Siji had never driven that fast in his life. He was normally a very careful driver, obeying all the traffic rules in the book. But the fear he was feeling was his driving force, driving him to break all the rules he had always stuck to religiously. Nothing mattered aside saving his daughter's life. Seated beside him in the Jeep was Victor, holding a faint Rose in his arms. The man looked ten years older, Siji noted when he took his eyes off the road for a second to cast a quick glance at them. He wondered how he looked himself, if the fear he saw in Victor's eyes was a reflection of the fear in his.
Rose opened her eyes slightly and looked up at Victor. "Grandpa, am I about to die?" She asked.
"No! You are not dying, nobody is dying." Siji shouted as if scolding her for even thinking about death. His outburst earned him a stern look from Victor who then turned to Rose and said in a surprisingly calm voice. "You're not going to die my dear, we are taking you to Uncle Kalu."
"Uncle Kalu?"
"Yes, he is a good doctor, he'll take good care of you. Now be a good girl and stay quiet but hang on, don't let go, you'll be fine."
The girl managed a faint smile then closed her eyes again.
Victor held the cloth against her side, where the bullet had hit her. The polo which Siji had pulled off to stop her blood flow was fully soaked.
"She is losing lots of blood." Siji said, worried.
"She will be alright son. Don't let her hear your fear, we've got to be strong for her." Being called son by this man was strange to Siji. Regardless of whatever Pago had revealed, only Jasper called him that, only him had the right to. But it was not the time to dwell on that. He had a daughter to save.
Victor adjusted her on his laps a little, and unbuttoned his shirt. He removed the soaked polo, dropped it on the floor of the vehicle and examined the bleeding wound. He silently prayed it was not infected. Then he placed his shirt over it.
"Damn it" Siji swore.
"What's it?"
"A checkpoint ahead. These people are going to delay us and we don't have all the time...."
"Just cool down and slowdown." Victor interrupted.
They saw a team of Mobile Policemen when they got to the checkpoint. Siji stopped the vehicle but still stayed on the highway. Victor wound the window down to speak to the policeman waving at them to stop. The policeman recognized Victor instantly and seemed to be surprised to see him, more so in just a singlet. "Chief?" He said questioningly as he regarded Siji who was also in his singlet.
"Please my granddaughter here has been shot, we need to get her to the Teaching Hospital fast." Victor pleaded and the policeman stepped back without asking any question and signalled to his colleague to clear the road.
"Thank you." Victor said to him as Siji accelerated. They had not travelled for ten minutes, when they heard a siren blaring behind them. "What do they want again?" Siji said as he looked through the rear view mirror and saw the police vehicle from the checkpoint gaining on them.
"Just keep going." Victor said.
The vehicle soon caught up with them and the policeman whom Victor had spoken to earlier shouted from the vehicle while waving at them. "Follow us Chief, we'll clear the way for you." The vehicle overtook and got in front of them, then accelerated further. Siji realised, as he struggled to catch up with the speeding police vehicle, that he hitherto had not been speeding.
☆☆☆
Kalu alongside the medical team was already waiting for the convoy when it arrived the hospital. A nurse gently took the girl from Victor and placed her on a stretcher and she was wheeled into the Emergency Unit, while Kalu barked out orders as he examined her "Is her bed prepped up? Find the radiologist on duty, get the theatre ready immediately and contact the anesthesiologist too, right away. We may have to operate soon. And someone should please contact the blood bank and ask for O-, I pray they have it this time. The patient seems to have lost too much blood. This is an emergency." Victor and Siji followed closely. Rose was wheeled into a room, but Victor and Siji were stopped by a nurse from entering.
"You both will have to wait here please." She said politely before closing the glass door behind her. They could still see through the transparent door, and watched as Rose was lifted off the stretcher unto a bed that was fitted with several medical equipment. Siji winced as he watched a nurse pierced her arm with a needle and as another nurse inserted Oxygen tubes into her nostrils. The last thing he saw before the same nurse who had stopped them from entering pulled the screen to block his view, was Kalu removing the shirt to examine her wound.
☆☆☆
30 minutes later, Ese rushed into the waiting room. She had wanted to come with them, but they had asked her to come along with Siji's car.
"How far? " She asked both of them when she got close.
"Kalu and his team have been in there for more than half an hour, yet we've gotten nothing. All everyone of them keeps doing is rushing in and out of the room" Siji replied, pointing in frustration, at the room where Rose was being treated.
"What about Kalu? Has he come out? Have you been able to talk to him?"
"No, Kalu hasn't been out since he got in." Victor said.
Just on cue Kalu walked out of the room and approached them. He tried giving them a reassuring smile, but they could all see the worry lines on his forehead.
"Please tell me everything is alright Kalu." Ese pleaded.
Kalu took a deep breath before replying. "Thank God you brought her early enough, we might have lost her if it had taken you longer. She is stabilized now, but we need to operate. Luckily the bullet missed her organs, but it is still lodged inside her, we have to get it out as soon as possible before it does further damage." He paused a bit, then continued. "The bad news is, she has lost too much blood, and I don't think she has enough blood in her to survive an operation."
"But you've requested for blood, haven't you? I heard you instructing someone to contact the blood bank." Victor said
"Yes, the problem is that Rose's blood type is O negative, I got to know from the several tests that were conducted on her when she was born."
"And?" Ese prodded for him to continue.
"Because of its compatibility with all other blood types, O negative is usually in short supply. At present we don't have it at the hospital. It's not in our blood bank. And we have also asked from hospitals around. None of them have either. The closest hospital with it is the one in Ibadan, that's too far. I don't think we have that much time, but I have asked them to send it all the same. All we have to do now is pray and hope for the best."
"Take mine." Siji said with urgency.
"How do you..."
"I am O negative." He reached into his pocket to take his wallet, then he removed his driver's license and showed it to them. "See, I'm O negative."
"Siji we can't just take your blood and give it to her like that, It's not tested, and we don't have the time to start testing your blood. We need a blood from the lab that is tested to be free from any ailment or..."
"I don't smoke, I don't drink, I am sure I don't have any terminal disease."
"You don't seem to understand what...."
"Oh God! Kalu, I said take my blood. What other choice do you have here?"
Kalu was deep in thoughts. He knew Siji was right, he had no other choice. But it's wrong to just give a child an untested and untrusted blood. It may cause irreparable damages to her. He was torn between sticking to the ethics of his profession or taking a risk to help his friends. He soon decided on what to do. "In that case I'll require her parent to sign a document allowing the use of your blood." He said turning to Ese for her permission.
"Damn it!" Siji said in exasperation, "I am her father, and I will sign anything . Just save my daughter's life."
Ese who had been trying to reach a decision, turned to look at Siji. ----Oh no! Not again.--- She thought. ---Atleast not in the presence of these people--- but she was momentarily speechless. It was Kalu who spoke. "Siji you must be mistaken if you believe...."
"She is his daughter Kalu." Victor said, causing Ese to turn to him in surprise
"But... but ..that's impossible." Kalu protested. "The paternity test result shows..."
"It's possible if Siji and Pago are brothers. Am I right doctor?"
"Yes...I ...I guess so." Kalu replied, stunned.
"I know you two are confused, I'll explain in time, but we have a child to save here and I believe my vote should count as her grandfather. Kalu use Siji's blood."
"Ese?" Kalu still wanted the permission of the stunned and speechless Ese.
"Use it." She spoke eventually
"There is an issue still." The doctor said
"What again?" Siji was becoming pissed with the doctor.
"We'll be needing at least 4 pints of blood, it could be more, but 4 pints is a safe guess. That's too much blood to take from you. You might not survive it."
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.
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