Presentation Day (Episode 7): Mr. Henry Negotiates

Noon

Tony was still at the door of Mr. Henry’s hospital room when his phone rang “hello” he answered “please can you come back inside?” it was the first time in his life that he heard Mr Henry use the magic word with him “please” Tony said to himself and smiled. He took a moment before going back in.

As Tony walked back into the room, Mr Henry was already sitting up; he looked at Tony intently, watching him as he took steps closer to the chair beside the bed. “Please sit” “I was already going to sit” Tony was now using his newfound power and he couldn’t help but to be rude to the man.

“So” Tony looked expectant and haughty at the same time. It was a trait that Mr Henry had never noticed in the years he had worked with Tony. “What do you want?” he brought himself to ask Tony, praying that whatever the young man said was going to be something that he could easily do for him.

“I want to manage my account, the one I worked very hard for” Tony knew exactly what he wanted “you mean the Abuja Private Clinic? Done” “I want a promotion” Tony was not done “Done” Mr Henry was happy they were things in his power “and I want the yearly allowance you took away from me last year reinstalled” Mr Henry took a moment and offered Tony a handshake; a handshake that Tony did not accept because he was sure that he could do whatever he wanted with all the information he had on Mr Henry.

“I will visit you tomorrow” Tony said while walking away “indeed” Mr Henry replied still watching Tony as if he was a strange creature. Tony went back to the conference room where a secretary was waiting for him to sign the contract; he signed it as quickly as he could and was on his way out.

He walked past the receptionist’s desk towards the exit and walked out into the beaming sun light; he smiled like he had never before, the taste of victory had never tasted so good… he had never tasted victory like this in his life. As he stood there smiling, a sudden headache fell upon him when he remembered his sister, Janet.

“Oh Janet” he whispered to himself. It was time for him to do right by her, he rushed back to the office to put the contract in his office drawer and give a copy to Human Resource. After filling all the necessary forms, he also took it upon himself to tell them that Mr Henry had suddenly fallen ill and was admitted in the hospital for a few days.

As he cleared his office to leave for the day, the CEO’s secretary walked into his office “good afternoon, please where is Mr Henry? There is an urgent situation that he needs to attend to” she sounded desperate. “Mr Henry is in the hospital” Tony broke the bad news to her and told her about his health; the story the doctors told him anyway but only he and Mr Henry knew the truth.

The secretary left and Tony rushed out of his office before something or someone stopped him again; he drove as fast as he could without beating the traffic laws. He didn’t have the time to waste with the road safety officers watching all Abuja drivers.

He finally got home with no hassle and stopped his car in his drive way; things had suddenly become real, his sister was dead and he was now going to face it, all through the morning, he hoped that she was going to call him and tell him that she was just sleeping but that didn’t happen.

He took a moment in his car and was finally able to bring himself out of the car. As he walked towards his doorstep, he noticed a car speeding towards him and before he could tell in which direction the car was headed; the car smashed into him, reversed and went away.

Tony was left on the ground, alone and injured with nobody around to save his life.