UJU
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Episode 9
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My Oha soup turn out fine, everyone was impressed, I continued in the cooking, wakes up early to make breakfast for everyone, prepare for lunch then comes dinner, I started loving the job, I met other staffs, they were all nice, the securities, the Gardner, the car washer, the cleaners, laundry staff and others were all friendly, is as if they were trained on the job to always be nice, I became very close to some of them, like Joe head of the staffs, they report any thing to him and he takes it to the madam of the house if he can’t solve it, but i don’t report to him i report straight to the madam of the house, who everyone calls mummy,
my name sake, my madam’s daughter keeps me company sometimes or assisting me with small things in the kitchen, we bonded so well.
The day for the ukazi soup came, I was so willing to learn the delicacy that mummy’s favorite just as she was generally called, after buying the item needed, the Igbo market women helped her in cutting the achara, and there was also palm fruit seed, we came home and i watched the process, I have heard of this soup but haven’t tasted it, it wasn’t a general soup it was just for her, it was actually a long process, but it turned out so delicious, the soup was so rich, and I loved it and wrote down the procedure in a book, on the third time of making it, i was good to go, I prepared it for her on my own with the help of my book too and she gave me a hand shake, and said although it wasn’t perfect but i will get it next time and i did, I won her heart all over again, the soup also became one of my favorites, and when i finally have my family they will love ukazi soup, I know they will.
I must say my cooking job wasn’t so easy but working with this loving and warm family makes it easy for me, only Victor makes it difficult but everyone knows him so it was clear to us who he is, and his request must be met,
I still haven’t heard from Kala and is being two months, he called me during my first week here but i always ignore his calls, and sometimes switch off my phone since i don’t really have people who calls me often, I haven’t heard from Ada and Bibi, sometimes I’m tempted to call but i always wave it off, we have all moved on, she’s happy, enjoying her apartment with Bibi forgetting my existence, I wish i can also forget her but she crosses my mind sometimes, I know we will meet someday but not as her kids nanny or married to a palm wine tapper as she has wished me but as a different person, ones i have enough money I will enrol in a part time school like some other staffs does, and also go to computer school for future purpose, I don’t transport or buy food here, I have little expenses, so I have to save money, I know i will be alright because God is watching over me,
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Ones day Victor came to the kitchen and told me to prepare jellof rice and chicken tomorrow that his friends are coming over and i should make sure it taste great,
i replied him “yes sir” just as everyone else, he was different from his mother and sister, he likes keeping to his self and doesn’t relate well with staffs, if his cloths are not well ironed he punished the laundry staff by telling the accountant to deduct their money, he doesn’t tolerate nonsense, all the staff are scared of him, he doesn’t listen to anyone except the mum who always tell him to calm down, whenever I’m ask to do something for him i always take my time because i can’t afford my money to be cut, since I’m seriously saving up for the future, and the job is very important to me, he once shouted at me and gave me a serious warning after i made tea for him one morning and he did not come down on time to the dining table, and the tea got cold, when he came down and started shouting my name, i left everything i was doing and rushed to the dining he asked me why the tea was cold, I tried to explain but he shut me up and asked me to trash the whole thing and make a fresh one for him and send it to his room, he warned me never to allow his tea to ever gets cold no matter how long it takes for him to eat, I have always makes sure of that, he doesn’t talk much but he is a fast talker when he is angry, he will speak so fast with his polished English, just like the Americans, everyone already knows who he is and always avoid getting into trouble with him, after all he was the man of the house,
Today was no different as he sounded it clearly to me about the jellof rice with garnished grilled chicken,
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I was already taught on the food menu, the mummy of the house take out time to teach me how to make other continental dish aside the ukazi soup or other native soups, and I’m a fast learner, I learned everything i was thought, even write them down,
Victor wasn’t anybody’s friend when it comes to staffs, he treats us like workers unlike the mother and sister, he doesn’t call anybody by name, you will hear him call, hey” or laundry, security or even cleaner, he even call me cook sometimes, he will say something like this to his sister, “Uju, please tell the cook that i will be having Quaker oats for dinner… Tell her to make it down before i return back and leave it in a flask or microwave, I hate cold food” he doesn’t even know i bear same name with the sister or he doesn’t want to know,
he was really rude like that, the first week when he noticed i wasn’t in the boys quarter like i suppose to be he asked his mum in my presence why she gave me a room close to his kid sister Ujunwa, instead of the the quarters where the other staffs stays and the mum warned him not to question her ever again in her decision and he apologised immediately to her and walked away,
After giving me instructions on the food to make tomorrow for his friends he stopped at the door and asked me
“why didn’t you tell your boyfriend, Kala that you were coming to work here, he was actually looking for you it was until he mentioned it to me last week that i told him you are here and he was very surprise, he said you never told him about it… Why?
“uuhmmm…Kala wasn’t my boyfriend he was just accommodating me because i heard issue with where i was living, so i begged him to accommodate me for sometime until i got a place….”
“that wasn’t what he told me, I’m hearing a different thing from you… And when you finally got a place, you left without even saying thank you or good bye to him, making me look like a bad person when i told him you were working here for almost two months, which isn’t important anyway…what you did does not speak well of you, he deserve to know you got a job and accommodation and he also deserve a thank you…
“yes sir…you are right… He went to a club that morning and was sick so i didn’t get to tell him about it….I’m sorry sir”
“that’s not an excuse, and you know i don’t like liars,right? You were mostly with him so why didn’t tell him all the while…. Never mind… He initiated the meeting here, I didn’t want to but the pestering was much, and i know is because of you, he wants to see you and the only way is to initiate a mini gathering, I guess you are already told about the rules here, no boyfriend or girlfriends allowed in here but you can see them during your off day… Kala will be coming down so i know what that means for you, I don’t want you trying to act reunion movie around this house or at the flower lane, be on your duty at every point in time and act professional at it, you will also be part of the staff to serve us, you said you had three years experience so i expect professionalism in here,i haven’t had any friend visiting me for security sake i do the visiting instead but i decided to host them close to the swimming pool so make sure everything needed in the area of food is well taken care off….. Hope I’m clear enough?
“yes sir”
He turned and left my heart was beating so fast, this guy is really mean, which one is reunion movie, Kala is a nobody to me except that he accommodate back then,
Kala is coming tomorrow what do i do and I’m expected to be on my post at all time, I will dish out the food to the staff in charge of serving guest food to go and serve them but now I’m required to serve along with them, how do i face Kala, what did he tell Victor what I’m i suppose to do now
My heart was beating because i know Kala will want to disgrace me but that doesn’t bother me all that bothers me now is my job,
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That evening i sat with Joe, the head of the staff who also stays at the staff quarters,
he is one of my close friends there i told him about what was going on and he said i shouldn’t worry that Victor maybe difficult to please but he wasn’t stupid , he knows the kind of friends he has and won’t allow them to bother me, I believed Joe as i looked forward to waking up early and making jelof rice with garnished grilled chicken.
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To be continued
