Things We Do For Love - Six

Sister?

I was immediately thrown into turmoil. What could possibly have happened to my sister? Had she suffered another ulcer crisis linked to her poor eating habits? Should I continue towards Surulere to meet with Alhaji and start the process of finding Feyi, or turn in the opposite direction and head for Duro Soleye to be with my sister?

Those few moments were the craziest of my life, and then the situation became clear to me in an instant.

My sister, Titilola, was in an undergraduate program at the American University of Nigeria, in Yola. I had dropped her off at the airport a few days ago, waited to see her board the plan, and had seen it rise into the skies. Titilola was mortally scared of air travel, ever since we lost a cousin in the Dana air crash. Every time she was due to fly, she would send texts to the entire family requesting their prayers. I had gotten no such text. The chances were Titilola was very much in school, in Yola.

That then left only one person who could be mistaken as my sister, or who would tell a nurse that I was her brother – for whatever reason: Feyi.

I had been struck with an epiphany that had legs. I leapt out of the Ojuelegba bus and promptly crossed the highway to the other side. I was headed for Ikeja!

I do not remember the actual details of my commute to Duro Soleye. But I remember praying in tongues from Palm-Grove till I got to the hospital gates. Thankfully, Alhaji did not call – so I did not have to explain to him that I was not on my way to his stall.

*****

You can only imagine my joy when a brief peep into the ward confirmed that it was indeed Feyi. A brief conversation with the nurse provided perspective on the situation. Yes, she had been hit by a car somewhere around Surulere. Fortunately for her, the driver of the vehicle was Seni Williams – a medical doctor at Duro Soleye hospital. Yes, she had been hurt – but – she wasn’t caught unawares by the car and she’d had a few seconds to jump off the road and avoid the worst of the impact. Yes, she broke her leg. Yes, it would heal and she would walk perfectly again. No, she was not awake; in fact, since the surgery to save her leg, she had only awakened for long enough to mutter my number to the doctor.

I was awash with feelings of joy. In one morning, I had gone from ‘scared’ to ‘confused’, and now to ‘relieved’. I went into the ward and sat on a plastic chair next to her bed. I wanted to hold her hands, to run my fingers through her silky hair, to scream her name – but I did none of that. Nurse Toyin looked like she would throw me out of the room at the slightest chance, and frankly – I did not want that.

And then my phone rang again. This was unusual. I did not get so many calls, particularly not on a Saturday. The number was unfamiliar, so I thought it was Alhaji trying to reach me from a call-center.

“Alhaji”, I began.

“Hello. Am I on to Mr. Mofesola?”

“Er, yes. Alhaji?”

“No. I am not Alhaji. My name is Andrew, from General Electric.”

I was bemused. This was a first. I had not known that some companies could be so unkind as to call you after you failed an interview - versus sending you feedback via email. I stood from the chair and stepped out of the ward. Even though Feyi was asleep, I was not going to take a chance on her overhearing this conversation.

“Please continue, Mr. Andrew.”

“I’m sorry to be calling you on a Saturday. I sent you two emails over the past two days, and you did not respond to either.”

“Oo, really? You sent me email?” By then, I was pretty sure something was wrong with the General Electric Human Resources department. Was it not plain wickedness to send me two separate mails communicating my failure at an interview, then call me to rub it in?

“I need to confirm something before we continue. You speak French fluently, yes?”

“Yes, I do. I’m sorry but I haven’t seen the emails. Maybe they went into my spam folder. Would you be so kind as to advise me of their content?”

“Yes. I’d be glad to do that. The mails were to offer you a position in General Electric West Africa as a regional manager for our Francophone operations, conditional on your passing a medical test. You were to have picked up physical copies of your offer-letter latest COB yesterday, but I figured you probably did not see the mails and decided to call your number directly.”

Offer Letter? General Electric? West Africa? Francophone operations?

I hung up and sat – right there on the floor.

(Ep. End).