CONTINUED FROM RE-WRITTEN 1
....“Doctor, are you
sure there is nothing we can do to save the leg? Without a limb, she is useless
to me! I can never go out with a cripple, talk more of marrying one.”
The fates were
unkind; for it was at that moment Kemi came to and heard Teddy talking to the doctor. She was utterly
shocked at the disdain that filled his face when he said 'cripple'.
…the street lights on the way home were
non-operational, a situation not strange for Nigerian roads. Teddy had been
speeding like a bullet and it was all he could do to steer away from the
hulking shadow that came rushing out
of the darkness at them. If he hadn't been drunk, he would have realized
that the life threatening silhouette was a truck that
had broken down in the middle of the road. There was no caution sign whatsoever
to warn road users of its existence.
The truck was situated in such a way that
the driver’s
side would have taken the maximum hit on collision. However, Teddy, even though
drunk, had enough presence of mind to swerve the car in such a way that the
passenger’s side was the most affected.
As the Jeep rammed into the truck, the agony
of screeching and screaming metal shattered the quiet night. Following the
accident, silence pregnant with foreboding reigned again over the debris of
broken bodies, burnt rubber and tortured metal. The car had become a match box
crushed in the hands of a peevish giant and from its innards seeped blood. The
blood was everywhere, a crimson tide that made the senses reel. The policemen
who had gathered from a nearby check point shook their heads and snapped their
fingers in melodramatic wonderment. They stood at the scene making no attempt
to rescue the duo since they believed no one would come out of such horrific
wreckage alive.
The wails of an ambulance siren soon filled the night
with its lament, expressing grief over the spoils of a calamitous night. The
medical crew managed to extricate the victims and everyone sighed in relief and
amazement to see they were still breathing. The wounded couple were then rushed
to a nearby hospital.
Teddy came out unscathed except for a deep
gash on his forehead which was sutured. However, Kemi was in terrible shape.
Her right leg was mangled and she had lost so much blood. To make matters worse,
her blood group was O negative which was rare to find. She was going into shock
but mercifully, the Doctor on call that night also had the same blood group as
hers and donated freely.
While she was being resuscitated, Teddy
placed a call to her mother.
“Ekaaro ma. Kemi ni accident l'aaro yi, she had an accident this morning". He always resorted to Yoruba, their native language when he spoke to Kemi’s mum. "She needs surgery and someone has to sign the consent form. She is
at Lifegate Specialist Hospital". He said that in a very detached manner and left the hospital. He
never went back!
Kemi’s mother gave a go ahead for the
procedure which went successfully.
While recuperating, her world became black.
Bats of depression flapped their wings continuously in the dark caverns of her
soul, the shrieks of their ultrasonic cries bouncing off the walls of her mind.
She thought she was going insane. Life was just about the motions now. All the
juice had been wrung out, the sauce of living was bland, and she just existed. She felt lost,
numb and dead especially when she thought about the aborted baby that the battery of tests had revealed. She had been
pregnant! Her boyfriend was unmoved by this revelation,
all he cared about was the crushed limb. He didn't want her hobbling beside him for the rest of her life,
irrespective of her beautiful face.She felt like
someone had ripped out a part of her heart.
Kemi was furious
with herself. She had seen all the signs but kept a blind eye to them. She had
always known Teddy was selfish. He had always been more interested in showing
her off like one would a brand new custom made SUV. She was beautiful,
intelligent and a social butterfly which made her fit easily into the circles
he moved in. His friends after meeting Kemi always called him a lucky bastard
for having a chic like her. Without a leg she was a SUV with a knocked engine.
Her allure had diminished! She felt so foolish.
She built an
impregnable cocoon around herself that no one could penetrate and kept all and
sundry at bay. The day she completely lost it was when Gabby came to visit her
with his wife and little baby. Even though he was genuinely concerned and did
not spite her in anyway. The visit was the last straw that broke the camel’s
back.
That night, the
mistakes of the past wrestled her to the ground and put a stranglehold on her
throat. She could not sleep as she thought of all that could have been. Desolation tore at her soul with the ferocity of a grizzly, a grizzly that swiped
relentlessly at her until all her being became a mass of fresh weeping wounds.
Her life reeled out before her. Her past was swiftly moving
pictures of black and white while the future was blurred images with lots of
static at the end. She saw that instead of the confetti she had waited
feverishly for, it was sand that was going to be poured on her coffin. In place
of the love songs that was supposed to accompany her steps down the aisle to
the altar, she was going to be sent off on a barge of dirges. She was never
going to wear the designer wedding dress she had always envisaged. Instead, her final journey was going to be in black unceremonious garments.
She imagined how the medical staff would freak out when they came to discover her corpse,
pale and without breath, swimming in the sheets of her own blood.
Diabo Culebra rubbed his hands together in a
delightful flourish. Puffing furiously on the cigar dangling in his mouth, he
took a sip of the cognac swilling in the glass beside his laptop. The ending of
a dark story was what he lived for,
what gave him orgasmic joy. For him, they didn’t get
better than how the plot of “Life” was going to end. He started typing the conclusion.
Kemi grabbed a brand new razor blade and began to take it down, aiming for her wrists, a guillotine determinedly descending to sever
the vessels carrying her life essence...
The door
to Diabo's study shattered with such fury, that he
was frozen in place…
...As the blade descended, Kemi halted mid action.
He turned around to see the Author of “Life” walk in
with some of his body guards and Eve. Eve was the disgruntled staff that he had
gotten to betray her former
boss. After she gave him the soft copies of the story that he had requested
for, Diabo employed her as one of the assistants in his publishing firm. Eve
discovered she had made the mistake of her life. The person that deduced that
the grass always looks greener on the other side is profoundly wise. Mr. Diabo was a hard task master, he made you
work weekends and public holidays without pay. He never forgave, gave queries at the
slightest infraction and owed salaries.
Furthermore, he was the father of liars
and never made good on his words.
She was still being owed for the betrayal she performed for him.
On the other hand, she realised that it was greed that
made her disloyal to her former employer. He was kind and merciful and would
pay every man his due but she wanted to rise up the ranks very quickly without
going through the process. Secondly, her spending habit was appalling so she
always owed which was why Diablo’s offer had
been quite tempting.
Eve confessed to the Author of “Life”, who forgave her
and gave her back her job. They went together to
the Diabo's “Lair”, which was where the thief called his home and broke down his door.
The Author of 'Life' was usually a lamb but when crossed, he
became a lion. He strode majestically to where Diabo was cowering and punched
him hard on the jaw. Diabo fell
like he had been struck by lightning. As he laid on the floor, he tried to work
his mouth and knew his jaw was broken. That was the last thing on his mind
though. With the amount of offences he
would be charged with in court, he knew his days were up because he would be
locked up and the key thrown away.
The Author of “Life” retrieved his story and was
wrathful at what Diabo had done with it. He took the story home, went up to his
study and wrote and wrote…
Kemi glanced at the TV. Someone had changed the DSTV channel to 331, 1 Gospel and musical strums filled the room. She had always been a
sucker for good music and this was heavenly. She saw a guy with a thick mop of curls
strumming away and stomping his foot like there was no tomorrow and then the
songs came and washed over her aching soul. She did not know the group but saw
their name was Jesus Culture. They sang so lustily! The music was beautiful and
the lyrics were healing.
Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails
I know I still make mistakes
But You have new mercies for me everyday
Your love never fails
Chorus:
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night but joy
comes in the morning
And when the oceans rage
I don't have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails
Verse 2:
The wind is strong and the water's deep
But I'm not alone here in these open seas
Cause Your love never fails
The chasm is far too wide
I never thought I'd reach the other side
But Your love never fails
Bridge:
You make all things work together for my
good
The song was a hook that reeled her into an
ocean of love she had not swum in ages. The essence of a God she had forgotten
washed over her. In that sea, she dissolved until every cell in her body became
tears that merged and fused with the Force of Life that bubbled in the living
waters. The ocean, in which life was being baptized, cleansed and washed her so
much she felt new. It was like being re-birthed.
She remembered how her grandma used to take
her to Sunday school. The joy she used to experience when being regaled with
the tales of David and Goliath, Noah and the ark, and other stories. The sadness of the crucifixion, the euphoria
of the resurrection, the sweetness of the Cabin biscuits and the Three Top
drinks. The teachers usually ended up giving her extra biscuits because she
usually answered most of the questions.
As she grew older, she had meandered away
from those paths especially after she started going out with Teddy. It went downhill from there onwards.
When the Doctor on call went to check on
her that night, he saw Kemi on a personal mount where transfiguration was
taking place. He knew he had happened on a very private moment and went out
quietly. As he walked to the Doctor’s room, her rapturous image stayed with him
and would not let go.
When he saw her the next morning, she was a
new creature. The old Kemi seem to have passed away. She was radiant and
friendly.
“Good morning, Miss. Olude,” greeted Dr.
Timothy. “How are you doing this morning?”
“Good Morning, Doc, Please forgive me for
my churlish attitude, you saved my life by your donation and I have not been
good mannered enough to say thank you. I am so very sorry.”
“Pleasure’s all mine, Miss. Olude,” He said.
“Please call me, Kemi.”
“Since we are dispensing with formalities,
you might as well call me Tim.”
She smiled and light poured from her eyes
to fill the room, she had such limpid eyes. He was amazed that he had never
noticed. Since she had always been
drenched in the rain of depression, they had been difficult to perceive. Her
smile was accompanied by two playful dimples that danced merrily on her cheeks.
“Really?” she asked.
“Yup, try saying Tim, you will find out it
doesn’t hurt at least not as much as the intramuscular shots you take anyway.”
“Hmm, a Doctor with a sense of humour, you
are rare Tim. Anyone ever told you that?”
“I think someone has mentioned it. Has
anyone ever told you that your mouth is like an exquisitely sculpted grotto
with fine pearls decorating it and a river of rubies running through it?”
She giggled, “Tim, you are quite a
flatterer.”
“Just calling a spade a spade, ma’am.
However your own spade is diamond studded with a golden handle.”
That morning, Tim left late after handing
over and came earlier than usual to resume his night duty.
There was something about Kemi that he
found irresistible. He had been praying for a wife before he met her and the
more he prayed, the more he was drawn to her.
One thing led to another and a year, six
months after they met, they got married. The wedding was lovely but the only
fireworks that exploded that day were the ones in her heart for her man. It was also the first day she used her new
prosthetic limb.
Tim had a brother working in a research and design company in America where prosthetic limbs that are
almost as good as normal limbs were manufactured. Kemi had the privilege of being fitted with one.
She got pregnant and finally delivered a
beautiful baby boy. As she suckled him that day, his baby fragrance filled her
being. She absentmindedly ran her hand
over his curls and felt such gratitude towards the Author of her Life.
She remembered one of her Grandma’s
favourite scriptures and it struck her how true those words are.
I KNOW THE THOUGHTS THAT I THINK
TOWARDS YOU. THOUGHTS OF GOOD AND
NOT OF EVIL, TO GIVE YOU A FUTURE
AND A
HOPE..
© 2013 Ekpo Ezechinyere
