Don't worry, just read and let me know what you think, I don't bite! This one is a short story titled,
"The False Truth" its in a compilation called A Mouthful Of Silence (AMOS) Enjoy!
THE
FALSE TRUTH
The meeting finally ended at three-fifteen
that Friday afternoon, Ada ’s
head was pounding, even as she nodded into the phone she winced and gestured to
her secretary to drop the documents and messages she brought into the emptying
office, she was the branch manager of a first generation bank.
Assuring Mrs. Ogbodo that the bank stocks were not really
dropping she smiled weakly as she finally replaced her phone and took a sip
from her mug of tepid coffee, she gagged and placed it down grimacing and
opened her top drawer and reached for the bottle of Aleve she kept specially
there for days like this.
Whenever she was having her period, her head pounded, her
skin grew hot and cold and she suffered double visions, she was afraid to go to
the hospital because she was sure she will find out they were symptoms of the
big C, so she suffered and swallowed pain-killers her husband sent her from Canada . She
endured more of the bitter fluid to wash down the slim pill.
She shook her head and groaned in regret, she had to stop
abusing her body like this.
Her secretary came in again and her desk phone started
ringing simultaneously, she grabbed the phone and dropped it back on the
cradle, “what now, Chichi?” she asked as she looked at her through hooded eyes,
“sorry ma, your gate man called, he said it was urgent, you should call him as
soon as you can” she said and slowly retreated thankfully taking the half drank
cup of coffee with her. Ada
sighed, Daudu, her gateman was melodramatic, he called everything urgent.
The last time the PHCN people visited and threatened to cut
their electricity, he had called and announced it as ‘urgent’ , when her
mother-in-law came to stay for two weeks two months ago, she had been called
approximately four times daily because of one ‘urgent’ excuse or the other.
She blamed herself for buying the idiot a phone and actually
recharging it. Frowning she reached for her mobile phone and found out he had
also called her fourteen times there, she hissed and dropped the phone, she had
too much to do, she decided to tackle most of the documents and soon was lost
until Chichi came in to say goodnight.
She looked up with a squint, she really needed to visit an
optician, her eyes were getting worse she thought as she blinked at the wall clock,
it read 8:45 and she rubbed
her eyes to remove the black spots as she bade Chichi goodnight.
Stretching her lean arms above her small head, she grabbed
her phone which was still on silent and stuffed some of the documents into her
laptop bag and shut down her Sony Vio lap top, then reaching for the desk phone
she told her driver John to bring the car around to the front of the building.
By the time she made it down from her eight floor office
with the elevator, John was waiting slightly panicky, for her in the almost deserted
lobby, “what is it John?” she asked as she took in his worried expression,
“Madam, I don dey call you since” he replied as he hastily stepped forward and
took her laptop bag and her hand bag from her,
“Proper English John, I’ve warned you!” she scolded, she
hated when he addressed her in pidgin English, “Na Aisha, madam” John replied
ignoring her warning as he rushed forward to get the door for her, “my
daughter?” she asked blankly, “yes ma, she faint, dem don rush am go hospital na
im we dey call you for since” he continued as they got to the car.
Ada halted as her stomach dropped and the taste of the
coffee she took all day came back up, she struggled to swallow, “what” she said
but her voice was weak and her throat too bitter, clearing her throat again,
“what did they say is wrong with my child?” she asked a little stronger, John
shrugged as he swung his car door open, “dem no know, but dem say if she no get
blood, she go die” he replied as he entered into the car and expertly reversed
and entered the already congested road.To Be Continued...
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