“Loved you
yesterday,
Love you still,
Always have,
Always will.”
-
Anon
Tonye cruised
along Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue; it was about 8:45pm and the traffic was light that Wednesday evening given the time of day. It had been a hectic day at
work at Blue Moon Ad Agency or BMAd as people liked to call it. With a deadline
to meet it had been a series of back-and-forth since Friday when the client had
dropped an ad-hoc request on them, no notice, no elbow room, nothing. Well he
was glad it was over, at least until the next “kati-kati-kati” as he liked to
call these unplanned emergency briefs. He looked ahead at the traffic lights as
they began to change from green to red. He was two cars away from the
intersection. Should he stop or try to beat the lights? He decided on the
former, there was no rush. He slowed to a stop as the car in front of him raced
on. He looked to his right and saw a construction truck accelerating down the
perpendicular Adetokunbo Ademola Street hurrying to beat that ever so quickly
changing traffic light.
He turned his
head to the left toward the beautifully lit Civic Centre and as he did so he
heard the sound of the SUV’s engine and then the screeching of its brakes as it
ploughed into his Toyota Corolla from behind. The next thing he knew he was
being pushed onto the path of the oncoming construction truck. His foot had
been on the brakes and the car in neutral but the brakes of the Corolla were no
match for the SUV’s force. The truck hit the right fender of his car and sent
it spinning out of control. Tonye said a silent prayer as his body was sent
spinning at the same speed and force as his car. He willed the car to stop and
just when it seemed that it would he felt another forceful jolt as another car
rammed into him. The next thing he saw was blackness.
***************************************
“Tonye”. The
voice was familiar.
“Tonye”. He knew
that voice. It was female and very reassuring, full of love and earnest hope.
“Tonye”, she
called him again.
He opened his
eyes and looked up. It was Ifeoma looking down at him as he lay there. She had
a look of worry mixed with relief on her face. He tried to smile but
immediately felt a bolt of pain everywhere. He tried to call her name as he
blacked out.
***************************************
Tonye heard
quiet voices. They seemed far away but he guessed that they were nearby. He
tried to determine the speakers but could not. Was Ifeoma one of the speakers?
He lay still and tried to listen.
“He’ll be fine
eventually.”
“Please sir,
help him!”
“Don’t worry
madam, we’re doing our best and he’ll be well in no time and back to his feet
in a few months with the proper physiotherapy.”
That must be the
doctor, Tonye said to himself. They must be talking about him. He tried to open
his eyes but the light was too bright. A small groan escaped him as he passed
out again.
***************************************
“Tonye, Tonye
you have to wake up.” It was Ifeoma. “You have to! Stop lying down here feeling
sorry for yourself. Everyone is worried because you haven’t woken up.” He felt
tired. He needed to sleep some more. Ifeoma should leave him alone. He tried to
fall deeper into the depths of sleep-filled bliss.
“Tonye! It’s
been three days since the battle to save your life! Wake up my friend!!!” Ifeoma
clapped her hands at him and his eyes sprung open. Instinctively he shut them
against the bright lights. A throbbing pain erupted in his head. He slowly opened his eyes as the ceiling
lights came into view. He lay still for a bit until his eyes grew accustomed to
the brightness. He perceived the slight smell of bleach and disinfectant. Yup,
definitely a hospital. He moved his eyes around and noticed that his left leg
was in a cast and elevated in traction. His head was bandaged and he felt pain
on the left side of his body. He grunted and breathed slowly to ease it. He
looked around for Ifeoma but she was not in his room. He noticed a clock on the
wall. A quarter past nine; but he could not tell whether it was daytime or
night time. She should be here waiting for him to wake up or wasn’t she the one
that woke him up? He took in his surroundings. He was the only one in the
recovery room as the second bed was bare.
He waited. Someone would come soon he thought - the doctor, a nurse or Ifeoma.
“Ah! Mr. Tonye!
You’re awake! Praise be to God Almighty!!”
Tonye looked to the door, it was a
nurse.
“How are you feeling?”
He tried to smile. The nurse prodded and checked
the dials and monitors and clucked in satisfaction.
“Let me go and get Dr.
Alabi.”
Dr. Alabi was an
efficient looking man with a kind disposition. He looked like he knew what he
was doing.
“Ah! Tonye, it’s good to have you back. You had us worried for a
minute. How do you feel?”
Tonye tried to speak and his voice came out in a
raspy tone. “Matron, please give the patient a sip of water”, the doctor
directed. Tonye sipped some water from the offered plastic cup.
“Tired, weak.
What happened?” Tonye asked.
“All in good
time but you are very fortunate. Thank God for saving you because it could have
been much worse.” Tonye closed his eyes as he recalled the screaming of brakes.
“Your internal
injuries are healing nicely and you are responding to treatment. The pains and
occasional numbness should ease in time. You’re a fit young man and so your
body should recover very nicely.” Tonye glance at
his leg.
“Yes, you suffered a multiple fracture on your left leg caused by the second
impact, but we’ve set it and put it in a cast. You’ll require a few sessions of
physiotherapy once it has healed nicely.” Dr. Alabi offered by way of
explanation.
“Again you are a
very lucky man. Lucky to be alive; very few people would have survived that bad
accident. So give thanks to God.”
Tonye closed his
eyes and said a brief prayer of thanksgiving to the Almighty. He opened his
eyes and wondered where Ifeoma was. Why wasn’t she here?
As if reading
his mind Dr. Alabi said, “Your wife had to go home to rest. She had been here
since Wednesday night, for four days. Once we knew you were out of the woods we
asked her to go get some rest. We didn’t want her breaking down too.”
Tonye nodded in
understanding and closed his eyes. Sleep called.
“Ok young man.
We’ll see you tomorrow morning. Matron will check up on you all through the
night to make sure you are okay.” Tonye smiled his thanks and fell asleep as
Dr. Alabi walked out.
********************************
Tonye opened his
eyes slowly as he became fully awake. His eyes hit the clock on the wall. It
was 9 o’clock. A.M. he guessed. He looked around the room. The room was empty
but there was a woman’s handbag on the chair next to his bed. He looked to the
door and he could just make out a woman’s frame through the frosted glass. She
seemed to be talking to a doctor. He waited. He suddenly felt sorry for Ifeoma.
The whole experience must have been hard and traumatic for her, much more than
it must have been for him as he had been blissfully unconscious throughout the
ordeal of patching him up. He strained to catch what they said.
“So you’d have
to take it easy on him. He should be discharged in a couple of weeks after his
injuries have healed nicely. The stitches on his face will be removed in a couple
of days or so. Thank God he’s recovered from the concussion, his vitals are
almost normal but I think we might have to wait until he can talk well before
we give the final thumbs up. And yes, he will have to undergo physiotherapy
when his leg is healed. So in all let’s say six to eight weeks.”
Tonye raised his
right hand to touch his face. He winced a little as he felt the smarting of his
flesh. He continued and traced the outline of the facial stiches on his left
temple down to his cheek. Hmmm….Scarface. He then tried to wriggle his toes;
those on his right feet responded and the ones on his raised left leg managed a
slight response. He then closed his eyes and tried to feel out his entire body,
telekinetically testing his parts and organs.
He opened his
eyes and looked at Ifeoma. He could only make out what seemed to be her brown
bubu dress. He smiled to himself; that brown bubu dress that she saved for
trips to the market or whenever she couldn’t really be bothered with the way
she looked. But like he had always told her, the bubu did little to hide her
beauty and incredible sexiness. It only made him think of what was underneath
it. He felt a faint stirring. He said a quick prayer of thanks as that
department seemed to be fine.
He couldn’t wait
to go home and to get back to work. He wondered how the office would cope
without him. Sola and Vivian could manage he thought, and they could always
reach him if they needed him.
“Ah! Mummy!
Daddy! Welcome!”
“How is he?”
“How is my son?”
“He is recovering
very nicely. He regained consciousness last night but now he’s sleeping.”
“Where is he?
Can we see him?”
“Of course, we
were just waiting for him to wake up.”
It seemed his
parents were here. Tonye was sure his mother’s prayers had been what kept him
from the bear hug of death. His mother did not joke with her prayers, neither did
she joke with her children.
“Shall we go
in?” Dr. Alabi said.
Tonye reached
for the overhead handle and pulled himself up to a more upright position. He
had to look strong for all their sakes, lest they continue to worry. He hoped
he looked okay and not too bad. He could not wait to see those who loved him so
much, those whose love he craved and needed as much as a drowning man needed
air. Their love had made him strong, given him hope and crafted him into the
man that he was, the man he needed to be. His parents and his darling wife
Ifeoma - Ifeoma that he had loved from the first time he saw her sitting in
that classroom all those years ago on the first day of their JAMB lessons. She
had become his best friend, his confidante, his girlfriend and then his soul
mate. Theirs had been a long and passionate relationship, with the ups and
downs and verve that came with young love. It had not been easy but it had been
worth it, every nanosecond. She made him happy, like he was the only man on
earth and for his part he did his best to keep her on that pedestal that he had
placed her on since the first day they met. He hoped he had not frightened her
too much. She was tough but he did not like her to be pushed.
His family
walked in led by Dr. Alabi.
Tonye smiled as
much as he could manage. His mother already had some tears in her eyes as she
reached for him gently, “Tonye, how are you?” His father was
far more stoic as he walked to his bedside and took his hand. “Son, we thank
God.”
Tonye smiled at
his parents and then turned his head to see Ifeoma. She stood there before him
with tears in her eyes. Tonye had tears
in his eyes as well and he blinked to get rid of them.
“Sade, come and
hug your husband and let us thank God for his life”, his mother said.
Suddenly, Tonye
did not recognise his wife. This was not Ifeoma.
“Who are you?”
Tonye said in a raspy voice. “Where is Ifeoma?”
***********************************
Tonye stood in
the drizzling rain and looked down at the gravestone before him. He had been
standing there for about five minutes trying to make sense of it all. He read
and re-read the words engraved on the stone.
Ifeoma
Okafor
June
16, 1980 – July 23, 2008
Loving
daughter, blessed child
Go
with God.
After a while, Tonye limped, cane in hand,
towards the car where Sade sat patiently waiting.
