My New Home

Chapter Twenty-three

My phone rang before he could continue his story and I disconnected. He was about to talk again when my phone rang a second time and I stared at it in annoyance.

“Pick up the call. It must be important”. He said.

“It’s just my mum. I can call her back later. I replied and switched off my phone. I’m all ears, go ahead”.

“It’s nothing much really". He said and I scoffed but he paid no attention and continued. "When I was driving home yesterday evening, I received a call and as I was about to pick up my phone from the dashboard, it fell, so I bend to pick it up. Unknown to me, a person was about to pass across the road and wasn’t paying attention and because I bent to pick up my phone too, I didn’t see the person passing across till I brushed her with my car”.

“Audhubillaah”. I exclaimed loudly.

“Before long, people have crowded around us. He continued. And unfortunately the police were patrolling around that time, so before I knew what was going on, one of the officers collected my car key and drove the patient to the hospital while I was escorted to the station in the police van”.

“Subhanallah!" I made another exclamation. At this point I was lost for words and that seemed to be the only thing I was capable of saying ." "Why didn’t you call home when that happened?” I asked.

“I was promised a phone call when I got to the station but it took longer than expected. The worst part was that while i was detained, I didn’t know the extent of my victim’s injury though I saw her get up after the accident happened and lost her balance again but she was conscious throughout the ordeal”.

“I didn’t realize this is what you went through while I was here oblivious to what was happening and worried sick out of my mind". Throughout the course of his narration, he averted his eyes in shame or what I thought was shame and he was sure not to meet my gaze even once. I raised his head with my hand. "Don’t be ashamed at all, you did hurt a person but it wasn’t deliberate”.

“It’s still not excusable, he replied. I wish it never happened, if I could turn back the hands of time; I would have done everything in my power to prevent that".

“Don’t say that. I cautioned. A Muslim should not regret because everything that happened to us had been preordained by Allah and nothing you or I do can ever change it. He wanted it to happen in such manner and it did". I wanted to ask him further about what i heard his family say about his pre-marital behaviour but decided to leave it for now and let him enjoy his most deserved rest.

He was about to go to sleep when I recalled an important question. “What eventually happened to your victim?” I asked.

“I wasn’t able to check on her personally but I was told that she’s stable now and would be discharged soon. That was the only reason I was granted bail”. He replied quietly.

“So many happenings in a day, I sighed and continued. We need to take our prayers seriously. It’s a blessing that things did not get out of control but at the same time, things shouldn’t have gone that out of hand. Why then did everyone pretend that nothing was amiss when you came back from the station? That isn’t normal". I added”.

“Alhaji used to say that we need not broadcast evil. Once it has been resolved, then there’s no reason to linger on it". Jamal explained.

“I heard you but I don’t agree with the reasoning. We’re family and I’m your wife. I’m entitled to such information. We went through a great ordeal the night before, so behaving like what happened isn’t my business is not something I’m okay with”. I argued.