Under the Mango Tree: 101 Tales (2)

WITH CONDITIONS

Challenge No.30 - The Sweetest Story.

Write a scene or story that includes a piece of candy.

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Nadya found out from first-hand experience that there was not much space between a rock and a hard place. It was also very uncomfortable and Inconvenient.

The conversation with the Dean of her Department made her position at the university and by extension her life very clear. She stood at the junction of two paths. To the right was the rock and to the right the hard place.

She sat at the lunch table under the cashew nut tree contemplating her lack of options. The lunch before her, untouched, getting cold.

Chambers joined her and began to shovel food into his mouth. "Hey, Nadya, how goes it?"

"Hey." Came her vague response.

He looked up, still munching. " You okay?"

"Huh?"

"You okay?" This time he stopped. "With conditions."

"What?"

"The decision, whatever it is. The answer is not yes or no. It is yes or no with conditions."

"How do you know I have a decision to make?"

"Well for one, you have not touched your food."

She looked at the tray.

Chambers continued to eat.

"For two, we're sitting under this mango tree on a glorious sunny day and you don't see it."

"Cashew."

"Ahhhh, so all is not lost, comrade." He grinned.

She gave him a weak smile back. "Explain, with conditions."

"It's like the Development Control Authority, they say yes, they say no and they say yes with conditions. It's what I do too. It's never yes or no, there is always a third answer."

She stared at him as the revelation hit home.

"Where you going?"

She was already on the move. "To get the third answer!"

He shrugged, pushed his empty try aside and reached for hers.

The first thing Nadya noticed on Profession St Clair's desk was the large bottle of lollipops. It couldn't be missed. Second thing was that the Professor was sucking on one. She removed it now and then to speak, but would soon return to gnawing on it.

"Nadya Weekes. You are my new Assistant and PhD candidate, yes?" She waved Nadya into a chair.

"Yes."

St Clair's eyes narrowed. "But?"

"There are conditions."

"Dean Sasha has asked you to report my movements to him."

Nadya gasped. "How did you know?"

"Because this is what Saint Lucia has become. We record and report on each other. Every morning I sweep my office for listening devices and I have sonic protocols in place to jam any I may miss. Now and then I turn it off just to leak disinformation."

"Am I still to be your Assistant?"

"Of course! By revealing the conditions that Sasha placed on you... let me guess. Spy on me or the Assistant position and PhD option will be withdrawn."

Nadya nodded.

"You have already proved to be a woman of integrity! By all means! Come work with me. We will have a grand time feeding Sasha with all sorts of fun fake facts."

"Thank you."

The Professor pushed the bottle towards Nadya, "Have a lollipop."

© 30 March 2022

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