IZIGORA

Chapter 12

'You're not in my debt,' Dr Ime contradicted as he took out her box from the boot of the car. He proceeded to take out the folded wheelchair.

Izigora hobbled behind him as he unlocked the protector. Reflexively, she reached out to pull the handle of the box with her left hand and he gently slapped the back of her palm as one would the hand of a child caught in the cookie jar. She looked at him surprised.

'You're not supposed to lift anything remotely heavy.' He told her.

'That's my right hand you're referring to,' she reminded him.

'And when you feel pressure on your left hand, you'd naturally use your right hand to assist yourself,' he responded in a matter-of-fact tone.

He was right but that didn't mean she had to like it. After all, laziness was a luxury she could not afford. Even if it meant going against doctors' orders.

'There's no excuse for laziness,' she could hear Kainye's voice as clearly as she would if he was standing right next to her. 'Not unless you were knocking on death's door. Even at that, you may not be totally excused.

'I don't want to be lazy.'

Dr Ime paused with his fingers around the key on the keyhole and turned to Izigora.

'This does not amount to laziness. If you need something to do with you right hand presently, just hold on to that pair of crutches.'

Izigora arched an eyebrow but he didn't look at her. She could have sworn he was smiling.

He unlocked the door and turned on the lights. It was early afternoon but the drapes were drawn together. She followed him into the living room.

At first glance, it looked massive but at second glance she realised it was as a result of the arrangement of the furniture. Three sets of beige-coloured settee, with soft looking cushions and throw pillows of different colours blending beautifully with the tiled floor and short burnt brown and pale brown mixed rug beneath the dark brown wooden centre table.

The drapes were cream coloured and thick with white inner lace, she noticed as he drew open the drapes and turned off the lights. The chairs were arranged in a U-shape and a 42 inch LED TV sat on the wall above the shelves of carrying the DVD player, DSTV Decoder, DVD rack and remote control rack.

The remote control rack had no remote control on it but she sighted one of the remotes on a side table, another one on the centre of the three man seater as though someone had been watching telly from there earlier. Some of the DVD plates were not in their packs.

The walls of the living room wore fresh paint. Perhaps that was the reason why there were no photographs on the wall.

The dining table was surrounded by four chairs but the table looked like it was used for anything other than eating. Red flask, Lipton tea pack, green tea, a large peak powder milk and Large Milo containers, Golden Morn, sugar, and a bowl of fresh looking green and red apples. There were also cartons on the table. Beside the table was tucked in a medium sized refrigerator.

She made a mental note to put everything back in their rightful places. Blame it on habit developed in the last seven years.

How much did doctors earn? She wondered as her eyes moved round the room. This looked like a two-bedroom apartment.

'Come with me,' Dr Ime told her as he shut the door front door, bags, clothes and wheelchairs now in the living room.

As she followed Dr Ime, Izigora's eyes went to the open kitchen door and she was able to sight the purple and white cabinets and a section of the deep freezer.