CHAPTER 61
SITA
She was quick with the arrangement, and in just a couple of minutes, the manager was at my door, with a lady behind him. The lady had his flat purse in her possession, maybe she was his assistant.
"I don't like a lot about this room," I said as I leaned at the doorpost, "The paint is faded and the remnant of it scrapes out like a parch of dried dust."
He smiled. "Remember, we are not in a five-star hotel. This is a damn rural area school, and this space is managed by the principal himself."
I shook my head. "I understand, but I prefer rug over plastic carpet, and I want good paint on this wall."
"But…"
"But me no buts, Ambrose." I snapped. "You have five hours."
For the first time, I took charge of my own decision because I hated to be tossed around by the manager whom I knew I was far bigger than in the philanthropy business.
Five hours was what I assigned him, but in two hours, he provided what I ordered. I knew my limits though, so, I didn't ask for much, though I ached to demand the volunteer team be given a space better than the mosquito-ridden old classes.
"The welfare team will cater to your needs as long as you list them out to your assistant, and I can assign as many as five personal assistants to you if one is not enough for you." He was standing beside me while I waited under the mango tree in the compound for the new paint on the walls of my room to dry.
"When will the outreach commence?" I asked.
"When we are done settling." He replied.
I nodded in silence.
"What else do you not like around you?" he asked after a while of silence, "I hate to see you enraged."
A smile etched out on my face. I didn't need much as long as the little I needed had been met, but I wanted to ask him where the white men amongst us were lodged.
I moved my lips, but a part of me sensed he was waiting to hear me ask of the white men. I didn't want anyone to bear the impression that I was running after the white doctors because I felt their skin color was superior to Ambrose's own.
I swallowed what should have been my query and thought of something else to ask. "Internet connection, do we have that here?"
He laughed. Maybe I was too blind to see where we were, that could be what he had in mind, but that query was just a cover-up because I swallowed what was supposed to be my initial question.
"No internet, no network, nothing, just the radio in your room with analog connection, and you may keep it by the window if you still want to be connected to Abidjan." He strutted off as soon as he was done with those words of his. "Enjoy, miss."
With Ambrose, the manager, gone from my side, I delved into my search for Alessandro. I wasn't supposed to care so much, but a part of me was drawing me back to him even after I took what happened between us in the club as a thing of the past, a normal thing I shouldn't think twice of.
"Looking for something, ma'am?" that was my assistant.
"The white men, where are they?" I asked.
"One of them had me take him to your place, he is waiting for you." She replied.
I thought of asking her which of them had come, because I already sensed Dave was comfortable making friends with me, but Alessandro was either being reserved or a part of him was repelling my presence. I didn't go on with the intended query. I swallowed it like the millions of questions popping up in my mind which were swallowed and were never posed.
"Okay, take me to him." I requested while I walked past her.
She had to run to meet up with my speed. She was supposed to lead me back to my room to meet my visitor, but I was the one who led her instead.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"Over there," she pointed towards the mango tree.
I turned to the mango tree and saw him; the sun out here wasn't that good for his skin. His face was sweaty, and his eyes were weak, maybe because they were narrowed so he would see properly under the heavy afternoon sun. it was Alessandro, the white man I wanted, not Dave, the jovial one.
"Hey," he edged down the mango tree, he was sitting under the mango tree, on a cloth he laid on the earth to keep his shorts from stain.
"Hey," he replied with a smile.
I was going to sit on the earth with him, but my assistant approached me with a bench. She was quite fast with that, such that she got to the mango tree before me.
"Stand up let's sit on the bench," I said as I motioned for the bench which was already settled. He rose to his feet and took the cloth on the floor. It was a black shirt, maybe the one he no longer used.
He sat beside me, so close his clothes touched mine. He was by the way a white man, so, he probably didn't care about secret gossip and scandals that could come from the stream of eyes watching from different corners.
"The weather is already dealing with you." I laughed.
He scoffed, "But I love the smell of life here, guess the other side will be good for a stroll."
Stroll? I chuckled. I would have a comfortable stroll around the village, but the thing was, I wasn't here for a stroll around the village. It was not safe for both of us.
"Will you be my guest?" he asked casually.
"I will ask the security officers to ensure they keep you from trespassing," I rose from the bench, "Come to my room, we can play games in there and have a good talk, but strolling, this is not the other side, we don't know the village that well".
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