DEPARTURE

She dropped her broomstick and took two cartons aside which she kept on the ground beside the broom. Then she took another and another till she found a good enough space to continue her sweeping.

As she kept rummaging through the pile of huge boxes that lay scattered next to her feet, a fat rat suddenly bolted out from an old refrigerator into the open.

"What the heck?!",

She yelled as she tried to evade the mouse very much frightened by the unexpected appearance of the household rodent despite the fact that she had heard warning sound of squeaky noises of the mouse hiding in the old machine beforehand and withdrew away from the messy area while she watched the rat dash into the bottom-left corner of the old closet behind her in a blink of an eye.

Feeling less threatened by the existence of the rodent, she ignored it and resumed what she was doing earlier before she was briefly interrupted by the fat mouse and as she was almost done sweeping off lifeless chitinous exoskeleton of dead cockroaches and insects below enclosed spaces behind the old refrigerator where little light hardly touched, she came across two smaller metal containers housing memorable trinkets belonging to her mother whose early death during her childhood had made her grew up without one like most other children about her age did while her late father had passed away recently not long before the month of July much of which contributed to the reason why she had no choice than to do a thorough cleaning of the attic where most of their lovely memories were stored.

She rested her broomstick against the refrigerator before picking them up and examined the rusted edges of the metal box with her eyes. Then she opened the lid with her left thumb only to find the fancy jewelry on top of a soft red fabric, still remaining intact without any sign of corrosion and a folded scribbled note below the red fabric which she read as soon as she recognized the handwritten note, written by her father.

"TO MY LOVELY WIFE, CHRISTINE",

She stifled a teardrop as she mumbled out the inscribed words and took the old jewelry box to a safer place away from the heap of dirt while the other metal box contained a bracelet with no note inside like the first one which she found attractive to some extent and had them kept together on the floor a short distance away from the exit. Then she left the two box behind and went back to resume her cleaning.

Four more hours into the afternoon, before sundown, she had thoroughly swept the entire room as well as the little black harmless spiders scurrying out and cleaned up most of the objects in the room which she left behind to carry off the pile of dirt including the old cartons out of the house to the front yard soon after she was done wrapping them in two black polythene bag that was large and expand enough to contain the dirty pieces of rubble that she had already gathered in the middle of attic. Arriving at the dumpster which was situated five feet away from her mailbox outside, neatly arranged near the road beside her neighbor's fence, she found other dirty items which already filled it to the brim before she got there and there wasn't much space for her to keep the trash inside the green container. She opened the dumpster and took a look inside only to see it full with a lot of bagged items filling up the spaces which was still yet to be emptied by the public vehicle in charge of taking out trash from the dumpsters around the neighborhood and only managed to keep one inside while the other polythene bag as well as the cartons that she kept on the ground beside the dumpster with the thought that the waste management team would come around when it's dusk.

Afterwards, she head back to the house feeling satisfied with her days work that had kept her preoccupied almost half of the entire day and went straight to the kitchen where she hung her large yellow handgloves on a loop near the dishwasher before heading to her bedroom to get her dusty clothes changed for her to take a shower in the bathroom.

Two minutes later, she had completely changed her dirty outfit into a robe and a soft slipper which she wore on her feet into the bathroom where she took a cold shower to cool off the tensed nerves of her weary body. Before long, she was done drying her hair with a clean soft towel inside the bathroom and left afterwards, to get changed properly, in the outfit she wanted to use for the day which she did in her bedroom without wasting much of the time she really required to pay a visit to her office to get a scheduled job done with the help of her staff workers who needed her presence urgently to finish up with the paperwork before presenting them to the board for direct approval though she won't be staying in the office after that.

Succeeding in getting herself neatly dressed in a well tight fitted natty suit and a black trousers with a white inner which greatly enhance her robust breast in such a way that made it bulge out firmly against the suit the moment she fixed the buttoned against her abdomen more tightly than ever and soon ate her delicious meal of well cooked muffins and a garnished stash of meatloaf which she took from the kitchen after getting it preserved in her refrigerator. Before she was done munching all of the tasty muffins and the fleshy vegetables, she checked her wristwatch to ascertain her time of departure and it did informed her that she only had two hours before the clock will strike 10am in the morning when it will be the exact time she must be present to submit the final reviewed edited scripts for the group of actors who would be performing various scenes at different venues as designated by the Director of the film later in the day and in accordance with the write up which she and her team would have made a befitting review for the manuscripts to be acted to the taste of the Director whose personal style and Judgment in film making was far too influential for actors in the film industry and wouldn't want his efforts to be wasted.

Her cell phone rang twice inside her fancy red handbag in the living room immediately after she was done carrying the leftover dishes to the dishwasher in the kitchen from whence she scurried out to get her black glossy purse within the handbag which rested on her red sofa beside a soft white pillow cushion the entire time she was busy eating. She rummaged through her bag to get her purse and took out her cell phone after bringing out the purse from her bag.

"Hello, Isabel, Why did you call? Any problem at the office?",

She inquired after she answered the call and took her handbag with her left hand which hung on her elbow before striding towards the door, trampling softly on the carpet with her black high heels while adjusting the cell phone which she gripped against her right ear with her right hand without caring about the loose wavy strands of her red hair covering

"Not yet, Madam",

The raspy voice of the female caller retorted,

"Something seems wrong with your voice",

"Nothing's wrong, Ma'am. I'm absolutely fine",

"No, you are not. Tell me what's happening over there",

She ordered,unlocking the latch before opening the door with the door knob and strode out of the house. She shut the door in haste and bolted it quickly before the caller could make any sort of response.

"Nothing, Ma'am.. In fact, everything's fine here. It just that a lot would go wrong if you aren't here on time to get the last script reviewed before the director who is already here, ask for it. Other than that, everything else is fine",

The caller explained.

"Okay, alright. I'm on my way there right now. So, don't worry about it",

"Sure, Ma'am",

"I'll be there in an hour, so rest assured",

She said peering at her wristwatch. Then she hung up on the phone and by the time she had finished her call, she was already in a taxi cab heading towards the big city, sitting behind the driver with her head resting against the window as the old man drove the car out of the neighborhood. She could have taken her automobile which she had neatly parked in her garage back home but she didn't want to make a rush trying to get to the office quickly regardless of the fact that one of her favorite team member called her on the phone since she knew that she had all the time in the world to see the skyscrapers in the big city without having to sit in front of the steering wheel which she believed had added to her stress working nonstop. Today was her off day though she had to present at least for a brief period to submit the revised scripts officially to the Director who would begin work that she wouldn't be present to watch by the next hour after her arrival.