The Mechanic's Wife (Preview)

CHAPTER THREE: THE 'QUACK' MECHANIC

"Oh no, this is not happening again." Zeena punched the steering wheel causing the horn to blare so loudly.

She opened the door and went out, first she was so late. Dr. Bello was not in today, Dr. Karima was on leave that left her and Dr. Ishaaq on the team of doctors who were in the private practice they formed some three years ago.

They all worked at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, they decided to join forces and heads opening their private practice, partnering with an international foundation to make it even more prominent, and with the specialists at hand it didn't take long for them to get people thronging in to get the best health care their money could get them, which made her thought wandered to a certain man.

They sometimes referred their patients to other specialists at AKTH for other fields out of their expertise, but she doubted if a referral would be made to their small hospital. Which made her ask why Sa'eed chose to come to them instead of the TH. She still worked at the TH and went to the clinics in the afternoons and late evenings sometimes at night when she had her off in the TH.

And for this busy day with a ton load of work to do, as if all the people of Kano decided to fall sick today. Which resulted in a delayed duty for her, and now it was almost 10 pm, that was when this thing decided to stop?

Patients' relatives and some workers were still going up and about. She had to go and take a cab or Napep (Adaidaita) outside. She stood for almost eight minutes in the chilly wind outside the hospital, there were occasional hawkers passing by, and customers that thronged the mai kosh da dosh and mai shayi near the hospital gate, and to the left were the fruit vendors that were still being patronized by passersby, which made the place relatively busy instead of the usual quietness of the night. More than two Keke Napeps had stopped but she sent them away.

She was apprehensive, all the don'ts of public transport were screaming at her, first she was alone, second it was late, and third she'd never traveled in a public transport before while she was in Nigeria, ever. Well, unless if she counted being on local flights as public transport, which in reality they were, but nothing compared to cab rides.

Zeenah almost jumped out of her skin when she heard someone speak so close to her. She moved farther to where people were selling things and there were still traders' lights illuminating the place. She swallowed hard, that was when she felt something wet dripping from her face, touching it she realized it was her sweat.

"Dr. Azare?" A familiar voice asked.

"Zeenah." She said turning with clenched teeth and still shivering.

Sa'eed held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I was just passing by when I saw someone like you. What are you doing here, at this time?"

"Basically you're a quack Mechanic because your work has failed."

He almost smiled "Of course not, it must be your car. Or the way you drive it. Everybody knows that I have a magic touch."

She narrowed her eyes at him despite the poor lighting, "And why would you be passing by here at this time of the day, are you by any chance following me, Mr. Stalker?"

"No, we just happen to be working in the same vicinity, our workshop is right behind your hospital doc."

That was when she took in his appearance. For once she felt bad. All this while she'd never taken him to be really a mechanic. There was something about the way he spoke and acted. It just didn't add up, he rarely spoke English, but whenever he said anything in English it sounded polished nothing like what someone would pick off the streets.