INSIDE FORTUNE BAKERY AND CONFECTIONERY (13) Nelly did not inform her subordinates she was going to be away from work for a period of one week. That was not her headache. If the owners of the job will not inform them, then, that’s their business. She did not pick any calls from the office either. Tongues began to wag when Grace resumed at the Production Unit the following day to oversee activities there. Rumour had it that Nelly had been sacked. Grace refused to state exactly what happened to Nelly or where she had gone to. There was no official communication about her suspension. She simply informed whoever asked about Nelly that she would resume in a weeks’ time. Her response was simple and straight to the point. Her countenance as she responded to the staff suggested that she was not ready to entertain further questioning. Grace was so effective in managing the two units such that Mr. Fortune began to toy with the idea of merging the Production unit with the Administrative office. He made a mental note of how it’s going to work. He came out on a number of occasions holding his jaw and starring at the two units, he pictured how they would look with his mind’s eyes. Towards the end of the week, Mr. Fortune called in Mr. Faaz to discuss the idea with him. The idea that kept him loitering the complex all week. “Have you noticed anything about the Production Unit since Nelly started her suspension?” Mr. Faaz looked on without saying a word. He did not know exactly what his boss was trying to say. So he decided to refrain from hazarding a guess. “I wouldn’t mind if you can go ahead and tell me what you have in mind, sir,” Mr. Faaz replied. “My point is that, I think it’s a waste of resources to have Production and Administration as different entities. I think there’s need for us to review the structure and see how we can streamline that unit and still get better results. I also don’t think we need a unit head in the grade of Nelly. All we need to do is have someone in Administration like we already have and then have a junior person that will report directly to her. That way, we would have saved some overhead costs and still achieve better results. Think about it and let me know what you think,” Mr. Fortune said. There was nothing to think about. Mr. Faaz reckoned. For his boss to have approached him with such a thought meant it was as good as done. He was only passing across to him what he had already purported to do. When the implementation will take place was the only thing he tried to figure out. Seeing what was about to happen to Nelly, his selfishness got a better part of him. His only thought and concern was how many times he could get at Nelly before Mr. Fortune would implement his plan. “I will be extremely nice to her. I will give her a sense of belonging. I will give her the best treat. But Nelly, I will ravage your body as much as I can before you are finally kicked out of Fortune Bakery and Confectionery,” Mr. Faaz said, laughing very loudly in his office. The kind of laughter people describe as the evil laughter. He returned to his seat to work out the modality for merging the two units, because he suspected his boss could call for it when he least expected it. Nelly resumed at her desk after she served out her suspension. She had one response for every staff that asked where she had been. “It was an emergency leave,” she replied them. Mr. Faaz allowed her some hours before he invited her after Nelly resumed, Mr. Faaz invited her to brainwash her. Nelly was swept of the ground as her boss went on and on how to make her more efficient, relevant and above all help her correct whatever negative impressions she must have created with her recent lapses. Nelly was happy. She was excited. She believed her recent ‘encounter’ with Mr. Faaz had started yielding dividends. She thanked Mr. Faaz again and again. She pledged her loyalty to him. Exactly what he wanted to hear. Exactly what he had been angling for. Nelly had become predictable. She wanted her position by all means. She wanted the power that comes with the position. She was desperate for the prestige too. Trading her body was nothing to her; after all she could have done it just for the pleasure alone. She encouraged herself. So in the days that followed, the phantom image laundering started. Every morning, before work started, Mr. Faaz and Nelly would sit for a meeting in the open. Where every staff saw them. It made Nelly feel important and favoured. Her bruised ego started grew back. They would go through her itinerary for the day, make corrections where necessary before he returned to his office. Mr. Fortune saw him during the exercise a number of times. Mr. Faaz would fix meetings with Mr. Fortune and would drag Nelly along. He kept telling her she needed to be seen and heard. Nelly was happy with the turn of events. What was not possible before she was suspended became an everyday occurrence. She met with Mr. Fortune more than Grace did. She heard some of the classified information other staff had no access to. Only if she knew there was classified information was hanging over her head. Only if she knew. Nelly’s improved relationship with Mr. Faaz came with it more recklessness. More absurdity. Nelly and Mr. Fortune made out the more in the office at every given opportunity. Nelly didn’t care. According to her, “it was working.” Their meeting became so frequent that other staff began to discuss them. Some believe that there were more to their meeting than just work. In the week that Mr. Fortune had decided to implement the new structure. The week he planned to lay off Nelly and add Production to Grace’s responsibility, the unthinkable happened. Nelly had gone to Mr. Faaz’s office after work to stay with him as usual. That week, Nelly had tactically turned down the request to meet him during the week. She wasn’t in the mood for Mr. Faaz. She, however, couldn’t stand the pressure from him by Thursday. She caved in to the unholy request on Thursday, a day before the day plans had been concluded to sack her. Nelly waited until Mr. Faaz was done with his assignments of the day before they jumped at each other. It was a randy session. A very randy session, the last she had with Mr. Faaz. Midway into their action, Mr. Faaz started grasping for air, he did that for a few minutes before he gave up. Mr. Faaz gave up his His ghost. Nelly kept shaking him all to no avail. He was dead and gone. Nelly was shocked. Shell shocked. Suddenly, sweat started dripping from her forehead and in a matter of minutes she was soaked in her own sweat. She thought about what to do. There was no time to delay. She needed to act fast. Scream?! No way, she will be implicated. She feared she would be accused of murder. She managed to pull Mr. Fazz’s trousers to his waist and then fastened his belt. Nelly peeped through the keyhole to be sure the coast was clear before she jumped out of the office. She successfully left the complex without arousing any suspicion. “I did not kill him,” she kept reassuring herself as she walked home that night. It was later that night that the security guards on duty found out that Mr. Faaz had passed away on duty. The Story Continues…
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 07:43:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015