Spice Rack: Chili

PREFACE
Spice Rack is a story series prepared with a mixture of six spicy characters – Cinnamon (Sin), Chili (Lilian), Cumin (Morayo), Cassia, Curry (Ray) and Celery (Lera). Although the persons on the cover picture are real, the stories are in no way about them. Spice rack is a work of fiction and bares no resemblance to persons either living or dead. I hope you enjoy reading each serving as much as I enjoyed cooking them up. Feel free to participate. Leave a comment or share an opinion
- Sketch.

Chili

Ray wove her hand in signal to Lillian in a bid to get her attention.
It worked.
She watched as she made her way towards her struggling with her shirt buttons while trying to finger comb her expensive looking hair extensions.
They embraced. “Girl did you change in the toilet again, I don’t know why you don’t like to move around in your uniform oh. Me I think it's sexy. You are the only policewoman I know who drives a jeep and has time to look as stylish as you do." She battled her lashes playfully at her. "You really must tell me your secret.” Lillian swatted at her jokingly . “Go jo. You are just a clown.” Climbing onto the stool opposite the one her friend occupied, she reached for the glass in front of her, took a sip from its contents, spat out almost immediately and squeezed her face in disgust. “wetin dey this cup?” Ray laughed. “Person force you drink am?” She pulled her glass away from Lillian’s reach and took a sip and smiled in mischief. “Its soda water mixed with natural herbs. This mixture is fabled to enhance the libido.” She scuffed. “ This concoction you mean? Wetin you wan use enhanced libido do abeg, you be man?” Ray leaned closer, pulled down her shirt so her breast were slightly exposed and winked at her while licking her lips suggestively. “We all have our little secrets.” Lillian pulled back and cringed in disgust eliciting a bout of laughter from Ray. “ You should see the look on your face girlfriend! Meanwhile, have you seen this?” she flipped through her cell phone, brought up a web page and slid the phone over to her. Lillan did a quick survey, returned the phone and looked at her in confusion. “Which one is Zika again?” Ray leaned back and sighed. “Apparently, it’s the new thing attacking man kind. Zika is a virus. For now we know mosquitoes and most recently bodily fluids transmit it. Although it has been around for a while, ordinarily when you have it you get the regular malaria symptoms you know; fever, aches and blah. You are sick for a couple of days and then you are done but sadly it becomes a problem when it's caught by a pregnant woman. It kind of affects the development of the baby and they end up giving birth to babies with birth defects.” Lilian gasped. “Gosh, that is terrible.” “Yeah I know. Luckily the outbreak hasn’t reached Nigeria yet.” Lilian signaled to a passing waitress. “So, are you guys like preparing for it or what?” She nodded. “Ever since the incidence of Ebola and now Lassa fever it helps to be aware of the ‘trending’ stuffs. Know their symptoms, treatment and how to prevent It.”
Their conversation was briefly interrupted by the waitress who arrived to take Lillian’s order.
Ray studied her friend while she spoke to the waitress. Something was off about her; she did not seem like her usual upbeat self.

Lillian folded her hands and rested her elbows on the table. “ There I was thinking that the worse thing I could hear today was how a man was nearly lynched by angry tenants for taking a dump besides a sign that read ‘do not defecate here.’ Meanwhile here you are giving me more reasons to be afraid of mosquitoes. It is a good thing we have doctors like you who are always updated and prepared.” Ray blinked, shook her head and held up her fingers. “Wait, go back. Why did the man pooh beside the sign?” Lillian laughed. “According to him, he was pressed. He was of the opinion that if he shat beside the sign and not directly below it, he wouldn’t be causing an offence.” Ray threw her head back and laughed. “Gosh that’s so hilarious.” Lillian leaned in. “speaking of hilarious, when last did you speak to Sin?” Ray scrunched her eyebrows in concentration. “About two – three days ago. Why?” The waitress arrived with her drink. Lillian smiled in gratitude and responded to the question. “I am not sure but I think I saw someone like her hiding behind a purse and sneaking out of her office complex on my way here.” Ray shrugged. “I wouldn’t put that behavior past Sin, she acts odd on occasion but she doesn’t fool around when it comes to work.” She caught a glimpse of the time on her wristwatch and cursed. “Lillian I have to leave now, I need to be home and well rested. Have an early shift tomorrow.” A pained expression crossed her face as she whined. “Haba, but I just got here now.” Ray contemplated for a moment before asking. “Chill are you okay?” In response to the question, she plastered an obviously fake smile on her face and wove her hand in dismissal. “I am okay girl!” Not believing her she shook her head in doubt and reached for her other hand and persisted. “I can tell something is wrong and I am going to make you tell me. We’d talk about it over the weekend. Hope you are still coming?” She replied flatly. “It's D-day we are talking about, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Ray dropped some notes on the table picked up her handbag, got up and gave her a kiss on the cheeks. “Babe sorry to leave you hanging. Please settle my bill for me, have to leave now before traffic starts.” Lillian nodded and wove her off. “Go, I want to chill out here for a bit, I will be fine.”
Watching her walk away from the bar, Lillian felt her shoulders drop in despair.
She was certain she was not going to be fine.

She felt like dying.

She was heartbroken, confused and disoriented.
She did not know how to react or what to do with the rest of her days. She had gotten so used to the life she had that she never thought of what she would do if anything changed.

Chief called her this morning to break things off with her.

She was still in shock.
She had been with the man for over eight years now. He had practically sponsored her and her siblings through school; provided them with a house, food and security. If she didn’t count the amazing sex they had on occasion, he was the closest thing she had to a father.
After graduation from university, when she was finding it difficult to secure a job, it was through his influence she became an Assistant Superintendent.

Chief had been married for up to twenty years she was happy to be his faithful mistress.
She loved him.
Why did he decide today that what they were doing was wrong? Why did he choose today of all days to be faithful to his wife?
Did he have to end things with her?

She suspected it was because the bloody woman had dangled that baby boy she miraculously gave birth to after twenty years in front of the man that he started singing the loyal, faithful and honest anthem.

She never would understand what the big deal was about having a male child. Weren’t all his six beautiful girls gifts from God? Why start making drastic decisions and acting irrational because another man was about to join the billion and one male population?

She took a swig directly from the bottle and ordered a second drink.

She needed to talk to someone.

Of the lot of them, it was only Morayo that knew about her affair with chief. She had to wait until the weekend before she could talk to her.
Faced with the possibility of drinking until she was drunk and breaching their agreement and drunk dialing Chief to demand that he talk to her.
Lillian signaled for the waitress to bring the bill.
She was going to go home and have a good cry.
She hoped by tomorrow morning she would not still be feeling as bad as she felt now.
They say life goes on, Chief or no Chief for her, it had to.