The fact that she had began warming up to me made me wonder whether she loved my looks, writes EDDO

I was disappointed to learn why the finance officer had suddenly become chummy to me in the past few days.

Other than that time when she got talking to me when the counselor ‘passed by’ to mark her territory, she’s been saying ‘hi’ on the corridors, even allowing the occasional smile now and then.

At first, I assumed she needed to recruit me into an office scam and began sharpening my knife to eat. Then I thought she had discovered I wasn’t so bad looking. But oh no! Her sudden friendliness had little to do with my moustache.

On Monday, an email popped into my inbox announcing she was leaving the company.  There was muted excitement around the office and one could tell she hadn’t been the most popular of persons. In fact, by Wednesday morning, there didn’t seem to be any plans for a farewell party. I took it upon myself to pay her a courtesy call.

“So, how about a farewell party at my place? You make the dinner and do the dishes and I eat?” I clowned.

She laughed. I think that is the most brazen ‘come on’ she had ever heard from a man. She let on that she was headed to some international outfit affiliated with the UN and I thought, tax-free booze!

“You know we should meet sometime and talk business. I have some really good ideas and with your finance background, we could go places. We should start something small on the side. I’m serious...” I said.

Business prowess
I was dead serious, except that I had no business idea in my mind and the ‘something small’ that I wanted us to start on the side had nothing to do with money. But the mention of business and making money made her eyes shine.

“Gosh, would never have thought you were a business person! You look like a guy who just likes fun...” she said, her eyes suspicious.

“You must be joking. I own two dairy cows. Brings a tidy sum. That’s how I bought my new car. Just like that,” I announced with a snap of my fingers. Now that she was leaving the company, she would never process my pay slips and notice the deductions towards my bank loan.

“Wow! I’m impressed. How about I settle down and then give you a buzz? There is a lot of stuff happening in IT. We could do something!”

We were now headed where I had been steering her all along — the bit about her giving me a buzz. She couldn’t buzz me unless she had my phone number and for her to have my number, I would need to ‘flash’ her. The long and short of it is that by the time I left her office, I had her phone number. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a woman’s phone number my friend!

Nothing dramatic happened that day except that my daughter turned up that evening claiming my brother in-law — you will recall she has been staying with my big sis — had made a pass at her. The bastard!
It’s a tricky one.

I don’t know whether to ignore it or talk to my sister about it. But increasingly, I feel the right thing to do would be to turn up at his doorstep and have a man-to-man talk with him that should end with a firm kick in the nuts.

She is just a baby for Christ’s sake. Can’t he get women his age if he must cheat on my sister?  Useless man.