I
was curious about what Maud had to say. I was just not curious enough to be
away from Charmaine’s diary for too long. I hope what she had to say was worth
taking the time away from my reading. Maud was sitting, hunched over, on the
bench on the verandah. She sat up straight when she heard me approaching her. I
sat down in my favorite chair, across from her, and told her
I was ‘all ears’.
Maud started by telling me how much she loved me and how much she enjoyed
working with me but she felt that the time had come for her to move on to
something more substantial. She went on and on about her not getting any
younger and needing something that could provide for her when she gets older. I
told her that nothing was wrong with her desires, but could she tell me exactly
what she had in mind? She said that for sometime now she was contemplating
opening up a restaurant in Spanish Town. When I opened my eyes wide at that
Maud laughed and said she was no longer contemplating that idea. “Good!” I
said. With all that was happening in Spanish Town with the TreTre gang that
would be a suicidal move on her part! Maud said she was being offered the job
to operate the canteen at the Police Academy. I was shocked and troubled at the
same time. Maud was a very good cook, but cooking and operating a canteen was
not the same thing. I asked her what did she know about running a business?
Maud said she would be completing her online degree in Business Administration
shortly. Even more shocked I asked her when she had found time to do that. She
said that she did in the evenings when she had finished with me for the day. I
still wanted to know how she knew about the job so I pressed her for an answer.
That’s when I noticed that she was blushing. Apparently, one of her online classmates
was a Lecturer at the Police Academy. He was not just her classmate, they had also
been dating for a while. I almost fell out of my chair! How did I not know that
I asked? Maud was a real con artist! She would tell me that she was going to
get her hair braided by her friend when she was actually going to this man’s
home! “Oh no Ma’am! It’s nothing like that!” said Maud. “I only went there to
study!” “Yeah right! If that’s what you want to call it!” I smirked. Maud was
adamant that only ‘studying’ took place at her friend’s home so I told her I
believed her. “How did he know that you could cook?” I asked. She blushed again
and said she would cook for him when she visited him. He would always
compliment her on her cooking, telling her it tasted much better than what was prepared at the Academy. Her friend was the one who told her that the Concessionaire
at the Academy had left and that she should apply for the job. Her interview
was tomorrow, she said, and she was nervous. She said she had nothing suitable to wear for the
interview and she was hoping that I would lend her one of my suits seeing that we
were the same size. I laughed at that statement because Maud was at least
two sizes larger than me! I told her to come inside and let me check in my
closet to see if there was anything in there that could fit her. A couple years
ago I was the same size as Maud but when I started having knee problems I went
on a weight-loss program and lost thirty pounds. I had given away most of my clothes
but I kept back a couple of my suits thinking to give them to one of my church
sisters but I never got around to doing so. I took out a navy blue linen suit
and held it against Maud. It looked like it could fit her so I told her to try
it on. The suit fitted her so well that even I was surprised by how good she
looked in it. Luckily for her we wore
the same sized shoes so I gave her a pair of navy blue shoes to go along with the
suit. “Can I borrow one of your designer handbags Miss Cecilia?” This she asked
with a sly grin. Maud knew how I felt about my handbags, and knew better than
to ask to borrow one. I looked at her and sighed. Just because she was going on
the interview I relented and lent her the least expensive one. I told her she
could keep the suit and the shoes but I wanted back my handbag. I also told her
she was to see me before she left in the morning so that I could do her makeup
and fix her hair. In my heart I was very happy for her and I wanted her to get
the job. It seems as if her ‘friend’ would appreciate her more if she were not
just a housekeeper. It’s such a shame that in this day and age being a
housekeeper was still looked down upon. I said nothing, however, as I did not
want to kill her vibes. Maud was obviously in love and I did not want to be a
spoilsport in the face of this budding romance! After giving her a few pointers
for her interview she left.
I took up the diary and went back to my reading. Charles
had noticed the similarities in his handwriting and the handwriting in the
letter that Miss Verna had taken from her handbag. He said that he was almost
certain that he was the Charles that she spoke about. “Humph!” scoffed Stanley
Wharbucks. “You just copied what you saw on the paper! How could she believe
that you were one and the same because of that?” he asked. Charles said Miss
Verna told him to take off his pants. “What!” exclaimed
Florence and Charmaine in unison. When he asked her why, she told him that the
Charles Whitmore she knew had a scar on his buttocks where he was gored by a
bull. He was so surprised when she said that because he had felt the scar but
did not know how he got it. He pulled down his pants as far as decency allowed
and showed her the scar. Miss Verna started to cry and said, “It is really you
Mister Charles!” She told him she was
there when it happened. Charmaine had wandered into the bullpen and Charles
went to get her out when the bull charged them. He barely managed to throw
Charmaine over the fence into her arms before the bull gored him. Luckily there
were other men on the farm who scared the bull away before it could inflict any
more damage to Charles. Charles said he began to cry. For six months he did not
know who he was and now here was someone who actually knew him. The only
problem was that he had no recollection of what she said had happened. He still
did not know who he was. Should he really take her word?
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