A Birthday Far Away From Comfort
SOMETHING strange happened on the very birthday of King Adetoye Adesoga of Oyinwole town, Lagos. Queen Sewa, his outstandingly beautiful wife, was hit by a mysterious and strange illness and was dangling between life and death.
Early that Saturday morning, which was to be a merriment and celebration day for the tall, handsome, dark-skinned and ebullient king, actually turned out to be a really bad, tough and sorrowful day. Queen Sewa was rushed to the emergency ward of All Saints International Hospital that early morning, as she battled for survival.
The wealthy monarch was soaked in tears as his chauffeur assisted him to carry his beautiful wife in the backseat of his Jupiter Space Wagon. It had never happened before in his life. His birthdays in the past were always marked and celebrated amid pomp and pageantry, with much to eat and drink. But this year, it was a totally different ball game.
He had made up his mind that if Sewa died in the process, he would eventually kill himself, simply because of the deep love he had for his adorable, kind and loving queen.
That very day, King Adetoye couldn’t even take his bath or brush his teeth. He was really worried just to know the fate of his one and only queen. The skilful doctors went into action, trying to save the life of the ailing queen, who needed emergency operation on her right cardiac, according to the findings of the surgeon and head of the medical team.
The formally agile, strong and lively queen couldn’t even talk or move a finger now. The doctors scurried here and there to bring her back on her feet again. “Sewa must not die, because she is the only one who gives me joy and love. No one can fill her place in my life. I am as good as dead,” he lamented desperately that sunny Saturday afternoon. He refused to eat or drink anything. He sat alone under the cashew tree in the premises of the hospital and wept gently and sorrowfully.
He went down memory lane, thinking about the sweet love he had shared with his ailing queen up till this moment of her debilitating sickness. Sewa had three children for him and they were all in very expensive private schools in Ikoyi, Lagos. She was a hardworking and dutiful wife, not minding the fact that she was a queen. “God, if there be a God, rescue my angelic queen from the snares of death,” he soliloquised in heartbreaking tears, daring death itself.
Queen Sewa was all the while in the emergency theatre undergoing the highly risky operation. The seconds and minutes continued to tick gradually and the hours rolled by. The powerful ruler continued to cry, unmindful that he was the king of a big town in central Lagos. How are the mighty humbled!
Pronto, it was already 12 midnight. The operation was still on and he was still outside, meditating prayerfully and shedding tears. It was a day of melancholy. Bloodsucking mosquitoes feasted on him and he was at the mercy of the harsh elements, but he didn’t mind his pathetic condition. He refused to go inside the hospital premises, because he was really angry at everything, even himself.
Just then, someone tapped him on his shoulders. He turned, and what a big surprise, for it was his darling wife, the queen of his life. Time was 6am, another day. The operation was over and she was hale and hearty and back on her feet again.
It was joy all the way, as they hugged in sweet tears. They lived happily ever after.