Chapter Seven

“Who are you and what do you want?” she asked as she looked at them from head to toe, she blew a puff of smoke at their faces.

“Is Mike in? we want to see Mike” Sofia asked coughing.

“Depends on who is asking” she responded.

“Babe, who is there?” a voice of a man from the inside asked.

“I don’t know, they won’t say” the young girl replied still staring at them.

“You must be Sofia right?” the young man asked as beckoned on them to come in.

Sofia and Camilla followed him closely behind and as they entered the room it was filled with smoke, the windows were closed, and the room lacked air as it was not well-ventilated.

There was a stench smell coming from the room, Camilla noticed the smell was from the rug, it was damp, and she had to use her palm to cover her nose.

“You can sit,” Mike said.

“No we'd rather stand” Camilla responded looking at Sophia hoping she'll agree with her.

“Yeah we will stand, we are actually in a hurry and it took a while before we could find your address,” Sofia said looking around the room.

“Ok if you say so,” Mike said reaching out for the bottle of Rum on the table.

“Want some?” he asked handing Sofia the bottle.

“No, we'd rather not, thank you,” Sofia said feigning a smile.

“Any news about James? You said you can give me some information about his whereabouts”.

“No, I did not,” Mike said.

“Are you being serious right now?” Camilla asked looking at Mike.

“See Sophia, I know I said I could assist you, but that doesn’t mean I know where your boyfriend is”.

“That doesn’t make any sense Mike” Sophia cried out

“Oh…you are his girlfriend? You are the girl who he…”

“Shut up Tracy!” Mike roared at her.

Camilla knew at once that Mike was hiding something and Tracy was about to spill before he cut her short, she knew something they didn’t know and Sophia was not smart enough to notice. Tracy got up from the chair she sat on and entered the bathroom which was adjacent to the kitchen.

“Let’s go, Sophia,” Camilla said taking Sophia by her arm.

“Why the rush? We could have some fun you know” Mike said smirking.

Camilla got to the door pulling Sophia along with her, they went down the stairs, and in seconds they were on the street again.

The boys that were playing there some minutes back were gone but regardless the streets were still busy.

“I’ll just order a cab,” Camilla said breaking the silence.

They decided to sit on a slab as they waited for their ride.

“What do you do now?” Camilla asked.

“Sophia I’m talking to you, what are you thinking?” Camilla asked noticing that Sophia was lost in her thoughts.

“Camilla my money is gone, all of it,” Sophia said as tears ran down her cheeks.

“No don’t do that, don’t cry, James is a coward, his mates are out there making a living but he is out there squandering the money he never worked for, your sweat Sophia, your hard-earned money”

“How could I be so foolish?” Sophia rhetorically.

“I know that girl knows something about his whereabouts”.

“How? What do you mean?”

“Why are you so dumb Sophia?”.

“Didn’t you notice she was about to say something before Mike asked her to shut up?”

“Oh that's true,” Sofia said not sure if she understood what Camilla said.

They were still talking when their cab pulled up and they stood up to leave Camilla looked up at the building and noticed that the window on the fourth floor was open and she could see Tracy looking at them as she smoked.

Camilla looked at Sophia to see if she noticed what she saw but Sophia was already seated inside the cab, so they drove away. As they drove by they saw the young boy who demanded a tip from them sharing a loaf of bread with his friends.

Camilla got to her destination, alighted from the cab, and promised to call Sophia the next day. Sophia continued her journey home.

When she got home her father was already back from the farm and was seated in the living room watching a comedy show.

“Hey bunny”

Sophia pretended not to have noticed her father was seated there.

“Pa, you are back early”.

“Yes I felt tired and I decided to come back home to rest my back”

“It hurts that much?”

“Yeah, but will be fine”

“I was hanging out with Camilla, She was here this morning so we left together”

“Together to where?”

“Uhmm…we went to the clothing store so she could try some fittings” Sofia lied.

“Oh okay,” her father said not realizing she had just lied to him.

“I’ll go shower and join you later”

“Before you go bunny, I need to talk with you”

Sofia was expecting this, her father was being so nice to her regardless of what happened the night before, and her heart was beating fast, She was nervous but wanted to hear what he had to say.

“Bunny I’m sorry I got angry at you yesterday”.

“Pa come on it’s fine”

“You can try working there if that’s what you want”

“By there you mean the clubhouse?”

“Yes bunny”

“Pa, you know it’s fine if you don’t want me to, I can understand”

Sophia knew she didn’t mean what she just said and her father knew that too.

“No bunny, you can work there, but there are conditions”

“What are they Pa?”

“Please bunny no smoking, no drugs, don’t dance to entice those men, don’t let them deceive you with money please”

“I won’t Pa, I won’t do all these I promise”

David Cortez found it difficult to conclude allowing his daughter to work in a clubhouse but he wanted to trust her and make her happy.

“Here, have this,” her father said opening a little box and bringing out a silver necklace.

“Oh, this is beautiful!” Sophia exclaimed in excitement.

“Let me put it on for you”.

“Thank you Pa, but is this mum’s? I haven’t seen it before and I know you didn’t buy it, it’s quite old”.

“No I didn’t buy it, it’s yours, you shared it with someone special”.

“Someone special? Who is…”

“Not to worry bunny, I made dinner, Go freshen up let’s eat”.

Sophia left for her room happy with smiles all over her face, she had her bath, ate with her father, and slept without thinking about anything.