C2 THE DESICION

Eric Travis drove into his garage and came out of his car quietly. He looked at his car again the second time, after he left Mandolin Trump's house. This time, memories flooded his mind.

It was given to him by his father after he graduated from university as a well-done gift.

The bruise it has on the body has given it an ugly look that made it seems it wasn't of his class anymore.

But what if I fixed it?

What if the bodywork was upgraded and then—

His mind shifted when he heard Dralex's voice behind him. "Welcome home Daddy. Dinner is ready and we have been waiting for you to come home!"

Eric Travis looked down at his 3-year-old daughter.

Her brain seems to be developing at a faster pace than expected of a child of her age, he thought as he wheeled around to watch her talk once more.

"Are you okay Dad? Just wondering why we didn't see you come home quickly. Well, Mum is waiting, shall we?"

Eric Travis could not help but smiled as he watched in amazement her daughter talked as though in a drama session in school. He never hesitated to respond. "Why not Dralex, I am after you." He watched her take the lead to the sitting room.

"Welcome home darling." The words that seemed to reverberate in the sitting room got his spine aching. "I was almost thinking your dinner will be cold before you come home, just the way your lunch ran cold—what devoured your day up like a little squirrel, darling?" Prislla's tiny voice got him frozen to a spot for a while as he walked further into the sitting room.

He looked at her and grimed. He dragged his legs from its frozen spot, joined her on the dining table, and watched Dralex slide into her favorite chair even though her little legs still hung on the air and most times noticed she enjoyed dangling it on the air as she eats.

Not quite five minutes he sat, he stood up again and strolled to the window by the dining table. He pulled the curtain to his left and watched outside for a while and then watched the curtain swing into its position.

"You got something in your mind you want to talk about?" He watched Prislla's eyes all over him.

He knew her mind search was always exact and her questions always compelling. She has this unusual way of reading thoughts through the eyes.

Immediately her eyes caught him again, he shifted his head. "Not really—Just thinking, perhaps we leave that for tomorrow and—"

"I see you are troubled darling. We still got plenty of time to talk—to talk about it." He heard Prislla's chair slide behind her and also heard her footstep behind him.

Suddenly, she stood by his side with her left hand on his shoulder. "Discussion brings a solution—if we discuss what's on your mind now. We would have solved what will perhaps push us far apart, perhaps in thoughts—so, let's hear it from you."

Eric Travis looked down at her. Her look wasn't different from the one she had on four years ago when they first meant in Garlic fast food plaza.

She was one of the food attendants. There was this way she looked and walked that almost caught his attention and when she finally did. It was after the marriage vows, he woke up to the reality that Prislla was now his wife—those eyes are piercing but innocent.

Her body shape was still intact, her breast still stood firm on her chest and her hips made her even sexier.

As he kept on staring at her, suddenly his mind sparked when the words of Mandolin Trump rushed back in, the words that seemed taunting but far gripping now. He shifted his eyes from Prislla. "He wants me to assist him as a pastor."

"A pastor—" Prislla muttered. "Are you kidding me or—wait a minute, who said that to you? I mean who wants you to—"

"Mandolin Trump, he wants me to be his assistant." He cut in and looked away quietly. "I am confused and—"

"Mandolin Trump, I remember him now—you told me about him but don't tell me you still go around with him. You said he isn't married, right? Stop seeing him darling or he will ruin you. Any man who had gotten to his age and is still single is irresponsible. I have never meant him in person but from what you told me about him. I think he is!"

Prislla stood mute for minutes and then repeated. "A Pastor, what the hell," she sank into a chair opposite Eric Travis with her head bent over in deep thoughts and then suddenly as if she remembered something. She lifted her head and her eyes narrowed at Eric Travis.

"Let him go ahead and be a novice pastor. For all I care, you aren't going to join him and besides, we are alright where we worship." Her eyes rolled in thoughts as she continued. "Have you told Pastor Joshua? I guess he can counsel you more on this."

He stared at her for a while, "How is Dralex's health? Did you see Doctor Mattis today?"

He watched Prislla nod her head but confident she wasn't happy he changed the topic suddenly. He stared at her for a while again and then walked out quietly from the sitting room.

It wasn't bedtime yet, was he going to bed?

But then he hadn't even touched his dinner, what has come over Eric?

That was how a friend led him to lose thousands of dollars in an investment that never worked and now another friend who got absolutely no calling is dragging him to something he got no experience accomplishing.

Why must Eric always be, a prey or a tool?

We must resume our talk on this in bed tonight. Prislla shrugged as her thoughts walk unparallel to each other, now refusing to merge.

Her eyes reluctantly shifted to the dining table where Dralex was still eating. She wished she had another child so that Dralex could have company but Doctor Mattis will always have a word to use about the delay.

She knew it must have been the family planning contraceptive pill she took after having Dralex, just after her birth.

She forced her thoughts to stop but eventually, the chiming sound of the wall clock did it. She looked up at the wall clock.

It was 8 pm already. She stood up and shuffled to join Dralex who had sat alone for minutes at the dining table.