Ure lay in bed that Monday morning and reviewed details of her activities for work that day. She was meeting one of her more difficult clients later in the day and she wasn't looking forward to presenting the proposals she had prepared for them. Luckily her manager was going with her and her usual partner. They were looking to increase the customer’s advertising budget by a few more millions. If they got it, she were halfway to her target and that was no mean feat seeing it was still the first month of the quarter. She loved her job as an advertising consultant/marketer but it could be draining sometimes as well.

Thoughts of Yemi's birthday occupied her as she took her bath and dressed up. Yemi had been her friend from University, her bridesmaid when she got married to Azuka in London and her rock after her husband passed away and they’d had to return to Nigeria. It was Yemi’s 35th birthday and several friends had been invited. She had already decided on her outfit and was putting together the accessories in her head as she dressed for work. 

At the kitchen table later, she forgot all about fashion as she sat glaring at the invoice for her son’s school fees for the term. He attended The Regent Schools Abuja and the fees had just been hiked by almost 20 percent. If she’d thought the cost had been through the roof when he’d been admitted, now they were in the stratosphere. Well she liked their mixed curriculum and being that Tony had only stabilized this year after the tumultuous period three years ago. The poor boy had had to deal with losing his father and moving from the only home he’d known in London.

No, she couldn’t think of withdrawing him now. Well not while she could still afford it, who knew what would happen in future? The events surrounding her husband’s death had thought her to take each new day as it dawned. Wasn’t it the bible that said sufficient unto the day was the evil thereof or something along those lines? She remembered that her son’s teacher wanted to see her. Her son had been doing fairly well in his lessons for the past few months and she hoped he was not retrogressing. It would be a shame if something happened to upset the balance they’d been able to establish both at home and at school.

She took a deep breath and exhaled...