Kelechi had not seen Hussaina in 3 years, not since the odious incident that had taken place at their previous office’s Christmas party where Hussaina had brought the party to a halt because she needed to deal with somebody who had crossed Kelechi’s path. Who was this well put-together person she was watching calmly answering the angry questions of the crowd that was gathered outside her office? It was such a wonder to behold.
She watched her friend from a distance as she successfully dismissed the crowd and headed back to the office. She noticed how her staff greeted her warmly and could see that this was genuine, not the eye-service type of greeting done to please the boss. No, something was not right with Hussaina even though it was in a good way. The transformation was profound, it was as though somebody else was operating her in friend’s body.
It was Hussaina’s 40th birthday and Kelechi had come from Norway to surprise her friend at work first before the main dinner that was to take place later. Hussaina had been the fiery one who did not hesitate to give people a piece of her mind and some action too where necessary. They had been friends for over 30 years and everyone knew that Hussaina was a fighter, like it was few words and a lot of physical action with her.
She was called ‘pretty angry avender’ because of her legendary temper and how easily she could flare up. Somehow they had managed her anger issues over the years and she had kept climbing her career ladder. It was such a delicate balance as Hussaina was known for getting the job done yet burning those she worked with, and since her specialty was a rare one people had no choice but to deal with her.
Kelechi still remembered the Christmas party where they had last seen each other. She had been telling Hussaina about the trouble her supervisor was giving her because she kept turning down his advances. Her friend had been ready a long time ago to help her fight but she’d kept reminding Hussaina that management was aware of the issues.
The incident that broke the straw was when her supervisor had made some very unsavoury remarks her about during a board meeting that were supposed to get her fired, her only saving grace that day being her previous track record of excellent work. Hussaina decided that the supervisor had crossed the lines this time and needed to be dealt with. Kelechi had appealed to her friend to perish every thought of revenge as she had already put in her resignation and was going to leave the country the day after Christmas.
Hussaina had agreed with her friend even though she knew her own plans for the supervisor. On the day of the party, she walked up to him, took off her waist-length bone-straight wig and Amina Muaddi shoes and grabbed his trousers. She didn’t care that he was chatting with their special guest at the time. After delivering two slaps and warning him very loudly not to ever try that nonsense again with her friend or anyone else, she put her wig and shoes back on and walked out of the venue to the utter shock of everyone. Thereafter, the party ended abruptly and needless to say, that was her last day at the company.
Hussaina had left town immediately and gone underground after the tabloids had a field day describing her ‘exploits’ with sensational headlines. She knew that this time, her anger issues had gone too far and she needed to re-make herself. She enrolled herself in an anger management and emotional intelligence programme and was completely transformed in a year, after which she set up her own consulting firm and was doing very well.
When she saw Kelechi, the two ladies screamed and hugged each other and as Kelechi asked her “who are you, girl and what did you do with my pretty angry avenger”, she gave her the full gist of how she had done the most important work of her life by working on herself.
