Sharon impatiently paced back and forth on her living room floor. Why was Carlos taking so long to get home? He said he would be home by 7 pm, now it was 10:30 and she was getting a little annoyed. Dinner was being kept warm in the oven but she felt icy cold in her heart. This was the third time this week he was pulling a stunt like this, and she had to eat alone. He would say he would be in early and then somehow he would be trudging in very late, with some silly explanation.
Yes, he was an engineer at the water treatment plant, supervisor albeit, but these weird hours he was now coming home were getting to her. When she asked him what was going on, he would just say, "Work stuff. Nothing to worry about."
She missed their conversations while having dinner. They would go to the living room to repose in the loveseats together, sip their after meal tea and talk about their day at work. He would often have her in stitches as he told her about his co-worker Delroy and his humorous antics at work. But now, when he came home, he would barely speak to her and if she pressed too much he would give her the 'silent treatment'.
The clinking, metallic sound of a set of keys as they met contact with the front door, took her out of her thoughts. That was him. She went through the living room to the foyer to greet him with a sarcastic smile, but, when she looked at him, she saw the tired look on his face. The sarcastic comment she had saved to say the first thing he came through the door melted away.
"You okay?," she asked, reaching for his work bags and keys. Tiredly, Carlos handed them to her.
"Thanks hun." Carlos went into the living room and slumped into the couch.
Sharon placed his bag on the table in his home office and hung his keys on a nail by the kitchen doorway where they usually placed keys.
Walking back into the room she leaned on the door and looked at him. He was stretched out on the couch. His feet hanging over the edge of the arm, his shoes still on his feet. Sighing quietly, Sharon moved towards him and touched him on his shoulder.
"Cade... Cade?"
Cade was his middle name, but she used it as a name of endearment because she said it was unique.
"Cade?"
Carlos opened his eyes and looked up at his wife. He reached up and pulled her gently to him.
"Yes Shar?"
"You okay?"
He tiredly smiled, "Yes baby, I'm okay, just tired. I told you about our new manager, and the new management team that took over the company. They're changing the schematics of the plant to meet some new ISO requirements, so we're building a new plant on our old location and we're also about to build a new facility somewhere in St. Elizabeth. So, I've been working with the civil engineering crew, and a new architect they brought in from Canada to help with the building plans. We are also working with a rep from the local government as well as NEPA, to make sure everything is above board. I was voted the team leader for this project by default, I guess you could say." He hugged Sharon tighter and rubbed her back.
"But you're an electrical engineer not a civil?" Sharon raised her head up slightly to look into his eyes. "That's Delroy's job"
'"The plans for the new plants at both locations will include schematics for electrical circuitry, etc. The plants run on electricity, Shar."
Sharon reared up, gave Carlos a sharp look and slapped him on his shoulder. "I know that!" Sharon lifted herself off her husband and went into the kitchen.
Taking the warmed tray of food out of the oven, she placed it on the counter. She had cooked roasted pork, with mashed potatoes and some nicely baked, ripe plantains her neighbor Miss Gem had given her.
Carefully, she placed a dinner plate into the microwave and heated it up for two minutes. She fetched a pair of oven gloves among her wrack of clean dish towels, quickly placed her hands in them and retrieved the hot empty plate from the microwave and began dishing her husband's meal. Carlos always liked his food piping hot and no matter how much she would heat it up, he would complain it wasn't hot enough. So, one day, she placed the plate in the microwave as a joke to get a reaction out of him, that should have been him bawling that the plate was on fire. Instead, he complimented her on how nice and hot the food was. She was speechless for a minute, but then decided from then on that if that's how he likes it she would do it for him.
Carefully, placing the plate in a mini plate tray, she slowly brought the food to him while he was still on the couch. He was sitting upright by then and had removed his work jacket with the blue and black logo, TechPro Waste Treatment Systems.
She placed the tray in his lap with his plate and kissed him on his forehead. He gave a quick slap on the bottom to which she laughed out.
"Aren't you too tired?" She smiled at him. She returned to the kitchen.
Removing the oven gloves, and placing them on the counter, she tipped on her toes and opened the kitchen cupboard just above her head to retrieve a slender glass cup that had tiny pink hearts decorated on the outside. There was a fairly large glass jug filled with homemade orange juice in the fridge she had prepared for them to enjoy. She removed it from the fridge, poured some into the glass and then used a stainless steel tong to drop a thin orange slice from the jug into his glass. She liked adding fruit skins to her juices to give them a tangy kick.
After placing the jug back where it belonged, she hurriedly brought him the glass of orange juice perched on a coaster she got as a wedding gift from her mother, and handed it to him. She sat beside him.
Carlos shook his head and took the first bite into the roasted pork. "Never for you." A mischievous wink, caused Sharon to lean back and laugh heartily.
'I missed you so much today. Work was terrible." Sharon touched his arm.
"Mh-mm?" Carlos chewed his food and looked at her. "What happened?"
"A new set of redundancies today. They sent home Abigail!"
Abigail was Sharon's 'work sister'. Carlos sipped his juice and sighed. "Sorry to hear hun."
Sharon rested her head on her husband's shoulder. "The rumour is they're looking at my department next, but we don't know when. We have Carli at university now Cade. I'm just praying I won't be next."
Carlos looked at her. "Either way, we will be fine." Sharon was doubtful. She stood up and looked at a picture of Carli on the wall adjacent to them.
"Sharon? Honey, we will be okay." Carlos carefully placed his tray of food with the glass of orange juice on the coffee table before him. He went to his wife and pulled her to him from behind. Her back still turned, she leaned into him.
Carlos spoke gently into her left ear. "Babes, we still have the savings and investments we started five years ago, remember, we haven't touched it. After this project is through at my job, we'll be able to double the capacity of water treatment and waste management. We'll be able to carry far more of the Clarendon residentials, and we'll be launching in St. Elizabeth. We'll be managing the waste treatment of several of the new schemes over there. After a year, management promised pay increases since by then everything will be in full swing."
Sharon turned around and hugged him.
"Oh baby, I hope so." She sighed.
"I know so." Carlos kissed her forehead.
He chuckled."Kiss for kiss."
Sharon looked up at him. She loved this man. She loved the life they had together and their daughter. She just wanted them both to be happy. Leaning forward, she kissed his lips slowly, and willingly yielded to his embrace as it tightened around her.
******
Carli sat nervously in one of her lecturers' --Mr Hamilton's office. After class he had asked to speak with her and told her to meet him in his office at around 6 pm that day. It was a Wednesday, the worse day of the week. She had five classes back to back starting at 8:30 a.m. and only a half an hour break in between her penultimate and last class for the day. Because he said he wished to speak with her she told him 6:30 was fine for her, but she forgot she hadn't had much to eat, just a patty which she scoffed down at 3 p.m. because the lecturer for that session was usually late.
Mr. Hamilton was an obese man who wore thick spectacles. He was short and balding but brilliant at teaching the political science course she was taking. Although she was a Sociology Major, her mother insisted that she take the class. In fact, her parents were trying to get her into Political Science, but as luck would have it, the degree programme was full.
The only other major her mother thought was suitable was Sociology. You see, her mom wanted her to do Law, but strangely, instead of encouraging Carli to get into UWI's law school directly, her mom got it in her head that if she did Political Science first, that would give her the proper background to apply to a law programme overseas. Unfortunately, it didn't work according to plan, so her mother made an arrangement with the dean of the faculty to get Carli into Sociology. She would do a political science course and if she did well in her grades, he would see what he could do to get into the full programme next semester. She could hear her now.
*****
"I'm setting you up for a good future baby. One where you'll be well-rounded."
Carli was helping her mother rough chop some carrots that she was planning to steam in a big pot of okras, cabbage and callaloo.
Carli had objected and told her she wanted to do something more business based or even on the creative arts side like dance or graphics design since she was good at those two. She could read well but she didn't like to have to read long lines of words, and she preferred to do hands-on practical stuff, just like her dad.
Sharon shook her head no. "Nope, those careers can get taken over by technology. Every day you hear about some new app or other that can make admin tasks easier, including graphics design." Sharon placed the knife on the cutting board and faced her daughter. "A twelve year old can design something that looks professional because of these new apps nowadays. As for business, it's so cliche. Everybody talks about business subjects. Check out the university graduates now who are the most unemployed. It's the business majors. And let me not get into your dance hobby, which is what it is Carlethia, a hobby. People don't make much money from that out here, and if you plan to be successful elsewhere it's best you launch from the US, and not many foreigners do well in that space."
Sharon took up her knife and started chopping carrots again. "Hmh-mhh! No baby, I'm sorry. I have better plans for you..."
After that statement everything her mother said got drowned out by her own thoughts. What was she going to do? Her mother never listened to her.
*****
While she was lost in thought, Mr. Hamilton had come back into the room, he observed her seemingly staring at the floor, her head slightly bent, her hands clasped together in her lap. She was a decent enough student. She got along with her peers in the class and during tutorial sessions, he found her affable with everyone. The problem was, she was portraying herself as a B student when he felt she could do more.
Hamilton closed the door behind him, allowing it to clink shut loudly. Startled, Carli looked up and saw her teacher looking at her with a question on his face.
Hamilton sat behind his desk, and leaned back. "Sorry for taking so long Miss James, a Master's student I am mentoring had a few questions."
He removed his eye glasses, placed them on the desk and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I wanted to speak with you about your performance in the class assignments so far."
Carli sat up. She might as well brace for a long speech berating her for her tardiness to class.
Noticing her body language, Hamilton moved his hand from his face and leaned forward.
"Is everything alright Miss James?", he asked.
Carli straightened her posture. "Yes Mr. Hamilton, everything is fine," she replied tersely.
Hamilton noticed the inflection in her voice but continued. "My purpose as your teacher, slash lecturer is to see to your success in this course. Every assignment I give is not just for grading but helps with developing knowledge on this subject area you're studying. You do understand?"
Carli nodded that she understood.
"Good." Hamilton nodded as well.
He leaned back in his chair again. "So, tell me... Why are you doing this course? Why Politics of the Caribbean? And, be honest."
Carli let out a quiet sigh. "To be honest, I'm here because my parents, well... specifically my mom wanted me here."
"I see." Hamilton reached for his glasses, took out the soft cloth from the glasses case and started to gently clean the frame, then the lenses.
"You're grades are quite good. You're shaping up to be a B student but I think you have much more potential, and you probably enjoy the classes more than you think. There's a passion that comes out when you write your essays and your last paper was very good. You however made what I call rookie mistakes. I gather you didn't proofread your document before you handed it in. Did you?"
Carli crossed her legs at the ankles. "Yeah. I did a one run through."
Hamilton stared directly into her eyes and said. "Well, maybe next time you should read through more than once and make sure to read slowly and carefully. Have a pencil with you to make notes on your paper. So print it out as a rough draft or first draft first then use a pencil to make note of mistakes, spelling errors, etc, then you can go back to your electric copy and do the changes easily."
Carli nodded.
Hamilton put the glasses back onto his face. "Why do you oppose what you're parents chose for you?"
Carli leaned back into the sturdy plastic chair. It was the only other chair in the room. "I wanted to do graphic design or something like that. Not this... oh no offense, Mr. Hamilton, you're a great teacher but I am being forced. I don't even like to read for long hours. This is not me."
"What are you doing as your major then?" Hamilton asked, curious.
"Sociology."
Hamilton gave a small chuckle. "For someone who doesn't like to read, you're doing the wrong major."
Carli sighed and said. "Not my choice."
"I see."
Carli continued. "I was supposed to do a BSc in Pol Sci, but the programme is full, as you know."
Hamilton nodded. "Yes. True."
He shifted in his chair. "And your parents wanted you to do that degree also."
"That was their... well, my mother's first choice for me."
Hamilton nodded. "I see." He adjusted the glasses on his face.
"Well my dear," Hamilton said leaning forward bracing his elbows on the desk. "You have two options, if in fact you're not fully satisfied with how things are for you."
"What are they?" she asked, now intrigued.
Hamilton smiled kindly at her. "You could decide to defer the year and choose to wait until the first year spaces are empty next year and try to get into the programme you're more comfortable with. There is still no guarantee you would get in, but in the meantime, you could go job hunting, and try again next year. Come in as a part-time student."
He paused for effect, but the question was hanging in the air so Carli asked it. She leaned forward. "Or... I could do what?"
"Or... maybe, you could use the opportunity while you're here, to throw yourself into your current studies, do your very best, and then if you still want to transfer next year into Pol Sci into the degree fully, I could see what can do to help you."
Carli sat back and thought about it.
Maybe she could. His class was the only one she did look forward to. Her lecturers for the Sociology classes were good but she just wasn't intrigued.
But wait! What about the creative side of her?
What about dance or theatre? She did like the idea of acting one day or doing dance.
But what about doing business? She had even applied for Management Studies courses at NCU, she had gotten in but her mom said no.
Could she do it? Was she brave enough to go against what her parents wanted?
Could she?
Maybe she could, maybe she couldn't. If she defied her parents, her mom especially, maybe she would have to find her own way.
She knew her dad loved her, but he often made her mom have the final say. Where would she get a job?
Ooh she was so confused!
"I'll think about what you said Mr Hamilton. Thank you for your insight." Was all she could say.
Hamilton nodded and told her she could leave. So she gathered her books and threw her bag over her shoulder and stepped out and quietly closed the door behind her.
Stepping out she nearly bumped into a tall frame. Looking up she saw it was none other than the Jason guy she met two weeks before. He looked down at her. She wondered if he remembered her.
He cracked a smile.
Yes he remembered. She smiled back.
"Hey you." His smile grew wider. He looked at the door behind her. "Consultations?"
Carli nodded. "You could say that?"
She moved away from the door in the direction of her next class.
Jason caught up with her. "You busy right now?" he asked.
"Why?" She gave him a mischievous grin.
"Oh, oh... so it's like that, eh?"
"Like what?" She was almost laughing.
Jason didn't mind, she had a pretty smile. "You're being hard. Well, let me say I did mean to call you, but, I got caught up. I honestly did. I've been bombarded with training and assignments and exams."
Carli looked up at him. He was wearing a pair of black fitted jeans that hugged his well sculpted thighs, a white T-shirt; that NYC cap he wore the first time they met, and some fashionable dark grey sandals. No school bag this time though.
"Training?" Carli gave him a quizzical look.
"Yeah, track and field. Sprints 100 and 200 metres." Jason replied matter of factly.
Carli looked him up and down. "Oh cool."
Jason saw what she did and laughed lightheartedly. "What? I don't look the type?"
"Sure." Carli smiled. "You do, just admiring the work you've been putting in.
Yes! Score one for me! Jason thought.
"Well, thanks for the compliment." He reached out and touched Carli's hand. The move stopped her in her tracks.
Jason looked down at her. She looked up at him.
"Listen, I know I failed miserably." He started to laugh. Carli laughed too. "I failed at keeping my promise for us to get something to eat, but this time, I promise I will be available and ready. What do you say?"
Carli looked at him. Could this be real? Could this cute guy be really asking her out? She wasn't an ugly girl but some would say she was plain.
"Okay," she said tentatively.
"Okay, sure." she nodded.
"Great!" Jason beamed.
"Not now though. Maybe this Saturday. I have one more class then I have some reading to catch up on for tomorrow and Friday."
"Okay, no problem. Can I call you?"
"You still have my number?" Carli asked, playfully squinting her eyes at him.
"Yes." Jason chuckled. "Yes I do."
"Okay. Sure whenever you're ready. Night time is best though." She was smiling. Her eyes lighting up. He never noticed how deep black they were, but he did now.
An unusual but intriguing color. He thought to himself..
"Of course. Understood." He replied, keeping pace with her as she started walking again.
Carli smiled. "I have to run now my class is about to start."
"Okay. Sure. Later then.
"Later."
Carli moved forward while Jason turned back in the direction they were coming from.
Carli smiled as she entered the classroom.
Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. She thought.
"Your majesty!"
Carli's reverie was broken by a very familiar voice dripping with sarcasm.
She looked up to see Marsha sitting in the classroom, grinning mischievously.
Other students were walking in behind Carli, finding seats. She just stood there staring at Marsha.
"What do you want?", she asked feeling annoyed.
"Want?" Marsha removed her text book from her bag. "Hunny, mi nuh want nuttn from you." She drew out the 'you' vulgarly. "A class mi come."
"But.. but... ?"
"Yeah, I missed a few sessions. Just two weeks, while some payment issues were being sorted out. We don't all have it like that dear." Marsha rolled her eyes at her.
Carli sat in a chair at the back to get as far away from Marsha as she could.
...Or maybe not. Carli sighed inwardly.
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