The look in his eyes spoke sadness. His gaze was fixed at the door of the emergency room in front of him. Not even the 'hospital smell' he resented bothered him that moment; mama's life was the only thing he could think of. Fear and regret engulfed him, rendering his eyes and body transfixed, but his head spinning, spinning down memory lane....
''s-h-u-k-u-n-d-i!!!'' , he dropped the cigarette and dashed into the sitting room as soon as he heard mama's voice. He always wondered why his late father had married a Yoruba woman. She hardly ever pronounced his name right, and her English sounded like uncoordinated rap battles, it was epic!!.
''oko mi, take my subscription on the dining table and help me buy what the doctor have write inside it . This oloriburuku hypertension, ko ni pa mi se'', she said, as she raised her leg on the arm of the chair, such that her blue wrapper made way for her underwear to say 'hello'. ''Mama it's prescription not subscription ,doctors write prescription, ah!'', he blurted, storming out of the house to get her 'subscription'. He knew correcting her was hopeless, but he always did anyway. When he left , she murmured to herself why it should be 'subscription' and not 'prespcription', after all, ''sickness start with S and subscription Start with S too'' , this was her logic. Few seconds later, she travelled through dream ocean to her youthful days, and her snore was as melodious as ever.
"I want to buy Amlodipine 10mg", he tried hard to avoid her eyes, as he handed her the prescription. Adanna was the pharmacist on duty that evening. She was light skinned, with big butt, and bust too. Her hips were well curved such that a perfect circle could be drawn if both curves were fused together. He sometimes wished mama could speak as perfectly as the curves of Adanna's hips.
She handed him the drugs, and he left.
Chukwudi's heart skipped three beats when his house came in sight. He could see faint smoke coming out of the windows, and it gradually got thicker. He knew his eyes were not deceiving him- like his late father, he was eagle eyed . Quickly, he recovered some parts of his senses and put his feet to good use. His pace increased as soon as the thought of mama sneaked into his already busy head, and the high probability that she could be sleeping made him run even faster. He did not mind the cow dungs littered all over the street, he paid no attention to the irritated car drivers blaring their horns, he did not even notice that he had dropped mama's drugs. His house was on fire, and mama was in it.
- To be continued...