The journey to Orlando was tiring. The road had bumbs, the journey just wasn’t smooth and it was too long. Shirley was already having pains around her neck and hips. She stole a look at Carl. She envied him. He was enjoying the journey, she thought. It didn’t surprise her. It was his job, he must have done it a hundred times, who knows? Her eyes drifted to his hands on the steering wheel, she began wishing. Shirley wished she was that wheel so that Carl could touch her. She had always longed for his touch, his hands on her…..
“Shirley?” Carl called again. He put one hand on the steering and shook her with the other. She moved and gave him a serious look. Carl laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of what to complain about, huh?”
She’d been complaining since the start of their journey. He loved her whining a lot. She reminded him of his younger sister. Shirley also looked cute when frowning.
“No, I was just thinking of other things. I’m becoming used to this horrible trip.”
Carl laughed again. She loved the deep roll of his laughter. Focused on the road ahead, he said, “You’re whining, again.” She ignored his statement.
Looking at the sky ahead, she began to grumble, “Carl! Its almost night, look the sky is getting dark and we havn’t gotten to Orlando! Are we gonna sleep on the road? I told you we should go by air and by road in this police Jeep of yours!”
The Detective remained silent as she kept grumbling.
She continued, this time talking to herself. “Now what’s going to happen to us-me?” she quickly corrected herself. She kept on talking and talking like an insane woman. She hadn’t realized they’d gotten to their destination till Carl opened the door of the Jeep.
Seriously frightened, Shirley screamed, “Carl! Are you nuts, why are you opening the door while still driving? You want us to crash?”
Carl was shocked. He looked critically at Shirley. He blinked his eyes twice, then burst out laughing. Carl couldn’t control himself, he kept on laughing and laughing. Seconds rolled into minutes Carl was still laughing at the beauty who was insane that sat in his car.
Shirley, realizing the reason Carl was laughing became ashamed. She wished her words could be swallowed. She used her hands to cover her face for some minutes. She had been blabbing when they arrived. God! What’s wrong with me? She asked herself in her head. I’m gonna make myself look stupid in the presence of the man I love! She cried. Now he thinks I’m crazy, why didn’t I pay attention? Shirley wanted to cry. She had never felt so embarrassed in her life! She didn’t say a word.
Carl stopped laughing and started unloading his and Shirley’s bag like nothing happened.
Shirley didn’t do a thing, she just watched Carl and follwed him. She wanted to help, but by using his hands, Carl said she shouldn’t and she obeyed. She looked around the place they were and noticed that they were in the premises of a hotel. It was already too late to visit Jessica’s uncle. The stars were in the night sky, shining brightly. The lights of the hotel made the compound so beautiful. Beautiful electronic bulbs were placed on the trees, decorating them. The lights blinked. Shirley smiled as she looked at them. He smile turned into a grin when she saw other lights forming the name of the hotel. SUN RISE, SUN SHINE.
Carl watched her a little and smiled. She hadn’t smiled since they arrived. He called her and they began walking towards the entrance of Sun Rise, Sun Shine. A guard, placed at the entrance of the building opened the door for them. They met the receptionist, a sweet lady. Carl booked a room for them, while Shirley looked around.
What a cold morning! Good morning everybody!!!
The room Carl had booked for them was little but cozy. She wondered why they had to share a room. It was more like a bedroom. Shirley studied the bed, ’twas a double bed. The foam was covered using pink duvet, the pillow cases had the same color but they were stripped with blue. Opposite the bed was a sofa, a sofa bed. The walls of the room, yellow.
She turned and glanced at Carl, he was already arranging their clothes into the hanger. She watched as he neatly separated hers from his and handled hers with care. She liked that.
They both settled and made themselves comfortable. Shirley still hadn’t said a word to Carl and it worried him. If they weren’t on speaking terms, it wouldn’t make their work any easier, they had to co-operate. Taking a deep breath, Carl sighed and turned to face Shirley. She was sitting on the sofa, watching Tom&Jerry. He still wondered how a grown woman like her still loved cartoons. “Are you hungry?”
Shirley mused. Is he talking to me? She asked herself. Hmm, he finally sopke to me. Clearing her throat she said, “I am very hungry.”
“What would you like to eat?”
Instead of answering his question, she asked the same question, rephrasing it, “You, what would you like to it?” she couldn’t believe she’d have the nerve to play with Carl. But that was her, being playful.
Carl wondered what had gotten into her head, he looked back for a moment to be sure if anyone was behind him that he hadn’t noticed before. Noticing they were the only ones in the room, he turned back to her with a questioning look, “Me?”
She smiled, “Yes, you.”
Wanting to play her game, he debated, “I asked first,” winking at her.
She flushed, used her palm to cover her face for a while.
“Shirley, I am sorry. Honestly, I am.”
“Sorry for?” Pretending not to know why he was apologising.
Studying her, he understood her game and continued. He grinned. “I laughed uncontrollably at you by the time we got here.” Saying it made him remember her protests almost making him laugh again. He witheld it.
Shirley caught the smile on his face. He hadn’t forgotten that. He’s still laughing. She boiled with rage. Fuming, she retorted, “You’re not sorry!” She got on her feet, stamped her right foot on the floor and moved toward Carl, pointing a finger at him. When she got close to him, she used her index finger to poke his chest. “I will not tolerate it if you make fun of me, Carl. Yes, I’ve acted like a fool but you shouldn’t bring it up again. You just want to annoy and make fun of me.”
Carl held her hand, stopping her from poking him. He was already hurting. The nail on her index finger was long, sharp and polished with pink nail polish, the rest were like that including those on her feet. “Shirley, you hurt me,” his voice was low, filled with pain. He set her on the bed and stared at his chest. Her finger cut a bit of his flesh and blood trickled out.
Shirley was sad as she saw the blood though it wasn’t much. It pained her, she was hurting too. She fought back the tears in her eyes. She moved closer to apologise almost touching him. He backed off and strolled out of their suit.
She sighed and slumped on the bed.
He came back minutes later with a box of pizza and orange juice.
“This is what I could find, manage it please,” was all he said. She nodded in response. They both ate in silence. Shirley couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes, guilt rammed all over her. How could she hurt someone who was willing to risk his job and life for her and Jessica? It wasn’t on purpose, she consolled herself.
After the meal, Carl thew himself into the sofa bed, Shirley had to take the bed. Minutes later, he was fast asleep. She stared at him for some seconds, sighed and went to bed.
Dominic sat on the sunlounger below the sunshade at the front of the conservatory in his garden. Tools lay on the floor scattered all over. The rake was by his left close to a heap of dried leaves which he had been raking, a wheel barrow was around the corner painted red. Hand fork, shear and a watering can still littered the garden.
Dominic laid his back on the back of the sunlounger, he put his hand on his forehead. His breathing was hard and deep. It shows he was tired. He took a sip of the drink in his hand and sighed. He peered at the garden, he’d done a lot of work but there was still more and more. The vegetable porch was neatly arranged, they were greener than ever, healthy. The flowers were carefully trimmed and neat. The weeds were gone and some new seeds were planted. The lawn was mowed, it shone. He still had to clear the heap of dry grasses, grease the mower, rake and other tools. Daggers still had to be collected and sent to his shop.
Sighing, he stood up and started to complete his chore. He took hold of the shovel, used it in hurling dry grasses and other dirts into the red wheelbarrow. The wind tossed some back littering the neatly swept garden. Sand got into his eyes, he jerked which sent the shovel out of his hand, the shovel fell on the wheelbarrow. The wheel barrow tumbled upside down, landed on the edge of the rake, the handle of the rake went up and struck the sunshade.
Dominic managed to get the sand out of his eyes, opened them and saw that the place was a mess.
His face went red, hot with anger. He hissed, a long hiss. Stamped his foot, dug his fingers into his hair which were damp from his pespiration. He was getting out of his mind. He’d been up this early to clear his garden and its just a mess. He kicked the shovel, it hurt his foot.
“Ouch!” he screamed, hopping.
At that moment, his cell phone rang, he limped towards it, he saw the caller ID and started calming down. It was an important call from one whom he’d loved and grown up with. He flipped the cell. “My sweet, cousin,” he greeted, forcing a smile, though she couldn’t see it.
“Hello, Dominic”, Jessica replied cheerily.
“How are you, cousin?” he asked.
“I am good, Dominic.”Jessica called excitedly. “I want you to come over tonight. I’ve got friends I want you to meet.”
Grinning, he said to the phone, “Anything you want, dear cousin. What time do you want me there?”
“Is 7 all right?”
“Yes, it is. See you.” He disconnected the call. Oh, at least the day won’t be as bad as I thought. Dinner at Jessica’s would be a delight. Meeting new friends. Shirley would be there too, wherever Jessica went, she went too. An inseperable pair, very unlikely. A doctor and a counsellor. Jessica, the carefree type, easy going, optimistic and easily scared. Shirley, the braver of the two, soft hearted, pessimistic and hardly scared.
He’d always had an eye on Shirley, beautiful with big, round grey eyes, brown hair, thin lips……. He came back to his senses before he got hard, day dreaming of Shirley.
He quickly carried out his work with joy. The anger already vanished, hearing his cousin’s voice and thinking of Shirley. Within 30 minutes, he was through, got into his house, bathed, dressed up in his best tuxedo. Looking himself in the mirror, he was dead handsome. He smiled and said, “Perfect.”
