“Abby what are you doing there?” the manager asked as he walked towards the table.
The waitress stepped back, fear in her eyes. She knew of the man’s temper after all she had been at the receiving end of it several times in the past.
“I…I…don’t know. I think he is drunk or something. He just entered and passed out.” She replied quickly, licking her lips which suddenly felt dry.
The manager looked at her for a few seconds then turned to the man. He touched the man and turned his head. The man snored, unconscious to the world about him. The manager snorted and turned to look at the girl again then turned back. His eyes caught the suitcase that laid beside the unconscious man’s chair. He studied the suitcase and his eyes turned green with greed. He turned back to Abby;
“Go tell the cook to start working on lunch. Customers will soon start coming. I need to move this man to somewhere where he won’t attract comment from our patrons.” The manager said.
Abby looked at the manager then turned to look at the man. She frowned but she walked back to the kitchen. In her head, the manager’s change of attitude didn’t make any sense. She has been with the man for a year now and she knew for a fact that he never treated anyone who was not a paying customer with respect. His intent towards the unconscious man seemed suspicious and she was bothered.
As soon as Abby’s ample behind disappeared into the gloomy interior of the kitchen, the manager turned to look at the man on his chair, sleeping and drooling on his table. He turned and walked outside. He beckoned two bouncers sitting outside smoking cigarettes and asked them to come in and help him lift the man. They carried him into the manager’s office while the manager carried his suitcase.
Once the men had dropped the drunken man on a settee in the office, they left him alone with the manager. The manager sat on his chair and placed the suitcase on the table before him. He placed the tip of his fingers together and studied the snoring man. He could see the quality of the man’s suit and shoes. He knew that the man was not a poor man but well to do. He had fashion sense and knew well the price of expensive shoes. Why then, was an obviously well to do man lying in his bar drunk? He wondered.
He turned his gaze to the suitcase before him. He clicked it open and looked at the contents. Inside was a picture of the man’s family. His wife was pretty, the manager noticed; older but still pretty. He dropped the picture on the table, looked into the suitcase then gathered the papers to one side. The suitcase looked empty. He looked inside and searched all over for anything that he could use but found nothing. He turned to the papers.
As soon as he read the first paper before him, he knew he had hit jackpot. He smiled and picked up his phone. He dialed a number and it rang then someone on the other end picked.
“Hello Castro.” The manager said.
“Yes, what is it, Big Ben?” a lazy voice answered on the other end.
“I have some information to trade. Where can we meet?” the manager replied.
“What sort of information, Ben? I don’t have time to waste for any of your stupidity. I am still trying to get over the fiasco you created last year.” Castro replied.
“No! No, this is the real deal. I have information on a project that would benefit all of us if we get it right.”
The phone line went silent for a few minutes. Then Castro sighed.
“Okay, meet me at Kabani lodge by 8pm today. You better not be wasting my time. Come with information not suspicions. You know Gabriel has eyes on you and I am the only one standing between you and his wrath, so you better be sure.”
The manager aka Big Ben swallowed. He said his goodbyes quickly and turned to look at the sleeping man. The man was going to be his ticket out of this backwater of a town called Warri. He would finally be back in the good graces of the brotherhood.
Patience really had no patience for nonsense and Boma was being nonsensical right at the moment and she hated it. She had left the kids with the nanny and also had to miss one of her favourite television shows to be on the road to meet with her stupid weakling of a husband. What was he doing in a bar? He had been given one single task; do not ever take a sip of alcohol. Her father had given him a job, a house, a car, everything that he could ever dream of. What more could he ask of? Just to focus on a singular task, he could not do it. She could not wait to get her hands on him and give him a piece of her mind.
She drove to the front of the Eagle’s Bar and slowed down. She looked at the bar and wrinkled her nose in disgust. She could see the empty crates of beer bottles piled up waiting to be exchanged for full bottles. She could perceive the tang of alcohol in air, stale with time’s passing. She had always hated the smell. She could remember it as a little girl on her mother’s breath, the stink on her sweat and her bleary eyes when she was drunk which she always was as far as she could remember.
She shook her head to clear her head of the memory. There was a reason why her father had been insistent that her husband stopped drinking. They had seen the damage it caused. It pained her to admit that her father had been right to be against her marriage. She sighed and frowned. She parked the car and got out of it then strode into the bar with only anger in her breast.
Stay Tuned for Episode 3
©warpedpoetic, 2019.
Oh man... His wife's anger scares me, i hope she is able to control it though. But i can understand where she is coming from, hopefully, he gets back to his senses and "man up". It is so sad though that the manager decided to take advantage of his unconsciousness, now, he has to live with the consequences... Or maybe not...
Yeah the wife has a bitterness against alcohol. The man should have known better. We will see our it turns out.
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