FICTION | COLLEAGUE
My Favourite Colleague
She is always elegantly dressed and well behaved
She is an epitome of beauty, knowledge, wisdom and understanding. In one breath, it appears she is not married. In another breath, she is on the verge of becoming a grandmother.
As a matter of fact, she is a mother of four. The first day I learnt that, I had the shock of my life. Although my impression of her age; should be in her late thirties or mid-forties.
She could be older. Pardon my wrongful sense of judgement, if I am.
Not only that, her first daughter is about to graduate from the university. The second should be in her first year or thereabouts.
Nature must have been unusually kind to her. She is neither too tall nor short. She is neither too big nor skinny.
She belongs to the class of ladies one could describe as “slim and full”. Her oblong face is such that is quite pretty that it seems to be round.
But on a closer scrutiny, you could fathom it out that she is a rare breed. Of course, when she passes: men turn their heads towards her direction. It does not mean that those men are not disciplined.
It also simply means that she is too good to be ignored. God created everyone, no doubt. But it appears some received a certain extra time and tool that makes them look apparently specially crafted.
The other way to rightly describe her physically is that she is neither dark skinned nor fair in complexion. You could mistake her for an unmarried fellow especially for those from afar.
Her smile could disarm a hardened criminal while her frown could cause a notorious sinner to repent.
If not that no human is faultless, one could have said without contradiction that she is “impeccable”.
She would always put on smartly designed skirts and tops. Or, she would wear those equally well designed gowns of different styles, textures and colours with (semi-)corporate pairs of shoes to march.
She speaks some languages fluently. You would just wonder what a creature. For instance, she would speak English, French, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Efik …
Since over ten years I have worked in that firm, she seemed not affected by age at all. She is the type they would say in a local parlance: “Every year young” (— Meaning, she hardly ever gets old).
Her name is Grace. What a name, by the way. Some call her Beauty. Those who call her Beauty are not wrong. This is because one of the meanings of grace is beauty.
She walks the beauty but hardly talks the beauty. She is humble and down to earth at the same time, despite all the sterling qualities that nature decorated her with.
This is quite obvious as soon as you come into contact with her. If you have some challenges for example: by the time you have had a word or two with her, it would appear like the problem is gone.
If, for instance, you have some financial challenges and meet her: though she might not give you any money but the pieces of advice and encouragement you would get from her are only comparable to seeing a professional counselor in which case you must have paid some professional fees.
That goes a long way to show you how good she is. On a sentimental level, I would naturally envy her husband.
One day, I had confessed to her that I had secretly envied her hubby. She smiled in such a well controlled manner that a common sense would have instantly advised me not to go that area again — politely nonetheless.
Do not get it wrong. She never did rebuke me. But the non-verbal communication was clear. “Thanks for your compliments but ‘all that glitters is not gold’”.
That was, of course, what my psychological sensitivity enabled me to interpret. That is to say, if you intend to cross your boundaries in doing any business with her: her years of experience would make her to react in such a way you should understand her stance without her rebuking or insulting you in any way.
My admiration for her is virtually unrivalled. The exception should be the Creator and Perfecter of beauty Himself, the Almighty God.
The beauty of Grace is in different areas and angles. For instance, when she talks: her voice is full of beautiful sounds: accents, intonation, creativity, wisdom, knowledge and skill.
The way she juxtaposes the British and American accents without errors is commendably brilliant. Better still, the way she would handle each competently is amazing, to say the least.
Her devotion to Christianity is outstanding. She does not joke with her commitment to God and relationship with her Maker.
If one could choose those one would work with in the future, I would definitely choose her as my ‘Number One’. Some colleagues are killjoys but she is an exception.
You could definitely have seen why she is the best amongst my numerous colleagues.
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https://medium.com/write-a-catalyst/how-i-stammered-and-stuttered-while-in-primary-school-92c98611712b
