It was a dreary Monday morning and Alero was quite cross at the weather. It had rained all weekend and had quite spoiled the plans she, Maggie and Quinn had made. They had less than a week left in Nigeria and Alero had wanted to treat them both to a fun weekend before they left. Her father had laughingly said to her, 'It's the season. Let it rain!' Alero still felt like sticking out her tongue at her father as she remembered his hilarity at her angst.
"Good morning." came the quiet greeting as Alero rushed into her office. She was a bit late and had less than fifteen minutes to prepare for a meeting. She turned to acknowledge the greeting in passing but came to a skidding halt when she saw who was greeting. Patricia Adeniran. It clicked in Alero's mind as she pasted a welcoming smile on her lips. Yes, she was to resume today. She had been marking the date for almost a month now, since her boss had told her that he had decided to hire her. 'Imagine forgetting all about it today.' Alero thought.
"Hey, good morning." she greeted cheerily. "So how...you know what? Let me catch up with this meeting. We'll talk when I get out." She said as she rushed on into her office. Time always seemed to speed along when you were short of it she noted. She had barely ten minutes left to grab her things and join the meeting. She picked up her notepad and grabbed a handful of pen and pencils that she kept handy on her desk. She was contemplating the sense in taking her digital notepad as well when Patricia walked in.
"Is there something I can do to help?" she asked in that quiet voice of hers. No wonder she had not readily come to mind when Alero had first met her in her office at her interview. Later on, Alero had remembered snaps of moments when they must have met back in the days. She had indeed been a regular at the Okwaras to visit with the younger kids.
"Nah!" Alero replied as she decided to pick her digital notepad as well after all. "This meeting usually lasts about an hour, more if there are contentious issues to clarify." she explained as she walked back out of the office. "Mrs. Ajala should be here very soon. She will put you through our basic processes and then when I get back we can talk some more." She smiled to which Patricia nodded and sat back down on her seat. She walked briskly down the corridor with a soft sheen of sweat on her forehead. Her stomach roiled with unusual tension as she strode towards the meeting room. What was it about these Adenirans that discomfited her so much? She wondered. She was about the last person through the door before the meeting started. She sighed inwardly in relief at her close shave. If there was something Mr. Wanigo could not stand, it was him or any of his staff being late for an appointment. The man was a stickler for punctuality.
"Good morning everyone, I trust you all rested well over the weekend and are feeling refreshed for the week. And what a week it is shaping up to be!" Mr. Wanigo began. The entire table went quiet at that cheerful opening remark. The buzz of anticipation was electric around the table.
"We have a new client." he announced with aplomb. "Apparently, Chief Mrs. Adeniran, the CEO of Adeniran Holdings is hoping to renovate and extend their head office complex and we've been contracted, exclusively, to perform the contract."
The chatter around the table was immediate. There was elation and there was gut-churning nervous tension in that chatter.
"Let's quiet down please! Let's behave like the professionals we say that we are." Mr. Wanigo's chided, his voice taking on the satirical edge it often did when he was unimpressed about something.
"Yes, it is possibly the most visible contract we've gotten to date." he acknowledged. "So, to ensure that we bedazzle, I have decided that we will have a presentation later on this week. Bring your ideas and let's come up with something stunning. I think it's such a compliment that we've been picked, exclusively. Let's not betray that confidence that has been reposed on us." Someone snickered softly close to Alero but she refused to turn to see who it was. She sat ramrod straight staring at Mr. Wanigo and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle presenting to her in some semblance of order.
The meeting went on as usual from there on and they were able to conclude it in just over an hour. The group that shuffled out of the meeting room was a bit tense. They had their work cut out for them. They had to come up with unique and acceptable ideas before Friday morning and have a draft ready to go over with the Chief Operating Officer of Adeniran Holdings before close of business hours that same day.
She stomped into her office on a nervous high and came face to face with Patricia, her head bent closely to Mrs. Ajala over some drawings on the desk. Mrs. Ajala may be her secretary, but she had a very keen mind and had worked long enough with the firm that she had become rather well versed in technical drawings and draughtsmanship and could critic with the best of them. Alero kept that fact a closely guarded secret and indeed Mrs. Ajala did not seem to mind. Perhaps one day, she would have a conversation with her on that.
They both looked up at her with some curiosity when she stepped into the office.
"Good morning Madam." Mrs. Ajala greeted as she and Patricia adjusted their seats.
"Good morning Mrs. Ajala. How's the family?" Alero responded politely.
"They are very well, thank you for asking."
Alero stepped more fully into the office and shut the door firmly behind her.
"We have a bit of a challenge. How far along has Drafting gone on the Quad project?" she asked Mrs. Ajala.
"These just got in from them." she indicated the drawings on the desk. "We were just going over them when you came in. You look a bit worried. Is there a problem?"
Alero took a deep breath as she walked up to the desk to review the drawings herself. "Not really but we may have to slow down on these for this week."
Mrs. Ajala's eyebrow shut up in surprise. It was indeed an unusual occurrence for Alero to break her stride once she was rolling with any project.
"Patricia, I'm sure you have an idea what's cooking?" Alero addressed her. Patricia nodded her head a bit sheepishly.
"Any ideas?" Alero challenged.
"I have a few." Patricia answered almost timidly.
"Let's see them!" Alero said as she swept up the drawings from the desk and stalked the rest of the way into her office.
Patricia did come up with some brilliant ideas and seeing that she had a better understanding of the current structure than most anyone else in the firm, Alero felt confident that they had come up with a fairly solid plan by the end of the day.
"We'll fine-tune it as we go. It has to be ready for Friday morning and we need at least preliminary drafts to show the COO by Friday afternoon." Alero spoke in the brisk way she often did when she was feeling a rush of a job well done in spite of a tight schedule. She paused as something occurred to her.
"Who's the COO? Do you know him personally?" She asked Patricia thinking that an insight into the person would possibly help her presentation.
"My brother." Patricia answered diffidently.
"How many brothers do you have?" Alero asked cautiously.
"One." Patricia looked nonplussed.
"Oh." Alero said softly as she leaned back on her seat.
The nervous tension that had been roiling through her system all day ratcheted up. She would be trying to impress Adebanjo Adeniran come Friday afternoon. She was very tempted to blow her Friday morning presentation just to get out of it.
Almost, but not quite. She was a professional after all.