TOLERATED - by Ibrahim Haruna Madison

TOLERATEDOn Friday morning, around 6:20am, Tamilore was prepared to set out for work. She retrieved her car keys from her bag and stepped out of the house. She was about to enter into her car, then her phone rang. It was her brother, Yomi that was calling. “Early in the morning” She thought, trying to figure out why he was calling at that particular time. She entered into the car before picking the call. “Let me guess. Your wife has put to bed, right?” “Prophetess, you are right” He smiled. “Congratulations bro” “Congratulations to you too. Your niece is here” “It’s a girl...Wow! I’ve you called Mum and Dad?” “Yes, I have. Mum is coming tomorrow while Daddy is coming next week for the naming ceremony” He informed. “Since tomorrow is Saturday, I will come with Mum. I doubt if I’ll be available to attend the naming ceremony. We have a program in church next week and I’m in charge of the program planning” “Okay, no problem” “I’ll call Anty Omolara later in the day” She said. “Okay. Have a nice day” She replied him and he ended the call. Immediately after the call ended, Tamilore’s Mum’s call came through. They congratulated each other, her Dad also spoke wither as well. Then she informed her Mum that she’ll be travelling with her. “I’ll book our flight ticket” She informed her Mum. “Okay. I’ll come over to your place this evening, we’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning” “Okay ma. Have a nice day” Tamilore said and her Mum replied her before ending the call. Tamilore turned on the engine and drove off. Later that day, he called his brother’s wife to congratulate her and asked how she was faring. She also called Femi who was still in the hospital with his wife. He informed him about the new born baby and told him she’ll be travelling to Abuja the next day. ****Tamilore and her Mum got to Abuja and find their way to the hospital. They met with Yomi at the hospital lobby, ready to receive them. The three hugged each other and congratulated Yomi. He led them to his wife’s hospital room. “Grandma…..” Omolara said when she sighted her mother in-law who walked up to her bed and gave her a hug. Tamilore too hugged her too. Yomi took the baby from the cot and handed her to his Mum. She took the baby from him and sat on a chair. Tamilore also sat next to her Mum waiting for her turn to carry the baby. Dr Mrs. Adeyemo, looked closely at the baby. She checked every part of her body, she feels the baby’s hands and feet. “Mummy the doctor…. Dr. Mrs Adeyemo, you sha want to examine every……”Tamilore was saying and her Mum cut in. “Something is not right” “My wife and I noticed too. We’ve complain to our baby’s pediatrician and some test had been run this morning. We are waiting for the result. “Thank God you two observed” Dr Mrs. said. “You people should not scare me, you know I’m the only non-medical personnel here. So what exactly is wrong?” “We are waiting for the result too. I believe all will be well” Omolara said. Dr. Mrs looked at her daughter in-law with a questioning look. Yomi saw the look his Mum gave his wife. “Mummy, what?” “Okay o, I hope it’s not what I’m thinking” She shrugged. “Mummy, I’m getting scared now. What are you thinking?” Omolara asked her mother in-law curiously. "Let’s just wait for the result” She said and the room was silence. The baby was sleeping in her arms. “Tamilore, you want to carry her, right. Here” She said and passed the baby to her daughter. Tamilore observed the baby in her hands. “I think I now get what you people are saying. She is not breathing well” Tamilore said. “Not only that, her feet and hands are cold and she is pale. Very….pale” Dr. Mrs. added. And everyone sighed. The door burst open, the Pediatrics doctor, Doctor Eben who is also Yomi’s friend and colleague walked in. Everyone sit up except Yomi who stood up to face the Doctor Eben. “How far with the result?” Yomi asked. “I can see you have company. Can we talk in….” “Say whatever it is you want to say. This is my Mum and sibling” She pointed at them. “Oh! My bad, I just remembered the faces. I saw them at your wedding” “So…..” Yomi tried to hasten him. “Here” Doctor Eben handed the medical report to Yomi. “Ordinarily, this test should take two to three weeks for infants and I only did this because of you” “I know and I appreciate. Thanks” Yomi said. He went through the result and shouted. “This is a mistake. This can never be possible” Dr Mrs. Adeyemo took the report from Yomi and went through it. “My guess was right” She said. Omolara collected the medical result from her mother in-law to see for herself since no one is talking while Tamilore looks confused. “No this can be. I’m AA for crying out loud how can I give birth to SS when my husband is AS?” “Jesus! Are you saying the baby has sickle cell anemia?” Tamilore asked. "Let’s do a rerun. This is a mistake” Yomi said. “We’ve done it thrice, two from here and the third one in another lab outside this hospital and we got same result” Doctor Eben explained. “How can? Despite the fact that my wife and I knew our genotype, we still had another one before our marriage” “As it is, the two of you have to run another genotype test. We need to know how the baby turned out to be SS. I’ll send a nurse to come take the blood samples of the two of you” Doctor Eben said to the couple. “Okay” Yomi said and the doctor left. The three adults in the room were silent. A nurse walked in and took the blood samples of the couple and left. “I need to get fresh air” Yomi said and turned o leave. “Yomi! His mum called out. “Mum, please….” He said and left. Omolara started crying. “Haaa…. SS…..How will I live with this. How will I cope? We got married knowing that our blood group was compatible. The two genotype results I have said I’m AA!” Omolara lamented. Tamilore and her Mum tried to calm her down. Few minutes later, Yomi returned. His eyes were swollen. “You are crying too. You have to be strong for your wife and the baby” Tamilore counseled. “Yomi, remember I asked for Omolara’s genotype result myself and what you two showed me was AA. I know my son is a carrier, reason why I asked us to run another one back then but the two of you said, you’ve done the test twice. So I kept quiet now we have a sickle cell baby” Dr Mrs. said and bowed her head in sadness. She raised her head and continued. “Aside Tamilore, the three of us are medical personnel and we know what he takes to have a sickle cell child. The poor baby will…will….The excruciating pain she’ll be subjected to and…and…My God!” She shakes her head repeatedly and buried it in her palms. “All will be well” Yomi said courageously and everyone chorused “Amen. Few hours later, the pediatric doctor walked in with the result in his hands. He looked at Omolara’s face.‘I’m AS” Omolara said rather than ask. The doctor nodded and she busted into another round of tears.“God sees my heart, I know nothing about this. All my life I thought I was AA” “Sweetheart, calm down. I know, at least I took you to the lab where we had the one before our marriage. I even collected the result myself. So calm down nobody is accusing you of anything” “Your husband is right. It’s not your fault. To be sincere, things like this happens. I have quite a number of couples who are victims of lab result errors” “You are right ma and now couples have been advised to run the test at least three times in three different laboratories” The pediatric doctor added. “Yes, just to avoid things like this” Dr. Mrs. affirmed. “All we need to focus on now is how to care for the child. So we’ll start administering all the necessary drugs” Doctor Eben said. Everyone nodded, they thanked him and he left. On Sunday morning, Tamilore returned back to Lagos, while her Mum stayed behind. **** Omolara and the baby were discharged from the hospital four days later. They got back home at their Abuja residence. Omolara’s Mum too was now around. She was aware of the issue on ground, she cried and all but crying can’t solve anything. The grandmas and wife started making plans for the naming ceremony but Yomi shocked everyone when he told them he was not having a naming ceremony. His Mum tried to persuade him to no avail, she took her phone and called her husband to talk sense into his son. The man called but he insisted that they are not having any naming ceremony until he says otherwise. News got to Tamilore, Yomi did not even attend to her sister’s call at all. Omolara cried and pleaded with him but he didn’t agree. His father decided to stay back in Abeokuta since the naming ceremony is not happening. Two days later, Omolara woke up on the day that was supposed to be the christening but she didn’t see her husband. All she saw was on a note that read “I took a leave of absence from work. I’ll be back soon. Take care of yourself and the baby” Omolara screamed and the two grandmas rushed to her bedroom. They also read the note and pacified Omolara that her husband will come around. TO BE CONTINUED

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