dressmaker, with a very colorful taste, in clothes. Frank would often wonder what she admired in him since they seemed exactly opposite in almost every way.
“Vegetables again,” Sade groaned, taking the bouquet Frank had brought and putting it in a vase.
“They aren’t vegetables honey, they are the best. They cost me a bunch at the station”. Frank laughed.
“Pity you can’t eat them, which is even worse than paying so much of good money for a bunch of vegetables, Sade playfully nagged.
“Oh, you impossible witch,” Frank contrived an agonized groan.
“Yes, I’m now going to cast a spell on you and make you take me to dinner,” Sade purred.
“Yes, yes o wicked witch, I am under your evil spell. I will take you to dinner.” Frank agreed with her.
A great film was showing that night at the Stratford cinema, and they decided to watch the film first, after which they went to Nando’s; just a stone throw away. Sitting at a feast of flame-grilled chicken and baked potatoes, Frank had more than a bit of update for Sade.
“You mean you were arrested for a bank robbery?” Sade was incredulous.
“Yes, my dear,” I knocked off a high street bank all by myself and the police let me off on good behavior,” Frank told her.
“And before that, you lost your job; so how are you going to survive Frank? Not by weekend party gigs obviously.”
“Not enough to sustain me honey; and I couldn’t certainly afford you by doing weekend party gigs.” he laughed
“So what are your plans, Frank?” Sade sounded genuinely worried for him.
“I was coming to that. Today I bought a detective course. I found that working as a detective isn’t quite different from what I did as a journalist and it certainly looks like you could make a lot more in that business. Do you know that people actually fork out as much as a hundred and fifty pounds an hour to get a private detective?” Frank told her.
“Wow!” Sade sounded full of suspicion. “A hundred pounds an hour? I don’t believe that.”
“Better believe, because it’s true. So I am going to start building myself a new and enduring profession honey”.
“So what are you going to call yourself? What is your...erm.... handle going to be like”?
“Handle? I am not a mug, sister”
“You are a really smart dummy you know; what are you going to call yourself? Under what handle will you be working ...Sam Spade…Colin Fetchit..? What is it going to be like? I personally am not going to employ Frank O’Dwyer to find even a lost cat.”, Sade was sincere.
“Yeah, you’ve got a point there. I was thinking something like Frank Xero”.
“Xero? That sounds awful”
“No, it doesn’t. Like a private investigator zeroes in on a crime and gets it solved real quick; Gerrit?”
“Well, it’s your business, not mine. It still sounds like a photocopy shop to me, like Xerox. Are you sure you aren’t going to get sued by some of these business creeps in black suits?”
“Never worry Sade. On the positive side, it is going to make me easy to remember”.
“No it’s crappy, and I don’t like it” Sade confessed “Try something more sensible like Frank Wire. It is also easy to remember I think. And it sounds rather cool. Like you are the new British werewolf – Frank Wire by day, MC Wire by night”, she giggled.
“Hey what will I do without you, o witch” Frank nipped her ear with his teeth.
“Don’t Snoop Dog me dude; not here” Sade pushed him away. “I think you are forgetting something though. Don’t you need a license for this? “
“Not as far as I know, “Frank told her. He had indeed checked earlier on his computer. Anyone with the wish could become a private detective.
Sade had updates of her own.
“I am happy for you then, and I hope you make a lot of money. I am participating in a fashion exhibition at the Barbican in a couple of weeks. It is an ethnic fashion show; I am so excited about the opportunity, Frank. It would be nice to have my designs break the ethnic barrier though. I am wishing for good contacts at the event”, she told him.
“I love your designs SADE, especially the Dashiki tops. Trevor absolutely loves them too. I hope you are going to have a lot of them on display. Very nice to wear in summer.” Frank encouraged.
“Yes, you both put a lot of business my way. I think it is time for me to break the ethnic barrier and something tells me the Barbican exhibition is going to be it, for me. “, Sade was full of hopes.
“Go for it then, girl. You’ve got awesome talent in that lovely head of yours, and it is time for you to really make it big.” Frank kissed her on the cheek. Sade put her arms around him.
“It’s not only about the money though. I am proud of where I came from, and I would wish to change some unfortunate mindsets along the way. I aim to have elegant girls black and white, modeling exquisite Yoruba fashion as you’ve never seen before. For me, this will not be just another clothing exhibition; I want it to be a major cultural statement.” Sade said.
“I believe you, honey. I am sure one day; you will make a statement that will be heard and remembered all over the world.” Frank said to her.
Together they went to the Sainsbury’s supermarket for a couple of bottles of wine for the night..
CHAPTER 5
There had been more robberies than the bank job as Frank learned from the East End Mirror. A headline read:
CAMCORDER ROBBERS STRIKE AGAIN.
Pretty small-time stuff all the robberies had been but done in the same insanely ridiculous way. A jewelry shop near Eastham got hit; they even did a pizza shop. The thought made Frank chuckle. A pizza shop getting knocked off; certainly looked very desperate to him. Somehow these stories could only be found in the East End Mirror, which Frank still dutifully read every day primarily in the hope that one day, the front page would contain a goodbye message announcing the demise of the newspaper, preferably due to the death of the proprietor, Spencer Cowley. Frank longed to be able to get rid of that dangling piece of his life – to see Spencer Cowley punished as the architect of his current unemployment situation.
But this never happened and the East End Mirror kept on. In any case, as Frank would wonder, East End Mirror was the only paper that reported these robberies, which gave the suspicion that something shady was afoot. Frank wondered whether Fernandez had at last strayed off the straight and narrow. But heck, the East End Mirror really wasn’t his responsibility anymore. He didn’t have a job with the East End Mirror anymore and therefore no business poking his nose into whatever went on there.
His payoff had dwindled very fast with bills knocking on his door daily. He had for a while swallowed his pride and tried a couple of those jobs he had previously
