Lemonades episode 4

TITLE: LEMONADES

WRITTEN BY: OGECHI ALABI

PART 4
I resigned from my job in Kano and travelled down to Lagos first to tell my mother the good news. She was very happy. She prayed for me and told me to remain focused and trust only in God.

“Be careful with Abuja men; avoid them like a plague. Concentrate on your job and be the best at it so you will be promoted every time there is a promotion. Don’t relent o! Junior is fine. If you need to go back to school, please do. I want to be so proud of you that I will raise my shoulders higher than shoulder pads when walking. See eh, your mistake will be a thing of the past. Your father will realise he has made a big mistake and repent. You just wait and see”

I said Amen to her prayers. I couldn’t wait for things to get better for me. I didn’t want my father to catch us together so I told her I had to leave for Ijebu ode immediately. She asked me to wait and then rushed back to the house. When she came back, she gave me an envelope.

“My daughter, you have tried. Take this money and buy yourself new clothes to resume work”

“I don’t need clothes mummy. I will be wearing my uniform there”

“You will have to wear clothes to work before you change to your uniform. You haven’t taken care of yourself for a long time. Buy clothes and toiletries so you will look human. You also have to eat well. You are too skinny. This your skin has to glow. Junior is well taken care of. Take care of yourself”

I laughed when she said those words. What did she mean? Take care of myself? For what? For a man? For people who don’t care about me? I just wanted to take care of my son. He was the only reason I was alive.

My grandparents were very happy with the news. I made several uniforms for work. I bought comfortable shoes. I left some money with my grandparents for my son; I promised to take him when I am fully settled. My grandmother asked me not to worry about him.

“Why do you want to take him? He is fine here. Allow him finish his primary education here. Begin to save for his secondary education in Abuja. He can be in boarding school while you work. Holidays, he can come here and stay with us. He is part of us now. My daughter, go and live your life. Junior is fine” my grandmother insisted.

“Thank you. What would I have done without you? I wish I could give you the world. You have supported me even when you didn’t have much. I will work hard and not bring you shame or disgrace. I will make your lives much better. You must enjoy the fruit of your labour”

I went back to Abuja. I stayed in the guest house for three months before I got an accommodation closer to the hospital. I shared a room with one of the nurses in the hospital who had accommodation. I didn’t want to be a burden to Alhaji Umar.

Working at the National Hospital was interesting. I took my job seriously. Some of the nurses there felt I was too serious. My first posting was to the Emergency unit. It was a crazy experience there at first. There were so many people but not enough beds. I tried to make sure I attended to all those I could and I did it with a smile on my face.

I worked for three years without any promotion. My son had gained admission into a secondary school in Abuja. He had the best result during the common entrance examination and also the best result during the interview. He was given a scholarship for tuition only.

The boarding and other fees for the school were very expensive. Emmanuel and his family did not support as promised. I was stuck with this bill. I wanted my son to attend this school. It was an A list school and was in Abuja too. I prayed continuously about it and then talked to my mother.

“My child, go back to the school. Tell them you cannot afford the boarding fee. If you can provide them with a service, they might be willing to help”

I did as my mother said. I sat with the school proprietor and explained my predicament. The proprietor wanted my son to attend the school. He suggested, “There is a scholarship being offered for underprivileged but highly intelligent children which your son falls into the category. We will apply to them for your son and if they agree to pay, they will take over the boarding and other fees”

“That will be great”

“He will need to write another examination to be able to get the scholarship”

“Not a problem, he will pass”

That was how my son gained admission into a prestigious secondary school without me paying any fees at all. I bought all the items for the boarding school. My mother got him the box he would use. Junior travelled to Abuja with his greatgrandmother. We all went to his school together.

My grandmother cried tears of joy and sadness at the same time as Junior settled in school. I felt proud of my son. I had to keep saving so he will be able to survive in this school. The cars we saw caused me heartache because we came in a rickety taxi. There were no small cars there. I wondered how my son would cope with these rich kids. He had never experienced luxury in his life. He never complained or made demands. I was blessed with a good son.

I had just arrived for work when one of the nurses informed me a man was looking for me. She directed me to where he was. I went over to the ward she directed me to. I saw Alhaji Umar. It had been years I saw him last. I was happy to see him.

“Nurse Esther, I have heard only good things about you. How are you? How is work?”

“It’s so good to see you again Alhaji. Work is excellent.”

“I am sure they have promoted at least twice now”

“No promotion sir. But I am still grateful I have a job”

‘No promotion? Why is that? I asked your matron about you and she had only nice things to say about you”

“That is how it is in the Federal civil service sir”

“Why did you stop communicating with me? I would have done something about that. Are you sure you want to continue here? One of my friends just opened a Women’s hospital, maybe you have heard of it. It is called Surehealth Specialist Women’s hospital in Garki. He seeks to employ nurses who are compassionate, respectful, hardworking and focused. I thought of you. His clients are people who can pay his consultants in dollars so you understand why he needs the compassionate, respectful and hardworking nurses.”

“You want me to leave the civil service for private practice? I don’t think I can do that”

“What can you do? Can you work the two jobs? I can arrange for you to work permanent night for a month in National Hospital and work during the day at Surehealth. It can be arranged. I trust you can do this job but I will allow you make the decision eventually”

“I want to go back to school to further my education. I am just waiting for my son to finish secondary school so I can spend less on him and save money for my education”

“Your son? You have a son?”

“Yes, I have a son. He is twelve years old now. He attends secondary school here in Abuja.”

“How old are you?” Alhaji asked quite perplexed.

“I will be twenty-eight this year sir”

“You have a twelve year old?”

“I do. I was young when I had him”

“You need this job then. I can arrange only nights for you here while you work during the day there. I will ask him to finance your Master’s degree programme by deducting part of your salary to be kept aside for you. When you are ready, he will make the cost for you. The nurses he hired have embarrassed him and his foreign consultants; it was a mess. I believe you haven’t changed from the respectful lady in met in Kano, or have you changed?”

I laughed. “I am still the same Alhaji. But what did they do wrong?”

“Begging. They are always begging his clients and the consultants for money. They have professional ways of doing it. Have you joined them in the civil service?”

“I can never do that. Begging isn’t dignified. I am only entitled to what I earn. If I am given something from the heart, I could accept it or reject depending on what my spirit says”

“Good. You are the woman for the job. Send me your CV. Also, please give me your phone number”

That was how I got a job at Surehealth Specialist Women’s hospital. The Medical Director (MD)specialized in fertility treatments, gynecology and obstetrics. He had foreign partners and consultants. Some patients came into the hospital and their perfumes remained hours after they have left. Some patients come and we don’t understand a word of what they say because of their accent. Some of the patients are nasty and very disrespectful while others are nice and friendly. I tried to be professional in doing my job.

The matron in the hospital didn’t like me very much. When I insist on doing things the right way, she tries to buy favours by cutting corner which I do not support. If the doctor says a patient should have a test done, or buy a particular drug or go through a particular process, I follow it to the later regardless of her instruction. She had reported me severally and when the MD heard my account, he supported me. Because of that, she stopped talking to me and gave me the most difficult and irritating jobs which I did with all pleasure. She also tried to make me stay beyond my closing time even with my replacement being present which I refused to do and took my leave. MD told her never to try that again.
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I worked there for a year and I received favours. Many patients liked me and collected my number. They engaged me on my days off to provide care for them or a loved one at home. I did this twice a week, in the morning and at night. This was additional money. I didn’t have a social life so I was happy working most of the time.

I had changed a lot. I had added some weight and could take better care of myself. I looked better and attractive enough for men to ask me out. Some of my patients’ husbands had made advances at me which I declined. It was fascinating to them when I said no without blinking an eyelid. I knew some of the nurses might be doing whatever with some clients but it wasn’t for me. I prayed everyday I would never be led into temptation.

I got a call that my grandfather was very sick. I applied for a five day leave to attend to him. I rushed to Ijebu ode to see him. My grandfather couldn’t talk or move. We rushed him to the hospital. His vitals were very bad; his blood pressure was high, sugar levels dangerously high, his kidneys were almost gone. It was just bad news everywhere. They were able to stabilize him for a while. I cried while I held him. He needed medication urgently. The drugs couldn’t be found in Ogun state, they sent someone to Lagos to get the drugs. I paid for the drugs and the messenger.

We waited tirelessly for the man to bring the drugs my grandfather needed, he didn’t come back. When we eventually reached him, he said the vehicle he entered broke down and they were fixing it. I asked him to enter another vehicle and come with the drug. He agreed but didn’t come back until it was very late. My grandfather had become restless then.

When they administered the medication, my grandfather became calm. He looked at me with tears in his eyes. He placed his hand on my head closed his eyes and his lips moved although no words came out. I cried as I knew he was praying for me. He then signalled for grandmother to come to him. He placed her head on his chest. I had never seen them openly show affection to each other. He gently stroked her hair while she sobbed. Suddenly, his hand dropped by his side. I observed when it was dropping and so I rushed to his side. I checked his pulse and there was nothing. I wanted to check his heart but my grandmother refused to raise her head from his chest. I called the doctor.

My grandfather had passed on. It was a brief illness but he had gone. I was the only one he asked my grandmother to contact, no other person was informed about his illness. I felt honoured he wanted me there. It was difficult to remove my grandmother from my grandfather’s chest but it was done eventually. She stopped crying and was just sober. I had to inform family members. They were shocked when they heard what happened. My mother came down immediately with her sister in Lagos. Her two brothers came in too.

I was told I wasn’t to be involved in the discussions for the burial of my grandfather. That was when I knew the greed of people. My uncles wanted to ransack the house for property documents but grandmother told them there was no need as her husband left a will and a lawyer was with all the documents. They were surprised. My grandparents weren’t rich; they lived off pension whenever it came. It was only my mother and her last sister who had relocated abroad that cared for their parents. In recent times, my mother could help even more after I was financially stable. When I began to earn well, I took over their care. I sent money to them monthly. I bought them phones (I saved for four months to gather the money), I bought them clothes and every other thing I could afford. They had shown me so much love and I had to reciprocate. I talked to them everyday from the moment they got their phones. They were my life. I cried in my closet and stayed strong for my grandmother in the open.

The burial cost was shared amongst my mother and her siblings. Nothing was shared to me. My mother asked me to save my money; my father would come through for her if need be. I took care of my grandmother instead. I made most of the arrangements for the burial with the monies contributed. I was glad to do it. I wanted it to be a memorable occasion for my grandmother.

Many people showed up for what was supposed to be a quiet burial. My father attended the burial of grandfather as custom demanded. I was ignored by my father and his mother who also attended but I didn’t mind. I also saw my brothers who I hadn’t seen in years. We hugged each other. I introduced them to my son Junior. The burial was like a reunion to me.

My grandfather had left a will. He bequeathed everything he had to his wife except the house he lived in. Upon my grandmother’s demise, the house was to be mine. His children, the boys especially, were not happy about it. The property was quite large, the house was on an acre of land. Behind the house was the farmland where they cultivated cassava, pepper, corn, tomatoes and so on. I didn’t know how big it was. I wondered why my grandfather gave it to me.

My uncles (my mother’s brothers) fought my mother over the property. They claimed I cajoled their father to give me the property. I couldn’t believe my ears. How could I have done that? My grandmother watched them make fools of themselves. She didn’t utter a word to them. When it became overwhelming for my mother, she cried to her mother and asked for help. My grandmother told her,

“Let them go and work for their own property instead of fighting for a dead man’s property. This man worked hard to send them to school and what did they do after they got married? They abandoned us. They asked us to fend on our pension which wasn’t coming often. It was you and Atinuke that made sure we lacked nothing. That was one of the reasons we allowed Esther to stay with us. During that period, you did your best to support us and Atinuke made sure we also didn’t lack. A young girl who has a child took over our responsibility. Esther has been taking care of us. She visits us as often as she can get off work. You gave her good training; she only made a mistake. I was worried she will go into prostitution like Monica that got pregnant and her parents drove her away. Now who has three children with no father? Monica. I thank God everyday Esther didn’t fall into that trap of the devil. Ignore them, let them say what they like but they can never challenge their father’s wish”

My uncles tried to harass me but I ignored them. They claimed they wouldn’t have spent so much during the burial if they had known he gave me the house and the other possessions to his wife. I wondered how grown men wanted to use their father’s money to bury him. Children that were in their fifties. I watched with disdain as they reduced themselves in my eyes.

I went back to Abuja. I gathered all the money I had saved and rented a two bedroom apartment. I could afford it but I didn’t want to live in luxury knowing my son was still in school (he had been maintaining the first position). I also wanted to save for the year I would have to be out of work for my Master’s degree. I pulled my resources together and moved into a better accommodation which was about 45 minutes away from my work places.

I begged my mother to help me bring her mother to Lagos, put her in a vehicle to come to Abuja. It was a tedious journey but she came to Abuja. I gave her the bigger room which I made comfortable for her. She deserved to be loved and taken care of. I spent my days off and the extra hours between jobs with her. She was lonely most times but when we were together, she was very happy. When Junior was on midterm break, he spent it with her in the house and they enjoyed it.

Her happiness increased when Junior came back on holiday. He insisted he wanted to go back Ijebu ode. “Baba will be lonely without us around him” he said. My grandmother quickly gathered her things together and travelled back with Junior for the long holidays. I had wasted my money as I knew she wasn’t going to come back to stay with me.