like her father’s and a smile like Grandpa’s. He bought her a berry smoothie, her favourite, and they laughed and chatted at the juice bar like they had known each other for an eternity. And every time he said ‘Klao’, she felt goose bumps run up her back. She did not even notice when eight o’clock had come and gone.
“So tell me Klao, when you are not working out at the gym or suing people, what do you do?”
“Well, I don’t really do much. I play with my dog and watch TV…” She totally forgot that she hung out with Matt and volunteered at the Wayside Inn. “I am pretty boring!”
“Rubbish!” Chad disagreed. “You are far too much of a ham to be boring. The Festival du Film Francophone opens next Wednesday with a showing on the lawns of the French Embassy. I received an invite. Would you care to join?”
Go to a foreign film with this divinely charming man? Listen to people talk French all evening under the stars on the lawns of the French Embassy. From the way he saidFestival du Film Francophone, Klao was sure he was fluent in Fren
ch! He could explain what they were saying to her, because she wouldn’t have a clue. She never paid attention in her French classes. Of course she would go with him! She would go to the ends of the earth with him…
“Klao?”
Klao turned and looked into the button round face of Marvin Stewart. He was standing there with Sheena. He was smiling at her. Sheena wasn’t. Klao was suddenly jarred back to reality. She was sitting in her sexy gym outfit having smoothies with a gorgeous guy when Matt was waiting at home for her! And now she was caught red handed by Matt’s best friend. But she was not doing anything, she told herself. She was just having a smoothie.
“Sheena! Marvin! What are you guys doing here?” She hopped off her stool and went to give Marvin a kiss.
“Sheena insists I join a gym!” Marvin explained. “Said I am getting too fat. So we are just looking around this one.”
“But you are not fat, Marvin. You are cuddly! Like the Pillsbury dough boy!” She poked his stomach. “Whoo hoo!”
Marvin chuckled. Sheena did not smile.
“Who’s your friend, Klao?” She asked, looking at Chad.
“Oh, this is Chad!” Klao said, introducing them. “Chadwick Johaar, these are my friends Marvin and Sheena Stewart.”
“My pleasure!” Chad shook Marvin’s hand, but Sheena pretended not to notice that he meant to shake hers too. “Would you care to join us for a smoothie?”
“No,” Sheena replied before Marvin could accept. “We have to go. Come Marvin.” As they walked away, she turned and added, “Klao, when you see Matt later, tell him I said hi!”
Klao blushed to the tip of her toes. In her own snarky way, Sheena had accused her of cheating on Matt. And she was not wrong. She should not be having smoothies with Chad and considering going out with him. She was seeing Matt. She never told him she was his girlfriend, but it was implied – wasn’t it? Chad was saying something.
“Excuse me?”
“Your friend is a bit strange, isn’t she?”
“Sheena? She is just antisocial!” Klao said with a smile. “It’s phenomenal how she ended up married to a jolly guy like Marvin. Thanks for the smoothie, Chad, but I have to run…”
“About the film?”
Klao shook her head. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m actually – uh – seeing someone, and I don’t think he would agree with us going out…”
Chad smiled quickly to hide his disappointment. “Of course you’re seeing someone. You are Klao Persaud!”
Klao smiled sadly. “So I’ll see you around?”
“Of course!” Chad was the ultimate gentleman. “I’ll spot you in the weight room if you like.”
Klao waved and left the juice bar. She did not look back at Chad. Why oh why hadn’t he spoken to her months earlier? She wondered. This time God was four months late, andnot on time! How awesome ‘Klao Persaud Johaar’ would sound! She would name their little half South African baby ‘Soraya’. But Matt was a good, kind man, and he really liked her. Perhaps like all the other smooth fellows she had met, men with accents like Vishal Chadeesingh, he would have treated her like crap. She pulled her BlackBerry from her gym bag and dialled Matt’s number.
“Hey where are you?” Matt asked the second he picked up. “I thought you said I should come over at 8!”
“I’m so sorry, but my trainer came this evening and he wanted to do an hour with me!” Klao blushed from her lie. “I should have called. I am so sorry!”
“It’s okay!” Matt said good-naturedly. “It’s my fault for making you fat.”
Klao felt like a worm. “Are you still there?”
“No. I walked Minx for you, though. Then I had to pick up Mary. Remember she is fixing the dent on her swift? I just dropped her home, so I think I will just head up myself.”
“I’m sorry Matt! Can I see you tomorrow?”
“Of course! Call me when you get home, okay.”
“Okay!” Klao got into her car and turned the ignition. She felt so bad for blowing off Matt and lying to him. She felt even worse since he had been so understanding. Chad was cute, but he was not Matt. He was not her preacher man who made her laugh, and helped her understand God more, and who babysat Caitlin and made her salmon… She wanted to be with Matt, and no one else. She just had to find a way to get Chad’s lips and his dimples and his accent out of her mind.
***
“Klao come to my office now please?”
“I’ll be right there, Mrs Reyes!”
Klao wondered why Mrs Reyes wanted to see her. Ever since the June Charles case, Mrs Reyes was not being nice anymore. She found every excuse to criticise Klao’s work and to make her feel as though she was inept at her job. Klao smoothed her palms down the front of her tailored suit and made her way to her boss’s office.
“Yes, Mrs Reyes?”
Betty Ann Reyes looked over the top of her square framed glasses. “Klao, why does it say here that Reyes Green is counsel for one Rupert Bennett in a matter against the Attorney General of Jamaica, which I know nothing about?”
Klao winced. She had not wanted Mrs Reyes to find out she was taking Rupert’s case to court. She had asked Miss Lawrence to file the paperwork after the mediation had not gone so well, naming her, and not the firm, as the counsel for the plaintiff. She should have known Ms Lawrence would have mucked the whole thing up. Now she could not hide her ‘on the side case’ any longer.
“I’m sorry, Mrs Reyes. It should not have said that. I should have been named in the court documents. I was helping out a friend of mine… I never…”
“Have you forgotten that your contract stipulates that you only work on matters in the name of the firm and not on your own?”
“No, ma’am,” Klao replied. “But I am doing this pro bono. I did not think I needed to pass a pro bono case through the office, especially since I was just doing it as a favour to a friend.” Mrs Reyes was staring at her, and Klao felt the need to explain. “Rupert is a homeless man I met at the Inn where I volunteer on Sundays. I did not think you would want this case…”
“So let me get this straight. You have entered Reyes Green as counsel for an insane individual?”
“He’s not insane, Mrs Reyes. He’s homeless, and he was the victim of police brutality. He’s not even homeless anymore. He lives at the Wayside Inn… Besides, as I said, it should have stated that Klao Persaud is the counsel for the plaintiff, not Reyes Green. I will file a Notice of Change of Attorneys immediately…”
“No, Klao. You will phone up the AG immediately, apologise for this nonsense, and drop the case.”
“Excuse me, Mrs Reyes?”
“Reyes Green has a reputation to uphold, and I will not have one of my associates suing the Attorney General on a matter like this. I am very disappointed in you, Klao. You should have known better! Since when does Reyes Green defend vagrants?”
“But Mrs Reyes, we have a solid case!” Klao argued. “Rupert is not a vagrant. He is a human being who was beaten up and set on fire by the police on more than one occasion. Because he is – was – homeless does not mean that he deserves to have his rights trampled on…”
“I don’t know what kind of crusade you are on!” Mrs Reyes interrupted. “But let me remind you that the name on the letter head is still Reyes Green, and we do not now or ever take the AG to court on cases of this nature. If you want to champion the cause of the depraved and downtrodden of Kingston City, go and work with Jamaicans for Justice!”
“But…”
“Drop the case, Klao!” Mrs Reyes repeated. “I am not telling you again. And the next time you take on ‘pro bono cases’, I would very much appreciate it if you passed them by me first. That’s all!”
Klao did not respond. She flounced back to her office. She was not dropping the case. Rupert deserved his day in court. She had promised him ten million dollars, and she was going to get him ten million dollars. She would not let him down, and she would not let Matt down. Ever since Persaud Enterprises had donated the two million
dollars to the Inn, there had been so many changes. There were beds and food and clothes for the homeless people. There was a fresh coat of paint for the walls, and fresh linoleum on the floor. And ever since Klao had told Rupert she was helping him, he had become so much better. He now even worked at the Inn doing janitorial duties while living there, and Matt gave him a small stipend every fortnight. How could she drop the case?
Grumbling to herself, Klao filled out the Notice of Change of Attorneys form and stuck it into a plain brown envelope and placed it in her out-tray. With any luck, it would be in the hands of the court registrar by that afternoon. She would call up Sheryl, the registrar, who was also a member of St. Andrew, and tell her to send the notice back to her directly. That way, Mrs Reyes would never find out.
Klao felt pleased with herself. She could not in all faith let down Rupert, and most of all, she could not let down Matt. She knew she could easily pass the matter on to one of her other colleagues in a different firm, but she wanted to do it. She felt she owed Matt. She wanted to get a huge settlement for Matt. She glanced at the clock on her desk. It was four fifteen on Wednesday afternoon. She would leave work at five and do a couple of hours at the gym. Hopefully, she would not run into Chad. Then she would go home and have a nice warm bath and wait for Matt to come over after church. They had amended their rule about visiting after 9, and had extended the time until 10. She could not wait to see him. She would tell him how Mrs Reyes wanted her to drop Rupert’s case, and he would cuddle with her on the couch, and tell her that he would help her pray Mrs Reyes’ bad mood away. They had been praying about Mrs Reyes’ bad mood for weeks now. Klao expected a positive answer from Heaven soon. She sighed and turned to the file in front of her. In the meantime, she had to continue working and doing a good job, so Mrs Reyes would not have a reason to complain.
***
Matt shut down the laptop computer on his desk in the vestry and replaced a few files into the cabinet drawer. He glanced at his watch. It was 8:15. Wednesday night prayer meeting was almost over. He could hear the congregation singing the closing song. He would not be going out to make any announcements tonight. He was leaving that job to Elder Maragh. Matt had lost track of the time at the Inn, and had not got the chance to go back to Long Mountain and change before going to church. He had apologised profusely to the young couple he had met with for counselling for turning up in his tattered old jeans and T-shirt. With the traffic that was on the road after he left the Inn, by the time he got to Long Mountain and back, he would have missed the session. It was time, Matt decided, to take Mary’s advice and keep a clean suit at the church and one at the Inn, since he was always shuffling in between.