At the Barracks
The daily drilling of the young soldiers, which Gen. Bailey looked forward to every morning, took place at 6 AM and lasted for one hour. As a matter of routine, he was in his studies, reading through the dailies after his breakfast, when he got the email from Barrister Guidance. He quickly read through it and was timorous.
“Has Stephen gone nuts? How many women does he want to have at the same time?” The nonagenarian Patriarch asked while cold sweat formed on his forehead.
He went through the mail again and discovered another serious point.
“Accusing Arthur of using Nichole as a nanny is an insult that her children would not take. No wonder Denise was distraught during the meeting,” he thought.
At that point, he got a call. He looked at his phone and discovered that the caller was Brown. He took a second look at his phone and vacillated between picking up the call and ignoring it. Shortly, the call timed out.
When he was about to concentrate on his emails, he got a message. (Good morning, our Patriarch. If you are not too busy, I would like to come over. We have an urgent issue to discuss. Brown.)
He furrowed his brow and read through the message again before he gave Brown a call.
When it connected, he inquired, “Hello, our Patriarch. Did you get my message?”
“Yes, Brown. What is the urgent issue all about?”
“I got a disturbing message from Arthur’s lawyer involving Stephen. He accused him of using Nichole as a nanny.”
Gen. Bailey took a deep breath and declared, “I got the same message too. I can see the reason for Denise’s repugnant behavior yesterday at the meeting.”
“You are right. I am coming over.”
“It is all right. I am waiting.”
(Cut)
When the Patriarch got out of the call, he meditated on the calamity that would befall Stephen for stepping on Arthur’s family toes.
“If Williams is alive, the matter would be settled at the family level, and he would take any verdict passed by the Family Heads like Oscar. But this generation would not. That is why they involved a lawyer who would ensure that our judgment favors them,” the Patriarch mumbled while he was ruminating over the hard nut that Stephen had given to him to crack.
After thirty minutes, his phone rang. He felt disturbed because he needed time to think of how to handle such a matter and not incur the wrath of Arthur and his family. He angrily picked up his phone to cut the call, only to see the name of the last person he expected to see as the caller.
“Could this be real?” He doubted.
At the Government Hospital
Now, Lorene got to her office delighted and fulfilled. She had spent the weekend with one of the Family Heads of the prestigious family in Dover.
‘There is no other woman in his life,’ she reasoned and smiled to herself while she walked into her office.
Evelyn, who had been waiting to get the latest news, concerning their lover’s itinerary, walked to her office.
“Hi, Lorene, I am delighted to see you.”
“Good to see you, Evelyn. You are early today.”
“Certainly. I can see you had a blissful weekend. I am so happy for you.”
“You are right. It was a dream come true,” she responded happily.
“I see. So, what next? Is he still at your house?”
“No. He had gone to work.”
“Oh! I see. Endeavor to show your appreciation to the beauty and the ugly duckling.”
They laughed mockingly and Lorene asked her, “You are right. Is she in her office? I have not seen her jalopy today.”
“Ignore her. She is out of your league now. See you later.”
“Later.”
Afterward, Lorene resumed her work for the day. When she said, ‘we won’t miss each other for long’, she planned to pay him a surprise visit at his office during lunch hour. Unfortunately, Evelyn had the same plan.
At the Barracks
Gen. Bailey picked up the call and waited for the person at the other end to speak.
Then, the caller spoke, “Hello, our Patriarch.”
Though he had identified the voice of the speaker as Stephen’s, to be double sure, he inquired in his military style.
“Who are you?”
“It is me, our Patriarch. Stephen,” Stephen introduced himself in apprehension, but the Patriarch pretended as though he was not aware of the bombed resort or any message from a lawyer.
“Stephen? What do you want?” he inquired further.
Stephen ignored his question and announced his intention. “I am on my way to the Barracks. I hope to see you.”
“I hope there is no ….”
(Cut)
Now, the Patriarch could not complete his question before he cut the call. Then, Brown, the sixty-five-year-old Family Head, drove in and walked briskly to the Patriarch’s apartment.
He met him staring vacantly after Stephen cut the call on him. He motioned him to a seat, and he sat down.
“Stephen just called me,” the Patriarch informed him and he was speechless.
Then, he asked him, “What did you say, please?”
“He is on his way. He may be here any moment from now,” he answered him.
Now, Brown adjusted and wondered how to receive him. Not quite long, a taxi pulled up at the front of the Patriarch’s apartment and a devastated Stephen got out of it in a wild rush. In the same manner, he rushed into the house.
Apart from the Patriarch, he saw a strange man sitting on a couch with a death stare on his face and he was disoriented.
“Why are you here, Stephen?” the Patriarch asked him without looking at his face.
To avoid the strange man from hearing their discussion, he pleaded, “Our, Patriarch, please can we talk in private?”
Now, Brown did not give him the honor of introducing himself to him but blurted out, “Did I hear you say private? Was it in private that you called Denise’s mother a nanny? Or accuse Arthur wrongly? Was it in private that you kidnapped Oscar’s wife?”
Then, the Patriarch added what Brown seemed to have forgotten.
“Or was it in private that he embezzled the money that was meant for the indigents?”