Chapter 12

I kept on with my video business as well as working at Madam Caroline's store. I would break rules at work once in two weeks to go check on the business and fix the necessary things needed. One of those days when I went to the mainland to check on my business, Madam Caroline who was not always around every time I left work for the shop had been there immediately I left on that day. She had found out that I was always leaving the store once in two weeks without anyone knowing my whereabout. She had gone to Aunty Mary to check if I was at home but I wasn't there. It wasn't only my boss that was now mad at me, Aunty Mary was angry too.

I returned to work at 3pm on the same day, the moment I sighted my boss's car, I knew I was in trouble. Madam Caroline was a tough woman, nobody dared go against the rules and regulations of her business but little me had been breaking the rules and not even once or twice but on many occasions. I shook off my fear and walked up to the store. Immediately I walked in, my boss started shouting at me and almost dragged me by my shirt. She questioned me about where I had been but I didn't give any response. She decided to deduct from my wages at the end of the month, with a serious warning never to be absent from work anymore.

I completed the rest of the day at work then I had to go home and explain to Aunty Mary where I had been all the while when I was not at work. When I walked into the house at about 7pm, Aunty Mary was sitting on the couch reading the Bible with her glasses on , the television was on but turned down to it's lowest volume. She looked at me then took off her glasses and asked me where I had been all day because my boss had come looking for me.

At first I didn't want to tell her where I went but I knew she wouldn't give up , until she knew exactly where I went. She said that people had been seeing me around with girls and she hoped that I wasn't somewhere hanging out with girls with my money. I had to open up because she was going on and on with it. I told her I had gone to the video club to monitor the situation and I had to finish the day at work. She asked me if I had started looking for accommodation because I could no longer continue to live with her. The house was a three bedroom flat, all my cousins were married and have moved out except Aunty Mary's last child, so there was no reason to ask me to leave the house.

I began to think of where to go because I didn't know where I would have gone to, if I decided that I was going to leave the house. I tried as much as possible to make sure I didn't have to go to the video club for a month even though it was necessary for me to be there. I also gave part of my salary to Aunty Mary to support her so that she could stop threatening me about leaving her house. In August 2003, I decided to take the risk once again to go to the video club .On getting there I realized that so far the business was not doing bad. Even though the sales are not much because we didn't have a large collection of compact disc for rent, but the few we had was receiving a good patronage. I just had to make sure I was consistent and the business would grow.

Before I left for the mainland I had informed my colleague at work that I would be away from work until afternoon, so we had an agreement that he was going to cover up for me with the boss. Unfortunately for me, by the time I returned, madam Caroline had found out that I wasn't at work again and that was how I got fired. I tried to beg her to forgive me and give me another chance but she wouldn't obliged. By the time I got home Aunty Mary had been told that my services were no longer required by Madam Caroline because I was absent again. Aunty Mary told me that she had been told by Madam Caroline that she was no longer needing my services, so I have to start thinking of what to do with my life because she was not going to find me another job and she didn't have the money to sponsor me through the University.

Although I wasn't happy that I got fired from work but I didn't feel guilty about it. I started making plans on what to do next. I felt I would have to fire the sales girl at the video club then start to manage it myself. That way I could be using the commission I was using for her payment to feed myself as well as improving the business.

Elizabeth had been to the cold room to purchase fish when I wasn't around. We usually met whenever she came to buy fish to have a brief conversation and also decided where and how we were going to meet in the evenings. But she had not seen me for seven days. I had also tried looking for her, each time I got to her Aunty's shop she was always busy with her Aunty and by the time I returned to check her again in the evening, they would have closed for the day. She finally asked my colleague at work and was told what happened. She took her time to look for a friend of mine, Mustapha . She knew that apart from her, Mustapha was my best friend and he was my neighbour, so he would definitely be able to help her to reach me.

When I got fired from work I didn't have any money left in the bank, because I had just emptied my account the last time I went to the video club. This has made me stranded at home, I was unable to neither feed myself nor get transport fare to the mainland to take charge of the business. I laid at home all day then go visiting some of my friends that would then buy me food. I was eating once or twice daily through the help of my friends.

Mustapha had explained my situation to Elizabeth,so when we finally got to see each other again, she showed up with enough food to last me throughout the day. She asked me what my next plan was, then I told her about the video club business that I had set up and how much money I needed for transportation to go there in order to fully take charge of the business. Although she wasn't happy at first that I never mentioned anything about the video club but she was also pleased to find out that I had been investing the little money, I was getting paid on a small business.

We met at the back of one of the houses on my street . Hearing words of encouragement from her was a balm to my soul. She asked me not to lose my confidence in myself because of what happened, she said, she believed that the future would be brighter for the two of us. Elizabeth was young, just as I was, but she was matured in words and behaviour beyond her years. She always seemed to know the right words to say.