HE MOVES THE CITY FOR HER

The first day I noticed was on a Tuesday after a heavy snowfall. I lived two blocks from her apartment. Our street wasn't close to the highway. There was no reason why the snowplough would go through it just minutes after the snowfall. I have lived in this street since I was born and not once has the street been ploughed after a snowfall. It only got done if Kane was filling up to it since he has a snowplough attached to the monster he called a truck. He also worked for the city in clearing the snow. I was pleasantly surprised when the snowplough started frequenting our street right after every snowfall. It was as if they couldn’t wait for the last snow to drop before they are out and out, taking a detour from the highway to come to clear our street and the surrounding one. Frankly, no one from our area has any complaints against the mayor and the city council, we haven’t had to for the past three years, since she moved into Kamsi Street.

Back to how I noticed. That very Tuesday, Ebere, Eby as she was commonly called, travelled to Nigeria, her home country. She has been in Windsor city for close to five years and she was going home to Nigeria for the first time since coming here. She had been psyched about it. She left on a Monday and the heavens opened on Tuesday morning. All the snow that was left in the sky must have fallen that day, covering everything far and near and immaculate white sheet. I called to cancel my lecture at the university. I knew I didn’t have to because the snow the plough would soon come to clear the road and I could still make it work if I wanted to but my arthritis was acting up and I knew half of the students would cite the snow for missing class so why bother.

Two whole hours after the snowfall and no snowplough, I began to wonder if something was wrong if there was an accident somewhere. I cleared my walkway and driveway as I usually do while waiting to spy on one of the trucks but none came. Others must have been speculating the exact same time.

“Do you know what happened to the snowplough? They are usually here by now,” said the neighbour across from me. He was also cleaning his walkway.

“I don’t know. Maybe there is a pileup somewhere. It's unlike them,” I replied.

What was his name again? Moses? Meliodes? It starts with an M but I couldn’t seem to memorize it for the life of me.

“Maybe but it is still strange. Remember last year when they had that massive pileup on highway 401 caused by those protesters?”

“Yes. I remember.”

“It didn’t stop the snow lough from coming through in less than an hour. It's been five hours since the snow and frankly, this is too much,” said the indignant young man.

I put my mask back and resumed my shovelling after yelling something back at him in agreement. These young people are too pampered. There were days when people had to go into the road and clear the snow or it would be left there until the sun came out. Even a more recent happening would be last four years, the city didn’t direct their plough into the street and if they did, they didn’t get to the ones so far away from the major roads as there was.

That being said, he was right.

“Mr Lynch, what do you think happened?” asked Debra, the nose housewife who lived to my left. She was dressed for snow shovelling and her big snow machine was just the stuff snow clearing dreams were made of.

“What do you mean?” I asked for I knew her reputation for gossiping. In my opinion, she should be a reporter.

She moved closer to the fence, that was her signature move to indicate she was about to bestow on you a grand gossip that has zero foundation.

I moved closer too as it would be rude not to. Bless my mother for raising me right.

“I heard from Moo who heard from Cindy’s husband that Don’s mistress lives here, right here in our street and he is the one what told the snowplough people to make sure her street is cleared pronto,” she told me conspiratorially.

“You don’t say. Now, who would that be?” I asked just to entertain her.

“No one knows but Kane thinks it's a woman,” she added.

“Of course.” What a silly thing to mention.

I knew what she said didn’t hold any salt but I also knew the kind of power Don had over the city, he was above the mayor. It goes Jesus, Don, then the mayor. If what Debra said was right, then there was one more person above the mayor and probably above Don but that was dependent on the sentiments they shared.

A normal person would forget the conversation as soon as they heard. They were too farfetched. How could he redirect city resources to accommodate his girlfriend or mistress, whatever gender they might be? But not me. I had an excellent memory and too much time on my hand. I went in to do what academics like me would do in this situation, research the hell out of the information using every resource available to me.

You cannot begin to guess what I uncovered. Go ahead, try to guess. You won't be able to.