ENVY 35

Dr Kalu Okafor took his phone out of flight mode after he finished his morning rounds with the residents. The medical profession has several ethics and rules to guide it. Kalu not only stuck to them religiously, he went a step further to add his, and one of them was putting his phone off whenever he was attending to his patients. It did not matter if he was being consulted in the comfort of his office, or if he was conducting a serious surgical operation in the theatre, he always could not be reached whenever he was attending to a patient. By giving them his undivided and uninterrupted attention, he let them know he cared deeply for them. Actions such as this together with his brilliance endeared many patients, as well as their families to him and also made him the envy of his superiors, peers and subordinates. Some patients would refuse to go into the theatre unless they were assured that Dr. Kalu would be in the operating team. The fact that he may not specialize in their required medical field was lost on many of them, they just wanted Kalu.
    Kalu after his housemanship and one-year compulsory service to the nation had left the shores of the country to do a residency in Traumatic Surgery. When he got back, he joined the medical team of the teaching hospital in Lagos and became one of the very few surgeons that specialized in trauma.
  Because he was a busy and well sought after man, his fone was usually inundated with calls and text messages whenever he put it on, that Saturday morning was not an exception. Immediately the young doctor's handset connected to the network, his phone started ringing. He looked at the caller identity and swore, it was a call he had been dreading since he had the discussion with his wife the previous night. He picked the call as he walked down the long corridor to his office, while his wife's words rang in his ears.
"Hello Pago."
"Where have you been bro? I have been trying your line for ages." Pago said into the phone without greeting
"I was busy, my phone was on flight mode"
"Okay, so?"
"So what?" Kalu asked, stalling
"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about Kalu. Did you ask her?"
"I did, and....."
"Did she tell you?"
"Teju doesn't know, Pago, she does not know where Ese is."
"And you believe her? You expect me to believe that?"
"What are you insinuating Pago? That my wife is a liar? I won't have you insulting my wife to my face." Kalu said acting pissed and hoping it would work. It did
"I'm sorry man, but..........what I mean is.........you know how they both are, they are like 6 and 7. Ese wouldn't do anything without informing Teju."
"Well, I guess she decided to go solo on this one."
"Okay, thanks anyways, later."
"Anytime, later."
As Kalu placed the phone back in his pocket, he felt a little bad about lying to his close friend, but Teju had made him promise her that he would not reveal where Ese was to his friend. And when it came to loyalty, he would rather go with his wife, especially considering the fact that Pago had not really been a good husband or father. He reached into the breast pocket on the shirt he wore under his clinical coat and took out a relatively smaller handset which was hardly switched off. Only one person had the number to the phone and she was the only one that could make him compromise on the work ethics he had set for himself. He was already smiling by reflex as he dialed her number.

                          ★★★

Pago cursed as he cut the call in annoyance. He was sure Kalu was lying to him. He could not understand how a woman would have that much control over a man as Kalu's wife seemed to have over him. She had him around her tiny fingers. He had to find other means to search for his wife and daughter now, since his friend had decided not to help. Left to him, he did not care an inch where they were, since he was sure they were safe. The love Ese had for Rose was so great that she would not try anything stupid. He would have let them be, but the chief wants them back and he could not defy the chief, not now, not before he got what he wanted. There was too much at stake. In one crazy moment he thought of reporting them missing to the authorities but he quickly decided against it. It would cause another wave of news and that was the last thing he needed, he did not want anything that would make the chief annoyed again. He had to search for them silently, and that in itself was a challenge. He sat in his office for about an hour pondering, trying to think of how to go about it all. Then it struck him at last and he chided himself for not thinking of it earlier. It was not just the only option left, it was the perfect one. He opened his desk drawer and searched through the pile of business cards he had collected from business associates, clients and acquaintances he had met over the years. It took him a long while but he soon found it, he smiled as he started typing the number on the card onto his phone.

                           ★★★

The university security officials led him into the eerily cold room as a sheep being led to its slaughter. The room was not unfamiliar to him since it was his fourth visit and most probably his last. As always, he met the deans already seated behind the long and unflattering table. On this day, they were eight, not nine. The scariest of them all and the one that had made his life a living hell in the past weeks was absent but that didn't make him feel any better. Without being directed, he went to stand at his usual spot while he awaited their verdict. The leader of the panel shuffled the papers on the table in front of him and adjusted his glasses as he read from the papers.
"After listening to testimonies from several witnesses and from the accused, Mr Adebambi Adesiji and also with the evidences presented to this panel, as well as the thorough investigation carried out by the panel, the panel finds the accused, Mr Adebambi Adesiji with matriculation number 0920003, culpable of all charges levelled against him and......." The professor rambled on as Siji tuned him out. Even though Jasper had warned him that that was what was going to happen, it still was a devastating blow to him
"My son" Jasper had said "they are going to sacrifice you because it's easier. You are a nobody, and the evidence against you is strong, your friend on the other hand is the son of a big man and the faculty's best student, the evidence against him can be easily overlooked. They are not even ready to look, the crime they are accusing you of far outweighs his. But don't worry, all will be well."
"......therefore, this panel has advised the Vice-Chancellor to expel the accused from the university since it is in the best interest of the institution not to be associated with any unscrupulous element."

He knotted his tie and examined himself in the mirror as he replayed the scene in his head over and over again. He looked handsome enough but he was taking extra care with his looks. He was like a guy going for his first date ever, and in a way it was the truth, he was about to meet the woman he had once loved. He had to look his best.

About the Author

 Soji Adeola Ayanleke was born about 3 decades ago in Kano.

He studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, he speaks Yoruba and Hausa fluently and he is trying to learn Igbo and Spanish. His hobbies are reading, writing and playing some indoor games.