Sam had left the village that morning. He knew Kim wouldn’t run to any other place but Lagos. When his mother came back from church that morning, she was sure no harm would befall his unborn baby and his ‘wife’.
“Go and look for your wife. You will find her and she will not abort the pregnancy. At the due time, I’ll come to take care of my grandchild. My father in heaven assured me of that,” mama had told him.
He marveled at her faith. Somehow, it encouraged him. He had the presence of mind to wolf down breakfast before driving off. “My father in heaven will lead you, my dear son. I’m waiting for you here. I will not cease telling my father in heaven about you and your wife. You will come back with your wife for your marriage ceremony.
I will continue with the marriage plan,” she said. “Thank you mama. You’re the best mother in the whole world,” Sam had said and meant it. Sam left the village three hours after Kim. He had worried when her phone remained switched off for hours. He sent many messages to her phone all the same. She would read them anytime she turned on her phone.
Less than three hours to Lagos, he slows down the speed of his car and dials Kim’s number again. He is lucky. It rings but is not answered. He dials it repeatedly for a while and drops the phone. He drives on. After a while, a morbid thought crosses his mind. Why is she not picking her calls? Is anything wrong? The expressway is riddled with potholes. He steps on the brakes again and pulls off the road. He dials her number and is lucky. She answers.
After that call, he wished she didn’t pick. Abortion? God forbid! She will never do that. He has to race to Lagos. He steps on the throttle and his phone slips off and falls under the passenger seat. He ignores it. With the speed he is driving, he needs no distraction. He is less than an hour to Lagos when the phone begins to ring persistently for a while. The low ringtone is, however, drown by the music in the car. He drives on.
****
People have gathered at the scene of the accident.
The front of the cab is crushed. The windscreen is shattered. The cabbie is helped out of the car. His hands are lacerated and bleeding. His passenger lies motionless with her head towards the dashboard and her derrière towards the back seat. Sympathisers are already forcing the door open. Carefully, they pull her out and lay her gently on the ground.
She’s got a cut on her forehead and it’s bleeding, soiling her face and the front of her blouse with blood. “Keep a distance from her. She needs medical attention fast but she also needs air right now,” a young man said, shooing sympathisers a little off her. “There’s a hospital a few minutes drive away,” someone in the crowd said. “How do we take them there?” Another sympathiser asked.
“Here…I’ll take them,” a middle age man in suit said. They all look at him. The accident victims must be very lucky. It’s usually difficult to get such help from strangers who are always afraid of the fallout of such philanthropic gestures. “I’m the owner of the vehicle that they crashed into,” he said.
They all look at him. He looks so responsible and he actually is because he could have driven away as attention was on the smaller car which took all the damage as well as its occupants. As if on cue, they all turn to look at the car that crushed the front of the Golf GTI cab. It’s a gleaming black Toyota Prado with front guard.
“I’m sorry,” he said to no one in particular. “Can someone help me lift her?” He said. “Yes…yes,” some of the men chorused. They lift Kim into the back seat of the Prado, the cabbie joins her there while one of the onlookers jumps into the front seat.
“Does the lady have a phone with her? She needs to be identified,” the owner of the SUV said. “I think she has a bag,” the cabbie said through gritted teeth. For him, the pain is more from the wreck of his cabbie than from the lacerations on his arm. He knew he was at fault. If he had stepped on his brakes for a moment, this accident wouldn’t have occurred. But his mind was bogged by the fact that his nagging girlfriend was waiting for him to get her some money. He was in a hurry to drop this passenger and hustle for another one.
Now this! The stranger in the front passenger seat has gone to bring Kim’s bag from the cab. As the man maneuvers inside a side street on their way to a hospital, the stranger keeps calling the recently dialed numbers on Kim’s phone. It seems her enemies are on duty. Out of the three recently dialed numbers, only one is going through but not answered.
He sends a message to that particular number after a while. At the hospital, nurses run out with stretchers and wheeled the accident victims inside.
****
Immediately Sam gets into Lagos, he drives to Kim’s place. Somehow, he believes that Kim won’t go for an abortion. She will be in her house seething with rage. The fact that he left the village immediately to come find her will prove to her that he really loves her. Kim is not at home! A neighbour said she hadn’t been seen in the last three days. Oh, why didn’t he think of it, she would have gone to his house. She has her own keys!
As he turns to leave, the ‘Mai guard’ approaches him. “Musa, how are you? Did you see my wife?” Sam asked him. “Oga, my wife come now fa. I go out quick, quick. I stand, enter taxi go fa,” Musa said in his funny Northern accent.
Sam is in no mood for laughter. He dips one hand into a pocket, brings out a note and thrusts it into Musa’s hand without looking at it. He is already in his car, searching for his phone under the seat as Musa shouts after him. “Oga I give me this big money fa?”
Eleven missed calls from Kim! He’s about to return the call when he notices the flashing ‘message’ icon. He logs into the message box. The terse message says, “Owner of phone involved in an accident. Unconscious. @ River Valley Hospital, Surulere.” His heart stops beating for a moment. Kim involved in an accident? How? Where? Why? Is this a joke? Most likely!
He dials the number and a male voice answers. “Please, I’m Sam. Where’s my wife? What happened. Please tell me. Can I speak to her. How bad is she? Please tell me,” Sam strutters into the phone. “Calm down man.
The doctor is with them. Just come over. She didn’t talk while we drove her here. We’ll know once the doctor comes out,” the voice said. “I’m coming right over,” Sam said and engages his car’s gears. Ask him how he got to that hospital, he doesn’t have an idea. Immediately he enters the hospital reception area, he dials Kim’s number again, looking wildly around him.
He notices a young man raise a phone to his ears immediately Kim’s number connected. He walks up to the guy. “Hey! Good evening. You have my wife’s phone. Where’s she? How’s she? I’m her husband. I spoke to you a while ago,” he said in quick succession as the young man stands up. A man in suit sitting beside him also stands.
“The doctor is still with them,” the young man said, thrusting Kim’s phone into Sam’s hand.
******************
How bad are the cabbie and Kim? What did the doctor tell them? Did Kim lose her pregnancy? Why not join me here on Sunday?
