Mandhara reincarnated

Six years of experience with live-in maids and a couple of part- time maids has taught me nothing much. They continue to throw up new surprises and new character traits, and my slow brain continues to be taken by surprise each time. As V says, "what I see in my mind, they see on the sky." I mean they are just too smart for us most of the time.
After raving to folks back home about the new wondrous maid I had procured, I began to feel everything cant be just that perfect. Politely enduring her self-promotion talk for at least half an hour every evening after work, I knew by heart that her young pregnant daughter had been burnt to death by her inebriated husband, that the incident had left our woman in a state of shock for many months and that it had taken a toll on her beauty. But most of all, she emphasised the poor work record of the person who had referred her to me. She told tales about Kala (my partimer of many years) until I heard from other sources how much our lady liked to indulge in gossip and how often she took leave.
About the latter trait, we got a quick insight when she didnt turn up for work at her usual 12 pm and declined to attend our frantic calls to her cell phone. The long and short of it was that V, hastily summoned from office, decided to sit at home until I finished work and returned home. Kala came later in the night to prepare dinner for me, and plan a future strategy. She advised me to keep R till she found another more reliable person for me.
Today our truant returned to work all smiles and raring for information about how we managed yesterday. That neither of us really divulged in the afternoon, but I guess I will have to be prepared for a long session when I reach home tonight.
p.s. In the Ramayana, Mandhara was the scheming maidservant of Queen Kaikeyi.