"My name is Amanda Howells." Amanda said with a broad smile.
"I'm Kathleen Okorie. I guess you're aware in going to be your caretaker whenever your father is absent?" Kathleen asked with a kind smile.
"Caretaker?" Amanda frowned in confusion.
"What I mean is, I'm going to be your babysitter. I figured you were too grown up and wouldn't like to be referred to as a baby, hence I chose to call myself your caretaker instead." Kathleen explained making Amanda giggle while Pete smiled at her thoughtfulness.
"You haven't told me where you live." Pete said when they got to an intersection on the road, "Should I go left or right?"
"Right. I live in Shogunle. I'm sure you don't know where that is, I will just direct you." Kathleen offered.
"Why would you assume I don't know where Shogunle is?" Pete asked in amusement.
"Well... You don't just seem the type." Kathleen said with a shrug.
"I suppose you're saying this because I'm speaking English with American accent? I be Omo eko o." Pete said making Kathleen laugh.
"I guess anybody can say that." Kathleen said before turning to look at Amanda, "So how old are you, Amanda?"
"I will be eight years old on Christmas day." Amanda said with a grin, grateful that Kathleen was including her in the conversations. "Kathleen, may I call you Kat?"
Kathleen looked at Amanda, she had heard that kids born abroad usually lacked respect, and this just proved it. She couldn't even add 'aunty' 'sister' or even 'Miss' to the Kat.
As though Pete could read her mind, he glanced at his daughter, "You should say aunty Kat."
"But she isn't my aunty." Amanda told her father in confusion.
"She doesn't have to be your aunty to be called that. I told you things are done differently here in Nigeria. Hopefully she will teach you that." Pete said.
"Can't I just call you Kat?" Amanda asked again.
"Sure." Kathleen told her with a small smile. The little girl was too cute to be given a knock. If it was one of those ajekpako kids in her neighborhood that tried this, she would have given them a resounding knock.
"We are here. So where exactly do you live?" Pete said as he drove into her neighborhood.
"Oh! No, you can just drop me here. I don't want them to see me getting out of such a car." Kathleen lied.
"Really? Why?" He asked curiously. He would have thought she would be proud of them seeing her getting out of such a luxurious car.
"This is Nigeria. I don't want my neighbors to gossip, so I'll just get down and walk down to my house. It's not far from here, so you have nothing to worry about. Thanks for bringing me home." Kathleen said with a polite smile before turning to look at Amanda.
"It's been nice meeting you, I hope we can get along really well."
"I hope so too." Amanda said with a grin.