"What is the meaning of this?!” Lianater screamed at the children.
The twins stopped running around. Noticing their mother’s anger, they settled in the nearest chair. Ada and one year old Ify sat on the tiled floor, amidst a heap of toys. Their gaze was fixed on their mother’s flushed face.
The woman felt like smacking each child. Maybe some senses will settle in their brains. That might do some good, but it would also result in endless non-stop crying till she ran mad.
“I have cleaned this room twice today!” hands akimbo. “Look at everywhere! This is not a pig’s sty for heaven’s sake!” her forhead began to throb.
The children remained quiet.
“Before I count one to ten, get all these toys back to where they belong!”
They scrabbled to their feet and collected as much toys as their hands could hold. Even little Ify participated, thinking they were playing a game.
“When you are done, put all the throw-pillows where it’s supposed to be…” from the corner of her eye, she sighted a puddle of water under the dining. Her dark brown eyes turned red. She took in long deep breaths and backed out of the sitting room. Once she was safe in the confines of the kitchen, she let out a shriek. “If they don’t kill me first, I will end up killing my own children,” she started to bang her head on the refrigerator.
Her wrist-watch came into view the moment she opened her eyes. It was a quarter past two. She needed to return to work. None of her colleagues knew she wasn’t in the permises. Their might assume she was in the storeroom or Audio Visual cubicle, gathering the resources they needed to air the evening news. She came home everyday in time to usher the children into the house once the school bus drops them off. Then she picks up Ifunanya at the daycare center with the estate. Once she was done with feeding them and doing a few chores, she returns to work the moment her mother arrives. Then return at seven to cater for four children and prepare dinner. And maybe continue with the house chores. The stress of it all was killing her.
Her mother has been coming around to look after the children for the past few weeks. If not, she doesn’t know how she would have coped. Maybe she would have broken down by now. Yet, she barely concentrates at work. Her mind was always wrapped up with all the things she hasn’t been able to do at home.
“I cannot go on like this. I just can’t…”
Against her better judgement, she had called the agency, asking for specifically a male help, who would come in the morning and leave in the evening. She was in no shape to deal with another female househelp just yet. Mrs. Shalewa promised to send in someone at the end of the week. But, she could hardly wait. She needed help now.
Suddenly, she felt like she was been watched. She turned her head slightly and saw Ada and Ifunanya standing by the doorway. “What?”
“Are you talking to yourself?” Ada asked her mother.
The woman blinked several times. Was she? “Can I help you? Are you donepicking all your toys? That sitting room better be spick and span by the time I check it out.”
The girls shared a glance.
“Can I help you?” she stood straight and placed a hand on her hip.
“Grandma is at the door,” Ada responded.
Relief washed over her. She threw a glance at the gas cooker and eyed the pot emitting steam. Lunch was almost ready. The sooner she got back to work, the better. “Tell Dozie or Nonso to open the front door for her.”
The girls remained where they were.
Lianater raised an eyebrow. “Why are you just standing there?”
“You haven’t answered my question,” Ada held her mother’s pissed gaze.
The woman placed a hand on her throbbing forehead. “Lord Jesus help me…”
The girls exchanged glances.
“You are doing it again!”
She closed her eyes. “Adanne, for the love of God, leave your mother in peace.”
The girl looked her up and down and led her sister out of the kitchen.
Lianater looked towards the ceiling. “She is just three years old!”
The ringtone of her smartphone filled the air. The woman dropped her head and grimaced. She hoped it wasn’t her boss that was calling.
Xxxxxx
“My name is Boma Pepper, I am twenty-two years and I can cook, clean, take of children and do almost everything.”
The couple sized up the average height, brown skin young man sent to them by the agency.
“I will resume by sixty-thirty in the morning and close by seven in the evening. I don’t work on Sundays…” he watched his new employers.
Lianater cleared her throat and crossed her legs.
“Mrs. Shalewa told me what you normally pay your employees, but I want double,” he held their surprised gazes.
She opened her mouth and turned to look at her husband who was trying hard not to laugh.
He straightened the collar of his tee-shirt. “And one more thing…”
She glanced back at her new male help.
“I work with the latest gadget. Any gadget you don’t have, you will have to buy.”
She eyed him. “Excuse me.”
Ike enveloped his wife’s hand with his. He could feel her building irritation. Her wide eyes seemed to say, ‘What effontery?’
“For example, madam, you ask me to roasted yam and pepper sauce for lunch…”
She thought of the last time she had roasted yam. The woman that used to stay by the junction close to her work place had moved. The woman’s pepper sauce was the talk of the town.
“Without an airfryer, you don’t expect me to start a fire at the back of your house. Where will I even get firewood from?”
Ike nodded with understanding.
Boma looked from one to the other. “And I don’t do laundry with my hands. I need a washing machine to…”
“I have an airfryer and a washing machine and a host of other gadgets,” her voice sounded forced.
The young man smiled. “Good to know.”
She eyed him again. “I cannot double your pay.”
The smile disappeared. “Madam…”
She raised a hand. He stopped talking and swallowed the remains of his protest. “I will add something to the usual pay, if you are worth it by the end of this month.”
Boma grinned from ear to ear. “Okay, madam. I will be here at sixty-thirty on the dot tomorrow morning. Goodnight.”
“Okay then. Goodnight,” Ike responded.
The woman leaned against the chair and watched him leave.
Ike burst out laughing.
“Can you imagine?” she hissed thrice.
He pulled his wife closeer. “It is his confidence for me.”
She hissed again. “Do these people think that we pluck money from trees?”
Ike started to nibble at the nape of her neck. “I can actually pluck some honey from your delicious body…”
She tried to push him away. “What are you doing?”
“Plucking some honey…”
“Leave me, biko,” she started to laugh. “We are discussing something important, you are here doing something else.”
“This is more important…” He closed the gap between them and sealed her lips with a passionate kiss.
