Gallant

Three

Rays of the bright sun hit against her bare shoulders. She rubbed them quickly with her palms and increased the pace of her feet.

Getting to the front of the market, she scanned the inside the whole building to be sure danger was out of sight. From a distance, she could see Temilorun standing behind a roll of racks. They glanced at each other and exchanged winks.

Gwenvere walked some meters into the shop and went through a white door. Threading carefully on the stairs, she looked from left to right at intervals to be sure she was safe. Safe from Mrs Gallewart.

The half Japanese, half American woman had carefully warned Gwenevere not to go out during working hours again. She had yelled and even threatened to cut her pay, but here Gwen was again, breaking the rules.

She carefully navigated her way up the stairs and pushed open the restroom door. Like fate was against her, before her was the same Mrs. Gallewart, her big, cranky boss. She stood straight, speechless and shocked. What was she doing in the restroom?! Was she monitoring her?

The round faced woman looked at Gwen for a while and decided to give her a benefit of doubt that she wasn't doing the obvious.

"Miss Malton, Did you go out of the shop, or are you just arriving?"

Gwen cleared her throat. She accessed both options. None was suitable. She had to think outside the box. She could either choose to lie, or narrate the tale of her horrific and sad interview to Mrs. Gallewart. Sadly, taking the second option would shake the legs of her money-table and that could give her a heart attack immediately.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Gallewart, I got a call from Harry's school. It was urgent and I needed to leave immediately. I'm sorry I don't inform you, I was so much in a hurry." Gwenevere presented her lie on a golden plate. Her boss just had to buy it.

"But you had enough time to change your clothes..." Mrs Gallewart asked still trying to figure out if Gwen was lying or not. She folded her hands above her stomach. She wore a white polo that hugged her body, exposing the numerous foldings that had formed on even sides of her waist. The red lipstick on her mouth spread beyond its boundary and spilled to the edges of her mouth. Gwen would have pointed that out playfully, but now was the time to save the shaky legs of her money-table.

"I had to change, ma'am , since you're always particular about us wearing the uniform only in the shop..." Gwen held her thumb in the rest of her fingers, keeping it safe.

Mrs Gallewart took another long look at her, then let go of her folded hands.

"Gwen, you know I'm not a wicked person." She began and Gwen could not find herself answering that, she almost asked if she was being sarcastic.

"I'm just a person who stands by polices and I don't bend them for anyone, no one. I don't want to be unkind to you, Gwen, but know that I won't hesitate to trash out a bad fish from the fridge immediately I notice it, even if it's a big one. Please don't make me be unkind to you."

Mrs Gallewart said and she was being the most concerned she could be. Her eyebrows were arched in worry. Gwen could actually see her concern, it was just really hard to heed to her rules.

"I understand ma'am" Gwen replied.

The woman nodded her head and walked out of the room. As soon as she was out of sight, Gwenevere closed the door and let out a big sigh. That was not good at all. It was a mess she would have to cope with because she knew that today wasn't going to be her last, she was going to break the rules many more times. She couldn't relent on the interviews.

She sat on the long bench by the side of the small room and brought out a white polo from her bag. On it was written in big red letters "Palmy's Shop". She took of the sleeveless blue top she was in and threw on the white polo. It was time for work. She sighed audibly and grabbed a hold of the door knob.

" Come on, Gwen. We still have a busy day ahead"

***

"I almost peed my pants!" she exclaimed at Temilorun who was listening, already so consumed in laughter. "I couldn't say anything. The woman was standing in front of me like a WWE champion ready to flip me up for a summer slam"

Temilorun increased her laughter and waved her beautiful set of teeth around. She managed to calm herself down and ask a question.

"So what did you tell her?"

"Hm... I told her I got an urgent call from Harry's school and it was very urgent."

Temilorun's mouth went agape.

"Gwen!" she called, laughter now extremely far away from her.

"Yes?" Gwen replied bitting on her thumb. Here, her friend was about to bring on the scolding she had anticipated.

"You lied with Harry!" Temilorun stated "Since when did Harry become an instrument for lies? I really have to do something about you. Your situation is already taking huge steps toward the red bus." Temilorun said wringing her finger at her friend.

"Yes, dear, HELP is what I really need right now. Tell God to open his floodgates of heaven so that it can fall on my family and we can enjoy good, good life." Gwenevere cried silently, her face turned up to the ceiling and arms spread out wide.

Temilorun's eye grew sad. She understood this table too well more than any one else. 

"And I do, dear. Not a day passes that I don't pray for you." She said and took a hold of Gwen's hands. They were cold, really cold. She held onto them tightly and let the warmth of her own hands rub off on them.

"Babe, everything's going to be fine." she said and Gwen kept quiet, listening. She stared into Temilorun's eyes and saw so much sincerity hanging on the veins of her beautiful brown eyes.

"You know, I've always wanted for someone to gist me a house, a mansion...a wish actually."

"Really?" Gwen asked, eyes widened.

"...if one way on the other, God answers my prayers, I'm telling you, Babe, the house is yours. YOU DESERVE A LOT." Temilorun said pronouncing each word with much emphasis, and she wasn't telling a lie, she would really give her a house if she owned one.

"Awwnn..." Gwen said and covered her face with her left palm "I'm so loved!" she shouted not minding that her voice had gone high.

Temilorun always made her this happy. Her days with Temilorun for the past five years have been the happiest. Having just one friend wasn't bad after all, and this one she had here, was a gem. God had carefully picked this lady to be her friend and she was grateful to life for having her.

Gwen considered her sincerity to be amazing and awarded her the sincerest and most supportive girl she had ever known. She was a woman filled with so much qualities that Gwen always reminded herself that she had a lot to learn from her, especially her ability to tolerate annoying people who's primary goal is to frustrate life out of others. Oh, Gwen was always ready to eat them raw.

Gwen agreed that her parents had done a great job raising her. They were true Evangelists after all. The warmth that she received from them was epic, that it made her wonder if all Nigerians were this nice. Temilorun had played her part to teach her some values that she had gotten from her culture as a Yoruba girl and Gwen had placed it on her wish list to travel to Nigeria some day. She considered the Yorubas to be so full of great values and cultural heritage. That was real, good stuff to her.

Temilorun let go of her hand and raised her finger.

"But only if you finally agree to bring me a bowl of your mum's peppery pasta." then she raised her hands in the air like to surrender.

Gwenevere's mouth went agape

"So you'll let me be homeless for the sake of food? Man, this is bad-friend alert!" she said shaking her head left-right and the two chorused a laughter.

Gwenevere broke her laughter and slipped her hand into her back pocket. She suddenly remembered her mom. The mention of peppery pasta made her think of home.

"Reminds me, I need to check up on her."

Temilorun nodded and watched as her friend turned on the phone. Before she could do anything on the phone, it rang. Surprisingly, it was her mother.

"Ah, she's calling already." she said, picked the call and smiled "Hello mum, I was just about to call you." She expected to hear a musky chuckle on the other end of the phone, but she heard pants instead, pants that immediately-like magnet got her scared.

"Your sister, she-she, she's acting up! I'm scared, she's about to-" the phone made a funny sound and the call was cut.

Gwenevere's heart began a sprint. Her sister was in trouble. Her head turned around and she lost her balance immediately. She slid her phone into her back pocket and turned around to leave. 

Her friend was too confused to understand what was happening, she could see fear and panic all over Gwen.

"What's wrong, Gwen?!"

"Look, I don't even know. I have to leave right now. I'll give you a call." she spoke hurriedly and dashed out of the shop.

Mrs Gallewart stepped out right in time to see Gwen run out and she was left in awe. Gwen waved her hands vigorously at a cab and it slowed down. Her head was a mess. She got into the car forgetting that he means of payment was left laying in her bag, back in the shop.

As the car moved, the only thing she could think of was Jolie must be fine. Her sister couldn't be in danger and if she was hurt, Gwenevere couldn't promise herself that she would retain the level of stability she had managed to maintain all this while.

Her heart raced non-stop and Gwen bounced in response to her fast heart beat. She had lost her balance. Nothing mattered more than the safety of her family. Nothing. She would sacrifice herself if she had to, to make her family safe. They didn't have enough cash and they couldn't do much to change it so Gwen was going to fight with every bit of her blood to make sure that the gift of life they had wasn't taken away.

The cab turned into Johansen's Street and as soon as Gwen spotted the cream house with the green roof and shouted Stop! at the driver. The car came to a halt and Gwen pushed open the door running towards the house on the wide lawn that took a wide space in front of the house.

She ran like a child and ignored the voice of the driver that was yelling for his money. He would have to wait. Jolie came first.

She pushed open the door and met her family standing in a triangle. The sitting room had this cold feel that gave Gwen a really bad feeling. Her mother and father stood a meter away from Jolie where she had insisted they stayed. Jolie's hand was stretched towards them like to stop them from moving closer and on her other hand was a big chef's knife.

Gwen's chest fell.