Prose: I Love You, Always

“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.