Manifest

Twelve

His phone rang.

Nature cussed and rolled over in his empty bed. With his eyes still closed, he searched for his phone on the nightstand.

"Hello?"

"Good morning. Sorry to bother you, Sir."

"What is it?"

"Some guests have started arriving-"

Nature cut the call and dove back into his pillow.

KPO! KPO! KPO! KPO!

"Come in," he said as the door opened slowly.

"I'm very sorry, Sir, but Mr. Joseph Ebo is downstairs."

Nature sat up and glared at the man.

"Take him to one of the hotels."

"I tried, Sir. He says he wants to talk to you."

Hating his life, hating everything around, Nature dragged himself out of bed. In nothing but a pair of night trousers and a "Human Huggies" polo, he trotted down the stairs, eager to get it all over with.

As he entered the sitting room, the stiff figure of Joseph Ebo reminded Nature why he'd always refused errands that had Joseph Ebo attached to it. Briskly, he turned around, looking down his nose at Nature as he crossed both his hands at his back. He had on a white shirt and a pair of gray trousers with a blue, striped tie. The silhouette of his black broach stood proudly on his chest. His suit hung on the back of the couch on his left side. Beside the couch, there was a small, Burberry traveling bag and a silver suitcase.

He'd entered the room and left the lights turned off, which left the blue couches and the turquoise carpets and curtains hidden in a dark, golden glow. Nature wasn't too eager to see the straight frames of Joseph's lenses either, so he didn't turn on the lights.

The last time they'd seen each other was at the airport when Nature's sisters had taken off with Joseph's wife and two kids. It hadn't been a hurried affair. Nature had had enough time to laugh and miss them, while Joseph said goodbye to his own family a few feet away. Like everything that concerned Joseph, Nature had come away from that encounter feeling rushed and unsatisfied. He hadn't known how long it would be before either of them saw their families again, and he hated that Joseph had made it feel hastier than it had to be.

He'd kissed his son on the head and walked over to Nature to wait at Nature's back like the frustrating troll that he was. Until Nature let go.

"I see you've finally deigned it fit to wake, Nature," Joseph said, watching Nature closely. His voice echoed in the large room, made eerier by the fact that he'd chosen to stand in front of the only window with the curtains drawn, as the light poured into the room from behind him.

Joseph's half-cast fair skin glistened with sweat. His hair was still black as a board, but he'd cut it so low that it didn't have any curls left. His face was cast in shadow, but Nature could still remember the cat eyes behind those glasses and the overgrown brows above said eyes. Even in the dark, Nature could see Joseph's buck teeth that stuck out every time Joseph spoke.

"Good morning."

"Is it?" Joseph lifted his hand, shook his watch around and examined it. "It's much closer to noon, by my watch."

"It's a little after nine," Nature replied, anger rising.

"One would have thought that with the current cultural climate you, as the only Itaidok in the country, would regard sleep as nothing more than a dangerous luxury."

"It's Sunday," Nature said, hating the high-pitch tilt in his voice. "Everything I had to do, I did already. When tomorrow comes, I'll get back to work."

"It worries me that you think a whole day isn't worth a lifetime, right now. While you've been lazing about, ignoring calls and laying your hosting responsibilities at the feet of subordinates, the world has been running by."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The chief-" Joseph paused, cleared his throat and continued. "Chief has found and, once again, lost Abasi Enyong. This is not the time to sleep."

"She's what?" he asked, moving closer.

"Abasi Enyong is awake."

"I know that."

"Really? Then it would behoove you to remember that his consciousness has set the ball rolling on everything. We cannot afford to be caught with our hands idle. There is much to do. If you would show me to my room, I will settle in, and we can get back to work."

Heh?

"I arranged a suite for you at Hall Hectare."

"I will be staying here with you, Nature. And seeing as you can't even get yourself out of bed every morning without a wake-up call, you should be thanking me for my concern."

Joseph swiped his suit from the couch, picked up his bag and suitcase and stood up, straighter than ever, looking at Nature.

Shaking his head, Nature opened the door and waited for Joseph to pass, knowing that this was not a battle he would ever win.