lemonades episode 8

TITLE: LEMONADES

WRITTEN BY: OGECHI ALABI

PART 8

I applied for a transfer to Ijebu ode from National hospital because of my health I spoke with my boss at Surehealth Specialist. He asked me to take my time and think about it. I agreed not to leave in haste until I had gotten my transfer and another job.

That night, I received a call. It was Alhaji Umar. I was so happy to hear from him. We exchanged pleasantries.

“Your Medical Director told me you want to leave the state. Why? I thought you enjoyed your work.”

“Alhaji, I love what I do but I need a change. I want to relocate to Ijebu Ode to be close to my family. My son will finish secondary school soon and I want him to be able to travel abroad for his university education”

“He should apply for scholarsh¡ps to help you with tuition. It would be ha-rd work but it will favour you. You need to get a job that will pay you in dollars so your son will be settled”

“Where will I get such a job?”

“How did you get the one you are doing? My friend’s son just built a hospital in Ogun state and he requires a specialized nurse. Since you are well-grounded in fertility treatment, gynaecology and obstetrics and specialized in it, I would let him know you just might be interested in the job”

“What about my civil service job? I have requested for a transfer.”

“I intend to move you to work with WHO. If you have p@$$ed the professional examination to practice abroad, I will recommend you to my contact there. You will have plenty of time on your hands to work with my friend’s hospital. I will ask your Medical Director to write an honest recommendation for you. Also, I will ask your matron to do the same. I will help you”

“Alhaji, how do I repay you for all you are doing for me? Why do you go out of your way to help me?”

“My child, to be very sincere, I had an interest in you when I first saw you. When I dug further about you, I discovered you are not that type of girl. I decided to help you and you have not disappointed me at all. I have helped many people but they have jumped from place to place. You have remained where you are and have grown tremendously over time. I have gotten only positive commendations about you. When you mentioned you had a child, I understood your drive. I was raised by a single mother too. My mother refused to sell her b©dybut rather worked ha-rd to ensure we went to school and became something; my sister and me. Both of us are doing very well and make her proud. I believe your son will do so. My mother remarried after I finished university. You should get married too. You deserve to be happy. What about the father of your child?”

I told Alhaji what transpired between Emmanuel and me. He was the reason I was leaving Abuja for Ijebu ode. Alhaji shook his head. “You are ha-rdworking and intelligent but not streetwise. How can you fall for such a cheap scam? The guy was trying to use you. You will meet someone better Insha Allah”

I agreed with him. Within three months, I resumed with WHO and was attached to a hospital at Ijebu ode. I couldn’t believe it. My qualification gave me an edge with much better pay. I worked as an admin staff gathering information and data. I also did fieldwork.

Alhaji wasn’t done yet. The new hospital was an ultramodern hospital that had many hospital equipments which I had never seen in any hospital. I was impressed. I discovered the hospital wasn’t limited to fertility, gynaecology and obstetrics. The hospital also had a diagnostic centre, ultrasound, CT scan, MRI and x-ray machines. There was also a dialysis centre. I realized this was serious work. It was going to be tougher than working in Abuja. But I was equal to the task. Emperor Hospital was the go-to hospital for the elites in Ogun state and was located in Ijebu ode too.

My mother was very upset with my father and moved out of the house. She moved in with her uncle. When they reconciled, I didn’t believe it. My father begged my mother to come back. When she refused to come back, he brought his mother from the village to appeal to her to come back home. He agreed to all the conditions my mother gave except accepting back home. He even agreed for Junior to visit but I wasn’t allowed to. I told my mother to go back to her husband; I am satisfied with him accepting my son.

Working in Ijebu ode was a very different ball game. Working at Emperor hospital was quite exciting. I worked from 5 pm until 11 pm every day. I enjoyed my job and intEr×¢ted with many patients. I intEr×¢ted more with the staff. There was the professional medical staff who had trained abroad and now worked with us. We receive patients from all over Nigeria.

I met Dr Fadi for the first time a month after I had joined the hospital. We worked together on evening duty. He was a consultant that handled gynaecology and obstetrics in Emperor hospital. We both handled a very difficult delivery case together and it made us closer. Since then, if he had any case, he made sure to perform the surgery when I was on duty. We worked well together. We didn’t speak with each other apart from work. I was given a commendation letter because of him.

My grandmother took it upon herself to matchmake me with her friend’s grandson. The guy lived in Lagos and worked in a bank. I asked him why he wasn’t married; he was married before but unfortunately, the wife died. He had two children with his mother-in-law. Bode was nice to me. He visited every weekend. I worked some of those weekends and we hung out when we could.

Two months into the relationsh¡p, Bode began to ask for s-x. I explained to him I wasn’t ready for something that serious. We had talked about our past and I had told him what happened between Emmanuel and me leaving out very sensitive detail. He pressurized me to allow the relationsh¡p to advance but I told him I wasn’t interested in s-x before marriage. If he was serious, he should come to my parents and ask for my hand in marriage.

“I would have done that but how do I know we are compatible s-xually? I don’t want to marry someone that I have to be begging for s-x. I just want to let you know”

“I’m not a vir-gin. We can discuss it. I like you but I don’t want to get pregnant for you and then you will ask me to abort; I wouldn’t agree to do it. And also, I have started a very spiritual journey and I wouldn’t give my b©dyto anyone who doesn’t marry me”

“I want to marry you. What do I need to do first?”

“Tell your people to approach my people. My grandmother will put you through”

“It is only after I have married you we can make love? It is unfair”

“There is more to life than s-x. We need to get to know each other. I want to be in a committed and happy relationsh¡p. I have expectations and I know you have too. I am thirty-five. I will like to continue to live here because of my jobs.…”

“You are selfish. Do you want to live here while I live in Lagos? Why can’t you transfer to Lagos? I don’t really like this nursing career because nurses are the playthings of doctors. I make enough money for us, so please once we get married you will live permanently with me. We will bring the children to live with us”

“The children can live with me, I don’t mind. But I will like to keep my job here. I can’t give up my career any time soon”

“That is why I said you are selfish. You are making all the rules and I am not supposed to have a say. It looks like this isn’t working out” Bode left that day.

I called Bode severally because I felt bad. He refused to pick my calls or reply to my messages. I went further by calling him through his grandma’s phone, immediately he heard my voice, he cut the call. I used a different phone number to send him messages for us to talk but he refused to respond. This went on for two weeks.

Finally, I sent him a message telling him I would consider his silence to mean the relationsh¡p was off. I thanked him for the beautiful times we spent together and wished him well. I refused to lose sleep over him. Even when my grandmother asked after him and I told her what happened, she told me to ignore him and move on. In her own words, “Your real husband will come and he will not stress you”

I was hurt. I devoted most of my time to work. I don’t work on Sundays but after church, I stroll to Emperor hospital or the General Hospital where I was stationed by WHO. I needed to while away my time. I was 33 years without a man to call my own. I felt bad for the wasted years I had with Emmanuel.

One morning, I was called to the hospital for a case at the General hospital. The lady was pregnant and was bleeding. I rushed to the hospital, there was no doctor. She was a young mother, this was her first pregnancy and she was just sixteen. She was me. Her mother wasn’t buoyant. She couldn’t afford the delivery fee talk less of surgery. There was no doctor available.

I was angry in my spirit. I asked questions and discovered the young girl didn’t have antenatal and never did a scan. Her poor mother knelt and begged me to help her save her child. I picked my phone and called Emperor hospital. I told them I needed an ultrasound done immediately. I used my car to take her to Emperor hospital. As I got there, I met Dr Fahdi at the entrance.

‘What happened?” he asked me and I told him about the case. He immediately asked for her to be wheeled to the ultrasound unit. He did the scanning himself and ascertained there was more than one baby in her stomach and they were breech. She needed to be operated upon immediately.

The young girl’s mother fell to the floor in tears. She asked how she will pay the bill (looking at the hospital, she was terrified). I told her not to worry. Dr Fahdi didn’t ask for any money. We prepared for surgery and she was delivered of triplets, two girls and a boy. We worked as a team and everything went well.

The girl’s mother cried even more. How would she feed and train three babies when her daughter was barely a baby herself. The house they lived in was in terrible condition for one baby and now three? It was tough.

Some of the women in the ward gave out baby things and cash to me for the girl and her mother. She was lucky to meet kind-hearted people that day. It wasn’t much but it was something.

The babies were born at 36 weeks. They weighed an average of 1.9kg. They were placed in incubators. I went out to buy some more baby needs for the baby and gave the mother money to get some things for the girl.

It was a stressful day. Dr Fahdi and I sat in the compound of the hospital in a sit out and had drinks while we talked about the events of the day. I was worried about the bill but he said I should forget about it.

‘I am more worried about the girl and the child. Her mother has four other children. Her father is irresponsible. He was drunk when his daughter needed him the most. I wish I could get a place for the girl to stay and the children tended to. I want to involve the police to get the father of the children responsible. Her life will be ruined now”

“It doesn’t have to be. I had a son when I was about her age. The father of my son is a deadbeat. He was my cl@$$mate. My father threw me out but my mother didn’t give up on me. She brought me to my grandparents who took very good care of me. My grandmother and my son are best of friends. She can have that life too. She can go back to school and make something out of her life for herself and her three beautiful kids. I did it. My son just finished secondary school and is preparing for his SAT and TOEFL examinations. Everything I have ever worked for was for him. He is my life. I want him to be someone. I know his father will come back when he has made it to claim him but I pray he remembers how much I did for him”

“You have a son? You don’t look it”

“I do. He is seventeen. Smart boy, very intelligent. He makes me very proud. Having him was the best decision I ever made. It cost me my relationsh¡p with my father but I am fine now”

I heard some clapping behind me while Dr Fahdi looked up at him, I turned to look and it was Bode. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stood up in the excitement but met a very cold stare.

“Bode, what are you doing here?” I asked.

Dr Fahdi stood up and excused himself.

“This is why you don’t want to sleep with me. You have a lover here and want to trap me to marry you. It is bad enough you had a baby outside marriage, you want to add insult to the injury by deceiving me and keeping a lover”

“What are you talking about Bode? Who is my lover? Dr Fahdi? We had a case I brought here from General hospital and he helped me handle it. The young girl had triplets. We were just relaxing after the stress. Did you see us in uncompromising positions? We sat a distance from each other, did we tou-cheach other?”

“Why are you here on a Sunday if not to meet your lover?”

“I don’t owe you an explanation. You ignored my calls and messages for almost two months; you have no right to ask me questions”

“You are cheating on me and still bragging on top of it?”

“Cheating bawo? By the way, we were no longer together so how is it cheating? Do I know what you were doing in Lagos?”

“Did you make the effort to resolve this issue? Did you come to look for me in Lagos and I refused to see you?”

“I didn’t come because I don’t like surprises. Secondly, if I am with you alone at your place, anything can happen. I don’t want that. I am keeping myself until after marriage. Why the rush?”

“You gave a man who didn’t marry you your b©dyfor how many years and now you are giving it to another man who also won’ marry you. The one that wants to marry you deserves the leftovers, abi?”

“Bode, it was nice seeing you again. I don’t have time for childish arguments. I am going in now to check on my patients. Bye-bye”

I walked away from him into the hospital. He called me twice but I ignored him. Bode was very comfortable but completely insecure. I didn’t need a man like him. I love my job and career. I could see clearly, he was going to frustrate my life. I wanted a husband desperately but I was using my head to ensure I got it right.

I met Dr Fahdi in the incubator room. He also came to check on the babies.

‘I thought you had left. Who is that guy?” he asked me.

“Soon to be ex-boyfriend”

“He sounded angry”

“I don’t care. I can’t stand his childishness and jealousy. I want to get married but not that bad that I will settle for unhappiness”

“Makes sense”

“Let me talk to the girl’s mother. I have spoken with my grandmother and she has agreed for the girl to stay with us until she can live on her own.”

“Isn’t that too much responsibility?”

“I want to set up the girl’s mother so she can take care of the triplets while the girl returns to school”

“Not a bad idea. I could help. I will put a donation box for the triplets in all consulting rooms and the reception. We would raise good money through that means”

“Won’t management object?”

“Why would they? They would agree; it is for a just cause”

That night, my grandmother talked to me about Bode. She claimed Bode loved me so much that he had become insecure. He came to her to confess his love for me. He wanted to marry me once we agree on the terms.

I told grandmother the terms. “He wants to be having s-x with me until we get married, that is if we will. And he wants me to give up my job and move with him to Lagos to care of his kids”

“What? Why are men like this now? Anyway, that’s how they are. You mustn’t have s-x with him until he has done at least engagement. I hope you are not giving it to someone else while you starve him”

“Me? I am not interested in s-x again. I want money and I am working for it. s-x has put me in so much trouble that I am not interested anymore.”

“I will tell him you cannot move from Ijebu ode. He will have to understand. Don’t worry, I will talk to him”

“To be honest, the way he treated me has made me give up on the relationsh¡p. He is too childish from my liking. How can he keep malice with me for almost two months?”

“I will talk to him. My dear, give him a chance. It is love, it shaks men differently”

Tbc