A Loner's Journey Through Lemonade Making

Chapter 5| A Sour Life

I knew it was a bit silly, but I wished the elevator would get stuck. I wished power would go out, or anything at all that would prevent us from being able to get out and use another one or take the stairs would happen. For someone who was claustrophobic, that was quite a silly thought. However, that was all that clouded my mind as I felt us moving down. I checked and we were currently on the fourth floor. It could still get stuck. My wish could still come true. And then Aunty would abandon me and when the elevator was eventually fixed, I would get a job as the cleaner in the hospital. Crazy, I knew.

The elevator stopped once we reached the ground floor and the door opened. A nurse who was with an aged woman in a wheelchair wheeled her out. Nurse Ezinne and I hurried out as two doctors entered. Believe me, I'd tried as much as possible to walk slowly. But what difference was that going to make? I did feel relieved to be in an open space and not in a confined space like an elevator. Those things scared me a lot. I would have preferred taking the stairs but Nurse Ezinne said it would take a lot of time and Aunty was already waiting for me in the reception. She was right. I wondered how many stairs I would have descended from the sixth floor to the ground floor.

The reception was what one would expect a hospital reception to look like. There were two nurses at the counter, talking with a young man. Only four of the seats in the waiting are were occupied. There were pamphlets, newspapers and what not on tables, desks and stands. The air conditioning units were on. There were some pictures and write ups on the wall. On a board behind the counter were two pictures. One was for the employee of the month and I guessed the other was of the founder.

"She's over there." The nurse gestured towards Aunty Oma, who stood by a chair with a pair of sunglasses on her head. She was wearing a free fitting gown and a pair of pink slides. She looked uncomfortable as hell. Maybe that was why she wasn't seated.

We went to meet her where she stood. She had settled the bill before I came down so all she had to do was pay for some tablets of paracetamol and Vitamin C. I didn't speak a word other than "Good afternoon ma" and "Thank you ma" to her before I thanked nurse Ezinne and walked towards the car park with her. She had driven there herself, so she got into the drivers seat while I went to the back, feeling uneasy.

Something told me I was in for a long speech about how much my treatment has caused her. Whatever was debited from her account wouldn't even mean much to her anyway, but I kind of felt a bit bad knowing my injury was something that could be cleaned up and I could be given a tetanus shot for. But I guessed my fainting was part of why I had been admitted. It still didn't call for a six day admission though. But it happened. I got admitted. I met Teni, Nurse Ezinne and Doctor Yewande who were amazing people. She paid for my treatment and now we were heading towards the gates, with her hands tightly gripping the steering wheel.

Few minutes after we left the hospital, I finally rested my back and relaxed in the backseat. The car was moving smoothly, not too slowly and not to fast. I attributed it to the smoothness of the road. I suddenly wished my life was that smooth, that free. With no hurdles, problems or obstacles, the same way the roads had no stones or waste on it. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. That was how the saying went right?

"Yewande." Aunty Oma called my name before taking a turn, her eyes still focused on the road. I looked up from my laps and caught her glance at me through the rear view mirror.

"Ma?" my voice was low. It was funny how when I spoke with Teni, the nurse, Doctor Yewande and even Doctor Moses, people who I was supposed to be shy around because I didn't know them well, my voice was light and cheerful. I put 'Gaining self esteem' on my mental to-do list for the coming week.

Her grip of the wheel loosened a bit. She removed one hand and reached for a bottle of water on the seat beside hers. After drinking from it, she returned it and placed that hand on the steering wheel. Was she going to talk or what?