Kelvin
I don't know how long I slept or how deep I was out but when I woke up, it was noon. I checked up on my phone and saw 3 missed calls from Eugene. I stretched as I sat up on bed and decided to call Eugene back. It took some few seconds before he answered the call.
"Yo Kelvin, how you doing ?" he inquired.
I scratched my head a bit. "I'm good. I didn't see your call earlier cause I was still asleep."
"Then you must have been very tired yesterday. Cause you just slept for thirteen hours."
I chuckled. "Yesterday was just not my day."
"Has Mr. Boston called you yet ?" he asked. "About the suspension ?"
"No," I replied monotonously. "Not a message or a phone call. So I'm guessing this suspension is currently indefinite."
"This is bad and I'm sorry for what you are going through bro. If only I could help."
"What are you going to do ? Beg Mr. Boston ?"
"I can see him across the restaurant as we speak. I can talk to him for you." Eugene suggested.
"Don't do anything stupid," I cautioned. "Just stay out of this dilemma before you also get into trouble. Let him be. He will surely contact me sooner or later."
"Okay if you say so." he agreed. "So what are you going to do today ?"
I looked around my bedroom. "Uhm, I don't know at the moment but I'm certainly going to eat something soon. And I'll sleep for the remainder of the day I guess."
"Sleep for the remainder of the day ? Your day sure is going to be boring."
"Still none of your business." I joked.
"Idiot." Eugene played along. "Okay, I'm going back to work now. Later bro."
"Alright. Later."
We ended the phone call and I laid flat on my bed for a while. All of a sudden, my stomach started rumbling. I got up and went to my bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. Later on, I got into the kitchen to see what I could whip up. I had only two tubers of yam, a few onions, ginger and garlic. It seemed some of the foodstuffs had been depleted.
I got to my wardrobe, wore some casual clothes and locked my apartment as I left. I went downstairs and exited the building. I went to a provision shop and bought some eggs, tomatoes, oil, spices, pepper and tomato paste.
I got to my apartment and prepared boiled yam with egg stew. I ate to my satisfaction and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. Before I took my shower, I did some push ups and sit ups. I do this normally for about half an hour before showering. I got into bed when I was done showering.
It was thirty minutes past two o'clock when I checked the time. I placed my phone away and resumed my sleeping minutes later on.
As Eugene said, my day was basically a boring one. All I did with most of my time during the day was sleep. I figured that if I'm going back to work at Gusto's, I needed to regain some energy and I didn't need any distractions.
I followed my day plan and woke up at night after my afternoon nap. No phone calls from anyone this time round. I went on to eat the remaining food I had left and washed the dishes. I cruised on social media for a while before taking my bath and going to bed early.
* * *
My Friday morning started on a bad note and it was from a phone call. I woke up when I heard my phone ringing and I saw it was Mr. Boston. I picked up immediately.
"Good morning, Mr. Boston."
"Morning, Kelvin." he replied. "I'm calling to speak to you about the incident that happened two days ago."
I was nervous and anxious to know where Mr. Boston was going with this. I just kept quiet and listened to him talk.
"I've sat down to consider the course of action I should execute on the case and after some thorough thinking, I've arrived at a decision... You are dismissed."
I was speechless, so Mr. Boston continued.
"You should understand that this is nothing personal and I'm doing this for the sake of the restaurant's reputation. I hope you take the news well." he sympathised. "Also, your salary for this month has been paid into your bank account, so that settles your business with the restaurant."
I finally found my voice and I could only utter one word. "Okay."
"Good," he responded. "I wish you good luck in finding a new job. It's been a pleasure working with you. Have a great day."
"Thanks Mr. Boston."
He hanged up and I placed my phone down. I just sat there in bed, playing back what just happened a minute ago.
Honestly, I wasn't too shocked cause I saw it coming. I'm sure the problem was not from the ladies but from the man. I suspect that he must have told Mr. Boston more than what had actually happened. And I'm even guessing, he bribed Mr. Boston to fire me. Congratulations to him, mission accomplished.
Now that I was fired, it meant I would have to look for a new job. But these days, the chances of finding a decent job is thin. When I graduated from the university three years ago, I acquired a degree in Electrical engineering and Computer science. I thought it would be easy to find a job with these degrees but I was wrong.
I tried applying for a job in some electronic companies but there weren't any more jobs available. Luckily, I had a friend working in one of the companies and he assured me that he would inform me if there was a spot for a job and I waited and waited, but no news.
I decided to look for other jobs whiles I wait for my friend and I found a vacancy at Gusto's and got the job. I had worked at Gusto's for two good years and I eventually gave up on working in one of the electronic companies. Now, I'm back to square one.
Well, it's not time to cry over spilled milk. I got up and went about my morning necessities. After eating breakfast, my sister came in mind and I decided to go and pay her a visit.
Hannah is my younger sister who lives together with our mom at West Legon, which is a bit far from where I stay in Achimota. I used to live with them at West Legon but when I got the job at Gusto's, which is situated in Achimota, I had to move to Achimota to cut down transportation costs and avoid going to work late.
Once in a while, I go and visit them but recently, it's been long since I did that. I didn't have anything to do, so I took my bath, dressed up nicely and took a car to West Legon. The journey lasted about 45 minutes due to traffic and I alighted at my destination. I walked through the quiet and serene neighborhood of West Legon till I came to a white painted house.
There was a blue kiosk just beside the house. I walked into the blue kiosk and met Hannah busily sewing a cloth. When she saw me enter, Hannah screamed as she left her work to hug me. After hugging for what seems like forever, we finally broke apart.
"Welcome brother." she greeted enthusiastically. "It's been a long time since we last met."
She offered me a seat and we sat down. "Thanks. I'm sorry for not visiting earlier. Work had been keeping me occupied. But that's not a problem now."
"What do you mean ?" she asked curiously.
"I'll explain later." I promised. "Where's maa ?"
"She's inside the house."
"Well," I stood up. "I'm going to see her."
"Wait for me then." She followed suit. We got out and she locked the kiosk. "You should have informed us you were coming, I would have prepared something nice for you."
"Didn't want to put you and maa through that stress." I laughed. "This was unplanned and unexpected. By the way, aren't you concerned about closing the kiosk ?"
"Oh, it's not a problem." she shrugged. "Customers would come to the house to see if I'm around."
We then walked into the house together.
Hannah is a level 400 student at the University of Ghana and when she's not at lectures, she works part-time by sewing clothes in our mother's shop. When she doesn't have enough money from the work to pay for her tuition, I send money to help and send more for their upkeep every week.
Hannah and I went in one of the various houses on the compound. We entered and got into the living room. My mom wasn't there so we moved to her room and expectedly, she was there, sitting in her wheelchair and facing the window opposite of us.
When my dad had a fatal accident 4 years ago, my mom was so shocked and heartbroken that she had a stroke and fainted on the spot when she heard the news. When she regained consciousness, she couldn't walk and was diagnosed with a rare case of temporary paralysis. Meaning, there are times she can walk but some triggers cause her to be paralyzed for most of the time.
We don't know her triggers and she doesn't know too. So we got her a wheelchair to prevent her from walking too much and falling unexpectedly when her paralysis seems to be gone. The doctors say that eventually, her paralysis will go but four years on, she's still in the wheelchair.
"Maa," Hannah called out. "Kelvin is here."
My mom turned her wheelchair to face us excitedly. She smiled widely when she saw me and tried to get up from her wheelchair to walk towards me, but I was fast and moved towards her to sit her back down.
"Kelvin, let me go," she protested. "I've been trying to perfect my walking and I'm improving."
I let her go and she adjusted herself in the chair. "Better safe than sorry, maa."
"These days, she has been trying to walk for longer periods. She doesn't listen to my warnings too." Hannah revealed.
"Maa, you know that's not advisable." I reasoned. "We don't know what keeps you from getting limp."
"I'll still keep trying my children," she insisted. "Anyways, welcome Kelvin. I wanted to hug you but you just prevented me from doing so."
To please my mom, I hugged her in her wheelchair and we separated later.
"Is there a reason for coming ? Cause you hardly visit unannounced." mom asked.
"There's kind of a reason I'm here in the first place and it's been a while since I visited too." I explained.
My mom's room was not an ideal place for a discussion of that sort, so we moved into the living room and took our seats. Hannah offered me some water and I drank some of it.
"So, is there a problem on your hands ?" my mom questioned.
I paused for a while. Thinking of how I was going to phrase the news to them.
"Uhm, I lost my job at Gusto's." I announced. The shock was written all over their faces.
"What happened ?" Hannah inquired.
"I had an argument with one of the customers on Wednesday," I narrated. "Then I got suspended and later got fired this morning. That's why I was able to visit you two today. You know I normally visit on weekends."
"That's terrible news," my mom commented. "It's unlike you to get into these kind of things. So what are you planning next, Kelvin ?"
I shook my head. "Right now, I'll rest for a while before looking for a new job and I will contact Anthony to see if there's a job available at his company."
"You know what he will say as usual," Hannah spoke up.
"I still have to try." I replied with a little hope.
"So are you coming to stay with us for some days ?" my mom had lit up.
"I wish I could but I can stay here for the night and leave tomorrow."
"That's better." Hannah nodded. "And don't worry, you'll get a job soon. It might be better than the old one."
"Thanks." I said sincerely. I stood up slowly. "Maa, I'm going to take a stroll around town. It's been a long time I've done that. Is that okay with you ?"
"At your age you shouldn't be asking me that question." she chuckled. "It's your choice, Kelvin. But if you are indeed going for a stroll, do you mind passing the bushes near Aku Mercy's junction for some fever grass ?"
"Not a problem, maa."
"I'll go with Kelvin, maa." Hannah stood up. "We will be back soon."
My mom just nodded and we exited the room and got of the house. We began our journey and left our house. The roads at Mercy's junction are mostly empty and cars and people hardly use that road. So, fever grass grows wildly there among the bushes and my mom loves to use them for medicinal purposes.
Hannah and I had an interesting conversation on our way to the junction and we were busily talking about our recent daily encounters. We got too engrossed and got to the junction before we realized. As usual, the place was quiet and there was no one in sight. Hannah and I got into the tall bushes to look for the grass and we spent some minutes there. We found a number of them, gathered them and placed them into a bag.
We decided that we had enough and agreed to go back home. As we were still walking through the bushes, we heard some noise. Someone screamed shortly and then we heard muffled sounds. We stopped in our tracks and I gave a warning look at Hannah.
"Wait here." I whispered.
I crept up slowly through the bushes in the direction of the scream we heard and got closer. Even though I was still in the tall bushes, I was near enough to see what was going on. Right before my eyes, I saw two men struggling to tie up two ladies in a car. When I saw an opened black van blocking the way of the car the ladies were in, I realized it was a kidnapping in the process.
I didn't think straight. I just thought of helping out. With all the speed I could summon in my body, I took off from the bush and sped towards the men to pry them off and save the ladies. May God so help me.