🎶I've been trying to keep up with all of these great expectations, so I keep on faking ~ Jon Bellion
●Tara Afua Henrie●
🎶Come on, vàmonos!
Everybody, let's go
Come on, let's get to...
I thought I was dreaming at first, but when the song grew louder and louder, I lifted my sleepy head up.
🎶Where are we going?
To school!
Where are we...
A Dora the Explorer alarm clock sat on my nightstand, blaring that ridiculous tune at six freaking a.m!
Pam must've taken the clock from Keke's room and set it up so she wouldn't have to come and wake me up with an air horn again. But when you've had a terrible night, waiting for sleep to come, and it finally does at four a.m., you just smack your distractions away.
That was precisely what happened to the alarm clock. Sorry, Dora.
Nuzzling my head back into the pillow, I lulled myself to sleep, only to be interrupted by my ringtone.
"Argh." Stretching over to pick the phone up, a picture of Mama blowing out the candles on her sixtieth birthday cake glowed in my face, and I groaned once more. She had been calling me non-stop since yesterday, and I'd been doing everything I could to avoid them.
I hit ignore, but when she immediately called back, I knew she wasn't going to give up any moment from now. I could turn the phone off and turn it back on twelve hours later, and she would still be the first person to call.
Let's just get it over with. "Hey, Mama."
"Tara Afua Henrie!" She yelled from the other side. "M'afrɛ wo saa. Na wo wɔ hen?" [I've been calling you several times. Where were you?] "I even called Pam, and her phone is switched off!"
"Sorry. We've been busy." I sat up in bed.
"Oh. Then I guess your first day at the restaurant went well."
"Errm... Yeah. Yeah, it did." My hands felt clammy all of a sudden.
"Really?" She sounded excited. "Tell me all about it. What happened?"
"Errm..." My brain froze. Spinning lies wasn't my best trait. Anytime I did, I would slip up somewhere, and then the whole story would backfire on me later. But I also couldn't tell Mama the truth. If I told her about yesterday's terrible accident, she'd be disappointed. This whole 'working for Pam' thing was her idea.
"T? Are you there?" Mama asked in a voice laced with concern.
"Yeah, yeah." I nervously cleared my throat and pushed myself to speak. "Work was... great, yeah. I... erm... I served a lot of customers and earned loads of tips. Pam was really impressed with my progress. I even served a famous Mexican celebrity. He... he really loved it."
He sure did, My subconscious chipped in, and I shoved the comment to the side.
"Aaww," Mama cooed. "I'm so glad, T. I was worried you wouldn't be able to move on after the whole Cudjoe thing. But this is proof that you can, and you are moving on, and I'm so happy that you're not letting the past get the best of you."
Tiny sniffles came from the phone, and I rubbed my temples."Oh, Mama, please don't cry, Mama."
"These are just tears of joy, sweetie." She sniffled a few more times, then I heard a car honk in the background. "I gotta go. Mr. Sagoe is here to take me to the charity event we talked about the other time. I'll call later to check on you, ok? And... oh, tell Pam I called. Have a beautiful day, T. Love you!"
"Love you too, Mama. Bye."
She hung up, and I fell back on the bed.
I just lied to my mother. I felt awful.
You better hope she doesn't discover the truth from Pam. My subconscious swooped in again.
"Pam," I whispered, then sat up. "Work." The sheets rustled as I stood up and headed to the bathroom.
¤¤¤¤¤
"Good morning, Auntie T," Keke greeted me when I appeared in the kitchen, fully dressed.
"Morning, Keke." I opened the fridge, grabbed a carton of orange juice, and took a large gulp.
Nando left the stove with two plates of scrambled eggs. "Morning, T. Sleep well?"
The carton hit the counter with a mild thud. "Ugh, I don't want to answer that question."
Nando just chuckled, joining Keke at the dining table.
"Where's Pam?" I asked after pouring myself a glass of orange juice and putting the carton back in the fridge.
"At the neighbours," Nando replied. "We received some of their mail by mistake. Pam went to deliver them."
"Oh, ok." I settled down at the dining table.
"You know, she was sleep talking about you last night," Nando said, stuffing a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.
Oh no.
My sister, Pamela Adwoa Martinez, had many traits. Sleep talking was one of them. Pam only sleep talked about someone when she was very pissed with that person. She would frown in her sleep and insult that person till daybreak.
I remember one time when I was eight, and we used to share a bedroom, she showered insults on some guy called Chad Taylor. I had no idea who he was. But later, I found that the Chad guy asked her to be his date at a school dance but never showed up. Pam swore never to forgive him that night. She called him an asshole and a dickhead, all in her sleep.
I only hoped she didn't say those things about me, prompting me to ask Nando. "What did she say about me?"
He was almost done with his breakfast. "Nothing much. She just called you a klutz and nagged a lot about how she regrets hiring you. But don't let it get to you, ok? She's just upset. It'll wear off sooner or later."
I let out a deep sigh and cupped my face. If only I could turn back the hands of time.
Suddenly, the front door slammed shut, startling everyone at the table.
Pam stormed into the kitchen with a scowl on her face. "I just came from Cranky Chelito's house." Her voice dripped with anger. "And look at what she was so happy to thrust in my face!"
The pages of a newspaper rustled as Pam furiously flipped through them. When she found what she was looking for, she turned the page to us. "Read it, Tara!"
"I can't." I sipped my orange juice, not sparing the paper a glance. "I took French in junior high, remember?"
"I'll read it." Keke volunteered cheerfully. She read out loud. "Camarera en Originally Afro-Mex derrama sopa sobre magnate de los negocios, Declan Pérez"
"Oh shit, it's in the papers?" Nando stared wide-eyed at his wife.
"What's in the papers?" I asked.
"You are in the papers!" Pam shoved that particular page into my face. I pushed it back, eyes scanning the content.
Under the Spanish headline was a picture of yesterday's accident: me, trying to clean his lady friend's shoes. She, screaming her brains out, and Declan being taken care of by his bodyguards. There was even a small insert of spilt soup and broken china pieces. What also followed was a five-paragraph report split into two columns, filling the rest of the page. I spotted my name six times, blending with the numerous Spanish words. Pam's name was in it too.
If this was in the newspapers, there was no doubt that other pictures would be trending on social media, including videos. Curse the internet! The paper turned into a crumpled mess in my fist.
"I can't believe this!" Pam fumed. "It took me six months to build a good reputation for this restaurant, and you just tainted it within twenty-four hours!"
"I've apologized a hundred times and am doing it again." I turned around in my chair to face her with my most sorrowful expression. "I am so sorry, Pam, and I swear it won't happen again."
I waited for an "apology accepted." But after two minutes of utter silence in the kitchen, I knew it wasn't coming. Pam still glared at me like she wanted to punch me in the face. I sighed, turning back to my orange juice.
"You're right," Pam said a minute later, words coated with bitterness. "It won't happen again. Do you know why?"
She gave me a little pat on the back when I didn't answer. "Cuz you're fired."
"Really, Pam? Come on," Nando started. "She's yo-"
"Sister or not, she's still fired!" Pam growled.
The word kept ringing in my head.
Fired.
I'd heard that word before, but I'd never expected it to come from my very own sister, let alone after my first day at work! She was firing me because of an accident. Something I never planned to happen. I pushed myself up, chair scraping against the tiled floor, and followed her to the living room.
"You can't fire me!" I yelled. "It was an accident! You're acting as if I planned the whole damn thing. You can't avoid accidents! They just happen!"
Pam dumped her handbag on the couch with more force than necessary. "This accident could've been avoided if you weren't so clumsy and tied your fucking shoelaces!"
"Pam!" Her husband yelled from the kitchen archway. "Mind your-"
"Stay out of this, Nando!" She warned before letting her eyes flicker back to me. "Frankly, I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised at all! I knew you'd mess up, Tara. You always mess up! But I didn't expect it to be so soon." She moved around the centre table. "You're a walking disaster, just waiting for the right moment to explode and wreak havoc." Now she stood right in front of me. "That's why no one will hire you."
I was seething. Pam's words ticked off the anger dwelling inside me, and I pushed her so hard that it caught her by surprise when she landed on the carpeted floor. She wasn't being fair. She was being a bitch.
Before I could pounce on her, Nando's thick arms locked around my waist, drawing me back. "Tara," he grunted. "Calm down."
"No! I will not calm down!" I squirmed and kicked in his arms. "Lemme go! She's being an asshole! Put me down!"
He didn't. No matter how much I thrashed in his arms, screamed, and scratched at his police uniform. He carried me all the way upstairs and put me down in my room. "Stay here, and don't come out." He headed towards the door, and I followed.
"I mean it, Tara!" The stern look he gave me made me stop. Nando rarely lost his temper. He was always cool, calm, and collected. Seeing that look on his face kinda scared me a little. "Lemme sort this out, ok?"
Reluctantly, I nodded, and he shut the door in my face.
Alone in my room, I turned around, catching a full view of my reflection in the mirror. My frown deepened. I was still dressed in the restaurant's uniform shirt and didn't hesitate to rip it off my body. The buttons popped away as I tore the white fabric into pieces, dumped it on the floor, and stomped on it several times.
Breathing heavily, my eyes landed on the black guitar case leaning against the antique wardrobe. A sigh left my lips. Because of work and everything, I'd forgotten all about it. Quickly, I changed into a stripped blouse, grabbed my guitar, songbook, and purse, and exited the room.
As I descended the stairs, I heard voices from the kitchen, mostly Pam shouting her head off. I ignored it, yanked the front door open, and slammed it shut behind me.
*****
Question😊
Imagine Originally Afro-Mex was your restaurant and you worked your butt off for six months (half a year) to earn a good reputation then your sister comes along with the shoelace accident. Would you fire her or not?
Kindly let me know your answer and reason in the comment section.
Thanks for reading🙏and please stay tuned for the next chapter.