Aduke had graduated from the school of a nurse. She needed a job. She had made a tentative arrangement to haunt for it, and she knew where to go. Once she had tucked the needed papers into a wider, brown file and dressed elegantly, she headed to the village hospital, a few yards away from her homestead, to submit her file for employment. This was the only sprawling general hospital in the state. She met a group of nurses at the reception desk. They all dressed in white uniforms with blue and red pens clung to their breast pockets, and some of these nurses hung a small triangled-like nurse's cap on their heads. One of them stood up and ushered Aduke to the office of a senior doctor.
"Good morning, sir," Aduke greeted while the accompanying nurse quickly returned to her duty.
"Welcome, madam. Please, have a seat," the doctor gestured to a chair next to him as he removed his spectacle.
"Thank you, Doctor," she bowed in respect.
"How may I help you, please?" The specialist said and his eyes were full of expectation.
"I am a fresh graduate from the school of health. I have come to submit my documents for employment, sir,"
"Wonderful!," the doctor bellowed, "May I have a look at the documents, please?" he asked and quickly disengaged himself from toying with the stethoscope on his desk.
Dr Dele was the senior obstetrician in the general hospital. He had been working as a doctor for three decades now. He was a calmly nice and charismatic man. He carefully had the file from Aduke and journeyed himself through the documents. When he had fed himself to his heart's content, he was impressed by her academic performance.
"You must be a stellar genius when you were in school, Madam. I am so proud of you," the doctor remarked as he placed the file on a pile of books on the desk.
"Thank you, doctor," Aduke ducked her head shyly and smiled sweepingly.
"You could come over to see me on Monday. Before then, I should have taken your file to the hospital headquarters for all necessary things. With the impressive documents you tendered here, I am of the volition that you will be favoured,"
"I will be grateful, Doctor. Thank you on a larger scale, Sir,"
At that early hour, the hospital was crowded again, it was a pitiable sight. So many people were sick and in need of doctors. The long benches placed in the passages were occupied and full. The porches outside were filled by patients who were able to stand. Some of the waiting patients coughed violently and sneezed. Mothers carried their infirm children. The faces that waited there were grim, serious and preoccupied with worry. It saddened the job seeker to see a pool of blood on the hospital ground as a young man, an accident victim, was rushed in, groaning and moaning. Aduke hated to see people sick even though she was a trained nurse. As she stepped out of the hospital in her well-ironed dress, her heels made her taller, she waited for a bike to convey her home. A few minutes later, no bike had stopped to drive her. It could be because fuel was scarce in the village and the neighbouring community. She loitered on, hoping a tax or a bike would turn up soon. The sun almost descended on the earth when a car slowed down towards the road. Aduke looked thoughtfully after the car, and then to her surprise, the car drew to the side of the road near the road junction and later stopped beside her.
"Beautiful Aduke," the driver called out.
Aduke bent down towards the window of the car. Immediately she saw the Prince, she narrowed her eyes and looked away. Her hollow action stunned the Prince.
"Where are you going to? Come in and let me give you a lift," the Prince asked, still glancing at her through the wounded-down window, his own heart beating rapidly. But she still did not answer. He stepped down from the car and went to stand beside her.
"You are a beauty. The sun is the enemy that licks beauty and makes it fade away. Please, step into the car and let me ride you home,"
He was again greeted with silence because Aduke was not taken in by the flattery. There was no sweat on her forehead and it was journeying down her face. She used her handkerchief to clean the salty perspiration.
"I am all right, Prince," she spoke at last. The way she uttered those words, the way they sounded, buoyed his soul. He wished she could keep talking, but his most yearning was to see her climb into the car, so he would humbly drive her home. He knew her father would have told her that he, Adeolu, had confided in him, that he longed to marry her and that the abrupt words had nauseated her deeply in a way or two. Well, he reasoned within himself, every serious lady is expected to act that way to be excepted by a group of cheap maidens. Despite being told not to worry, the helpless Prince persisted in his wanting to drive her home.
"Okay! Okay!" Aduke said as she climbed into the car on a condition that she was going to be mute, she forbade a chat with the Prince.
The Prince felt elated when Aduke finally hopped into his car. He latched the doors, ran to the driving seat, ignited the engine and drove off in quietude.
"I would love to bound out at the gate, not in the compound, please," she said when the car almost reached her father's house.
"It is all right, but I want to have a word with you," the Prince sighed.
"I am in a hurry to do a thing at home. Perhaps the talk should be scheduled for another day,"
"Just please," the Prince demanded, his face grim and innocent.
"All right,"
"Thank you," he sighed, rapidly picking his pieces words together, " I am not surprised at how you icily behave to me all along. I know I caused it for confiding in your dad that you were the woman of my dream instead of directly coming to you. I am sorry, please,"
Aduke was about to say 'Pardon' when a side of her sucked her throat and firmly sealed her lips. She felt a bombshell against Papa for feigning all along. She shook her head. She was confident that it was just a matter of time for the cat to be let out of the bag. She would, however, have prepared for all of them, for every snag whose mission was to bar her from Adigun. Everything seemed laughable to her and the Prince that sat beside her in his car looked funny.
"It is all right. May I leave now, please?" she asked and was about to unlock the door when the Prince gently held her back.
"No, Aduke. Your action is deeply killing me. I speak not as a Prince, but as a hunter wandering in a bush for genuine love. You are the only goddess placed in that bush. I shall take care of you. I promise to make you live in Paradise every day. I desire only you to be the Queen of my prime. I don't want to make the mistake of being a Queen. With you, I have won myself a forgiving, gregarious, understanding, homely and promising partner. I pledge to love you till death does us apart. I am aware of the fact that you are priceless, and no amount of money in the world can buy you. You are a treasure to be pampered with, and you are like an egg to be handled carefully. Please, consider me. I feel the fire in my heart, nothing else can quench the burning but the ice in you,"
"Your wish isn't within my reach. I mean I am into someone already, someone you once met. He is the man with whom I have concluded an oath and with whom I have crossed the rubicon. I am sorry. 'Eledumare' will provide you with a woman much better than I seem to you,"
An oath and crossing the rubicon! Those words deeply pierced and laid him in anguish. Could it be true or was Aduke aimed at fanning him off? He was used to such answers from maidens who would do and say anything just to be left alone.
"But I love you, Aduke," he said, his heart throbbing.
"I am going, please," she said, finally opened the door, and stepped down.
When she had left, the disappointed Prince soon placed his forehead on the steering. He was downcast, and if care had not been taken, he would have swooned right away. He felt useless, completely unwanted. And as he ignited the engine, he became unconscious.
Gba!
Was the sound that sounded later near the bush against a tall palm kernel tree. The leaves above the trees moaned. Doves cooed as they flew from one shuddering tree to another. The GBA-GBA sound was like the rumblings of thunder at the end of the rainy season. It appeared that Adeolu was involved in a ghastly accident. He was bleeding from the nostrils, and panting in a way that almost made him a traveller on the road of death. Rapidly, a few of the onlookers raced to the scene and hastened the groaning Prince to a nearby private clinic. Sensing that a patient had been brought, the nurses grasped the stretcher at once, placed the victim on it and pushed him to a ward where he was afterwards enjoined by the doctor and a few nurses.
A young man sprinted helter-skelter to the palace. At that time, Oba Ajisafe and his chiefs, including Pa. Simon, were in a symposium. The dejected man quickly prostrated himself on the ground, next to the King. His panting confused the assembly.
"My lord, My lord, the Prince is in danger," he announced and the gathering all sprang at once.
The horsetail fell from the King's hand and he soon fainted. His chiefs rushed to rescue him. They succeeded. When he was recuperated, all of them stepped into the Royal vehicle. Minutes later, they were at St Agnes hospital, Ayetoro.
"How did it happen?" the Queen asked no one in particular, examining his son on the bed. No one responded. She cried and screamed. Kabiyesi shifted to her side and consoled her. A long strip of white cloth, the size of a palmkernel leaf, was wrapped on the Prince's forehead. Equipment was also positioned on his nose and he was receiving a relieving drip. He lay still, breathing heavily. His legs felt as if they did not belong to him. His hands were heavy. His jaws trembled, making his teeth chatter noisily. He had a terrible headache and his whole body was hot. The Queen became fazed and dazed.
"No cause for alarm. He will be all right, Kabiyesi," the doctor assured when the King and other attendants seemed gloomy.
"Are you sure, Doctor?" the Queen asked and adjusted her eyes on the specialist for genuine assurance.
"Yes, your Majesty. Be patient, Madam. He is on the road to recovery,"
•••
"There is tension in the palace," Pa. Simon stated that the whole family had consumed dinner that night. His daughter was also at the dining table.
"Is anything the problem?" Aduke's mother queried.
"More than a problem, my dear. You would not believe that the Prince had an accident on his way from an outing yesterday,"
"Jesus!" she yelled.
"....and the injury was quite so much all over him. Its sight alone scares me. I could not stare at the wound beyond a few seconds. He is at St Agnes hospital for treatment as we speak. The Queen and her daughters keep vigil with him,"
From her father's description, Aduke was convinced that her refusal to give a positive response to the Prince's proposal was what probably led to such an unexpected occurrence. Within her, she felt bad and sorry. She wished she had not hopped into that car on that day, wished they had not had a physical encounter at all to protect her heart from feeling guilty and remorseful.
"May God heals him completely, "Aduke prayed while Papa and his wife chanted a resounding 'Amen'.
" Did your interview go well?" Pa. Simon asked.
"Yes, Papa. I was told to come again a few days later,"
"All right. We shall all go to St Agnes hospital to see the Prince in the morrow,"
"Okay, Papa," Aduke felt a lurch in her belly, she wished Papa had not said that, wished he had excepted her, but she had no choice anyway.
•••
The news of his hospitalisation had filtered around the village. It was the topic of discussion among the villagers and in other villages, too. A huddle of well-wishers trooped to St Agnes hospital to pass a Get-well-soon message across to the Prince who was laying on his sick bed. He was surrounded by a lot of the people who feared he was going down to the world beyond. The doctor came in and ordered them out of the ward. They obeyed him. Reluctant to go home yet, they perched on the wooden benches placed against the wall at the passage, peeping through the thinness of the ward's door. To preclude a malevolent scheme among these untrustworthy visitors, security had to be put in place: a group of policemen crowded the clinic. Some of them stood on the ward's threshold. Others stood at the ironed gate, holding cudgels and guns. It was such a method that enabled the Prince to breathe freely and barred his well-wishers from harming him.
The moment Pa. Simon and members of his family arrived at the ward, and the Prince coughed. The pap he ate earlier came out of his mouth and nose and flew in all directions and as he choked, Aduke rushed to hold him and sprinkled water on his face. He smiled. Two nurses mopped the marbled floor to clean the mess.
"Thank you, Aduke," the Prince amid the pain. It was the first time he would speak since the day of his hospitalisation. It surprised Aduke herself and the Queen was agape for a moment.
"Are you Aduke?" The Queen asked.
"Yes, your Highness," she knelt as she responded.
"I am most grateful. He feels pleased to see you,"
"It is a pleasure, your majesty,"
"Please, sit beside him. I don't want to mourn over a son,"
She did. She sat beside him and the Prince focused his gaze on her as if he were trying to kiss her alluring lip. Aduke's eyes looked sorry.
"You will be fine, Prince," she prayed. He nodded in acknowledging her prayer. Pa. Simon and his wife watched them in astonishment.
"Welcome, Kabiyesi," everyone, including the doctor, chanted when Oba Ajisafe was helped in by his guards. One of them was carrying the staff.
"Aduke!" The King called, his eyes fraught with surprise. Aduke knelt and the King swept her back with his horse tail.
"May it be well with you," he prayed.
"Ase!"
"How is it?"
"He is getting well. He spoke earlier when he saw Aduke," the Queen humorously said, clapping her hands together in wonder.
"Really?"
"May the gods are with you, Aduke," the happy King muttered and everyone looked at Aduke in respect.
"It shall be well with you," he said, turning to Pa. Simon and his wife.
"Ase!!!" they chorused, rubbing one hand against the other.
"Doctor, I hope he gets well soon,"
"Certainly, Your Highness," the doctor remarked when he had assessed the Prince with his stethoscope.