Scars (Romola 2)

1: Peaceful Mornings

This chapter is dedicated to pelafera

TWO YEARS LATER

Romola set the last case of cornflakes on the display shelf. She stepped back and smiled at the tower she had constructed from the cornflakes boxes. Pure perfection. Nothing out of place.

She sprayed the display glass with a bottle of disinfectant and wiped the surface with the lint cloth in her hand.

The noise from the centre of the store grew every minute but she didn't dare turn her head towards it. If she ignored them, they would probably quiet down. She crouched to the lower part of the wooden shelf and began to rearrange the coke cans for today's customers.

A sigh shook her shoulders.

This was the worst store of all the five that Iya Tobi owned. She told the employees in this store that they had to rearrange the shelves each morning before the store opened or at least at night before they left, but everyday she arrived it was the same. The contents of the shelves were in disarray because  the customers had tossed items left and right in their scramble to get what they wanted.

"Romola, you have to come quickly." Rosemary ran down the aisle towards her.

Her peace for the morning had ended. It was a short moment but it helped her to orient her day. She tucked the dark green cleaning rag into her pocket then set the disinfectant on the checkout counter.

"What now?"

"Mrs Bunmi and Mr, Ola, they want to—"

"Those two again." Romola muttered.

She didn't understand why it was so hard for them to get along. Bunmi was supposed to be the mature one on the team and Ola, Romola shook her head, she didn't even know where to begin with the nosy man.

"—tear off each other's heads. Mrs Bunmi removed her shoe."

Romola took her time to walk away from the show glass section of the store to the large centre space where the goods stood alert on a round shelf. The shelves towered over her as she walked down the main aisle to arrive at the smaller checkout table- a semi circular table beside the round shelf. Only the table kept Bunmi and Ola separated even though the woman held Ola's shirt with one hand and raised her gold ankle strap sandal with the other.

"You will not mind your business. See your head like monkey."

Romola winced at the sound of Bunmi's shrill voice. High emotions always made the slender brown skinned woman sound like she was crying.

"You won't leave me now. Look at this useless woman." Ola barked. "Is this how they treat men in your village?"

"How long have they been at this again?" Romola turned to Rosemary, the youngest attendant in the store.

"Better still, why are they fighting?"

"It's this woman oh. I arrived at the office at exactly 7:45am and she refused to allow me enter my name into the register. She said she will tell Iya Tobi that I came late. Me?"

"Iro. Lie" Bisi screamed. "Don't even try to lie. You came at 8 O'clock. It's because you know Iya Jide will come today and check the register and you tried to change the time on the book. Do you think I am a fool?"

"Well, you talk like one."

"Can someone attend to me or are you all not ready to sell in this store?" A woman asked.

Romola turned towards the main door and saw a young woman in white jeans and a fitting red blouse, frowning at them.

The woman took off her shade as  her eyes found Romola's. "I've been waiting here for over 5 minutes while those two argue like children."

"I'm sorry." Romola put on her brightest smile.

This woman was one of Iya Tobi's regulars. And she was the type to let Iya Tobi know that things were not perfect in the Itire store. Everything needed to be perfect for Iya Tobi's arrival. "I'll attend to you. Rose, please, take Mr. Ola and Mrs. Bunmi to the store room."

Romola advanced towards the woman and the woman's angry mask began to fade. "What can I do for you today?"

***

"What do you mean by Bunmi is right?" Ola demanded.

"You shouldn't be changing your clock-in-time in the register."

"You don't understand. Do you know how far I live?"

Romola would have rolled her eyes if Ola were ten years younger. Instead, she allowed her eyes to find the pattern in the ceiling above their heads before she let them stray down to the blue plastic chairs on the opposite side of the narrow room.

Bunmi and Ola sat with three plastic chairs between them, Mrs. Bunmi sat towards the end of the room. Her chair leaned against the door to Iya Tobi's office while Mr. Ola sat closer to the door that led to the store. Romola marvelled at how Ola's white shirt blended with the white wall behind him. It was Bunmi's shrill voice that brought her back to the present.

"Far ko, your house is less than 20 minutes away. You are just a lazy fat oaf."

"At least my money is going somewhere. You nko, cockroach leg." Ola faced Romola, while the lines on his face deepened. "I was working late last night. That is why I am late. today"

"Working on what?" Romola allowed her gaze to return to the book she held.

She traced certain parts of the notebook noting places that Ola had skipped steps, taken shortcuts or just refused to work on at all. The account couldn't be properly balanced in this haphazard way he had done it. Iya Tobi wouldn't like this at all.

"The books."

"They don't look worked on to me."

"Probably because he was using office WIFI instead of checking the books."

"You better mind your business Bunmi. Romola, I tried to do as much as I could but I couldn't finish it."

"Because you don't do it everyday. Everytime you sell something, you are to take a record of the invoice, and of the expenditure. This record is incomplete."

Romola frowned. The only reason she was here was to make this perfect for Iya Tobis arrival. "Last time I was here, we repaired the fridge, I don't see that entry in this book. I also remember that two women bought that German birthday card. That one too, it's not here."

"Romola," Mr. Ola's voice shook in anger now. "I don't know why you are doing as if you know everything. Iya Tobi doesn't always check the book. She doesn't even understand it. How will she know what is there and what is not there?"

"My job is to make sure everything is as it should be." Romola eyed him. "and I understand it."

Mr Ola rose. "Then maybe you should have stayed in school instead of trying to be an elevated secretary and teaching me my job."

Romola did not raise her head but her breath caught in her throat. She sighed instead and closed the book. "I'll be sure to let Iya Jide know the number of times we had to buy data this month and why."

Mr. Ola left the room and banged the door shut.

"Good. You put that man in his place. Well done."

Romola knew Bunmi's loyalty was temporary. "And you Ma, next time, please, attend to the customer. Your argument with Mr. Ola really wasted our time. That woman only waited because she was a regular customer. And she can also tell Iya Tobi what happened."

"Yes ma," Bisi smiled. "Please eh, don't tell Iya Tobi what happened. Ola and I, this is how we relate. you know."

Romola nodded. She had far greater things to worry about than the squabble between two of Iya Tobi's 27 employees. 

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Author's note:

It's been a while. I hope you are doing well. I'll be posting excerpts here but the rest of the book will probably drop on PABPUB first.