GOOD INTENTIONS

Chapter 8

The bath was the panacea for his troubled mind, the steam from the shower somehow cleared his thoughts, now on his bed, he took the plate in his hand and suddenly regretted using this very small plate, but he was too tired to go back to the kitchen. In about three minutes he had finished his meal and was about to sleep when his phone beeped. Picking the phone up, he saw it was a text message from a number that wasn't saved on his phone, it read "IT WAS NICE SEEING YOU TODAY...SENSEI." A whole new rush of adrenaline shot up his nerve endings. He read it again and the "SENSEI" clearly indicated that it was a message from Kaffi. The sleep was gone, he sat up, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. What have I gotten myself into?" he repeatedly asked himself. While he was still in shock, his phone rang and jolted him back to reality, he instinctively picked the phone shouting, "What...what...what exactly do you want?"

"Brother Frank," came a very concerned voice from the other end of the phone. It suddenly dawned on Frank that it wasn't Kaffi but his choir director.

"Brother Chuka, I am very sorry", he immediately thought of a lie to tell, but none was forthcoming. "Good evening sir," he managed to say.

"Good evening" Chuka replied. "Hope all is well" he continued.

"All is well sir."

"Great, brother Frank. I just reviewed the details of all the first-timers that were in our rehearsals this evening."

Frank swallowed hard.

Chuka continued, "I noticed one of the first-timers actually lives very close to your estate. Her name is Kaffi."

Frank's body was now fully soaked in sweat, another shower will not even salvage the situation at the moment.

"Are you there", Chuka asked.

There was a pause.

"Brother Frank?"

"Sir, I am here" Frank finally found his voice.

"Great, I will text you her address and phone number now, follow up on her. I want her with us for the street storm this coming Saturday. Our event coming up in two weeks is a very big one and we both know that we need all the help we can get. I am not sure you noticed but she is a very good alto singer. Send her messages between today and Friday, and possibly call her too, remember they are members of our choir but they don't just know it yet. Goodnight bro Frank."

Frank just sat, drowned in his own perspiration. His phone beeped again, Chuka had sent the address and contact number, without hesitating, Frank deleted the message and reached back for his pillow which he threw on the ground. He wasn't ready to go back into the bathroom, because it will only give him more time to brood over his current predicament. He sat on the cold floor tiles of his bedroom floor then stretched out with his back to the tiles and his head on the pillow, closing his eyes, he imagined what would happen if he actually told his choir director why he cannot call Kaffi. He imagined how his choir director will see him, maybe he will label him a pervert after he had already lied about calling Kaffi on Monday, and apparently, the Kaffi lady didn't even as much say "Hi" to him today in church. He thought for a while, then his mind went to the text message; another failed attempt to prove his point because Kaffi didn't use her regular number which he already had saved on his phone, to send the text. He resolved to his fate and drifted away to dreamland.