He had always obeyed, but she knew he always wanted to take the bus with his friends. She didn’t trust the bus driver, in fact she didn’t trust anybody but herself whenever it came to Daniel. She was learning to trust her mother in-law because she had realized that woman loved Daniel just like she loved Ehimen. Daniel was growing up to look just like his father and Lisa knew Dr Beatrice could see a lot of Ehimen in the 8 year old. She could to, but Daniel was gentler and sweet talking and more adorable. She could imagine girls going mad for him when he was much older and it made her laugh.
Lisa checked her wristwatch as Daniel disappeared into the building of Unity comprehensive school, GRA, Benin City and it was almost 8 am. She was supposed to be at work 8:30 latest but for some reason, she wanted to go late that day. She needed a reason to be summoned to Mr Lucky’s office so she could see his smug face one last time. She had never liked him from the first day she got employed at Clay World. His rules were stringent and his style of leadership archaic. His insistence on morning prayers for all members of staff before work begins was the most annoying and stupidest rule he ever created. She was beginning to feel he created that rule just to make her uncomfortable, but look who was having the last laugh. Her rise through the ranks had shocked everyone in Clay World including Mr Lucky himself. From a training staff when she stepped into Clay World 10 years back to Director of Business Development. With Mr Lucky facing the sack, she was next in line to be president.
People claimed she got special favors from “The Queen”, Dr Beatrice who owned the company all because she married her son. But Lisa knew what she wanted when she agreed to work for Clay World. She wanted to get to the very top and that she had already achieved. Marrying Ehimen was just a bonus but there was one thing she was sure of, she married him because she loved him and not because she wanted favors from The Queen.
She checked her watch again and it was few minutes past eight. Clay world was located at Isihor, close to the University of Benin and with the traffic, it would be almost an hour drive. She turned her Benz around and drove as slowly as she could. As she expected, the holdup especially at ring road was terrible. This was the point she rolled up and put on her air condition. It wasn’t necessarily because of the crowded place and awful smell emanating from the market, but due to a very loud chant she heard every time she plied that road. It was a chat by a man selling Bibles coming out of one of the stores by the road side. At first, Lisa thought the man did a different chant every day, but later realized it was a recording played over and over again.
“That man with the black cap! Come get your Bible now. You know your children don’t have one come and get one now at just 200 naira”. The chant will go on and on and it irritated Lisa every time. She wondered why such noise pollution was allowed all in the name of one baseless religion.
She drove through the holdup at ring road and finally got to Iselu where it wasn’t so serious. She checked her watch and it was just 8:40. Mr Lucky would be fuming and the thought of it made her smile. She drove through Adolo and Uniben road and the highway became free. She drove a bit fast until she arrived the 7-up junction that led to Clay World. The company had expanded the area over the years. The roads were tiled, lots of shops and super markets had sprung up and even other companies had come up and Isihor had become one of the busiest places in Edo state, all thanks to Clay World. The company had also helped raise estates around Isihor, it was fast becoming the new GRA of edo state.
Clay World probably had the biggest building in the state with its 8 story building complex and underground car park a beauty to behold.
“We are a building company”, Dr Beatrice always said, “We have to show Nigerians what we are capable of by making our building a work of art”.
And truly, Clay World was a work of art. Dr Beatrice had started the company barely 25 years back, Ehimen was just 9 years old and Itohan, 7. She had started with a huge loan from her bank and the company started as a two story building. As she got richer and more influential, and Clay World racked up huge profits every year, she expanded the business and at that moment, it was a business of envy to everyone. It had kicked all other building companies out of Edo state and its superior staff and building materials made it the only go to company in the whole of the southern region.
“I can say in the past 15 years, Clay world has built 80 percent of the houses in the south-south region”, Dr Beatrice will always boast and she was not very far from the truth.
That was the company a 30 year old Lisa was about to be president of! Her heart beat fast as she drove towards the gate. Femi, the gate guard was on duty as usual and he waved her on recognizing the car as he lifted the digital bar gate and she drove through. The usual thing was to stop at the company coffee shop just by the gate, get a cup through the window of her car from Lydia the coffee lady and then drive into their underground park through the left wing of the compound. But what she at the coffee shop shocked her. Lydia was talking and laughing with Victor she hadn’t even noticed the car and it wasn’t even funny.
She rolled down. “Vicky!” she called through the window and her childhood friend turned from inside the shop and gave her a warm smile. One she had loved the first day she met Victor Ahamba more than 16 years back. Without saying a word, Victor got two cups of coffee, said his farewell to Lydia and got into the driver’s seat of her car. “What are you doing with the coffee lady?” She wondered as she drove off slowly.
“Chatting” he smiled.
“Since when did you start chatting with the coffee lady when you should be working?” She drove through the left wing, in between some flowers that led to the tunnel road which was the path to the underground park.
“I reckoned I could afford to come late” he replied with a mocking tone that she had gotten very used to. “My best friend is the new boss”, he laughed.
“I am not your new boss!” she argued as she drove into the tunnel.
“It’s only a matter of time”, he insisted. “Mr Lucky stole from the Queen. She will have her justice and guess who is next in line?”
Lisa was silent. It was at that point it really hit her. She was now Victor’s boss! They had gotten into the company the same day, had their interview the same day and started work the same day and while he had risen to Deputy Director of Accounts, she had gotten to president of the company. She drove in silence as he sipped from his plastic cup of coffee.
She could recognize almost every car in the parking lot including Victor’s. She drove to her parking space and stopped gently. “Thank you victor”, she said. “Thank you for everything you have done…”
“Stop that please”, he brushed her off. “I have done nothing for you”, he insisted. “You are president because you are the most brilliant woman I have ever met. You deserve it”.
Lisa wasn’t sure because in her head, there were more people more deserving but she was their superior and she was naturally next in line. Bigger pay called for bigger responsibility and she was very prepared. The Ehiaghe family was watching! Not just Itohan, but distant relatives of Dr Beatrice, some of them who were part of the staff of the company. They were watching and hopping to see her fail. But she was going to prove all of them wrong like she had always done.
“The funny thing is’’, Victor continued, “Mr Lucky or the staff members know absolutely nothing of what is going on. It is going to be a shocker today”.
“It really will be”, she smiled.
“If not for anything, we will stop being forced to pray every morning”, Victor laughed as they both got down.
He was dressed in a smart white shirt and a black suit. He had also started to grow his beards and it made him even more handsome than he already was. She grabbed her hand bag from the back sit and they walked into the first floor enormous building. The offices of the big wigs of the company where on the eight floor and that was where they headed as they got into the elevator.
Mr Victor Ahamba like her was not a believer of God, but he was more care free about it. He didn’t take Atheism seriously and sometimes attended churches mostly because a girl he liked asked him to. He was also one of the biggest play boys around because he never took anything seriously, including his relationships. That was why whenever he confessed he was in love with her, she brushed it off easily. She could remember the first time he did that. She was 17 and he was 18. He told her he was in love with her but she never believed it. The very next day, she found him flirting with another girl. Through the years he had told her he was in love with her often usually when he was drunk. Even her marriage to Ehimen never stopped that. Victor would call sometimes in the middle of the night dead drunk from the sound of his voice and confess his love for her and she would just laugh it off. Also the things he had done for her over the years were unreal. While they were younger, he had gotten into numerous fights because of her. He had stolen and gotten arrested twice because of her and yet she never believed he was truly in love with her. Victor was a joker who should never be taken seriously. He was also very spontaneous! He would tell her how he was in love with another lady today and tell her how he hated that same lady the very next day. Ladies came and left in Victor’s life, but Lisa was a constant, since they had met in the university years back.
The elevator stopped at the eight floor and they both got out. The time was 20 minutes past nine and they were both very late. She could lie she had to take Daniel to school and got delayed but what was Victor’s excuse? He was flirting with the coffee lady.
“Mr Lucky wants to see you two right now”, Agnes screamed.
The eight floor of Clay World was a thing of beauty. It was for directors of units, deputy directors and other top officials in the company. It was like a maze with lots of offices separated by glass walls and doors. The eight floor was like a maze separated by these glass walls and if one didn’t know his way, he might end up going in circles. But she knew her way to Mr Lucky’s office like the back of her palm because she had been there very often. She loved the view and wished many times the office belonged to her. That wish was about to come true.
Mr Lucky only wore traditional outfits and that day wasn’t different. He wore brown brocade and a black cap that covered his all white hair. He was also a very thin and stern looking man with a face that wasn’t fit for a smile. New employees feared him due to his look and Lisa was no different when she was just a new employee. But she had gotten to know that he was actually a very nice person and he often referred to her and Victor as “my children”. Too bad he was a thief.
“Sit”, he said as they got in and they duly obliged. His office was the biggest and it was just after the conference room. His table was also the neatest and it used to give Lisa the impression he never did anything, but Mr Lucky was actually one of the hardest workers in the office. But with only his computer and a picture of his family on his desk, you would never know. “Did you two deliberately decide to skip prayers?” He smiled.
“I had to take Daniel to school”, Lisa was quick to say.
“You take Daniel to school every morning”, he reminded her. “Yet you still manage to come early most times”.
“I didn’t deliberately skip prayers sir”, Lisa argued.
He smiled and turned to Victor. “What is your excuse Ahamba?” He asked. Victor was about to speak when he cut him short. “If your excuse doesn’t have to do with Lydia the coffee lady, I don’t want to hear it.”
Lisa giggled at a shocked Victor.
“Some people saw you there and gave me the report”, Mr Lucky continued. “Truth is, I don’t want to chase you people like children. I say come for morning prayers and you go and hide like kids in secondary school”.
“Maybe because you are making us do what we don’t want to”, Lisa cut in. She was the bold one, Victor wasn’t. She usually spoke up to defend her beliefs but Victor would rather be tight lipped.
“There are lots of things I don’t want to do my daughter”, Mr Lucky replied. “I don’t want to go home by 6pm every day. I don’t want to visit the dentist every weekend and I don’t want to hear Agnes complain everyday about the terrible coffee and how we need to change the coffee lady. But I have to”. He sat up. “There are rules here Mrs Agbaje. And if we all had our way we would be at home sipping cool wine and money would rain from the sky. But we are all here working for that money. And because of that, we need to follow the rules. If you want to remain here, you both have to come for prayers every morning”. He sniffed. “You both hold big positions, especially you Lisa. Very soon you will lead this company, I know that. But for now, you go by my rules”.
“Even if that rule goes against my belief?” Victor was pinching her now to keep quiet, but she was having none of it. “Why would I pray to a nonexistent God?”
“Nonexistent?” He laughed. “I always hate to have these debates with you Mrs Agbaje. But the truth is that the goodness of God in my life cannot be overemphasized. God is everywhere my daughter. He is the reason we are both alive and have these positions we currently occupy. He is with your son now…”
“He is not with my son”, she frowned.
“If you say there is no sun, it doesn’t stop the sun from existing”. Mr Odefe replied. “Whatever you do…”, he paused like his eyes caught something. Lisa and Victor both turned and that was when they saw through the glass door uniformed men led by two men in suits approaching. Mr Lucky was shocked, along with everyone outside his office but Lisa and Victor knew why they were there. They walked directly into his office as he stood up still in shock. They were three men in the blue police uniform and two men in suits. “Young men can I help you?” He wondered.
“Are you Mr Lucky Odefe?” One of the men in suits asked.
“Yes I am”, a trembling Mr Lucky replied.
“We are the police and you are under arrest for Theft and embezzlement of company funds”, he said.
“I don’t understand”, he confessed.
“You have the right to a lawyer and anything you say shall be used against you in the court of law”, he said and then turned to one of the uniformed men. “Cuff him”, he instructed.
Many employees had gotten into the office now and they just stood in pure shock as the uniformed man handcuffed Deacon Lucky Odefe while she and Victor just sat staring at their fallen foe in misery. She wanted to pity him, but she never pitied hypocrites. Stealing under the guise of being a deacon was one of the many things she hated about Christianity. As they cuffed Mr Lucky, he’s eyes met hers and she smiled.
“Where is your God now?” She asked as they dragged him off.
Note: Chapter three titled 'the only believer' will be out on the 16th of September.
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