Virus (3 page)

Chapter Five

Chike chattered as they walked
leaving Tunrayo and Wole to simply sigh and nod. They said little
or nothing at all on these long treks. Most often Chike did most of
the talking while they pitched in occasionally. Sometimes Wole
could not help wondering whether Chike talked like this everywhere
or simply when he was with them. He had not gotten round to asking
Chike anyway and it didn’t look he would ask him today either; not
with the he was carrying on.

He tuned out Chike’s voice as his
thoughts were dragged inexplicably back to his dream. As usual, he
had no answers to the questions his dreams evoked. His face grew
pensive as he became more entrenched in his thoughts. It took him a
couple of minutes; three in total before he noticed Tunrayo’s hard
gaze fixed on him.

“What??” He asked with one eyebrow
raised.

“I was about to ask you the same
thing.” Tunrayo said the hard look on her face not
softening.

“Why do you always answer a question
with a question?” Wole shot back hoping to distract her from the
querying he knew would soon follow.

“Nice try___ but you and I both know
that is not what is important here. What were you thinking
about?”

They had fallen behind Chike and
were talking in low voices, so he did not realize that they were
not listening to him. There was a pause before Wole spoke
again.

“It’s the dreams.” He said in a
weary voice.

“You are still having those
dreams?”She gasped shocked. “Thought you said they stopped months
ago?”

“I thought they did, but they came
back two weeks later.”

“Why haven’t you said
anything?”

Since he did not have an answer to
that, he simply shrugged. Finally noticing that they were not
listening to him, Chike turned and stopped talking.

“You guys are not even listening to
me__.” He growled spitting out the words through clenched
teeth.

Grinning from ear to ear Tunrayo
walked forward patting him on the shoulder twice before walking
off.

“Don’t take it too hard Chike. If
you must know we hardly listen to you anyway.”

Wole burst into laughter at
Tunrayo’s jib and the look on Chike’s face hardened.

“Oh come on__.”Wole cried walking
forward and putting his arm around Chike’s shoulder steering him
towards the second path, which they had finally reached. They
walked into the cool gloom of the bush path shrouded by the large
branches of the trees on either side of it.

They fell silent as they always did
when they passed through it. Something about the path demanded
silence when you walked on it, mercifully, it did not go too far.
Already they could see the end of it, which opened onto another
road.

A sigh burst from Wole’s lips as
they walked. He was glad Chike’s interruption had put an end to
Tunrayo’s questions. She had the unhappy knack of going on and on
about things. He would not call it nagging but___ his thoughts
drifted off.

They stepped out of the gloom onto a
wide dirt road which led to the gates of the school about two
hundred meters away. Half a dozen kiosks lay to their right under a
thick cluster of teak trees. The kiosks were deserted. The owners
had not opened for business yet. It was still too early.

To their left was a tree. It was
larger than most of the trees around it with long, wide overlapping
boughs which created a large perimeter of shade. It would have been
a nice place to hang out, save for one thing. That thing was Eze,
the town’s mad man.

As expected, he was crouched under
the tree, his muscles tensed as if he was preparing to spring at
something. He looked like a predator stalking its prey. The only
problem here was there was no prey.

The brown cotton trousers he wore
were torn and ragged, as was his grey shirt. His dreadlocked head
was dirty. As if, he had buried his head in white sand. His skin
was so black that Wole could not help wondering whether that was
its true color or it was simply because of his not bathing for
months.

Something about Eze made a cold
shiver run down Wole’s spine each time he saw him. The way Tunrayo
always edged as far as she could every time they passed his tree,
he suspected she felt the same way he did. Chike on the other hand
was the complete opposite. He always made it a point of duty to
walk as close to Eze as possible. As if that was not bad enough he
also had a habit of taunting him. Today was no
exception.

“Hey!! Smelly idiot! What are you
doing bent down like that?” He yelled walking forward until only
six feet separated them.

“Phew!” He gasped waving a hand in
front of his nose and turning his head away.

“God you smell. Didn’t your mother
ever tell you to bath before you leave the house?”

“Stop it Chike!” Tunrayo yelled
grabbing his arm. “You always do this each time we pass this tree.
It is not funny anymore. One of these days, you are going to get
into a lot of trouble.”

“Oh go away Tunrayo!” Chike scoffed.
“How am I going to get into trouble? The stupid man cannot move.
Look at him!”

To prove his point he stepped
forward and waved his left palm mere inches from Eze’s face. Wole
and Tunrayo held their breath half-expecting Eze to attack. Eze
however did not move. His eyes and demeanor gave no indication that
he even knew anyone was standing in front of him.

“You see? Like I said the silly man
cannot move.” Sniffing in disgust, he stalked towards the school
gate leaving Tunrayo and Wole staring at him with wide-open
mouths.

Shivering slightly Tunrayo
immediately hurried after him. Wole waited three seconds and
followed. He could not help glancing back at Eze as he walked away.
The hollow feeling in his stomach grew greater when he saw Eze’s
dead eyes following him.

Chapter Six

10.15am

Joke stepped out of the Kekenapep
(Motorized Rickshaw style vehicle) her left arm cradling the bulge
of her stomach. She looked smart and pretty in a long flowing green
dress with short sleeves whose length reached several inches
beneath her knees.

Her hair slicked back, tied in a bun
at the back of her head. Her make up was light and so skillfully
applied that unless you looked closely you would not know she was
wearing any. Comfortable leather flats covered her slightly swollen
feet.

The expression on her face was wan
and pensive. As if, she was worried about something. She stood
facing a four storey blue and white building surrounded by a
five-foot tall concrete fence. The wrought iron gates that marked
its entrance were opened. There was a large signboard beside the
gate with the words Oraromi Crown Hospital painted on it. The words
written with red paint, made it contrast with the all white
background of the board.

Taking several deep breaths, she
walked through the gate heading to the sliding doors in front. The
nurse’s station was the first room she came to. It was a wide room
about six feet wide and ten feet long. There were several six
seater chairs to her left. On her right at the extreme end was a
long desk. The four nurses seated around it rifled through hospital
treatment cards. The white uniforms they wore seemed to reflect in
the early morning sunlight streaming through the windows on the
right wall.

One of the nurses looked up as she
walked in. Her flat shoes hardly making any sound on the sparkling
white terrazzo floor. As with most hospitals, there was a strong
scent of disinfectant hanging in the air.

“Ah Mrs. Olorunsogo! Nice to see
you. You’ve come for your antenatal check I see.”

Joke smiled at the nurse. She felt a
little embarrassed that the nice woman knew her full name and only
knew her first name. She was not even sure that the name she knew
her by was not just a nickname. Everyone called her nurse Susan, so
she did too.

“Yes I have. Hope you slept
well?”

“Yes I did__ thanks for asking__”
Susan said beaming at her. “If you will step over here.” She pulled
a chair close to the table. Joke walked over and sank down on its
hard surface with a deep sigh bursting from her lips.

The nurse brought out the
sphgnanometer and quickly began to take Joke’s blood pressure
readings. When she was done, she put it away. The look on her face
became serious. Joke immediately became alarmed.

“Why are you looking so serious? Is
something wrong? My blood pressure isn’t high is it?”

“Oh noo! Its quite normal. I was
just thinking about how I was going to get you in to see the
doctor.”

“Isn’t she in yet?”

“Yes she is, but she is doing her
rounds.”

“Can’t I just wait?” Joke asked
glancing round the near empty waiting room.

“You could__ but I want you to see
her as soon as possible and get back home to rest.”

A smile widened Joke’s
lips.

“It’s alright Susan, I will be fine.
I am not an invalid.”

Susan smiled and gave her a wink but
said nothing. There was a moment of silence before the thump of
footsteps walking down the staircase behind them reached their
ears.

They turned as a pretty woman in her
late thirties stepped into the waiting room. She was dressed in a
body hugging black dress, which reached her knees. She wore a
sparkling white lab coat over the dress with black suede loafers on
her feet. Behind her came a bevy of trainee nurses who all wore
tight blue uniforms.

Her eyes flitted around the wide
waiting area eventually coming to rest on Joke. A weary smile
lifted the corners of her lips a she strode forward. Joke rose to
her feet as the woman stopped two feet in front of her. Smiling
self-consciously Joke extended her right hand. The woman’s smile
grew broader as she took Joke’s hand and shook it
warmly.

“Good morning Mrs. Olorunsogo, very
nice to see you. You look very well.”

“Thank you doctor.”

“Have you been waiting
long?”

“No not long. I have only been here
long enough to have my blood pressure taken.”

“ok__ and what was her blood
pressure?” The doctor asked turning to face nurse Susan.

“120/80 ma.”

The doctor nodded looking pleased.
“Seems you are doing good ma. Now if you would follow me, we can
get the physical exam done.”

Joke nodded and followed her as she
headed to her office.

Alaba sighed as he watched the
students walking towards his desk to drop their notebooks. He had
given them an assignment yesterday and today was the day they were
due to turn it in.

From the troubled looks on some of
their faces, it was obvious that some had not done theirs. That
realization brought great displeasure and frustration. He could not
help thinking that the same group of people who were fond of not
turning their work in on time that would be guilty.

His hard gaze settled on a plump
chubby cheeked youth who stood in front of him. The fearful look on
his face and the way he seemed almost reluctant to drop his
notebook told Alaba that he had not done his assignment.

Caleb was indeed a great puzzle. He
seemed like a bright student, but was always so absent minded and
disorganized. In addition, the sadness lurking deep within his eyes
was impossible to ignore. Something told Alaba that his home life
was circumspect.

“You didn’t do your assignment again
did you Caleb?”

The boy froze looking as if he
wanted the ground to open and swallow him whole. His face fell and
he shook his head slowly. The hard look on Alaba’s face grew even
harder. That was it! He had had it.

“Anyone who hasn’t done their
assignment will be punished. I think I have been patient enough. So
before I check your notes, if you know you haven’t done your
assignment come to this side.” He growled pointing to his
left.

Nobody moved for a few moments and
then more than half of the class moved to the left. Alaba’s face
fell. It was even worse than he thought. His hard gaze returned.
There was nothing else for it then.

He glanced to his right. A stack of
bone white canes lay on the floor, tied in a thick bunch. Leaning
down he picked one up. He had never flogged a student before; well
today was going to be his first time.

“Hold out your hands__” He barked
striding towards them.

Chapter Seven

7 hours later

Wole stood in front of the school
gate waiting for Tunrayo and Chike to turn up. Students poured out
of the school compound in droves circling around him. If any of
them wondered why he was standing in the middle of the road staring
into space, their faces gave no indication of it.

He rubbed his palms absentmindedly.
They still smarted slightly from the thrashing he had received from
Mr. Olorunsogo earlier. His back too was tender. Another teacher
had taken a cane to them because they were making too much noise in
his class. He had to be careful not to move his backpack too much,
so it would not rub against his welts too badly.