HADASSAH (Episode 1)

Hadassah had set her alarm for 4:30 am that morning, and as soon as it rang, she reached for the alarm clock and turned it off with the thought “5 more minutes of sleep wouldn’t be a bad idea”. It had been a while she woke up that early.

Five minutes later, she woke up. She stretched and yawned for about 30 seconds, and on checking her alarm clock, it was 6:05 am.

               “Oh no no no no no no,” she said as she shot up from her bed.

“But I only slept for 5 minutes” she complained to herself as she sprinted to the bathroom. She had taken a shower the night before so she concluded that it wasn’t necessary to take a long time in the bathroom. She had a quick shower. She didn’t bother using the sponge. Her body lotion should cover-up. In 3 minutes, she was out. She did everything faster than she could imagine. Her saving grace was that she had prepared herself the night before. She didn’t want to but there was something in her spirit that kept pressing her to make everything she was going to need the next day at her reach. She had picked out her bag, cloth and shoes the night before. In 8 minutes, she was dressed and ready, but her hair was a mess. She thought of 500 ways to make the hair look good. She had a beautiful long black hair that made heads turn if she decides not to hide it under a turban. This is one of those mornings a turban wasn’t going to save her. She stood in front of the mirror fixing her hair in her head. She saw herself packing it in the hawk style, to give it a stylish look. However, that would take a very long time. She stood for another minute and decided to pack it all up. She wore her wristwatch and saw that it was 6:26 am. She gasped and dashed out of her house, not sure if she locked the door.

It was a Thursday morning; the traffic was always as bad as that of a Monday morning. It took her a couple of minutes to get to the bus stop. She had decided to take a bike to the address. She was already too late to take the bus or order uber.

She said a quick prayer before flagging a bike.

               “Father, I couldn’t have my devotion this morning because I woke up late. Nevertheless, I know you don’t hold that against me. Please I need your help as touching today’s interview. I do need your help, please”

She checked her watch; it was 6:30 already. She tried to flag down each passing bike, however, they all seemed to be in a hurry, or they had passengers. Sweat was already forming on her forehead. 

               “God please, please, please…..” she muttered worriedly.

A car then stopped right before her and the driver wound down his glass. 

               “Hi,” the driver said, bending to look up to her.

She bent to see him as well “Hi”

“Where are you going? I could help you get somewhere”

“Erm, thank you. I’d rather take a bike. I’m late and trying to beat time” she replied and looked up trying to flag down another bike but it sped past.

“It would be difficult getting one this morning. Most of them already have customers they are going to pick up. Most of them are already booked the day before, just like you order an uber, hop in and I can get you to your location, or close to, at least”

“Thank you still, but I’ll pass,” Hadassah said and moved away.

The car drove towards her again. 

“Are you saying that because you desperately need to take a bike or you’re afraid of being kidnapped?”

She gave him a stern look and said, “I’m really late and taking a bike is my only option. I thought it would be faster than the bus”

“Just tell me where you’re going, and I promise I’ll drop you off. If you insist on waiting for a bike, you’ll take longer than you bargained for”

She checked for red light signals in her spirit if it was safe for her to hop in or not. She got none. She hesitated for 10 more seconds and she could bet she felt a nudge to enter the car. 

“Okay fine,” she said as the driver unlocked the car door and she got in.

He put the gear in drive and asked, “Where did you say you’re going again?”

She brought out her phone and showed him the address. 

               “You see, my office is along that road,” he said smiling as he drove off.

Almost immediately, her phone rang.

               “Hello, sir,”

               Good morning Hadassah, how are you?” replied the caller at the other end of the line.

               “I’m fine sir”

               “I believe you’re already on your way, right?”

               “Yes sir, I’m on my way. I… ”

The driver took a turn at a wrong junction and immediately, she said, “This is not the way!”

               “Relax”, the driver said and smiled

*****

“Good afternoon, sir," she said after a knock at the door as she peeped in.

"Come in and have a seat," He said, not looking up but having his head buried in the book on his desk, he continued.

"How did your day go?"

She took her seat as she replied timidly, "Same as always. Sitting at home all day"

At this point, he looked up at her and used his index finger to push down his glasses a bit so he could see her better, but he kept quiet. She knew her mentors' silence meant she had said something out of place. The silence went on for another minute, after which she twitched her face and looked at her mentor sheepishly.

He cleared his throat, leaned back, and told her, "Sitting at home and waiting for a miracle to happen, right? You don't go out. How do you expect to get opportunities? Are they going to walk into your house?”

Hadassah took a deep breath, "I get what you're trying to say, but there's nothing for me outside. I'm better off in the house”

"Oh…kay," he said and reached for his drawer and brought out a business card, and slid it across the table to her.

She took it, and before she could say any more words, he cut her short and said, "Call the number there and introduce yourself without mentioning my name. Whoever picks up will let you know what to do”.

"But sir, who would I say gave me the card?" She asked as she inspected the card, front and back.

"That wouldn't be necessary. Tell your name, and the receiver will give you instructions you have to follow”

"Mr Harry. Who's Mr Harry?" she asked as the card’s details only had a name and a phone number.

"Again, you don't need that information. Call the number immediately you get home and get back to me."

She looked confused and wanted to ask a question.

"Off you go!" he said and continued with his book, making it obvious he needed her to leave.

She made sounds like she was trying to articulate her words, and her mentor looked up again and stated. "We'll only talk after you've called that number. Until then, Enjoy!"

At this point, she knew there was nothing she could do or say that would make him look up once more. She left, and in about half an hour, she got home. As she hit her sofa, she picked up the card from her bag, stared at it, and dialled the number.

               "Hello," said a husky voice at the other end of the line.

               “Hello, sir? I’m Hadassah. I got your number from…”

               “Okay, Had…”

               “Hadassah”

               “Yeah. I take it that you’re interested in the job right?”

               “Erm, yes?” she replied unsure of whether she wanted the job or not, a job she didn’t know what it was about.

               “Good. I’ll send an address immediately I drop this call. You should be there on or before 7 am. Anything after 7 is considered lateness and you’d be turned back. Was that clear Miss Hadassah? I take it that you’re a miss, right?”

               “If you mean miss as in not married, then yes, I’m a miss” she replied with caution.

               “Good”

She was going to say something when she heard the call end from the other end.

               “That was rude,” she thought.

As she was trying to get a hang of the situation, her mentor’s call came in.

               “You called the number already?”

               “Yes sir….”

               “And?”

               “The receiver said he was going to send an address but…” Just then, a message notification came in on her phone, she checked and it was the promised address.

               “I just got it now” she added.

               “Is it a familiar address?”

“Yes sir. I think it’s about 35 minutes from my place”

               “Okay good. Don’t be late. Dress well and do your best at the interview. In all you do, please do not forget to pray” her mentor said authoritatively. He only uses his authorial tone whenever he was extra serious about something and Hadassah knew she couldn’t afford to flop at the interview of a job she had absolutely no idea about!

               “Okay, sir,” she said but realized she was talking to herself as he had dropped the call already.

               “Why is everyone rude tonight?” she asked herself as she took a long look at the address on her phone.

*****

               “But this is not the wa…..”

               “Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you”

                “What’s going on?” her mentor asked over the phone, very concerned

Hadassah raised an eyebrow, and with a stern look, she said sharply, “You’re not going to hurt me, really?”

               “Hadassah... what’s happening?” his voice jolted her back to reality. She had forgotten she was on a call.

               “Look, I don’t have much, but I’m contented with what I have…”

               “Wha… what are you insinuating?”

“You can see that other cars are passing by, this is just a shortcut since you said you’re in a hurry”

               Hadassah was staring strangely at him. Her phone was glued to her ears, while the driver tried to fix his gaze on the road and look at her at the same time.

               “Hello!”

               “It’s nothing sir. I… someone offered me a ride, but he just took the wrong turn. He said it’s a shortcut,” she said over the phone with her eyes glued to the driver.

               “You know, I can feel your eyes pierce me through. It’s making me uncomfortable,” the driver said cautiously.

               “Oh really, I’m making you uncomfortable with the way I’m staring at you like I’m being taken to where I’m going to be slaughtered for money. Is that right?”

               “Wow, wow, wow. You really need to cool off. You know, if you thought I’m going to use you for rituals, you probably should have wound down the glass and screamed for help, or you could just inform your caller. However, you didn’t. So apparently, you know I’m not going to use you for rituals. Well, let’s agree that I needed you for rituals, you should be asleep by now and wake up minutes later in a bush in the middle of nowhere and I definitely would have stopped you from making that call…”

               “Seems to me like you’ve read the kidnappers handbook,” Hadassah said defensively

The man chuckled, “C’mon, we watch this stuff in movies, don’t you watch them? If it’s an American movie, I’ll most likely take you to an abandoned warehouse or a place in the mountains, or to make it more interesting, an empty room in my house and lock you up there.”

               “Are you still there?”

               “Yes sir, I’m sorry sir. I just… I’m fine sir,” she replied, with her eyes still glued to the driver.

               “You sure?”

               “Absolutely sir. I’ll let you know how the interview went when I’m done, sir”

               “Okay, good. And please take care of yourself.”

               “Thank you sir”

               “That your uncle or your dad who hinted you about the job interview?” the driver asked as she dropped the call and dipped her cellphone in her bag.

Hadassah gave him a questionable look.

He raised his hands and mumbled “Sorry, sorry”

Then there was silence. She prayed under her breath as the driver focused on the road.

               “Slow down, that’s my stop ahead,” Hadassah said as she pointed to a billboard some meters away.

He slowed down and turned on his signal lights, “Oh…kay. I guess my job here is done. It was nice having someone to ride with, and amongst all of my other passengers this week, you’re the most interesting one. I mean, we had a very nice conversation.”

He put the gear in parking, and as Hadassah unhooked her seat belt, she looked at him like she was trying to fathom something. Then she said, “That was fast. How many minutes did it take? Ten?”

               “I told you ‘twas a shortcut, but your highness thought she was getting kidnapped. On a Thursday morning. Really?” he said, making air quotes while saying, “your highness”.

               “You don’t get to be pre-informed of your kidnap, do you? Neither does kidnapping have a special day allocated to it. On the other hand, maybe it does, because you seem to know a lot about kidnapping,” she said, calmly this time.

               “I guess that’s my way of entertaining you”

               “Well, thank you very much”

               “I’m glad I could be of help”, he replied and gave her a wide dental smile.

               “Errr, here’s my card. In case you don’t get the job, I can hook you up in my company. He said as he extended his card to her. At this time, she was already out of the car, and before she could say something, he quickly added, “not that I don’t want you to get the job though”

Hadassah looked intently at him, “First, you had plans to kidnap me, and now, you don’t want me to get the job I’m going for”

               “C’mon, it’s not like that. I…”

She cut him short and said, “You know what, don’t bother about it. Thank you for the ride. I have to run now”

She jammed the car door and was about to leave when the man asked, “I didn’t get your name”

               “Of course, you didn’t, and you won’t,” she said and left quickly.

She checked her wristwatch again, and it was already 6:50 am. She walked briskly to a black gate ahead and checked the address on her phone again to be sure she was at the right place.

“God please help me,” she said as she knocked on the gate.