Emeka's journey back home has a dazzling convoy of flashy cars to
its credit and to the young man who has missed home for more than three years following
a mortal combat with death; a journey of about two hours seems to be taking a
lifetime. Thoughts about his mother's total blackout on him throughout his stay
in hospital continues to build up mountains
of fear in him and his persistent
dispelling of those avalanche of fears
advances with the journey.
Now, live in his mother's compound, the impatient Chukwuemeka
would not wait for the car to roll to a final stop at the parking lot. He storms
out. Mrs Fred-Donalds follows him immediately. Everything in him has braced up
for all possibilities now. A split-second
scan of the compound convinces him that prolonged neglect has stripped the
premises of huge chunk of beauty. But that is of no priority to him right now.
He storms into the sitting room, the whole building loud with silence. He bursts out from the door leading to the
living room, eyes darting on all corners, straight, he heads to his mother's bedroom.
Then, behold the shock!
News of her only child’s involvement in a terrorist attack on a
church had struck Emeka's Mum like bomb that fateful Sunday morning. She
stormed out of the house on receiving the news, overpowering attempts by the
news bearer to hold her down. Trotting along the busy road to no particular
destination, she was heard screaming in sheer anguish.
It was in the process that she slumped and plunged into what a
revered medical Doctor described as a strange form of Coma which starves the
brain of adequate blood and oxygen which could leave the patient unresponsive
to stimuli for years without degenerating to a vegetative state.
To all appearances, Emeka's mother could be judged dead. The only
thing that has kept her on the surface of the earth is the guilt of burying
someone who has not pronounced medically dead and that slim expression of hope
from the Doctor.
Chief Fred-Donalds got wind of the health condition of Emeka's Mum
upon accepting Agbomma's unswerving request to shoulder Emeka’s medical bills
and well-being three years ago. Quickly he employed the expertise of Doctor
Ken. While taking care of the son in hospital, the Fred-Donalds were also
taking extensive care of the ailing Mum back home.
Doctor Ken had issued stern instructions to the young nurse
employed to be taking care of Emeka's Mum, to be very watchful for what he described
as Cerebral
Neurozogic Showdown, in which a patient could suddenly show signs of
forceful comeback from Coma and the sequence of medical intervention within the
period of Showdown was well noted.
There in the
room, surrounded by a few visitors who could stand the heart-stopping scene at
the Moment, the very sorrowful Chukwuemeka continues pouring his mind at his
mother's feet and sultry streams of tears paid visit on the faces of all
present.
The sudden emergence of Ken the Doctor in that room was most
timely. Right in his presence, the long awaited Cerebral Neurozogic Showdown
kicked off. Emeka's Mum could be seen stretching out the hands that have laid unresponsive
to stimuli for years towards Emeka in a
manner that appeared she was all out to
console a son baked by sorrow.
Emeka quickly latched himself on those hands and instantly Doctor
Ken's expertise took charge. Sequence of meticulous medical intervention overruled
all emotions. In less than an hour, the great woman of valour was beginning to
show steady signs of life once again. Everyone was trapped in amazement. Ken's dedication to ensuring full recovery
was superb and in about three hours, mother and son were united once again
after epic comeback against all odds. The joy of the very ecstatic Chukwuemeka
knew no bounds. There, he had made solemn promise his Mum and the Fred-Donalds
family, to spend the rest of his life making them proud and in three years’
time, Emeka's Mum, in the company of the Fred-Donalds family, Cajethan and
Peter, will be storming Europe for the remarkable graduation of a young African
with such a wonderful result unprecedented since the university inception. Two years
after that, the world would be witnessing the conjugal vows of world-renowned
personalities, Destiny Chukwuemeka Echezona and Clarion Agbomma Fred-Donalds who would devote their lifetime
to providing help to the afflicted, the
forgotten and the downtrodden all over the world.
The end.
©Ray Eke
