The Case Of Ali

Chapter 3. Last Days

Ali and Jake closed on their new  house and moved in almost right away.  It wasn't as if they had a lot of things to move.  Most of the furniture they had in the old place were either from  thrift stores  or garage sale finds so they left them in the old apartment much to Jake's dismay. They bought a brand new king size bed for the master bedroom and a couch for the living room. Ali told Jake that they needed new furniture for the entire home but Jake was reluctant for them to spend anymore money on furniture until he got a job.  There was one particular company he interviewed with in California that he was really anxious to hear from.  In that role he would be working remotely with a face to face once a month.  

Ali intended to redo the entire house but she would wait until Jake get that job, she was sure he was going to get, then she would spring it on him.  Ali kept looking at the old mailbox that she wanted to replace like yesterday.  She hated it.  It just didn't go with the rest of the house, but she couldn't get what that woman said to her at the closing out of her head.  It was as if the woman appeared  out of no where.  One minute she was there and the next minute she was gone.  

She was dressed in a colorful African garb, with a turban like wrap on her head.  She told Ali not to replace the mailbox.  In the strangest of accent she told Ali, "Change out anything you want in or outside the house, but not the mailbox; you hear me chile, not the mailbox."  Ali turned to get Jake's attention but when she turned back, the woman was gone.   What was even weirder was that Jake  never saw the woman...no one did except  Ali and that bothered Ali the most.  

Jake caught Ali again staring at the ugly mailbox.  "Why don't you just get rid of  the damn thing if it bothers you that much?"  

"No, that woman told me not to; there must be a reason why she said that," Ali said,

"The woman in the African dress and head wrap? I did not see  her out there Ali," Jake said.  

"I don't know how you could missed her; she was so uniquely dressed," Ali said. 

"Uniquely? This is Harlem babe, a lot of people is dressed like that but I swear I did not see her but I believe you," Jake said.

They kept going back and forth with this for days and this was the first time Jake said that he believed her.  Ali knew what she saw and heard.  "Look I am going to just leave the box for now," She said.

"Fine either way with me; I kind a like  it.  it's a part of the charm and character of the house," Jake concluded.        

The ugly mailbox could wait.  Ali had more pressing things to deal with.  She had mixed feelings about Jake leaving.  She was still mad at her  parents.  She was starting a new job but not with her parents as was planned.  She decided that she did not want to work for  Commings Enterprise  after all.  Ali told her father  that his way of thinking did not align with hers. After the way her parents behaved towards Jake and his mother, Ali  took a closer look at Commings Enterprise, the conglomerate ran by her parents. They had very few people of color working for the company and none in managerial roles. That was an eye opener for Ali. 

After Jake had that talk with his mother, he decided to reach out to the FBI about his father's case. One of the reasons he was going on this trip was to find answers about his father.  That was before his  mother shared that troubling bit of information with him.  With this new knowledge,  Jake was driven by a greater urgency to go to South America to find out what really happened to his father.  Was the man out there somewhere and couldn't come back or was  he dead? Jake needed answers.  Jake hated to keep Ali in the dark about this but he knew she would either talk him out of going if she knew or be worried sick while he was gone.