Very early, on the following morning, Sarah Corridon drove Justina back to the town where she dropped her at her office.
Dawson was always never awake until nine o’clock, and was still sleeping when Justina knocked on his bedroom. His mother had long noticed this habit but apparently overlooked it, not that she liked it. Tired one day with this behavior, she had said: “Dawson it certainly is not a good habit that you should be waking up late every day. It is not that you go to bed late or do some serious work that drains your energy. You will have to stop it in this house,” she concluded.
“Mom, it’s just that l want to get up late and you know there is nothing important for me to do or where to go, thus requiring me to be early out of bed. Anyway, when l have secured a job and started working, the situation will change. You do not expect me to still be in bed if l have work to go, do you?” replied Dawson. His mother had shrugged her shoulders and forgot the matter at that.
Dawson yawned , stretched, got up, and went to the door. He knew it would be Justina and said; “Come in”.
“Good morning”.
“Good morning”, he replied. “Did you sleep well,” he added.
“You bet l did,” smiled Justina. “l am going now” she continued coming to rest on the bed besides him. Taking his face between her hands she said; “how long do l have to wait Dawson? Tell me when are we getting married?
“I don’t really know,” he said shifting his eyes uneasily. “But you know l’m not really settled yet. Why not leave everything until l can find something”. On seeing the blank expression on his face, she asked huskily, "Dawson, do you really love me? "
“That’s not the kind of question to ask this morning. Merely saying that you love a person does not really mean that you do. It is what a person does, l mean the things that you do that shows the love and the degree of love. Now just a minute, why do you ask?”
“Sometimes l wonder if you really love me. You are not developing cold feet for me, have you?”
“Forget it, this is just morning”
“Alright,” she said lazily and added “Are you not going to kiss me good bye?”
Dawson felt cornered and shifted uneasily on the bed. Anyway he did kiss her goodbye at the main hall and thereafter returned to his room to sleep again.
A few minutes before ten o’clock after he had slept to his satisfaction, he got up and went to the kitchen. On his way to the kitchen he heard the children playing in their room and showed his face to say hello to them. Carrying a half-filled flask with hot tea, he took some fried eggs on a plate and seven slice of bread which he carried to his room.
He was sipping his last cup of tea when Augustine blew in. “Well l’ll be damned”, he said as Augustine walked into the room.”How do they say it in our language? You were not talking good of me. That is why you did not meet me in the middle of the food. I was just on my last cup of tea. You are here”, he continued. “I thought you have gone to work. Well what happened?”
“I’m on night shift”
“I see”, he said as he stood up. “Please excuse me , let me go and drop this things in the kitchen. I’ll be back in a moment”.
“Oh! No problem”.
Augustine strolled to the window, parted the curtains and slide open one side of the french windows to allow in fresh air. He sniffed in the fresh cold morning air that immediately blew in. Augustine is a young engineer working with the town’s water board. He takes his work seriously and is particularly interested in the quality of drinking water being consumed in the Estate. Before their family moved into the estate Mr. Corridon has spent a lot of money on water treatment. Treating drinking water has become necessary in these days of profuse waste disposal and spillage of petroleum products into the mangroves. Looking out of the window he thought one of the things that would immediately catch the attention of a visitor was the estate state of serenity, especially now that most of the occupants have gone out to look for their daily bread. Although it was a weekend when the children were normally at home, they are still indoors. When Dawson returned, from the kitchen, he was still by the window. He had a cup of tea for him.
“Ah!, you should have asked me before you do that”, he protested, but still accepted the cup anyway. “Thank you very much. I really am grateful”, he greeted.
“You are welcome”, said Dawson taking his position also by the window.
“Where do you intend to go this morning”, put in Augustine. “I’m not going out just yet”.
“I thought you might want to go to town or something”.
“Yeah!, in the evening perhaps. But now l’m as free as the air”.
I want to talk to you. But could we go over to the tennis court and discuss it there?”
“That sounds good to me “, returned Dawson. “Just give me a couple of minutes to prepare the children and get dressed”. Soon the two men were walking side by side heading for the lawn tennis court just adjacent to the Oyibo’s flat. When they were a few meters from their house Augustine called to his sister to bring the ball and the battens to the court.
“Good morning sir”, greeted Candida when she had brought them.
“good morning”, returned Dawson. “I bet you look like you are going to play too, your dressing can show that”, he suggested smiling.
“Why, of course it’s my best hobby”, she said.
Dawson took one of the battens and Augustine took the other. The court has been designed to standard and built with an eye for aesthetics. It was well lighted such that you can play at any time of the day. The first round of the game was very tough but Dawson lost to Augustine with a very small margin. He equalized in the second round and also won him in the third round. Candida decided to enter the court. Within a few minutes, she has whacked Dawson out of the first round. He couldn’t even equalize in the second round. He was surprised at the speed with which she played. It wasn’t until midday that they stopped playing with the scores mounting on Dawson’s side.
Augustine was the first to speak when they were fully settled down.
“I did say l wanted to talk to you”, he said cracking his throat.”I want you to help me. We have a problem which only you can solve”.
“Me!”, asked Dawson placing his hand on his chest at the same time.
“Yes, you”.
Dawson laughed. “What makes you think l am the only one who can solve it?”
“I have my reasons, but let’s leave them out now. Well it has to do with my sister Candida.”
Dawson’s heart skipped a beat, wondering what was coming next. Augustine continued. “I know you have not seen her before except for our meeting at the river yesterday. She has been living with my uncle in Port Harcourt. She has just finished her school certificate examination, but the result was not too good. As a result she enrolled for the forth coming G.C.E. She needs brushing up in two subjects she failed and which are important for her course, Mathematics and Biology. I intend to teach the Mathematics but I implore you to teach her the Biology. This is where you come in. You know Biology is one of your major subjects and there can’t be any other person in a better position to handle it than you.” Looking intently at Dawson he said: “Dawson, will you help me?”
“That’s okay”,he replied. “You need my help and you can have it”.
“I am grateful. Thank you”, he greeted. “Just how much would you take?”
“Forget about money. There don’t have to be any cheque coming in. If l were in your shoes, l know you will do anything to help me”.
So that was it, and Candida who was returning from the house after dropping the battens heard it all.