It was the sound of the alarm on my phone that woke me. I glanced on the clock on the wall, it was 6:00 a.m. Strange, I thought, how come I didn’t hear the usual crowing of the roosters next door? Anyways, I must have fallen asleep reading Charmaine’s diary again, because the room light was still on. I was about to get out the bed when I remembered that
Matron said I was not to come to work today because of those darn protesters! I decided to get another hour of sleep before getting up. I jumped up after only a few minutes remembering that today was Maud’s interview for the job at the Police Academy! I had promised to help her with her hair and makeup so I might as well get up and get myself ready for her. I glanced at the diary, it was so tempting but as much as I wanted to know what had happened to Stanley Wharbucks I knew that if I started to read now there would be no putting down that diary! I was getting out of the bed when I felt a twinge in my right knee, a sure sign that rain was going to fall! I remembered as a child when my Grandmother talked about her ‘weather knee’ I used to laugh and thought she was crazy, now here I was with my own rain indicator! I hobbled to the bathroom and turned on the shower. A couple minutes of the hot water on my knee usually took care of the pain. Thank God when the Government finally paid over the three years back money that they owed us I invested in a hot water heater! I finished my shower and put on a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt and went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. I was slowly sipping it when I heard Maud in her flip-flops approaching the verandah. I went outside to meet her there. She was all smiles, grinning from ear to ear. I must admit that my suit fitted her perfectly, and she knew it too by the way she was grinning. “How do I look?” she asked. I was still mad at her from last night but I had promised myself to wait until after she returned from the interview before I spoke to her about her treatment of the dogs. “You look very good.” I told her. “So where’s your makeup bag?” I asked her. Maud looked at me in surprise. “I thought you were going t-t-to use y-your-r makeup” she stammered. “Listen to me Maud! You know that my skin is very sensitive so don’t come expecting me to share my makeup with you!” “Alright, ma’am, you don’t have to shout, just fix my hair for me then.” She took the setters from her hair and I waited for her to hand me her comb. She laughed nervously. That’s when I realized that Maud came without a comb! I counted to ten and went inside the house. My friends all call me Miss Haberdashery because I always had things in stock at my home. I never ran out of things and I believe this was because of my experience in the 1970s when the shopkeepers hid their products from us. We could not get toothpaste, rice, milk, flour etc…and when you could get them, the shopkeepers forced you to buy something that you did not need. We had a name for it, 'marrying the goods', if you wanted milk you had to buy sanitary napkins also, whether you needed it or not! So because of that I always made sure to have more than enough of the basic necessities at home. If I remembered correctly, I had about six combs in my bathroom cupboard. I took out one and went back outside to do her hair. After I finished, I told her she could keep the comb for good luck. Maud smiled when she heard that and told me thanks. She then left to go and get her handbag and put on her shoes. Shortly afterwards, I heard the honking of a car horn at the gate and saw her walking hastily towards the gate. When I peeked through the verandah grill I saw a well dressed gentleman come around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her. Maud was there blushing and giggling like a little girl. I smiled because my friends, if they saw him would have said, ‘that is a man who is built like a man!’ Oh yes! He was tall with broad shoulders and shaped like a body builder! “Guh deh Maud!” I whispered as I went back inside the house. I had an uneasy feeling that had nothing to do with Maud and her gentleman. Something was not sitting right in my belly bottom, another thing my Grandmother would have said. I shrugged off the feeling and went back to bed.
I managed to get another two hours of sleep when the barking of my dogs woke me. Oh Lord, I had forgotten to feed them! I went to do just that. They were happy to see me and were jumping all over me. I fed them and gave them water. I looked up and saw dark clouds in the sky. Yep! Here comes the rain that my knee told me was coming! With a flash of lightning and a loud boom of thunder down came the rain! I ran back to the verandah but not before the rain drenched me. The dogs, howling, followed me unto the verandah. As I opened the door to go inside they pushed pass me. I laughed at the sight of these big bad pit bulls being afraid of a little lightning and thunder! I changed out of my wet clothes and put on my housedress. I should not be expecting any visitors today as according to another of my Grandmother’s saying, ‘when rain falling people must stay at their yard’.
My phone rang, it was Matron, and she said that the situation had gotten worse at the hospital. The protesters had damaged all the vehicles on the hospital compound including the Ambulances. She said that the extra Police personnel that the Minister of National Security said would be despatched to the hospital never showed up. The Minister of Health was not answering his phone and she did not know what to do. I told her to call the Prime Minister and tell him to send soldiers to the hospital right away as this was a real state of emergency! She told me she had to go because a journalist wanted to talk to her about what was happening at the hospital. I told her to take care of herself and ended the call. Hi, Hi, Hi! What is wrong with these people! I started to pray and asked God to protect the Matron and her staff. I prayed for the soldiers that would be deployed to the hospital to deal with the protesters and that there be no loss of lives on either side. Amen.
All this time the rain was falling heavily. Why would people want to be demonstrating in weather like this? Oh well, I went for Charmaine’s diary and came back and curled up in the armchair. It was time to find out what had happened to Stanley Wharbucks!
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