Peter dropped them at the hospital. He didn’t have to open the door for them as he had when they had first gotten to the house. They got out of the car and he had to run to catch up with them.
Peter looked haggard. His hair was uncombed, and the stubble on his chin looked like irregular grass. Chief Adegoke had been in a coma for the eleven days. The last instruction he had given was what Peter had followed to the letter. He had been told to keep the three people safe no matter what.
And this morning, when the doctor had asked if Chief had any family, it occurred to him that he needed to disobey this instruction.
Femi peered into his father’s ashen face and remembered that he had often done this when he was little. He held his hand while remembering his childhood.
“Ade, Ade, you need to wake up.” Femi heard his mother saying and looked at her, he hadn’t heard his father’s name before. He looked at his father’s face and saw his jaw muscle twitch. He then remembered that he was too young when the divorce happened. His mother hadn’t mentioned it once. He only saw the photos.
Chief Adegoke heard someone familiar calling his name. The voice sounded familiar, so familiar. He hoped he’d hear the voice again.
“Ade,” Mrs Elihana called softly and his jaw muscle twitched again.
“This is just a muscle twitching exercise. I’m not sure he’ll wake up if I keep calling him. We’ll have to do this every day till he comes back then. She said and moved a step backwards.
“A muscle twitched when you talked to him, but there was no reaction when I did,” Peter said, watching from afar.
“Mum,” Bimbo called and Mrs Elihana’s eyes grew into twice their size in seconds. The two men in the room looked at the two ladies, wondering what had happened.
Bimbo, oblivious to their stares continued “the Bible verse you taught me today, about the word of God being a double-edged sword,” Mrs Elihana nodded, still shocked at being called mum.
Bimbo walked to Chief Adegoke and the two family members made way for her. She held his hand gingerly and spoke gently to him.
“Dad, you shall not die but live. It’s Bimbo, your daughter. I can’t forget you trying to make me drink that pap. she smiled sadly. Jesus told me to forgive you. I don’t know how, but he helped me to. He says you’re my earthly daddy and now that I believe that, don’t you want to see your daughter again?” tears that had been kept in for long poured out her eyes.
“Chief Adegoke’s was enjoying the discourse in his subconscious; it sounded like soft music and a tear rolling down his right cheek. Bimbo who didn’t see that continued to talk until she burst into tears.
“Dad you can’t die! You need to wake up!” her cry rent the air. She looked at everyone’s faces through her tears. They all looked sorrowful. They had lost hope.
She stood up too, giving up. Then, a hand drew her back. She looked and found that her hand was already enclosed in his.
“Dad! Dad! Dad!” she called again and Femi’s father opened his eyes and tried to focus. The first person he saw was Bimbo who was bent over him.
“Bimbo,” he called, his voice hoarse. He reached for her hand again and she let him hold it.
Shouts of praises filled the air when they heard his voice. The startled man tried to sit up on his bed but pain seared through him and he sat back down. He touched his chest with his other hand and felt around it. It felt like the place had just been sewn up.
A doctor and a nurse ran in. They had heard the shout.
“What happened here? It’s painful,” Chief Adegoke said to those standing while holding his chest.
“We’re glad you’re back,” the doctor said smiling. “You went undetected by the police to the hideout and got gunned down by your former partners. Can you now remember?” the doctor asked patiently.
He nodded slightly.
“Can we be left alone?” the doctor asked, facing the family members except for Bimbo who still stood beside him, her hand in his.
“Let Daddy’s girl stay beside him,” Femi jokingly remarked, but his mother was already walking out of the door.
“Can they all stay instead?” Chief Femi asked the doctor.
EPILOGUE
“Hello, who’s this? Bimbo asked over the phone.
“It’s Sandra,”
“Oh, Sandra, how are you?” She dropped the pen into the book before her.
“I’m fine. I got your number from your brother. I’m sorry I couldn’t return your phone. My dad kept a leash on me. I was grounded.”
“No problem. I understand. Thanks for stepping into my life when you did.”
“You’re welcome.”
An awkward silence followed.
“Hey girl, I got your memory cards. When are you coming back to get them?”
Bimbo laughed, a pure sound that she’d been privileged to express since a few days ago.
“I don’t need them no more,” she spoke, imitating the girls she saw on TV with an Afro-American accent.
“You’re letting your organized collection of songs fall through your hands?”
She tried to convince Bimbo. She understood that she had a new phone now but giving up the memory cards made no sense.
“I need them no more,” she repeated. “Do whatever you want with them, but I don’t recommend you listen to them. Take that from me as golden advice.”
Sandra swallowed a lump of saliva. “Alright then, what’s with that grey-haired man?”
“You mean my dad?”
Sandra checked the face of her phone for the caller ID. She wanted to know if she was talking to the right person.
She put the phone to her ears.
“You know, I’ve now got a dad and a mum in addition to my brother. I don’t know if they’ll both get married but we consider ourselves a family. I don’t know in what sense but I’m….” Bimbo rattled on.
Sandra checked the face of the phone again, wondering what was going on.
Read the previous chapter here
