Black Box

by C. M. Okonkwo

  “It’s just 3.15pm, and the last time I checked, the office closed later than this. Everyone, move to the pool office now for the ideas session, but before we start, we need to find out how the box miraculously came back to Clara’s table, since she claims she wasn’t the one.”

  The opinions and suggestions immediately started to pour in after they were all seated.

  Another fifteen minutes passed and they couldn’t get to the bottom of the mystery, so Mr. Charles decided to move forward with the session. They were going to pick only one idea at random, then complete the process on Monday morning. Heartbeats started to race, as no one wanted their own ‘idea’ to be picked.

  Mr. Charles then opened the Ideas Box... it was empty!

  ***

  Clara glanced at her wristwatch; it was 4.15pm. They had all been sitting in the pool office for approximately forty-five minutes, going back and forth on the missing contents of the box. From hiding the box, Mr. Charles now accused her of having taken the contents, but he never said why. She was the scapegoat in all cases, since she was responsible for the box and its contents.

  At a point, Mr. Charles started to sound like he was fighting for a cause. In fact, he said that he was fighting for his people, for their precious ideas that he wanted to turn into big projects, and their hopes and dreams that he wanted to keep alive. Clara had to produce the contents of the box whether she liked it or not, or she was going to get fired on the spot.

  Clara wasn’t sure what the motive was anymore and didn’t even know if Mr. Charles’s concern was genuine. If she could recall, he, too, wanted his idea back, meaning that he was among the people who wouldn’t have wanted the ideas session to hold, but he was acting like he wanted it to. It was all pretence to her.

  After trying to defend herself with no luck, Clara came up with her own theory. “Sir, I believe you set everything up,” she said to Mr. Charles.

  Everyone turned to look at her, then turned back to look at Mr. Charles, afraid of what he might say. Mr. Charles blinked several times, but said nothing, so Clara continued.

  “Do you all remember what happened earlier this afternoon? Mr. Charles insisted that we hold the emergency meeting upstairs in the training room, when we could have held it down here. And while we were there, he asked me to get him bottled water, when Enoh could have gotten it for him. When I came downstairs to get the bottled water from the fridge, I couldn’t have seen anyone or seen the box on my table, because I passed through the back stairs and didn’t come into the pool office. And shortly after I gave Mr. Charles the water, he sent a text message and got one back a few minutes later. That was when he ended the meeting and asked all of us to go, also claiming that he was feeling hot.” She emphasised on the ‘hot.’

  “I don’t know where you are headed, but continue,” Mr. Charles said. “At least we can all agree that the training room was hot.”

  “But you knew it was hot, yet we stayed there for an hour until you got the text message that made you end the meeting.”

  “I don’t know what you mean by that, Clara. I received more than twenty text messages this morning alone, and even more this afternoon.”

  “But only one of them made you end the meeting and send us downstairs. I’m sure it’s still on your phone, but I can’t ask you to produce your phone so that I can verify.”

  “Of course, you can, but it would mean you seeing all my other personal messages, all in the name of supporting your ridiculous theory.”

  As the back and forth went on, murmuring could be heard, and it was sure that everyone had had it. Chinelo instantly leaned towards the intercom, picked up the receiver and called the security post. She waited briefly, then the security officer on duty answered. “Courage,” she said. “Please, come into the office right now.” She hung up before he could reply.

  From the glass windows, the whole office could see Courage running into the office as if he was running for his life. He entered the office, shocked to see everyone looking at him, then he greeted. He wasn’t sure who had called him on the intercom, so he looked at Clara.

  “Did you see who brought that box into the office today?” Chinelo pointed at the box on Clara’s desk through the glass wall.

  Courage then realised who had called him. He looked at the box, then looked at Chinelo and nodded. “Oga’s driver brought it in, ma.”

  “That Samson must be an idiot,” Mr. Charles lamented immediately, yelling. He shook his head and looked at his staff members, who looked at him with accusing stares. The good thing was that no one could challenge him or throw questions at him, simply because of the position he held. He was suddenly grateful for that.

  At that instant, Samson ran into the pool office from the reception. He had heard his name and thought his boss was calling him.

  “Oga, you called me?” Samson asked, as soon as he saw Mr. Charles.

  “My friend, get out of here right now!” Mr. Charles yelled at him. “Nonsense.”

  Samson was gone faster than he had arrived.

  “You can also go,” Chinelo said to Courage.

  “Thank you, ma,” he replied, then dashed off. Everyone saw him run back to his duty post from the glass wall, then they returned their focus to the case at hand... Mr. Charles.

  They all sat in silence as Mr. Charles explained that he had come back to the office alone on Wednesday night. He had the key to the office, of course. He had greeted the security man that was there — he didn’t know his name, but he knew that it was a different person from the one he was seeing today, who Chinelo called ‘Courage.’ He was glad when he came to the office the next morning to find another security man there.

  So on Wednesday night, he took the box and drove back home with it, but it was not until Thursday morning on his way to work that he opened the box and saw that it was empty. That was his mistake. He could have just checked the box before going home on Wednesday night, and then replaced it, since it was going to be more difficult to replace the box the next day.

  He was confused, because he didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know who had the contents of the box, and he didn’t know what would happen if someone saw his own ‘idea.’ Above all, he didn’t know how he would replace the box unannounced. He had to wait until later that Thursday night to do so... but he forgot.

  On Thursday, he had asked for the emergency meeting for Friday, not because he wanted a means to replace the box, but because he really wanted to find the contents. But during the meeting, he had an idea, and an opportunity presented itself, so he indeed sent Clara to get the bottled water from downstairs so that he could set her up. He didn’t know that Samson would not hide what he was doing, as he had been instructed via text message, and that was how Courage saw him. So in conclusion, Mr. Charles had absolutely no idea where the contents were. And with that, he finished his explanation.

  It was clear that his staff members had things to say, but couldn’t say them. So Mr. Charles started explaining to them what he hadn’t been asked, and after it was also clear that he was just talking to himself and wasting his own time, he kept shut. And in that moment of silence, he looked at all of them, one after the other, wondering who really had the contents of the box... and who now knew his secret.

  It was as quiet as a library in the pool office that the footsteps they all heard coming down the stairs sounded like thunderbolts. One would have thought that Goliath was in the building. They all turned and looked towards the stairs, and saw Happiness, the office cleaner. She had earphones dipped into her ears and saw everyone staring at her; she probably wondered why. She simply bowed her head, saying a greeting that no one heard, then went to empty the bins.

  She started from Mr. Charles’s office, then the conference room. She then excused herself and took the one from the pool office. Some wires were haphazardly on the floor and she almost tripped over them... although it wasn’t sure if it was because all eyes were on her that she had almost tripped. She wanted to empty the trash qu
ickly and run off. At the same time, Mr. Charles didn’t want to say any other thing until she was gone, so he remained quiet.

  Happiness proceeded to the Marketing and Operations office and emptied the trash into her big dustbin bag. She then emptied the one that was just beside the toilet. Everyone watched her. She seemed to be better entertainment than Mr. Charles, who had wasted their whole afternoon. Finally, she entered the HR office and emptied the bin. Before she left, she opened the black box and looked inside it. She didn’t see anything, so she closed it back.

  “Happiness, come here,” Clara immediately yelled, shocked.

  “Yes, ma.” Happiness ran out of the office and went to the pool office.

  “Why did you open that box?”

  “Sorry, ma, I thought it was a waste paper box. It was on the floor the other time.”

  “Have you emptied it before?” Mr. Charles asked.

  Happiness nodded. “I emptied it on Wednesday, sir. I saw it on the floor, that’s why I did.”

  Mr. Charles looked at Enoh, the Admin Officer. “What day does LAWMA empty the main trash at the back?”

  “On Thursday mornings, sir,” Enoh replied.

  Enoh had no idea, but she had just satisfied everyone that had dropped something in the black box, herself included... although it was truly Happiness that made it happen.

  ***

  Mr. Charles sighed a great sigh of relief. For one thing, LAWMA had buried his secret, and thereby, buried all the evidence. He wasn’t going to get a third divorce. He had written a love letter to his girlfriend. He could have sent an email, but his first wife had caught him once and they had gotten a divorce, and so did his second wife, so he wasn’t going to let that happen a third time. He now resorted to handwritten letters. He thought he had put his one-page idea into the box, but later realised that it was his one-page love letter. He was relieved.

  Clara was also happy. She had put in a photocopy of her driver’s licence and it revealed her age... her real age. She had claimed to be twenty-five years old in order to get a job in a fast paced, youth-filled company, but her driver’s license revealed thirty-seven years old.

  Chinelo had put in a phone number. It was just no ordinary phone number, but the number of a contact person in Flyinchronics Nigeria, the main competitor of Inflygroovics. She had contemplated selling business secrets to the rivals, but changed her mind. No one would have believed her if she said that she didn’t call her contact person after she got the number. She was now glad that the information was gone and that she didn’t have the number saved on her phone either. She suddenly changed her mind about selling company information ever.

  Evangeline smiled from within. Her half naked picture showing her baby bump and other body parts that the general public ought not to see was now destroyed. She said to herself that she was going to buy Happiness lunch the next week. She didn’t know what she would have done if the picture had been displayed in front of the whole office.

  Eugene also smiled from within, even though he kept complaining that his money had gone down the drain. He said he had squeezed up about five thousand naira and was going to ask the Finance office to refund the money. But in reality, it was only fifty naira that was wrapped up in the paper. No one would ever know that... only himself, the black box, the bottom of the dustbin bag and the LAWMA truck. He was still going to try his luck with the Finance office.

  Nichole was ecstatic. During the whole Market Knowledge session, she had communicated with Otito, sending small written notes to him. They were a secret couple in the office and never wanted anyone to suspect them, so they passed notes to each other. Since they were both single, they had nothing to hide, but Otito wanted to keep things on the down-low for a while. The contents of the notes ranged from declaration of love to general office gossip about everyone. Nichole was meant to shred the document, but when she entered the HR office, she was so confused and lost in love that she shredded her idea and put her love-gossip note in the black box. She only realised what she had done when the love clouds left her eyes.

  Abu was satisfied that no one would ever know the code of his ATM card, since he had put a photocopy of it inside the ideas box, and thereby cause any harm to the financial security of the country... whatever that meant. He was suffering from extreme paranoia and also thought that people were out there to steal his money. He had even made photocopies of the card, so that he could carry them around instead of the real card. After this experience, he was going to make photocopies, but write over the card number, so that even if anyone found the copy, they wouldn’t be able to see the complete numbers. He must have surely forgotten that he still needed the real card, either way.

  Otito was the happiest of all. His mistake was putting up a print version of a picture his real girlfriend had sent to him. She was living abroad. She was fifty-five years old and she was a white woman. She had been taking care of him for a while, sending him money and other things, and he promised to marry her. He was going to get a Romanian passport out of the marriage. He didn’t care what she was going to get out of it. He had told Nichole that he was single, so there was no way the picture could come out, especially as his girlfriend had left a message on it: “To the best boyfriend in the world: Otito! From your sweetheart: Tatiana.”

  On a similar note, Enoh was the second happiest of all. She had put an invoice in the box instead of her ideas. The invoice wasn’t an ordinary invoice. It was one that she was making... a forged invoice. She had spent some time creating fake invoices so that she could extort a lot of money from the Finance office. She couldn’t imagine what she would have done if she had been discovered. She compared the experience with a near-death experience, and promised to never make fake invoices again.

  With that, everyone sighed, relieved that their secrets were either swimming with rotten tomatoes, old clothes and every other garbage in the bottom of a trash truck, or already being burnt to ashes. Shortly after the brief silence, the meeting ended and everyone went back to their desks. That marked the end of the black box... until further notice.

  ***

  Happiness was in the bus going home. It was 5.10pm, and she had left the office by 5.00pm sharp, as she normally did when she was done emptying the bins and taking out the trash. She opened the small pouch she usually carried with her and brought out all the pieces of paper she had taken from the black box... all the secrets.

  She knew that everyone talked about the black box, but she didn’t know why. She had taken the contents out on Wednesday and kept them in her pouch. She had actually forgotten about them until the long debate about the box that went on in the office for two days. It wasn’t until Clara asked about the box that she remembered she still had them, but she dared not mention that she had kept them, so she lied that she had emptied the box, thinking it contained trash.

  As she rode in the bus, she started going through all the pieces of paper. Sometimes she smiled, sometimes she raised her eyebrows and used one hand to cover her mouth, and other times, she had no clue what the paper was talking about or trying to hide, but she was willing to find out.

  When she was done going through the contents, she put all of them back in her pouch and started thinking of what she would do with them. She smiled, then she thought about her empty bank account and smiled again. She then put her earphones into her ears and nodded away to the song that she started listening to as she remembered the list of staff telephone numbers that was pasted on the notice board in the office.

  Until Monday... she thought.

  *****

  About the author

  C. M. Okonkwo is a Nigerian author who grew up in Lagos and moved to France to study, where she obtained a B.Sc. in Business Administration and Management, an M.Sc. in Personnel and Employment Management, and an advanced M.Sc. in International HR Management and Development. A lover of travel and tourism, her writing ideas and style are inspired by experiences gained in different countries she has lived in and visited.

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sp; Author’s Note

  If you wish to keep in touch with me or give me some feedback on my book, please use any of the links below. I’ll be happy to hear from you.

  For more information about my book and my ongoing projects, visit my Website.

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  *****

  Editing by Laybels Publishing.

  Cover image by C. M. Okonkwo

  *****

  This story was inspired by a Product Knowledge session at InfoGraphics Nigeria Limited. It is therefore dedicated to the InfoGraphics Family.

  *****

  Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

  Novels:

  The XIth Hour, Thriller/Suspense, 2013

  Thirteen Suspects, Erotic/Suspense, 2014

  Desperate Women Series: Literary/Suspense

  Dim Noo Abroad #1, 2014

  Yankee Based Wives #2, 2016

  Twenty-One Days, Literary/Suspense, 2015

  Novellas:

  The Angela Hunter Series: Mystery/Suspense

  Closed Door #1, 2013

  Jammed Door #2, 2014

  Locked Door #3, 2015

  Blocked Door, #4, 2016

  Short Stories:

  Ziora’s Surprise, Thriller/Suspense, 2013

  Finding Love, Romance/Suspense, 2015

  Black Box, Mystery/Suspense, 2015