The Cleaning Lady

Episode 2

The alarm on his phone buzzed loudly, waking him up with a start. He stretched and yawned, looking at the window as the first rays of dawn began lightening up the sky. It was time to get up and prepare for work.

Kunle lazily threw the covers back. He stood up and headed for the bathroom. Looking at the mirror, he saw a haggard looking 27 year old with bloodshot eyes staring back. He hadn’t slept much since the incident at Lara’s place three days ago. He had tried calling her several times but she never picked up. Afterwards the calls weren’t even going through. He decided the first thing he was going to do that weekend was to apologize to her and surprise her.

He sighed and started his shower. He had just about 30 minutes to get ready and head to the park where the staff bus usually picked him and other workers up. He finished up and jumped into his shirt, tie, and trousers and grabbed his laptop bag. Mama Akosua, the motherly Ghanaian woman who had set up a food stand at the park at end of the road should be waiting with his breakfast. He had made it a habit of always having breakfast of hot wakkye, plantain, egg and fish with the woman and she always had it packed, hot and ready for him, no matter how many customers stormed her stand in the mornings.

Kunle stepped out of his one-room self-contained boys-quarters behind one of the two main buildings of four apartments each and almost ran into the cleaning lady’s cart. The cart of mops, brooms, and cleaning products was parked right in the middle of the pathway and he almost toppled it over in his haste to dash out. She came running over.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have put this in the middle of the way. I’m so, so sorry.” she pleaded, pushing the cart into the hedges.

Instead of the middle-aged, plump woman who usually came around every other day to clean the compound, pushing the cart away from the path was a young, pretty damsel. The girl was gorgeous. The plain clothes she wore did not hide the perfect curves underneath.

The sweater she had on that cool harmattan morning couldn’t hide the size of the basketballs that stood proudly on her chest. A pair of black-framed glasses sat squarely on her face and her long black hair was tied back, giving her a nerdish, school-girl look. She was still apologizing as she moved the cart out of the way. She stood facing him and he couldn’t help but stare at her jugs.
“Oh don’t worry, I’m fine. I should have been more careful and watched where I was going.” He finally found his tongue.

“By the way, you are new here. I’ve not seen you around here before.”
“Yes I just started today. The other lady had to leave and I’m her temporary replacement. Humble, little me.” she responded cheerfully.

“Wow. So nice. Well I have to rush off to work now. Will I get to see your lovely face again?”
“Well” she replied, pushing up her button nose in thought. “I’m usually scheduled here on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll see you on Saturday then. What’s your name by the way?”
“Sheila.”
“Such a beautiful name for a pretty girl. Nice meeting you.”
She giggled and blushed, embarrassed. ”It’s nice meeting you too Mr…..errr….”
“Kunle. Just call me Kunle. No fancy titles.”
“It’s nice meeting you too….Kunle.”
She pushed her cart towards the main building and he watched as her body undulated with her movements. Just before she entered, she looked back at him and caught him staring and smiled. He smiled back and she disappeared into the building.

Jerking back to reality, he rushed off to the park. He saw the bus already pulling up and he quickly ran to get his breakfast, the usual crowd of people already waiting patiently for theirs. Mama Akosua was busy serving a bunch of hungry customers when he arrived.

Kunle: “Madam una well done oh”.
Mummy Akosua: “Ah customer good morning oh. How are u this morning?”
Kunle: “I just dey try manage my life oh. How market?”
Mummy Akosua:”Market dey oh my dear. As you see am we dey manage. Na God dey help us oh.”
Kunle: “Where my little girl and her brother?”
Mummy Akosua:”They’ve gone to school.”
Kunle: “This early morning?”
Mummy Akosua:”Yes oh. You know Akosua is a prefect in her school. She has to lead by example.”
She called out to someone inside to bring out his package. “How much do I owe u ma?” he asked.
“Na 200 naira.”
“U get change for 1000?”
“This early morning? I no get change oh. You fit bring am in the evening.”
Kunle thanked her and waited for his pack.

Upon its arrival, he grabbed it and thanked Mummy Akosua again. He ran to join the bus which was almost filled up and grabbed a seat.

He looked back at the hungry patrons as the bus moved off.

Throughout that day Kunle had not been able to get his mind off the girl. Her curves, her lovely chest, the shiny ivory skin occupied his thoughts as he went about his work. But what could he do about it? He didn’t want to disappoint another girl again. Besides, he was yet to make up with Lara, something he planned to do that weekend. She had still refused to pick his calls, chats, emails. He decided to go to her house again that weekend.

She would definitely have cooled down and would hear him out.

On his way home on Friday, he entered a store to buy a box of perfumes, chocolates, and some roses. Though it set him back some 30k, he felt it was worth it. He made sure he looked as clean as he could be. He got himself a fresh haircut and shave, and bought a new shirt and tie. He really wanted to impress her and show he was really sorry for what happened.

Saturday morning, as he was about to go get some eggs and bread from the mallam at the gate for his breakfast, he ran into Sheila again.

Immediately she saw him she beamed and bounced up to him. She wore a red T-shirt over a pair of blue jeans. The shirt struggled to contain her bööbs as they pushed against the fabric. The outline of her half-cup bra showed against the shirt. Her hair was tied in a scarf and she had on a pair of black sandals. She looked stunning.

“Hello Kunle” she greeted him cheerfully.
“Good morning Sheila. You look all so bright and happy today” he greeted back.
“Yeah it’s a beautiful morning. Not too cold though like yesterday.”
“Yeah. You haven’t really told me much about yourself though, why you are always so bright and beautiful.”
“Well you’ve never asked. And this is the second time we’re actually talking.”
He smiled. “Okay then. So why is a young beautiful lady like you doing a job meant for old middle-aged women?”
She laughed. “Don’t think I’m a small girl oh. I’m not as young as you think.”
“So how old are you then?”
“I’m 21.”
“21? That is still young in my books. Anyways why are you working this odd job?”
“Well…” she responded, removing her glasses and rubbing her eyes, “…I finished high-school about two years ago. I moved here to Lagos when I couldn’t get into any school back home and my mum wanted me to get married since that was not turning out. I was like “yeah, right.”
She slipped her glasses back on. “I insisted I at least finish my college degree first so she sent me here to be with her sister. I told my aunt I will look for a small job where I can raise some money to at least buy a JAMB or Pre-ND form and pay a bit of my upkeep and she was happy with that. I’m tired of asking her all the time for money. After about 2 months I was able to get this one. It is not much, but at least I get something to save towards my aim and it’s a start.”
“That’s a good strategy. How much are you being paid here?” Kunle asked.
“Well it’s not much. Though I just started two days ago, they pay me 3500 monthly.”
She raised her hand. “I know it’s not much, but with time I may get another job that pays better.”

Kunle smiled at her naivety. “Anyways that’s a good plan.” he said. “If you have any issues or you need any help, don’t hesitate to call on me. You know where to find me.” He said, pointing to his living quarters.
She smiled back. “Sure I will. Well I have to skip off. Talk to you later.”
She skipped away to the main building. Kunle sighed. “You cant have it both ways” he told himself. He decided to skip breakfast and go try win Lara back. If he had known what he was going to encounter, he would have just forgotten the whole idea the day she shoved him out of her house rudely. Nor did he know his actions afterwards was going to threaten his new friendship.