On Time (Persaud Girl)

by Teisha Mott

  “I have to go…”

  “Matthew!” Klao held on to his arm. “I am asking you one last time to forgive me. We have something special. We are good together. Before you walk away from me and destroy whatever chance we might actually have at having a relationship, I'm asking you to please stop and think about this. Is this really what you want? Is this really the way you want things to end between us?”

  Matt looked at her. She was pleading with him. He really wanted to be with her, more than anything. But between Pastor Young’s ultimatum, and Klao’s own admission – he didn’t believe she meant to be cruel, but it was still the truth: they were from two different worlds – he knew what he had to do. He had to let her go, even if it meant that she would continue to think that he had not forgiven her.

  “I’m sorry, Klao,” he whispered. “I have to go.”

  He walked away, and Klao felt the world get dark.

  “Matt!”

  He paused and looked at her. “And it would be a good idea if you did not come to the Inn tomorrow.”

  ***

  Klao stared blankly at her computer screen and wondered if there would come a time in her life when she would be happy again. At least she had stopped crying. That awful Sabbath, her last at St. Andrews, she had to make a hasty retreat from Church, because after Matt had told her it was over, she had been practically inconsolable. Samantha, Andie and Bianca had the Herculean task of double comforting, as Caitlin too was in tears, because she was convinced that it was her fault that Matt would not be ‘Auntie Klao’s daddy’. The best thing about her messed-up relationship, she decided, was that she had been sufficiently depressed over the past few weeks to drop eight unwanted pounds. For the first time in a long while she was back to being less than 120!

  It was Wednesday again. That evening would be one month since the disastrous fight. It was also a very important day for Klao, as it was day one of Rupert’s matter. And to make matters worse, she was going up in front of Judge Peter Malcolm, Samantha’s father-in-law. It was 8:15 in the morning. Klao was not sure why she was at her desk so early. Perhaps it was because she had not slept the night before and had started getting dressed from five in the morning. She had gone to the Wayside Inn that Sunday. Although Matt did not want her there, she did not have a choice. She had to prep Rupert for court. But Matt had been kind enough not to show up that day, so there would be no awkwardness. After the Inn, she had spent the rest of the day with Grandma. Grandma had asked her to invite Matt over for dinner. She had woven a tale for her grandmother about Matt being out of town that Sunday.

  Whether Grandma bought it or not, she knew it was only a matter of time before she had to explain to her and Grandpa, and to her parents, and to everybody, that she and Matt were history. Klao wished that they could at least remain friends. In an hour and a half, she would be heading into court, and she would not have a text message from Matt to be her support. She reached for her BlackBerryand scrolled way back to the first message he had sent her: ‘The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship. Have a gr8 day!’ Tears sprung to her eyes but she blinked them back. That was not a morning to get emotional. She was sneaking over to court to bat for Rupert, and she had to be strong because those AG Attorneys were ruthless. She just wished she had Matt… Klao took a decision. Like the sadist/stalker she was on the inside, she opened her persaudent email and typed a message:

  From: klao.m.persaud@persaudent.com

  To: mattstjames@emailja.com

  Subject: Friends?

  Dear Matt:

  I know that things between us right now have gone well beyond repair, and I would never presume to make them right or better with an email. I just wanted to tell you again that I am truly sorry. I am sorry for our fight, I am sorry for ruining what we had, and I am sorry for hurting you. I also wanted you to know that I miss you. I miss our friendship. I miss getting text messages from you and hearing your voice on the phone… I miss you telling me that everything at work will be okay…. the only thing that has kept me going for the past few months was our connection…Being with you and going to church made me feel like I was a part of something special, and I miss that. Despite everything that has happened, I find it hard not to think about us, and however far off it may be, I look forward to the day that we can be friends again.

  Always,

  Klao

  She re-read the email two times, and convincing herself that she did not sound needy and desperate (Samantha had warned her about being needy and desperate), she clicked on send, and watched as her message to Matt made its way through cyber space. She hoped that when Matt got it, he would be overcome with longing and call her up so they could talk and finally put all this nonsense behind them. Love was not easy, Klao decided, as she opened Rupert’s file. 8:25. She might as well look it over once more before it was show time. At least it would help her take her mind off Matt. She stared at the file, not really seeing the words.

  Ding!

  The sound of a new email message coming into her inbox caused Klao to jump. She maximised the screen and her heart fell to her feet. It was from mattstjames@emailja.com. The subject line read ‘Off the hook’. The cursor halted over the open button. Klao was dying to see what Matt had said. Was he going to say she was off the hook and he would forgive her and they could start over or pick up where they left off? That had to be it. What else could ‘off the hook mean’? Apart from being with Matt again, she wanted to be friends with Mary and Marvin – not so much Sheena, who had reported her for canoodling with Chad. And she wanted to go back to St. Andrews. Kingsway with Andie and Nathan was just not the same. She wanted things to go back to the way they were.

  Klao finally opened the email. It was not what she expected.

  Sender: mattstjames@emailja.com

  To: klao.m.persaud@persaudent.com

  Subject: Off the hook

  Klao:

  You’re off the hook. I have never really put much faith in the adage “if you love something, set it free”, and I am not going to start now. I meant it when I said I loved you, and a little part of me probably always will. But obviously, Klao, we were not meant to be together. You are perfectly right. We are two very different people from two very different worlds, and two cannot walk together unless they agree. I don’t think, in the long run, I would be able to make you happy, and it is very important to me that you be happy. I want you to be with someone who can give you everything you want, and be all that you want them to be. I want you to be with someone who can fit comfortably into your life, and I want you to be with someone who will make you feel the same way that I feel when I am with you. I guess the point of this long and senseless email is that I don’t want you to feel guilty about hurting my feelings, and the fact that we are not together anymore and whatever role you might have played in that. I am sure that our relationship has worked out exactly how God wanted it. We were in each other’s lives for a season, and now that season has ended. So don’t worry anymore. You are off the hook.

  Be blessed,

  Matthew

  Klao numbly reread the email. She was ‘off the hook’? She did not need to feel guilty anymore? Matt thought she was emailing him because she felt guilty? And what was that crap about wanting her to be with someone who made her happy? Didn’t that – that – that – ignoramus realise that he was the only one who could make her happy? Tears of anger, frustration and total helplessness and hopelessness formed in her eyes. She was off the hook? She was off the stinking hook? Klao resisted the urge to shove the widescreen computer off her desk along with her files that she had laid out for court.

  “Klao, what the hell is this!” Betty Ann Reyes burst into her office. She was as red as a tomato, and Klao realised that the gig was up.

  “Excuse me, Mrs Reyes?” Klao had learned when she was very little that one of the best defences against punishment was feigning ignorance.

  “Don’t play with me, Miss Persaud!” Mrs Reyes shot. “Did I or did I not tell you a mont
h ago that you were to drop this suit against the Attorney General Department?”

  “Well, you said that you did not want Reyes Green on the books as counsel for Mr Bennett,” Klao said, trying to remain calm. Between Matt’s email and Mrs Reyes attacking her, she felt as though she would snap and kill someone. “Well, I removed Reyes Green and I am defending Mr Bennett on my own.”

  “You know damn well that was not what I said!” Mrs Reyes returned. “How dare you defy me so openly? Who do you think you are?”

  “I am an Attorney-at-Law, Mrs Reyes! Rupert Bennett is a victim. It is my job as an officer of the court to ensure that he gets justice!”

  “It is your job as an associate of Reyes Green to do as I say!”

  Mrs Reyes continued to quarrel at her. Klao was getting fed up. Matt had got her into this situation. He had introduced her to Rupert in the first place. Mrs Reyes was yelling at her because of him, and she was off the hook? She was sick of all of it. She was sick of begging Matt to forgive her. She was sick of Mrs Reyes moaning at her all the time. She was sick of being classified as a Persaud snob. The only thing she honestly was not sick of at that moment was Rupert, and the fact that she was going to get him ten million dollars. Her BlackBerry chimed reminding her she had forty-five minutes to get over to the Supreme Court. She locked her computer and began to gather her files. She stuffed her white collar into her Louis Vuitton briefcase.

  “Where do you think you are going?” Betty Ann Reyes snapped.

  “To court! I have Mr Bennett’s case to present before Judge Malcolm. When I get back, Mrs Reyes, you can have my three month notice.”

  Mrs Reyes looked at her from over her glasses, and Klao stared back defiantly. Who the hell was she indeed? She was Klao Melissa Persaud. She was a damn good litigator, and she did not need to take any crap from anyone – Matt St. James and Betty Ann Reyes included.

  Finally, Mrs Reyes spoke. “That will not be necessary, Klao,” she said softly.

  “Excuse me?” Klao could not believe that Mrs Reyes was going to ask her not to quit. But really, now that she had said it, she was not going to renege. She’d had enough of Reyes Green. It was time to move on. Maybe to another firm or Jamaicans for Justice, or maybe Persaud Enterprises….

  “You do not have to give three months’ notice!” The senior partner repeated. “When you get back from court, you may clear out your desk! You’re fired.”

  ***

  Klao nervously paced the corridor outside the chamber where her matter was to be held. This was not a good day. It was only nine thirty in the morning, and she had already lost her friend and her job. Not even her favourite bench could give her solace at that time. She had lost her job. No more dealing with Mrs Reyes’ moods; no more waking up early and fighting traffic to get downtown; no more trotting over to court; no more representing clients on behalf of the firm; no more Marlene or Anella or Ms Lawrence or membership at Gymkhana. She was off the hook. That was what Matt had said ‘You are off the hook. No need to feel guilty…’ She did not mind so much being off the hook as far as Reyes Green was concerned. But being off the hook with Matt was tearing her apart. There was a lump in her throat that was not this time caused from pre-court jitters.

  “Shake it off, Klao!” She told herself. “You have to be strong for Judge Malcolm, and you have to be strong for Rupert…”

  That was when it hit her. Rupert was not there! The lump in Klao’s throat was increasing exponentially. She had told him where to meet her, and what time. She had expressed to him on Sunday how important it was for him to turn up. He was her first witness, and just looking at him would put Judge Malcolm in her corner. If he did not turn up, she was screwed.

  Twenty minutes to ten, and Klao was officially nervous. She ran outside to look around. Maybe Rupert had gotten lost. The Supreme Court could be a maze. No sign of him, and it was fifteen minutes before ten. Without Rupert, Judge Malcolm was going to throw the case out. She would have lost her job for nothing. She began to get angry. This was all Matt’s fault, and she was off the hook.

  Klao pulled out her BlackBerry and dialled Matt’s number. As expected, it went to voice mail, but Klao still had to bite back a scream of frustration. She needed him to answer this time and tell her where the hell her client was.

  “Listen, Matthew!” She snapped into the phone. “I got your message loud and clear. You don’t want to talk to me. Fine. You don’t want to be my friend. Whatever. I don’t care anymore. I am not calling you to beg you anything. I am calling you because Rupert is not here. He has to be here in fifteen – no, thirteen minutes, or this case is going down the toilet. Get him here please. Not a favour to me, but for his own best interest and yours. Thank you!”

  The minutes ticked by. No sign of Rupert. No call back from Matt. Klao began to wonder if Matt had just deleted her messages without bothering to listen to them. No, because he read her e-mail… And responded… She realised that although he was a Minister, he was not much better than that stupid Vishal Chadeesingh.

  Ten o’clock. Klao had no choice but to go into the court without Rupert. Her only option right now was to appeal to the mercy of Judge Malcolm and request an adjournment. He would agree – not from the goodness of his heart, as most young attorneys had come to realise that Peter Malcolm had no heart, but because he was Caitlin’s grandpa, and she was Caitlin’s aunt/second-cousin. That must count for something!

  She took a deep breath as the clerk announced the case, and passed the docket to Judge Malcolm.

  Klao took her position and glanced over at the Attorney General’s representative, Dean Smith. Dean Smith was short and fat and arrogant, and he looked like a penguin in his court outfit. He was unnaturally verbose, and a former Rhodes Scholar, and was so puffed up, and remarkably full off himself. Dean, Klao recalled, had actually asked her out once! She had been beyond chagrined. Apart from the fact that he was not even remotely attractive inside or outside, he was a prime jackass. How could she go out with someone, she thought, who announced in court that “the deceased was dead”?

  When she turned him down, Dean had told everyone who would listen that Klao was a lesbian. First piece of evidence – she refused to go out with him. Only a lesbian would reject the advances of a catch as fantastic as he was. Second piece of evidence – she worked in the lesbian firm. All the women in Reyes Green were lesbians. It was obvious, since only women, with the exception of the security guard, worked there. Even the bearers were women.

  Klao had not even dignified his comments with a response, although Marlene had been quite put out. She did not like the fact that people thought the women at Reyes Green were lesbians.

  “Well,” Klao thought wryly, “I don’t work at Reyes Green anymore, so I guess I am no longer a lesbian. I guess I am off the hook!”

  She smiled inside at her little private joke.

  “Klao Persaud, appearing for the Plaintiff, My Lord,” Klao said, introducing herself to Justice Malcolm.

  “Klao Persaud? Really?” Justice Malcolm looked at her over his glasses. “You’ve gone solo, Ms Persaud?”

  “Only for this case, My Lord!” She blushed. It would soon become known that she had been fired from Reyes Green.

  “Okay let us get this show on the road,” Judge Malcolm said. “Call your witness please.”

  Her blush deepened. “If it pleases the court, I would like to ask that the matter be adjourned for today…”

  Dean Smith instantly pounced. “Adjourned? Are you kidding me?”

  Klao ignored him and continued to address the judge. “You see my client – my primary witness -- is not here and…”

  Judge Malcolm was not impressed. “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know, My Lord. He is probably running late and…”

  “Running late?” Dean Smith sneered. “My bet is that he is passed out in a ditch somewhere! My Lord, I object to any adjourning…”

  “On what grounds?” Klao asked, annoyed.

  “Rule 39.5, part
B of the Civil Procedures Rule!” Dean cited. “If one or more, but not all, parties appear, the judge may proceed in the absence of the parties who do not appear. You are here, I am here. I don’t see any reason we cannot proceed!”

  “Don’t you quote the CPR to me!” Klao snapped. “I know them as well as you do!”

  “Obviously not, since you are requesting an adjournment!”

  “Did you express to your client the importance of his being present, especially since he is your primary witness?” Judge Malcolm interjected.

  “I did, My Lord!” Klao gave him her best doe-eyed look – the one that neither of her parents was ever able to resist. “And he promised he would be here, but…”

  “Oh so now we are taking the word of a coke head?” Dean Smith chuckled. “How reliable is that?”

  Klao gave him a dirty look. If he did not stop with his snide comments, she was going to punch him. She gripped the desk and prayed for patience and strength.

  “My Lord, my client is not a coke head. He is clean and sober and he even has a job. He is the janitor at the Wayside Inn. When you see him, you will see for yourself the brutality of the officers of the law. He was just homeless, and he has been the victim of a severe crime. I just don’t know what happened to him, and why he is not here right now. Can we please…”

  “Counsel does not seem to be aware that the resources of the court are finite!” Dean interrupted. “Miss Persaud was well knowledgeable of the trial date. Both herself and her client were present at the case management conference, and today’s date was set with her full participation. I do not believe we should hold the court and the defendant at ransom because Ms Persaud is unable to organise her witnesses and get them into court on the specified date, My Lord!”