Chapter VI

 

Three men walked in at Times Café in Kabulonga and booked for a table at the back yard. One was European and the two were Africans. It was a bright Saturday midmorning and a number of customers were flocking in for breakfast. So far the main dining room was packed with only a few seats vacant and so it was normal for people to resort to outside catering. Moreover, the sun was already out and there was a cool breeze on the seats outside.

She saw the three gentlemen pull their seats one by one until they were finally comfortable at one of the best restaurants in town. Ima had been working as a chef for over a year now and was accustomed to seeing different opulent customers everyday but these looked different. She did not know how different they were but something told her they were just not ordinary customers. As usual she walked to their table and gave them a menu book and stood aside waiting for their orders when one of them requested her to give them a minute. A humble way of asking her to leave them alone as they went through their choices.

When she went back to the table after ten minutes, she found the table was empty and the visitors were not anywhere in the premises. She only found a menu book closed on the table were they had sat. The young girl stood aghast and wondered what could have made the customers leave so impromptu. She wondered if they were not happy with her services or maybe her standing aside waiting for their orders irritated them. Without much introspection, the girl dashed to the cashier and asked whether she saw two black men in the company of a white man walk away.

To her surprise, the cashier answered in affirmative and pointed at the black Benz driving away from the car park. It was then that she learnt that one of them was the owner of the café. That scared her more and feared for her employment. She was sure her boss was not happy with her and anytime she would be told to pack up and leave the premises. For a minute, she did not know what to think until the head cashier handed her an envelope.

‘The boss asked me to give you this,’ said the head waiter. Ima hesitated to grab the white envelope for fear of the contents. Ever since she came to town, nobody ever communicated to her using letters. She did not tell anyone that she had been doing evening classes at Kalikiliki Main Community Hall and that she was going to be sitting for her grade nine exams at the end of the year.

The young villager had no choice but to get the envelope meant for her without much enthusiasm. She believed in fate, so whatever awaited her she was ready to accept and move on. She owed no one anything, she simply came to survive in the Capital City. She encouraged herself to accept anything that came her way. The same way she found this job that was the same way she was going to find another. Without much courage to open the mail, she grabbed it and disappeared to the change room and pushed it in her bag.

When her shift ended, Ima went to change her clothes and ready for evening classes. She lifted her bag and was on her way home when she remembered the white envelope in the side pocket of the bag. She removed it and slowly opened. Her heart was beating uncontrollably and hands shaking. She was not used to surprises so she feared that other pedestrians would see her. She stopped and sat at the roadside bench. Then slowly she peeped for the contents only to find Two Thousand Kwacha and an invitation card to the annual ball at Golden Peacock Hotel in Olympia.

The young girl was confused and could not understand what was going on. The man she never knew, the man she did not know from the three left her with money and a card. For a moment, she did not know what to do. Accept the money and attend the Ball? Her work place had hosted a number of such events and so she had become familiar to annual balls. Hesitantly, she got the money, put it in her purse, and continued going for her evening lessons. Though she did not know the person who left the money, she resolved to use it since it was meant for her.

Three days passed, Ima continued working expecting to see the three men again but nothing. With the few days away from the date on the invitation card, her mind was not at peace. She had never been out on a date with any man since she left the village. The only dinner balls she attended were as a chef at her work place. To make everything worse, not even her cousin had been to such events. She had no closer friend to confide in and help her with her troubled mind. One day during lunch, the head Cashier invited her to her cubical for a snack.

‘What was in the envelop?’ she asked sitting down on a stool directly opposite. The question took the young girl off guard. She never expected her to find out after almost a week from the time she handed her the envelope.

‘There was a sick note I submitted to management a month ago,’ she lied. ‘Oh I see….cause I was wondering what it was.’ Ima was tempted to ask her immediate boss further follow up questions but decided to go mute. She couldn’t tell what her objectives were. The truth was going to instill jealousy and envy from her boss. Her father was categorical in his advice – never trust anyone. It made the young girl wonder why her superior at work invited her for lunch for the very first time only to ask about the envelop she gave her a week ago.

‘Yeah….it was an acknowledgement for the day I stayed away from duty. At first, I also wasn’t sure what was in there probably because it had taken long. Ima was new in town but slowly she found life interesting and challenging. Everything required money; it was hard work that she needed to catch up with the fast paced Lusaka life. Ima had pledged to do her best in the new job she got and contributed equally in the payments of house rentals with her cousin. The few cloths she came with from Chongwe were replaced with new and modern ones. Slowly, she started reasoning and looking like a town girl and she could see from the attention she commanded from men on the roads to and from work that the village in her was no longer there.

School life was another pleasing moment. She learnt how to read and write fast and was prepared for the pending exams. She enjoyed the advantage of age, so her understanding levels were way above the school contents. Ima was a blooming girl like a flower in the city, which thirteen months ago never thought she could be. Her spirits were inebriated and fitted her perfectly. She saw girls of her age doing better at different colleges and universities while she was still doing high school. Her patience was not enough for her to wait for the three years more to complete grade twelve but rather decided to go the General Certificate of Education way.

Another challenging part of her career was her employment. It was a meeting place for different people with high levels of liquidity. So far, she had faced many proposals that she needed to turn down for the sake of her dignity and employment. Because of intelligence and hard work, she invocated a degree of jealousy among her workmates.

‘So it was just that?’ the head cashier asked standing up to leave. ‘Imagine sister,’ Ima replied clearing the table in readiness to resume work.

Two days to go, the young girl jumped on a bus to Kamwala for shopping with the money she was given. From the few friends she asked for advice, she decided to buy an exquisite dinner dress for the occasion. She considered the occasion to be a blind date, which she was uncomfortable to attend. Had it been any other person, she was going to turn it down, but the boss was the boss. She needed her employment and therefore, her options were limited she was just going to attend. With the help of shop owners, the young villager purchased the dress, shoes and all the requisites for a successful ball.

 

***

 

The taxi parked inside the Golden Peacock Hotel car park. She paid cash and walked out. It was her first time to be at the hotel and so she needed to be careful. The place looked flamboyant and inviting. The young girl was careful not to come too early nor too late. She just landed on time to meet someone she had no idea of. The shoes were not too high and were comfortable enough for the event. Gently and elegantly, the girl headed straight to the main entrance.

People were already in, with some few seats still vacant. She walked along the wall to a vacant table second roll from the back after showing her invitation card to the door attendants. From the quality of the people around, Ima knew she was in a very high profile gathering. She breathed a sigh of relief when she looked at herself and saw that she was in tune with the rest. Her dress was high class and the hairdo was superb coupled with excellent makeup. She fitted in well. She was sure that whoever invited her would not recognize her new looks. She was no longer a chef but an invited guest to the Lusaka Chamber of Commerce midyear ball.

The chef was going round getting orders. After a few years at Times Café, Ima knew exactly what type of drinks to order. She made an order and waited. She waited for her boss to appear from somewhere to join her. He was the one who invited her and so he was probably supposed to be somewhere waiting. Other guests finally occupied the three seats that remained on her table. She patiently waited for the signal or a person to join her when the master of ceremony announced the arrival of the guest of honor. She saw a figure she had always seen on television at main news walking in with a sizeable entourage. Ima tried recalling the name but to no avail. The man was huge, slightly dark in complexion with an aristocratic gait. He welded much authority around him, almost sending tremors to those closer.

Ima watched from the distance with keen interest suppressing the excitement of being in such a gathering. She felt proud and important to have been invited to the ball and breathed the same oxygen with the influential people in society. She wished they knew that she was just a mere Kalikiliki girl who still had a lot of village mentality. The Master of Ceremony introduced the guest of honor as the Lusaka Province Minister Hon Boyd Sambo.

His speech was brief and to the point. He stressed the need for local and international businesspersons to co-exist and help each other. He further reminded the guests that such gatherings were important for the exchange of notes. He said different businesses had different challenges creating an interdependent loop in the entire cycle. Further, the minister reminded the executives the importance of engaging the government of the day in a consultative manner in terms of meeting the statutory obligations.

After the guest of honor, the Chamber of Commerce president stood up and gave his speech followed by His Worship the Mayor. While the speeches were going on, the invited guests were being served with food.

Immediately the speeches were finished, the guest artists were on the stage performing the latest song on the Zambian airwaves changing the entire mood and people seemed to enjoy every beat of Banono by Yo Maps and Mark II. On the other hand, the food was tasty and sumptuous. Ima enjoyed the dish - the mixture of sea and traditional foods blended well with Indian spices. The young girl though alone, enjoyed every minute of the Ball. There was no dull moment especially the time the guest of honor opened the dance floor. With her high shoes, she found herself on the stage and joined the rest of the guests.

The event was so vibrant and made her forget she was supposed to meet someone. She forgot to be on the lookout for her boss but rather enjoyed every ones’ presence. People around the table were sociable and warm. They engaged in many constructive conversations covering a wider scope of topics. The young villager had a tough time to keep pace with the business executives who thought she was one of them as well. She saw people eating and talking while some were joining the dance floor and some leaving it. Ima found herself flowing well in spoken English and was getting comfortable with it.

When it was quarter to twenty-three in the night, a chef came round the table and dropped a white envelop right in front of her. She noticed it was the exact one like the one she was given by the head cashier at work. Without wasting much time, the girl opened it and found a note inside. She read the note and kept quiet for a second. It was an instructive message: Ima it’s time up you need to go home and rest. Brief and to the point without leaving any shadow of doubt. Ima looked around hoping to recognize anyone. Even the chef disappeared without any word from the sender. The writer addressed her by name. It was her message.

She stood up to look for the chef. She walked through the excited guests who paid no attention to her. She wasn’t sure how the chef looked like, she didn’t have time to look carefully at him. There were many chefs in the hall and it was just impossible for her to point at one. She felt frustrated and quietly sneaked out of the hall and asked the guards for the taxi.

‘Excuse me madam! I’m the taxi driver…been told to wait for you.’ She looked at the man dressed in a white sweatshirt standing right in front of her. ‘What are you saying Mr.? She asked in exasperation. ‘I have been booked to take you wherever you want madam.’ The man explained humbly and started directing her to the taxi. ‘Am sorry sir…I will find my own way home.’ Never trust anyone …Anything can happen. Her father’s words resounded in her mind. Ima turned towards the guardhouse to leave when she suddenly heard the man besides her mention her house number and the cousin’s name.

Like a blow to her medulla oblongata, Ima froze and turned to face the stranger. ‘Who are you? Who told you about me?’ she asked with the toughness that even scared her own existence. Her voice was firm and stable demanding for straight answers. Somebody was playing with her mind and she could not tolerate that anymore. ‘Who booked you? Who is paying you?’ she asked again without waiting for answers. The resultant feeling was compounding her being, a minute ago, she was merry then suddenly it became cat and mouse arrangement.

‘I can’t say madam, am sorry. I just have my orders.’ ‘Why can’t you?’

‘I don’t know her either; she just came and told me about you and paid me cash in advance to take you anywhere you want.’ Her head was heating up. The taxi driver said her….when she had expected the opposite. ‘So it was a female who invited me to this ball?’ she thought. ‘What more has she told you about me?’ she said cooling herself down. If she needed to find her stalker then she was supposed to cool down and probably behave the stalker’s way. She needed to find out why the woman invited her to the party, never showed up, and went further booking a taxi for her to use.

‘She said you have been working at Times Café in Kabulonga for the past twelve months, ever since you left Chongwe.’ ‘Yes that’s true but I want to know the woman. How long ago did she book you? Was she here?’ ‘Yes mum, she was standing right here a couple of minutes ago when she pointed at you while you were seated at your table,’ the driver explained.

Ten minutes later, the young girl was in the taxi heading to Kalikiliki with more questions flooding her feeble mind. She resolved to hunt down the stalker with all her being. To surprise her further, he found a parcel from the driver containing a bundle of hundred Kwacha notes meant for her. Whoever the woman was, she wanted to spoil her with good things and yet wanted to remain in shadows. It became evident; the woman invited Ima to the ball for a specific reason. Unfortunately, only the woman knew that reason.

Mentally, the young chef prepared herself to meet the owner of Kabulonga Times Café – her boss, only to enjoy the ball alone. However, she did not regret the time spent at Golden Peacock, she only regretted the suspense she went through. The event gave her the opportunity to interact with important people and exchanged notes and numbers. She was brave enough to speak and act like them and was able to fit in smoothly. At one moment, she talked with the Managing Director for National Milling for quite a long time. It was clear she lured him to believing in her and the two promised to have a better conversation some time later outside the party walls.

Later in the evening, Ima discussed business opportunities with the proprietor for Radisson Blue Hotel together with the Autoworld CEO. Though the language was technical, the village girl was up to speed and was able to flow with the current. No one noticed that she was a grade nine mere chef from the village clocking twelve months in town. Many guests kept complimenting her appearance and beauty. She had ensured her makeup and spray were expensive and up to date.

The Vice Chancellor of the biggest private university in Lusaka gestured for her and introduced her to the Provincial Minister. The young girl had a tough time to act normal when meeting such an important public figure; the experience just thrilled her internally and warmly smiled at the Guest of Honor. To her surprise, the Chancellor introduced her as the Times Café proprietor, the promotion that she could neither deny nor accept. The young girl could not ascertain the motive behind and therefore, she warmly greeted the Minister and exchanged a few words.

To the rest of the guests, Ima was a business tycoon running the most happening Pub and Grill in most busy towns in the country hence her invitation to the Ball. Having worked for the restaurant, the young girl was abreast with most happenings and was comfortable chipping in on the operations and achievements recorded by the café. She told the guest of honor about the new branch which she just opened in Solwezi at the Kapiji Mpanga Mall and how well it contributed in the reshaping of the new Copper giant.

Whoever the woman was, she introduced Ima as the boss she herself was coming to meet and dine with. She wanted her to act the role she wasn’t when it was actually far from her current level. However, the village girl proved herself equal to the task and acted her new role exemplary well. She felt important mingling with captains of Lusaka Industries.