Doris is an auto mechanic. Her love for repairing cars and diagnosing the problem accurately and quickly rose from the time spent watching her father diagnose problems with various cars. Her dad was quite intrigued that from a young age, she was more curious about what he did for a living than her male siblings. She would ask questions from her dad and he would respond. Initially, her mother wasn’t comfortable with her doing so. Most times, she was with her dad, she would call out to Doris to join her in the kitchen and insist that her role in the kitchen would be appreciated by her husband in future when she marries instead of repairing cars. However, over the years, when her mum realised that that was what Doris wanted to do, she let her be.
By the time she was 25 years, she went to school to get training and more experience at automobile repair and maintenance, collision repair, painting and restoring, electronics, air-conditioning, heating systems, truck and diesel mechanics. She was the only female in a class of 40 and she came out second in her class. Her parents were so proud of her. She got the recognition of a big automobile company who later employed her.
She would assist in servicing of various cars brought in and was very proactive. She soon became the favourite among her superiors. She is two years on the job already.
One day, while at work, a young man in his mid-30s, Brian Babajide, brought his 2016 Toyota Land Cruiser for service. As he came down from the car, walking into the MD’s office, he saw Doris in uniform stained with car lubricant, paint and more, “how can she love to do this?” he thought. Immediately he got into the manager’s office, he couldn’t hold it any longer, after exchanging pleasantries with him he said “You have a lady doing this job?” and the MD said “Do you realise she is one of our best hands?” to which Brian responded laughing “yeah right” and as he continued to say “please don’t let her touch my baby, my Cruiser is too big for her”, Doris walks in right in the middle of the conversation. She heard him clearly and her countenance changed. She looked at Brian with piercing eyes that said “how dare you?” but she didn’t say a word. Her boss quickly broke the silence “Emm, how may I help you?” she took her brief mean stare away from Brian and said “Sir, the two cars you asked me to check, the first one has uneven tyre wear and the wheels are misaligned. On the second car, the materials that work together in order to produce a spark hot enough to ignite the air-fuel mixture has worn out, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the spark plug and as a result has significantly reduced the acceleration of the vehicle. I have written out my report on both cars and have instructed Emmanuel on what to do” to which her boss responded “Ok, Thank you” and she walked out.
Immediately she left Brian exclaimed “Whao!!! How did she know all that?” and the MD said “I told you”. Brian couldn’t believe his ears or eyes. “My brother, please can you ensure she checks my car?” and the MD, laughing out loud, responded “Not after she heard you talk down on her. My friend, not to worry, your car will surely be fixed. It is what we are known for however, trust me, I cannot guarantee Doris will lay a finger on your car” he said and Brian replied “Oh dear, my loss” and they both laughed. After a few minutes, he got up to leave and as the MD was about to see him off, his phone rang and it was his wife, he apologised and said he had to respond to his wife to which Brian retorted “please do, I certainly know my way. Thanks bro, catch you later”. Luckily for him, the Taxify driver he called was there already so he dropped his car keys and left the MD’s office.
As he was walking out of the building, he saw Doris and she acted swiftly like she did not see him. She kept walking her lane. “Uhm, sorry, excuse me Ma’am, excuse me please…” he said repeatedly. Of course she knew he was calling her but she pretended like she didn’t hear and kept going after all, he did not mention her name so she cannot be accused of not responding to a client’s call. He quickly walked up to the receptionist and asked for her name and immediately he was told, he called out “Excuse me Madam Doris”. He is their client; everyone would wonder why she did not respond after all, he now called her name. So she reluctantly turned and said “How can I help you sir?” feeling quite embarrassed and didn’t want to publicly embarrass himself he politely requested for her to accompany him to the Taxify car waiting outside and she agreed. Getting to the car, she folded her arm like a tomboy that she is, looked straight into his eyes with a demeanour that said “I am listening…yes?”. Brian who was naturally a confident man became uncoordinated but tried to find the right words to say. “uhmm…Of course I cannot pretend you didn’t hear me in the MD’s office, I just want to say I am sorry for the statement made. I truly apologise.” And Doris responded “I get a lot of surprise comments when people find me on this job however, I haven’t gotten your type of “compliment” before” and Brian said “And I thought I was already forgiven” to which Doris responded “Yes you have been forgiven, go and sin no more” and they both laughed. “Nice meeting you Mr. Brian, I will have to go back to work. I have so much to do” and Brian said “uhm…so please can I have your number?” Doris certainly wasn’t done with her teases so she responded “my number for? Are you sure you want to have the number of that ‘girl’ who you said must not touch your ‘baby’?’” then Brian said “Come on Doris, be nice, I thought we had gone past that already” and she replied “yes we have but it’s still fresh on my mind so I haven’t forgotten…should I forget that quickly?” and again he teased “What would Jesus Do?”.
She gave him her number and they began to communicate with each other and soon became friends. One day, he asked her out to dinner and she agreed.
She appeared at the venue in a red Elie Saab, gown, with multi-coloured Christian Louboutin stiletto footwear and tiny pearl earrings. Her short wig made her look like Toni Braxton. Doris looked so beautiful. She waltzed on with an effortless saunter. The clicking of her heels added cadence to the soft orthodox melody that played continuously without break. Her eyes perused the room looking for Brian who couldn’t believe who he was looking at. She walked up to him and wittily said “Hi, I am the lady auto mechanic, I am supposed to meet a certain man who doubts the abilities of a strong woman. Do you know where I can find him?”. Brian still in shock managed to squeeze a smile and gave her a hug. He pulled out her seat and she sat and said “Thank you!”. For 10 seconds, he didn’t know what to say so Doris broke the silence “This was planned to be an interesting date I guess…this silence is loud!” to which he answered “Never in a million years would I have imagined you in this look Doris, you look absolutely stunning” and she said “Thank you Brian. It’s good to know that even if I can’t fix your car, I can fix your mind” and he responded “Girl, you certainly must fix my life.” And they both cackled.
Well, let’s just say Doris truly ‘fixed’ his life. A year later, they both got married. Now this is that part of stories when they say ‘…and they lived happily ever after’.
THE END!
Kemi Ajumobi
