6. Change of Power 1

“Oh! Is that why you are worried? He deserves what he got,” she stated happily and his brother berated her, “How come you sound so happy when you just lost your husband today?”

“He is no more my husband. We were divorced before his fortunate death.”

“Oh, my God! Fortunate death? When did the death of a husband become fortunate?”

“Yes. It is fortunate because he wanted to kill me. Could you believe that he beat me up this morning and I …”  

Gerald doubted and interrupted her, “Beat you up? How come?” 

To make him believe her, she began to sob, “Yes (sob, sob). He kicked my stomach (sob) and I suffered (sob, sob) a miscarriage. I lost your nephew (sob, sob).”

Gerald was silent for a while and after digesting her story, he simply asked, “When is the burial? Samuel and I would like to be present and pay our tribute.”

“Burial? Tribute? For what?” His father thundered from the background and Laura supported him.

“Did you hear that? I don't think he deserves such an honor. Besides, the soldiers took his miserable corpse away after killing him.”

“Oh, no! Does that mean that you did not follow them up to retrieve his corps? He is your husband for crying out loud.”

“He was,” she corrected him, “And I owe him no allegiance anymore,” she elucidated.

“It's a crying shame that you will allow your husband to be killed like a chicken,” Gerald poured out his heart and cut the call angrily. 

Laura felt disrespected and cried out, “He cut the call on me, Dad, and Mom. I will not continue to sponsor his education if he continues to be rude to me.”

“Bear with him, my dear,” her mother pleaded. 

Her father was not left out, “Your mother is right. He is only a child.”

“How can an eighteen-year-old boy who has no respect for his big sister still be a child?” She asked angrily. Although the siblings love and respect each other, they bicker over the ill-treatment given to Tim. Now, his death and their nonchalance were the height of it.

“Tim's death should not come between you and your siblings, my dear,” her mother advised.

“We should remain as one indivisible family now that we have come to an enviable height,” her father advised too.

At Tim's New Apartment

He had his dinner calmly for the first time in a long while. He was not disturbed by unkind words from Laura

(Stop eating too much because you do not contribute to the upkeep of the family.)

(You can't eat now. Wait until I am hungry and ready to eat.)

He mulled over the day's events and smiled softly. Howbeit, he rounded up his dinner and left the dining table. He was sitting on the couch when he sent for his Orderly.

“Good evening, Boss. I am here.”

“Yes, Orderly. Sit down.” 

The Orderly sat down on the edge of the couch beside his and waited for him to speak.

“What is your name?” He looked into his eyes and asked.

“My name is George Young, Boss.”

“I see. How old are you, George?”

“I'm twenty years old, Boss.”

He admired him and was happy with his confident demeanor. Then, he asked further, “What do you know about the Auxiliary Armory PLC?”

“I know that the Chairman, Gen. Sidney McDonald retired today and the Head of State appointed a new General to take over as the Third in Command and the Chairman of the company.”

“You are right, George. If I may ask, who is the new General?”

“I don't know him. The news did not show his pictures but I know that his name is Gen. Tim Williams.”

“That is good to hear. Why do you think the new Chairman's pictures were not displayed?”

George gave him a questioning look and vacillated. Tim smiled at his ignorance of the answer and advised him, “If you don't know the answer please let me know. I will teach you.”

Nevertheless, George was not comfortable admitting that he was ignorant of the answer and attempted to provide one, “I think it is for security reasons.”

“You got it. Above all, his information is classified.”

“I got it, Boss. Permit my ignorance,” he apologized shyly. Tim beamed with pleasure and encouraged him, “No. You have not transgressed. The ability to learn what you don't know makes you wiser. Okay?”

“I got it, Boss. Thank you for putting me through.”

“You are welcome. If you would like to work with me, learn to always ask questions when you are in doubt. Did you get me?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Good. Don't work on assumptions because the results can be negative.”

“I got it. Thank you, Boss.”

“You are welcome. Prepare yourself. We are resuming in the morning at the Auxiliary Armory PLC.”

George shuddered and fixed his gaze at him. Tim expected his reaction and disregarded it. Likewise, he took time to prepare George for work. 

“You can leave,” he ordered him afterward.

“Thank you, Boss. Good night,” he said and left.

Thereafter, Tim walked to his luxurious bedroom and lay on his cozy bed before fiddling with his phone. He watched the video of all that happened in Laura's house that morning from his phone and asked himself, “How can she say that I beat her up when the evidence is there?”

Likewise, he meditated on his last few days with her and concluded, “She lied that she suffered a miscarriage just to get the sympathy of the Human Rights Activists and divorce me. That is weird.”

He watched the television for the news. His face beamed when he watched the Head of State's broadcast. After a few minutes, he went to sleep.

The Next Day

At Laura's House.

She was like a hunter who succeeded in killing an elephant without a proper arrangement on how to carry the meat home. At that point, she had brought herself to the limelight and her actions and counter actions mattered a lot. To impress her new boss and butter him up on her father's behalf, she dressed gorgeously which did not portray a lady who suffered a miscarriage or lost a man she once loved.

“Let's go. We need to get to a floral shop,” she ordered her team members.

“I got it, Boss,” the Head of Security accepted and repeated her words to the team, “Fall in. All of you. We need to get to a floral shop first before going to the office.”

“Okay, Sir,” they answered. He opened the backdoor of her tinted classic car for her and she got in majestically. Then, he got into the front seat and they moved. She was turned up for the books when she did not see any reporter at her gate.

“It is good that these pests are not here. I won't suffer any delay,” she thought to herself. To her rude awakening, they got to the estate gate and could not move because the pressmen had blocked the road.

“Oh, my God! Did they sleep here?” She vociferated loudly.

“This is serious! I know what to do, Boss,” the Head of Security announced and got out of the car. He walked to the crowd and ordered, “Go away, all of you.”

“We want to interview Mrs. Dickson-Williams,” the reporters announced.