Cosmas came to work as

The Ghost Worker

Mr. Albert wiped his palm against his face, he wanted to make sure that his ancestors had not called him home –that early, it was too early to go, not just yet, there were mouths to be fed, and school fees to be paid.

Cosmas was not a man to be toiled with; he was not happy that the security guard stared at him like a moron, and as a result, he gave his door a heavy bang which threw the old man to his feet, and he ran to open the gates of Ministry of Employment, and Cosmas drove through with his car; not forgetting to throw up a handful of dust, and a it-seems-you-don’t-like-your job look at Baba.

Cosmas

Everyone knew Cosmas at the Ministry; not as the Assistant to the Minister of Employment, the unrepentant brother of the Minister, a drunk, a woman beater, a he-goat, but as a notorious ghost worker; he went home at the end of each month with the salary of thousands of ghost workers like him.

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It was no secret that the Ministry was turned into a family affair: the Minister employed half of his village, gave scholarship to nameless people from the ministry’s allocation, married wives, and maintained them through the Ministry. Although he was far much better than his brother, Cosmas. The minister was too benevolent, too in a hurry to help stray widows, and in no time, she would be seen, right beside him, in his Jeep.

TheVisit

The Ministry received  a letter from the state supervisor; it stated that he would pay the Ministry a visit. And to mark his new appointment in office, he would offer automatic employment to two thousand youths. He stated clearly that those to be offered employment must come from the different geopolitical zones.

The Minister handed everything over to his brother, who automatically turned himself into an employment contractor. He first made a publication in the papers, and made the announcement. The teeming unemployed youths headed to the Ministry, waving their relic of curriculum vitae, and application letters; these were dumped very close to the septic tank of the ministry.

It was not too long, before his phones danced to the tone of bank alert; he named his price clear to some inner caucus , and they did reciporocate. He gave them his words, because he knew that money meant much more than a bottle of beer to him.

A Promise, Kept

Cosmas locked his car, and walked straight to the elevator. The file full of applicants’ forms dangled behind him. The elevator opened, and the face he met nearly ran out of it. The guard was surprised to meet him at work that early. Cosmas paid the man no attention, and when he saw that the man was still stationed at a corner, he woke him up with a loud bark:

“Won’t you press the button, you idiot!”

The guard quickly carried out his instruction, and tried as much as possible not to look at him. Apart from being a ghost worker, Cosmas was violent with his mouth. Not quite long, he unlocked the door to his office, and stepped right through it. A thick mass of earth covered the whole surface, that he had to watch his steps, least he soiled his hand-tailored white suit. He carefully made way, and placed the file on his desk. Cosmas brought out a print out of his bank statement,  a calculator, and opened the pile of forms, as though it was judgement day.

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A good look at the balance on his account made him smile indulgently. He spread all the necessary apparatus before him, and started to punch out figures. He first of all looked at the statement of account, and in confirmation, he fished out the form of the candidate that paid into his account. It was a daunting task, but too much money was involved. He dumped defaulters’ forms on his left hand side while the conformers sat on his right. When he was done, he gathered only the forms of those that paid him, but as he made to place them back into the file, his phone rang.

“Sir?”

He answered his brother, while one hand gathered the forms .

“We are almost in front of your office. The Supervisor is here.”

Cosmas jumped up, his eyes roamed around his unkempt office. He could not allow their eyes to behold the decay around him. He had to get the forms to them before they got closer. Cosmas forgot about his white suit, he grabbed his briefcase, and in an attempt to grab the file, it slipped off the table and everything went flying. Before he knew it, there was a heavy knock at the door.

Benevolence

Cosmos sweated in great abundance, right under his suit. He would have removed it if not for the fact that his shirt was all stained from gathering the papers. The supervisor and the minister diligently went through the forms, and at each point, they nodded their heads in agreement. Before he knew it, the minister called his secretary and said:

“Get these names typed out with letters of employment.  I will have them signed before I take the supervisor to his hotel room.”

Cosmos excused himself, having executed his assignment, but while he passed the secretary’s desk, his eyes grabbed at something on the screen. He moved back, and to his utmost disappointment, he found out that he was benevolent enough to offer employment to those that never paid him a penny.

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Written byUdemezue, Oluoma

Udemezue, Oluoma loves to read and write; she also enjoys movies, oldies and meeting new people. Oluoma believes that life is nothing without a little touch of romance, thriller and reality. Catch her on: udemezueoluoma@yahoo.com, Udemezue, Oluoma Judith on Facebook, Instag- oluomaudemezue, and Twit- @Udemezueoluoma.