TOLERATEDÏ - by Ibrahim Haruna Madison

TOLERATED EPISODE Months later, Tara was getting worse and worse by the day. Her nonchalant attitude about her marriage was driving Femi nut as she leaves the house anytime she pleases and returns anytime she feels like. Femi had a business conference to attend in Chicago and he spent more than two weeks over there. The only person he could communicate with was Olawale his friend. He hasn’t heard from Tammy in a long while and he decided to let her be. He returned back to Nigeria and back to his usual work life because work is the only thing he could channel his pains on. ***** Femi Brown decided to give himself a one month leave from the office at least Tara wasn’t around, so the home would be peaceful and conducive for him to stay. And he really needed the rest, work had been hectic for him and without consulting a doctor, he himself knew he had to step out from the company for a while if he didn’t want to collapse. A week into his leave he was indoor, although he was still attending to office work from home. Then he decided to do environmental sanitation, the house needs serious cleaning. He started from the kitchen to the store and lastly the bedroom, the one he shared with his wife. Tara’s closet was untidy so he started arranging the place. He saw some documents that are out of place so he brought out the box where she keeps documents such as contracts and the rest. The box was locked, he tried her normal password that she used often but it didn’t work, then he tried three more times and click, the box opened. He realized the inside was in a mess too so he took his time to bring all the documents out and started arranging them one after the other but something caught his attention, there was this blue envelop with the name of a hospital boldly written on it and that was not the name of their family hospital. So out of curiosity he brought out the papers inside the envelop. It was a medical test result. As a food scientist, he had little knowledge of microbiological terms, so he read through the results on the papers. The first paper carries a pregnancy test result and the second one was another test done after evacuation to confirm that the evacuation was carried out successfully. “Jesus! Jesus!!” He flung the paper away as he exclaimed. “Tara aborted my baby and lied to me that she had a miscarriage! Four weeks pregnancy!” Then he remembered that there was still one more paper left inside the envelop. He brought it out and read through and he almost ran mad at what he saw. Tara was actually on a contraceptive. She had an implant in her body that will not allow her get pregnant. That explain why a marriage of over five years didn’t produce a child. He screamed out in pain. Femi had accepted that he married a wrong woman but he never knew he married a she-devil. “How will a woman deprive his husband of having kids? I’m an only child for God sake but Tara only cares about her career” He said to himself and screamed again. He was losing his mind, he didn’t know what to do, he picked his phone still thinking on who to talk to, Tamilore came to mind but he couldn’t call her, she won’t even pick the call. He was already crying profusely, then he called his friend, Olawale.. “Hello” He said. “Femi please I can’t talk right now, my wife had just been rushed into the labour room. I’ll call you later” He said and hang up immediately. “Hello! Hello!” Femi said anxiously into the phone but Olawale had already disconnected the call. Not knowing what else to do, he picked his car keys and drove out of the house, he was driving to only God knows where but the journey didn’t end well, Femi lost control behind the wheels and crashed his car. He didn’t use the sit belt so he hit his head on the steering and passed out. The policemen on the road and some good citizens helped him into another car and rushed him to a general hospital. He was rushed to the emergency unit but wasn’t attended to. The doctors on ground were equally busy with other patients. One of the rescuers went back to the accident scene to search for Femi's phone but the phone wasn’t in the car. He searched the car thoroughly and luckily he saw his ID, he checked for the next of kin. He tried the number but it wasn’t going through. It was the wife's mobile phone number. He saw another ID that carries in case of emergency. The man called the number, it rang, thankfully. “Hello” He said. “Hello” “I’m I speaking to Mr. Olawale?” “Yes and you are…?” “Do you know any Mr. Femi Brown?” He asked. “Yes, he’s my friend, Please who is this? I’ve been trying his lines for like an hour now” “I searched his car but couldn’t find his phone but luckily I got your number from one of the IDs in his car” “His car, how” Olawale sounded confused. “He was involved in an accident. He is at the hospital as we speak” He revealed. “What! He called me like…like…two hours ago. Where is he right now, what’s his present condition?” “We rushed him to the general hospital and he is presently unconscious” He informed. "My God, I’m a hospital right now. My wife is in the labour room but I’ll run along now. Thank you so…much” He said and rushed out of the hospital. Olawale got to the emergency unit and his friend was barely attended to, he started creating scenes, the nurse told him to calm down that the doctors are busy attending to other patients in critical conditions as well. He remembered he had a doctor friend who worked at the hospital, he called the guy and he showed up 15minutes later. With his help they were able to get the doctors to attend to Femi. He was rushed into the theatre where he had surgery. They were able to resuscitate him, though he was still unconscious but he now had a pulse and the heart beat is also normal. If Olawale hadn’t showed up in like another one hour, Femi would have died. That was what his doctor friend told him. Olawale's attention was also needed at the hospital where his wife was. He eas called on phone by one of the nurses over there that his attention was needed. He looked at his friend who has now been moved from the operatingroom into a private ward with the help of his doctor friend. Femi was still unconscious, Olawale's phone was ringing continuously. He couldn’t tell his wife who was still in labour about Femi to avoid another disaster. He tried Tara's number, it wasn’t going through then he sent her a WhatsApp message but the message wasn’t delivered. “I need Femi's phone” He said scratching his head trying to think. He rushed out of the hospital hoping to see the phone in his house. He hoped the phonewasn’t stolen at the accident scene. He got to the house, the gateman opened up for him, the front door to the main building was unlocked, he opened the door and stepped into the living room, he searched everywhere for Femi’s phone and saw the phone in his bedroom. Then he saw some papers on the floor, he went through it one by one and it was cleared to him reason why his friend got into an accident because the Femi he knew is not areckless driver. “So Tara had an implant in her body all this while” He said and shakes his head. He picked the remaining papers and dropped them on the bed. Then he had a second thought. “I’ll hold on to this in case Tara wants to play a fast one on my friend” He said and put the results inside the envelop and put it in his pocket. He went back to the phone, he unlocked it and searched for Tara's manager number, he saw it and dialed his number. He picked the call and Olawale explain to him that he needs to speak with Tara. The Manager told him that Tara is busy. Olawale told the manager about the accident and that Tara’s attention is needed immediately but the Manager told him that Tara can’t return to Nigeria until the following week. “Did you hear what I said? Her husband is lying unconscious in the hospital and you are telling me she can’t come back to Nigeria until next week!” "Its New York fashion week and she’s going to be on the Runway throughout this week and…. “You know what, you guys can rot in New York for all I care” He said and hang up on Tara's Manager. There was no one else he could call. He took his time to think and someone came to his mind. He knew Femi wouldn’t like what he was about to do but he had no other person to call. He picked the number from Femi’s phone contacts. “I’m sorry Femi but I have to do this” He said to himself and dialed the number, using his own phone to make the call. “Hello, who is this?” “This is Olawale, Femi Brown’s friend. Do you still remember him?” She smiled faintly. “Sure” “Who forgets a man like Femi Brown” Tamilore said in her mind.“Please I need your help” “My help! How may I help you?” “Femi is lying right now in the hospital unconscious” “He’s what!” She gasped. “He got into an accident this morning and he had surgery but he is now stable” “My God!” She place her left hand on her chest” “My wife is in the labour room as we speak but I couldn’t stay with her because I had to rush to go be with Femi. Please I need someone to be with him. You know how things run in a general hospital, someone has to be around for the patient” He said. “What about his wife?” She asked although she already knew the answer. “She’s not in the country and she’s not reachable. Femi's closest relatives are not in the country as well” " Tamilore sighed and agreed to stay with him. Olawale sighed too on the other side and thanked her before ending the call. “God this is not the way I planned to spend my leave from work but please keep him safe” She prayed silently. Her six weeks leave was to start the next day. She can’t say no to Olawale, Femi is worth much more.Alex was not on sit, so Tammy called one of her superiors instead and told him she would be leaving before the close of work and the man gladly obliged her and wish her a stress free leave, little did he know that she was resuming work in the hospital. Tamilore drove straight to the hospital and located Femi’s hospital room. She entered, A doctor is standing right next Femi, he injected Femi through the cannula that was fix on his right arm. She wept when she saw Femi lying on the bed, unconscious of his environment. The sight of what she saw scared her to death. Some wires were plugged to Femi's chest and connected to a monitor, he was also breathing through oxygen that was fixed through his nostrils. “Doctor what’s his state now?” She asked the doctor who was attending to him. “Are you the patient's relative that will be staying with him?” “Yes, though I’m a friend. His wife is not in the country” “I was told. Anyways, the surgery went well, all we could hope for is for him to open his eyes. Once he’s conscious then I can assure you he’ll be fine” “Okay, please try your entire best Doctor and I believe God will help you” She said to the doctor. The Doctor assured her that all his team will try their best. The doctor gave her a prescription pad and some tests to run” She collected it and headed to the hospital pharmacy, from there he went to the laboratory. She returned into the ward an hour later and met three more doctors attending to Femi. They asked for the test results and she gave it to them. Some minutes later, the doctors left. Tamilore was now alone with Femi who was only breathing. "She stood beside his bed and held his hands “Hi” She said and paused. “It’s been a while Femi but…..” She broke into tears. “….I never wished for us to meet again like this” She cleaned her face and held his left hand that carried his wedding band. “Femi, please come around. Please….” She pleaded with someone who obviously did not know what’s going on around him. She calmed herself and made up her mind to be strong for him. Later that day, she went home to pack few things for herself since she was told someone has to be with him 24/7. The doctors may need her anytime. She came back in the evening and slept on the couch in Femi’s hospital room. The next morning, around 5am, a nurse walked in and Tamilore woke up immediately she heard sounds. She greeted the nurse and she replied. “You need to bath the patient” The nurse said. “Bath! But he is unconscious!” “That’s why he needed someone to bath him. It is called bed bath” The nurse informed. “Shouldn’t that be your work?” Tamilore queried. “It is but do you know how many patients I have to attend to this morning before I handover. I’m in charge of the general ward of eighteen patients and no three private wards. Reason why we allow patients relative who are around to assist us” “Really, is this how thing are run here?” “Yes” The nurse replied and continued with what she was doing. She checked the urine bag and recorded the urine level. She noticed a little leakage on the catheter where the urine passes into the urine bag. She removed the catheter and replaced it with a new one. “I'll be back in twenty minutes to check his vital signs. By then you should be through bathing him” She said and left. "Tamilore sat down for about 10minutes, she doesn’t know what to do. Then the same nurse walked in. “You haven’t started yet?” “Nurse, I don’t know how to go about it” She confessed. The nurse looked at her and sighed. She went into the bathroom and brought a bowl of water and an empty bowl. She took the empty bowl out and came back with hot water inside it. “I need a small towel?” “I don’t have a new one here” She replied. “Just bring the one you have” The nurse said and Tamilore quickly get one from her bag. Let me quickly wash it” She said and hurried to the bathroom and came back with it. “Mix the cold and hot water together” She Nurse instructed and she obeyed. “Do you have antiseptic disinfectant?” Thankfully she brought one with her. She nodded and added antiseptic to the water. “Bathing soap?” The nurse requested and she went back into her things to get it. Then she thought her how to bed bath the patient. Tamilore started while she monitored her. She used the soapy towel to mop the whole body. Then rinse the towel in clean water. “What are you doing?” “I want to rinse his body with clean water” She explained. “You haven’t finish washing him” “I have” “What about his private area, you won’t wash that?” “Huh! Is that necessary?” “Oh! You want the place smelling before he wakes up right. My friend start washing” “I can’t wash his private part” “And why?” The nurse queried. He's a friend, we are not related” “So it’s the nurses that are related to patients abi” The nurse said with sarcasm. “Oya, start cleaning the place jare, as if it’s something you’ve not seen before” She said and Tamilore shakes her head. “Nurses can be raw” She said in her mind. Tamilore made sure she didn’t look at Femi's private area when she was scrubbing it with the moist soapy towel. “This one that you tilted your head sideways, you better turn your head and look at it and stop forming virgin Mary” The Nurse said jokingly. “It’s not funny jo” She said to the nurse who forced her to look and instructed her by force to hold the manhood up and wash the underneath. Tamilore almost fainted. “Femi will kill me, if he wakes up” She told the Nurse and the Nurse laughed. That was how Tamilore became friends with Nurse Badmus who was way older than her. She should be in her mid 40s. And that becomes her normal routine every morning to bath Femi. Olawale’s wife, Debby put to bed a bouncing baby girl at the early hours of that same morning. He was busy doing some running around in the hospital. He later spoke with Tamilore later in the day. **** Olawale was so grateful for Tamilore’s assistance. He couldn’t have done it without her. He had office work to attend to, a wife who just put to bed, a baby who hardly allow him sleep at night ever since his wife was discharged from the hospital and lastly, his best friend who also needed him. In one of his visits, he explained to Tammy what led to Femi’s accident. “Femi was probably furious and left the house in rage because of what he discovered” Olawale explained. Tamilore knew Tara was a bad wife, but she never knew she was worse. Or how do you explain a wife having an implant in her body without the husband's consent knowing well that her husband is an orphan and an only child who wanted to start his own family. TO BE CONTINUED

Other insights from Ibrahim Haruna Madison

Contributor Points

Points-to-Coupons

Referral Earning