The Wife ESCAPED!

In her first week at work, Caro struggled to adjust. Even though she quickly stood out as one of the best and most experienced tailors, the environment was far from friendly and warm. Only the machines talked and the owner of the place was an unsmiling, arrogant vixen who demanded nothing but the best and could not give a quarter of it herself. Caro loathed her. The head of the working tailors, of which Caro was one, was a glum woman of very few words and swift hands. She was not harsh, but the fact that she relied so much on her hands for almost every form of communication made Caro think that she was in the wrong place. Running a school for the deaf would have suited her best.

The only person Caro felt warmth from was Millicent, her neighborhood friend who had just left school after getting pregnant and was now learning how to sew. They spent their short breaks together, eating and gossiping, and Millicent felt comfortable asking Caro for help with her sewing difficulties whenever she liked.

They were opposites, the girls. One quiet, relaxed and matronly with a calming smile and the other determined, fearless and downright hardworking. So Caro always wondered why someone as mature and wise as Millicent could be foolish enough to get pregnant while still in school and this was the exact question she asked her during one of their breaks.

“Well, what can I say,” the older girl shrugged with a tired smile. “It’s just the life of a woman.”

“What life of which woman?”, Caro retorted. “Are you the only woman in the world? What about me?”

Millicent laughed at this. “You that hates boys more than Jesus hates the Devil.”

“Who says I hate boys? I only hate stupid boys.”

“And yet, you still don’t have a boyfriend.”

“What do I need a boyfriend for?”, Caro hissed.

“Ha! So you want to do die single, abi?”

“So it’s the fear of dying single that made you go and get pregnant, eh?”

“Caro, stop trying to make it look as if I’ve committed a big sin. You’re 17 and I’m 20. Me getting pregnant is not the same thing as you getting pregnant. Because I started school late and we ended up in the same class doesn’t mean we’re mates. By the way, I wonder where you’ll see a man tall enough to handle a NEPA pole like you,” she mocked, giggling.

“Well, short people are always jealous of tall people,” Caro shrugged.

“Eh? Who are you calling short? When you first came to this town, were you up to my shoulder? Now, because of too much orange and watermelon, you have grown like agric fowl.”

“Agric fowl is fat, me I’m not fat.”

“No, you’re long. In fact, you’re high. When you get pregnant, your stomach will contain six children at the same time, one on top of the other.”

“You’re not serious,” Caro hissed, raising her blouse and tapping her belly. “My stomach is a normal stomach like every other stomach. If…”

“See muscle. Ah! Caro, are you sure this your stomach will carry any child? What are you doing with all those muscles? Are you a man?”

Just then, the corner of Caro’s eye caught a movement and her intended retort was quickly forgotten. She looked in the direction where she had noticed the movement and found her boss’ son staring at her or rather, her belly. Immediately, she dropped her blouse and got to her feet.

“Millicent, let’s go,” she simply said and walked back toward the area where they did their work. The break was almost over anyway.

“I think that one would like to impregnate you,” Millicent whispered to her as they went, referring to their boss’ son.

“I’ll castrate him with my left hand,” Caro hissed, eliciting a giggle from her friend.

A week later, Caro had long forgotten about her boss’ son staring at her belly and was focused on doing more work and studying harder and faster for her second term exams. So it came as quite a surprise when Michael (her boss’ son) asked her to meet him ‘at the back’ – the part of the place where workers and apprentices relaxed during breaks. The message was delivered by one of the apprentices and though she didn’t feel comfortable with it, Caro imagined that he was calling her on behalf of his mother. So instead of questioning the messenger, she left her work and went to the back of the building.

On getting there, she found Michael leaning with his back on the building and no one else was in sight. She was perplexed. If his mother was not here, then why had he asked her to come?

“Oh you’re here,” he said, as if he’d only just noticed her presence.

“What did you call me for?”, Caro demanded.

“Hmm. Come closer,” he beckoned, licking his lips and running his eyes up and down her body. She hesitated a little before going closer to him.

“Look,” he began in a low tone, “let me not talk too much. I’ll go straight to the point. You see, I like you. You are beautiful, you know. And ehhh… you’re smart. And… you know… why don’t you just give me your number?”

“I don’t have a phone,” Caro lied, standing akimbo and staring at him as if he was a suspicious artefact in a museum.

“Ehhh… okay. I’ll buy one for you, so…”

“Thank you. I’m not interested.”

It seemed the answer he least expected to hear, but when he had recovered from his shock, he licked his lips again and continued, “Emm… okay. Ehhh… where do you stay?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Well, so I can come and see you and… you know, maybe do one or two things together.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“No.”

“Eh?”

“I said, No! Thank you, I’m not interested in doing one, two or three things together with you. Goodbye.”

She turned to walk away and he grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving.

“My friend, leave my hand alone!”, she barked, flinging her arm from his grasp. Then she looked him up and down with scorn written all over her face. “You don’t even know your mate. Next time, look for a child in your age group. Idiot.”

With a short hiss, she turned back and walked off.

“I’ll deal with you in this place. Just watch and see,” he called after her, but she ignored him and went back to her work.

When Millicent saw her friend take a seat and commence work with a deep frown on her face, she wondered what had gone wrong. Had their boss reprimanded her, or was there something much bigger going on? After checking to see that the leader of the working tailors (who also doubled as supervisor of the apprentices) was well absorbed in her work, she slid off her chair and made her way to Caro’s station.

“Caro, what is it? What happened?”, she whispered.

“Is it not…”

“Shhh! Lower your voice na.”

“Sorry,” she apologized with a sigh.

“So what happened?”

“It’s that stupid Michael of a boy.”

“What happened? What did he do?”

“He said I should give him my number and that ehh…. he wants to do one or two things with me and all sort of rubbish talk.”

“Ehen? And so? Is that why you’re angry?”

“Eh?”, Caro blurted in surprise. “Millicent, what did you say?”

“I said, is that why you’re angry? Or are you deaf now?”

Caro simply chuckled and shook her head in pity. “Anyway, I can’t say I’m surprised. If it was you, I’m sure you would have pulled your pant and opened your legs for him right there. No wonder you got pregnant while still in school.”

Millicent was stung! She opened her mouth to deliver an angry retort, but closed it again immediately. She stood to her full height and glared down at her friend.

“I don’t blame you,” she spat and walked back to her station.

Caro had been expecting a barrage of insults, but the four words she had received were too much for her to handle. She just did not know what to do with herself. She looked at Millicent across the room, but the older girl was tackling her sewing assignment with a determined look on her face. Caro knew she had crossed a line and she thought about going to apologize, but her pride needed to have its own say. It suggested that there was no need for an apology because, by saying what she said, Millicent had it coming. It was just a blunt truth, by the way, not that it was a lie. But her conscience, on the other hand, told her that Millicent was older and was the only friend she had in the place; it would be a disaster to lose her.

The inner struggle inside Caro’s mind was heavy and it was not something that could be ignored. At last, she decided to wait. Perhaps an opportunity of some sort would present itself or maybe, with time, Millicent would forgive her.

When it was time to head home, an opportunity still had not come and to make matters worse, Millicent totally avoided Caro. She did not go to the backyard during break and neither did she look in her direction at any point in time. The workers were supposed to close at least an hour before the apprentices, but this time, Caro stayed behind until it was time for Millicent to go home, then she tailed her.

When the group of apprentices had said their final goodbyes at the junction where they all parted ways to their different destinations, Caro was left alone with Millicent. Immediately, she doubled her steps to catch up with the older girl who was marching fast and hard like a soldier on an important mission.

“Millicent,” Caro called as she ran after her. But her friend didn’t slow down.

“Millicent na,” Caro called again, in a pleading voice.

Suddenly, the older girl came to a halt. Caro was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but Millicent whirled round and landed a blinding slap across her face! Caro covered her face with both hands for a few seconds and all of a sudden, burst into tears. It wasn’t the slap that hurt her, it was her remorse for what she had said that was expressing itself through her tears. She was sorry and yes, she deserved the slap. But no words were spoken. Millicent hugged her crying friend and allowed her to sob on her shoulder. Few minutes later, they were headed home, chatting and laughing like it had never happened.