Bill's Story 7.5

Let's call this "Bill's Story 7.5, not 8 as it is shorter than usual. I figured posting whatever I have written is better than waiting for it to get longer. I hope I wasn't wrong.

And pleaaaasssse I want feedback! I need to know if I'm boring you to death or not. I don't want niceties...just facts and constructive criticism. I know you're reading cos I check my hits :)

“What do you mean by “knowing Berth”?

“Oh, she was my roommate back in uni.”

I looked at her with disbelief, wondering whether or not to believe her. She had this look on her face. It was halfway between mischief and excitement. Before I could find the right words to express my surprise, she went on,

“I’d always pictured the woman you intended to marry as a church girl. But no, I was wrong!” Who would have thought Berth would make the cut for you who thinks kissing someone who’s not your girlfriend is a crime?”

“What are you going on about Amy? You’re not making sense to me.” My understanding of her words was that Berth had a side I didn’t know about.

She rolled her eyes and only said, “Bill, not wanting to believe what you’re hearing is not the same as not understanding it.”

“Ok, so are you saying that my Berth has a side I don’t know about?”

She only clapped and gave me a thumbs up. I was curious to know what more she had to say, but I only heard myself say,

“We’ve all got history. What’s more important is what we are now - the present. Now, do you want me to finish that massage or what?” I didn’t know why, but I was beginning to get angry. I sat on the bed, and not being one to give up, she placed her feet on me and said, “Yes please. I need it.”

I continued from where I left off in silence, thinking about whatever it was Berth had in her history books.

“Look Bill,” she broke the silence. “I’m not saying Berth has done anything in particular. For all I know, she’s born again.”

“What at all did she do that makes you sound like she is not the same person you knew? How long have you known me to even be in a position to be judging me and my girlfriend?” I pushed her legs off me and got up so I could glare down at her as I asked.

Her mouth dropped open at my outburst.

“How did I judge you?”

“You judged me by assuming my Berth has a past I know nothing about.”

“But you were the same person who said we’ve all got history a few minutes ago, Bill.”

“And how does that prove that I don’t know about whatever it is that Berth has done in the past?” I countered.

“Bill dear,” she got up, walked to me, cupped my face in her palms and continued, “You know deep down that you want to know what I know about Berth. The truth hurts. Are you really ready to know?”

I pushed her hands off my face “I asked what makes you think I do not know whatever it is that you know about her? I didn’t ask you to tell me anything.” I felt I had to stand up for my woman.

“I do not think Bill, I know that you do not know. You wouldn’t be with her if you did.”

She found her shoes, angrily wore them, reached for her bag and without a backward glance at me, stepped out. I was fuming at this point.

I reached for my phone and called Kwadwo. His groggy voice reminded me I was 5 hours behind Ghana.

“Sorry for disturbing your sleep, but we need to talk.”

"What is it mate?" I mentally pictured him sitting up as he sensed the urgency in my voice.

Bill's Story 7

Looks like I had a relapse....lol But thank God for recovery. Life got extra busy after my last post, but I managed to make time to continue with the story. Apologies for keeping you waiting....and please don't give up on me :) I promise to get better at writing and posting regularly.

“I don’t know what it is you’ve been inhaling since your arrival, but you definitely are hallucinating”

So, the logical explanation to this was that I was the one hallucinating huh?

“What do you mean by that? I’ve given you my timeline. How does hallucination play into this?”

I was looking at her waiting for an answer. I think something I said gave her an idea because she jumped to her feet, and raised her hands to her puckered lips, signalling me to keep quiet.

 “For starters,” she began, “You mentioned that you’d been asleep for 30 minutes. I think you should make that 24 hours and 30 minutes because today is Monday!”

She asked for my phone and showed me the time. It really was Monday.

I let out a sigh of relief, reached for the desk chair and sat down shaking my head, surprised at what I’d just put myself through.

“Is it medically possible to sleep for 24 continuous hours?”

“You mean 24 hours and 30 minutes?” She asked with cocked eyebrows. “Even if it wasn’t, you’ve just proven it is.”

She got up from the bed and walked towards me, beckoning with her index finger. “Now, get up and give me that hug. You can’t say you are not excited to see me.”

Truth was, I did not even know how I felt about her presence. I had a foreboding about it.  I still walked into her open arms and gave her a hug.

“So, tell me what you are doing here. Where is Ralph?” I sat on the bed and she sat by me.

Instead of answering me, she scooted away from me, propped the pillow against the wall, leaned against it and said,

“My legs are killing me. Mr. Daniels did not try at all! Aaaba!”

I didn’t see the connection between my question and her statement. I did not even see the connection between her two statements!

“What has Mr. Daniels got to do with your legs Amy? And how does that answer my questions about why you’re here instead of Ralph?”

If she heard me, then she showed no sign she did. She lifted her feet off the floor, placed them on my thighs and with a dramatic wince, requested of me,

“Bill dear, could you please massage my feet for me? They are killing me.”

I wanted to protest, but it looked like such a harmless request and she seemed to be in genuine pain. I only wondered how she managed to walk in with no limp in those 6 inches if her feet were really killing her as badly as her pained face implied. I figured some things could only be understood by women.

I felt obliged to apologise for my poor massaging skills before I even touched her feet.

“I’m really sorry for the torture I’m about to subject your feet to in the name of a massage.”

She cooed at my touch, “oooo, this torture is going to be heavenly”.

I laughed not because I found it funny, but because I was beginning to feel tense and I had to find a way of letting it out. I felt I really should not be doing this. The “ooo” and “aaaa” sounds she was making with each stroke of my fingers was disconcerting. Sending my mind places I’d rather not have it go. On remembering I had some deep heat in my bag, I began to gently set her feet aside to go for it.

“Are you done already?” She did not hide her surprise. Her eyeballs looked like they were going to fall out of their sockets.

“No, I’m just picking something to help me in my job as a masseuse.”

“Alright then.” She lifted her feet off herself. I noticed there was no wince of pain this time.

“My massage seems to have already started working”, I teased as I headed towards the wardrobe to search for what I needed from my bag. I heard my phone ring as I searched. It was Berth’s ringtone. I stopped searching and turned around to go answer it but Amy had already picked the phone from the bed and was just staring at the screen, I figured she was “admiring” Berth’s picture. She didn’t notice me at the foot of the bed waiting for her to hand over the phone to me. With her eyes still fixed on the screen, she called out a little too loudly,

“Bill! Berth is calling!”

“Stop screaming Amy, I’m right here.”, I whispered to prove to her she really was screaming.

“Oh, my bad.”

 She seemed to have taken offence. She handed the phone which had stopped ringing by this time to me and made her way to the bathroom. I knew it was an attempt to give me privacy to talk. This time, she walked with an exaggerated limp with each step accompanied with a groan. I waited for Berth to call back and was greeted with,

“What took you so long to answer? I was beginning to get worried,”

There was no way I was going to answer that question. I replied with my own question,

“Why are you now calling? I was beginning to get worried too but didn’t have enough credit to call you!”

“Well, you asked me not to waste my credit calling because you were going to get a call card and call me from the hotel landline. Have you forgotten already? Ei, who have you used up all the credit on?” I knew she was only joking so I only laughed in reply.

“Well, the MTN lady has just given me my warning! Can you imagine I bought 5 cedis worth of credit and i’m being told this after less than 2 minutes of talking? She didn’t wait for me to respond. I’m going to ta-“

The line went off and I knew her credits had run out. I called her back.

“Ei, I thought you said you did not have enough credit to call me Bill”

Oh no! What was i supposed to say to this? Fact is I had credit but did not call her earlier as promised because I had company, but I knew better than to tell her that.

“I’ve some credit on my phone. I was going to use the call card so we could talk for long. I only called back to let you know I’m in a short meeting with my colleague going through our presentation for tomorrow and I’ll call back after that.”

“Oh, that’s fine then. I was going to ask if Ralph was able to make it. Let’s talk later then. Love you”

“Same here”, I replied. “Let’s talk later.”

As if on cue that I was done talking, Amy stepped out, took her position on the bed and said,

“Next time, feel free to reply “I love you too” in my presence. Knowing Berth, she’s going to pick up on why you said “same here” instead of that.”

I was confused. What did she mean by "knowing Berth?" Where did she know her from?