Veritable Amigos

Chapter Eleven

Chapter
Eleven



   The day Vin was waiting for came, he went to the location where they had agreed to meet. Gayles arrived some minutes later, she joined him on a table. The waiter brought the menu before them to place their order, Vin asked him to go and come after sometime and that they were yet to decide on the meal they would have. The waiter did as he had requested, he left them.
   Vin couldn't stop himself from staring at the beautiful creature sitting in front of him. Gayles was the one that brought the idea of meeting but she was waiting for him to begin a conversation. It took a while before she realized Vin was gazing at her with pure adoration. "What is it?", she began the conversation without her knowledge.
   "Why such a question?", asked Vin as his reply.
   She snobbed, "forget it".
   "Why?", he asked again. "Was that the only thing you could say?", Vin asked.
  "I didn't ask you here to stress me", Gayles protested.
   "I am still waiting for the reason", said Vin.
   Gayles run short of words, no word in her mouth was ready to explain to Vin why she had called him. She needed to pray to God to send the angel of words to her aid.
   "I have no reason for wanting to meet you", said Gayles.
   "You are not good at cracking jokes so don't try. Are you telling me you invited me here just to sit with me? Just tell me you cannot live without seeing me, I would have understood it and stayed with you not just for that night", Vin said looking askance at her.
   "Do you now see the reason why I dislike you? The little chance you get, you disturb my life", Gayles remonstrated.
   "Who deceived you? You should have been told instead that you ...", he paused realizing her face had turned red. Gayles felt like disappearing before Vin would tell her he knew she had fallen in his love. He was laughing at how Gayles was restless in her seat. He that knew anytime he mentioned about them, Gayles was red but today she had gone the extra mile. "Please be sure you do not freeze, nobody has asked of ice cubes here", Vin laughed, "I was just joking so I think this should be the right moment to tell me why we are here. I cannot wait any longer".
   Oh my goodness! Why did I fall for such a person? He's going to taunt me all my life, Gayles said in her thought.
   "What were thinking about?", Vin asked.
   "Me? Nothing", Gayles denied. Just before Vin would utter a word, a photographer brought to them a picture he had taken of them.
   "I can see that the two of you love each other a lot. See! the picture is even testifying", he said.
   "Uhm... how much should we pay for the picture?", Vin asked.
   "This is mine, I am not going to give it to you", said the man.
   Gayles and Vin exchanged looks, the man was claiming ownership of their picture. "Can you please tell us why you took the picture?", Gayles asked.
   "The two of you did not ask me to take a photo of you so why should I give you the photo I took for myself?", the man gave his reason.
   "But this contains us not you", said Gayles.
   "It’s also very important for me to keep this", the man replied.
   "Of what importance?", Vin asked.
   They offered the man a seat and he began to tell his story: "My daughter was living a miserable life after the death of her mother. I have not seen an angelic smile on her face since then. I took it upon myself to find happiness for her, she is now of age but she doesn't want to get married. I do not want her to be lonely when I die, she needs a companion. I have tried all what I can but she refuses it whenever I mentioned about her marriage. I want to show to my daughter the joy she was going to get when she marries. The both of you were just the perfect example as an evidence, that is why I will not give you the picture".
   "For the happiness of your daughter, you can keep our picture", Gayles permitted.
   "Thank you and God bless you. May He protect your marriage from every evil eye and mind, continue to stay together in love. Peace be with you", said the man and took his leave.
   "You want to know why we are here right? This is the reason why we are here", said Gayles.
   Vin was amazed at her intelligence. She had used the man's visit for her own benefit, using his problem as an excuse for wanting to see him. "If that was the case, why don't we marry then?", asked Vin.
   "Marry?", Gayles repeated.
   "We just came to sit here and it is going to get somebody ready for marriage. Then if we were to be married, it would bring divorcees together again. It can also lead to saving peoples marriages, right?", Vin explained. They laughed at the idea. "Okay, since there is not any problem, can we make the order now?", Vin asked when the waiter came back for their order. Gayles agreed to it so they placed their order.
   Within few minutes, he returned with two glasses of apple juice for them as an appetizer. Later he brought their banquet.
   Rennie had gone to Gayles' room to pay her a visit as they did at first but she was told Gayles went out very early, she didn't go to class. Rennie was shocked at the news because Gayles didn't mention about it in their last conversation. Perhaps Stellie would know where she was so she rang her. The information she received from her wasn't encouraging too, Stellie did not know where Gayles had gone. She didn't inform her as well. Rennie was worried at the sudden disappearance of her friend. She made mind on ringing Gayles, she rang severally but her line was busy. She went back to Ana to ask about where Gayles said she was going, she forgot to ask her when she went there the first time. Ana also said that Gayles didn't tell her where she was going.
   Rennie was busily looking for her friend as if the school had swallowed her up. Gayles on the other hand was happily speaking with her little friend on phone.
   "Who's phone did you use to call?" Gayles asked.
   "It's my madam's", Abena replied.
   "May I speak with her?" Requested Gayles.
   The madam greeted. "Good afternoon. I learnt you are my princess's teacher and I am Gayles Haylie, her big sister". Gayles introduced herself.
   The madam asked, "how may I help you miss?"
   Gayles laid her wish. "The thing is, there has been a delay in paying the fees of my girl and she said she needed to pay it before she was allowed to take part in the End of Term Examination, I wanted to ask if I could get it paid through you because I am not available right now".
   "I don't really accept that because of a case that happened between a teacher and a parent here. The teacher had to lose his job but Abena is an intelligent pupil so I might take the risk", said the teacher.
   Gayles and the teacher calculated the fees she owed and paid the amount to the teacher. The teacher promised to give the money to the administration asap and she also told Gayles of how the little girl was ruling over boys in her class, she was toping every year. The madam urged Gayles not to let anything ruin Abena's studies. She took the advise she gave her and asked her not to delay to let her know about Abena's needs in the school. The madam put Abena through at Gayles' request when she was done speaking with her.
   "Everything is going to be fine, okay", Gayles assured her.
   "I hope so", said Abena.
   "How did you get my contact?" asked Gayles.
   "Ooh! I brought the card you gave to mummy here. She didn't want me to tell you anything", replied Abena.
   "Hmm... please do not hesitate to share with me your problems. My doors are opened widely to you", said Gayles.
   "Okay", she responded.
   "Will you tell me a joke before you go?" Gayles asked.
   "Why not?" she said in response. "One day a pastor was going for evangelism where she came across three sellers. A bread seller, an apple seller and a yam seller. They begged the pastor to buy some. The pastor also wanted to know if they knew about Christ before he bought from them. And do you know what happened?" she asked.
   "No darling, please tell me", Gayles answered.
   Abena had not yet said what the pastor asked of them but Vin and Gayles were already laughing. Gayles increased the volume of the phone to Vin's hearing when Abena began the joke. He was also enjoying the little girl's joke. "The pastor asked them to cite a verse in the Bible where the items they were selling had been mentioned. It is funny right? The bread seller was the first. She said, 'I am the bread of life'. The pastor purchased all her bread and gave it to the needy around. The apple seller was next, 'Jesus said, you are the apple of my eyes'. It sounded good at least so the pastor did for her as he had done for the bread seller. Finally it was the turn of the yam seller. I think you should guess what she said". They were so caught in laughing that brought the attention of people on them. People admired the chemistry between them. I don't think you would stop laughing so let me tell you". She said, 'Jesus said, I yam that I yam'. The pastor collapsed at once. "Did Jesus really say that?" Abena asked.
   "I will have to check my Bible very well before I can say anything?" Gayles answered, laughing.
   "Thank you, baby girl. You have really made my day", said Vin.
   Abena was happy at her achievement, she gave back her madam's phone to her and continued her reading in the library.