Soon Come by Kuba Shand-Baptiste

Author:Kuba Shand-Baptiste [Shand-Baptiste, Kuba]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Murray Press
Published: 2025-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve: The Job

(Tottenham, 2007)

When a private number flashed on Judith’s screen that afternoon, she thought twice about answering. She’d been in the middle of her weekly cleaning ritual, scouring the bathroom skirting boards so hard that she’d chipped some paint off. No matter, she thought, inspecting the beige marks. Better uglier than filthy. As much as cleaning pained her when she was at work – which, as Shirley had prophesied, was beginning to dry up – wiping and hoovering the flat down, especially when she had it to herself, felt cleansing.

‘Lard God this place nasty,’ she said out loud, as if she’d been waiting months for the privilege. It felt good to say. Every inch of that place had been soiled with bad memories, some preceding her arrival, no doubt. She wanted to do her best to mask the lingering stench with bleach and lemon-scented products. As her phone vibrated along the floor, she glared at it for a second, a part of her hoping it wouldn’t be about another short-lived gig, a gig she desperately needed if she was going to make rent this month. She’d almost rather work for Delroy. Almost.

Judith picked up the phone and let the person on the other end do the heavy lifting. They’d called after all.

‘H-hello?’ a man’s raspy voice on the other end enquired.

‘Hello,’ Judith replied sternly, still scrubbing dust from awkward corners around the perimeter of the room.

The voice on the other end of the phone kissed his teeth and muttered something about ‘damn technology’, followed by incessant tapping and the sound of dial tones. It appeared he didn’t realise she had picked up. Judith shook her head.

‘Betsy!’ he bellowed. The voice sounded like it belonged to an older Jamaican man. Confused, yet intrigued, she continued to listen, amused at the farcical exchange she could hear in the background. Betsy, she assumed, judging on the faint sound of a woman replying in the background, was a little too far away to be of use, drawing out exasperated grunts from the man. Was this a relative? Judith resolved to help.

‘Hello? Hello sir?’

‘A who dis?’ the voice barked.

Judith stopped what she was doing, a little taken aback by the man’s curtness.

‘A who dis?’

Though the man couldn’t see her disapproval, it was made crystal clear by the silence on the other end. They’d got off to a pretty bad start just thirty seconds in, and neither were sure of who they were actually talking to.

‘Oh!’ the voice exclaimed, a tinge of shame in his voice. He continued, distracted, ‘I’m looking for a Judith. She did umm, apply for the management umm, position.’

Judith’s heart began to pound. She was thankful she hadn’t hung up. Always right on time, He’s always right on time, she thought as she brought her eyes to the ceiling, in thanks to God.

‘Oh! The job!’

‘Yes. Mi— I thought I’d got the wrong number, sorry. My phone, it nuh work so …’ the man trailed off. Judith waited for him to continue.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.