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“Dyrel,” she said, surprised to see me. “What are you doing here so early?”
She knew me so well.
But not the new me.
“Can I come in?” I said.
“Of course,” she said, stepping aside so I could enter.
“I have an appointment at head office in about half an hour,” she said.
“That’s okay. I only need a few minutes.”
She was wearing a smart dress, black, that accentuated her thin frame. She carried a S’mauggai handbag that she would never dream of buying for herself. It was a present from my father. The good thing about brand goods was they lasted a long time.
She set it down on the small kitchen counter and moved to the coffee pot.
“Would you like a cup?” she said.
I nodded.
She turned the machine on and waited as it whirred.
“What did you want to talk about?” she said.
How was I supposed to tackle this topic? I didn’t want to get Ajer in trouble. She might have been mistaken.
But Mom hated the city so much she would only come if it was something urgent. If Ajer was wrong, what else could have made her come all this way at such short notice?
I decided to play it cool.
“What brings you to town?” I said.
“Just some business,” Mom said evasively.
She didn’t look at me and busied herself by getting two cups from the cupboard.
“Do you have a date when you might retire?” I said.
“We said a month, didn’t we? That was the agreement.”
“Right. And there’s no reason you would change your mind about that, is there?”
Mom peered at me closely. She could be as hard to read as a rock when she wanted to be.
“You obviously have something on your mind,” she said. “You wouldn’t have rushed here so early otherwise. What is it?”
She filled the cup and slid it across to me. I held it in my hands. It was half full. She always liked a strong cup in the morning.
All right. No more beating around the bush.
“Are you looking for my replacement already?” I said.
Mom frowned at me. Wondering how I might have learned about it? Or wondering how I could be so suspicious?
“Did you see the advert in the paper?” she said.
We both knew I never read the papers. But I could have noticed it as I was passing by the newsstand.
