NEW JOB!

So anxious was I to start my very NEW job, that my nights seemed longer than my days. Everyday I would wake up and countdown. I arranged clothes that I would wear on my first week.
I focused on trousers and tops. It seemed like a good idea to wear trousers consecutively, then skirts the following week. Then again I thought of wearing a trouser one day then a skirt the next. I was too excited to decide. With so many pairs of shoes that Romeo had bought me, footwear was not a dilemma at this point in time.
I developed a love for the dressing mirror within a span of days. Sometimes holding serious conversations with my image and checking out my facial expressions. That was how obsessed I was by the idea of ‘first time’ employment. But I always made sure to do this in my privacy. It was my little secret untold.
One day, Romeo came home earlier than usual. I thought he wanted to surprise me with an afternoon get down, which he so often did, only on this day it was barely noon. I was lying on the couch catching up on a movie.
“Hey babes?” was all he said and went straight into the room.
Naturally, my mind cooked up an assortment of naughty ideas. I was all giggles.
Promptly, I ran to the kitchen, opened the fridge, picked out some left over supper and tossed it in the microwave. Romeo was a styled up man. He loved to look and feel good about everything around him. He adored comfort by all means and worked his back tirelessly for it.
Tall, slim, well shaped, light skin and handsome with very dark dreadlocks. He eyes were reasonably big and round with brown pupils. His lips had a pretty shade of pink. Many a times I teased him by calling him ‘pinky lips’. This man was irresistible I must admit, but faithful. He hardly noticed a skirt from a hipster. I loved that about him.
But he was also a mysterious kind of guy. I thought that after so much intimacy, he would open up and tell me all about himself just like I did. But NO! Not Romeo. He was discreet, very conservative and sensitive to his personal being. The good thing is that he trusted me. I was never the nosy type of a lady who would want to know it all. Instead I knew how to respect opinion and privacy. This was especially as a result of my up bringing by my step folks. I never had confidence in myself to speak up or speak out. In fact I was best at curling myself in a corner if mocked or scorned.
I therefore took no interest in snooping around Romeos business. All I knew was that he was a personal driver to some rich guy in town. They were so well acquainted that he called his boss ‘buddy’. Strange as that may sound, it was so.
With the rice and beef curry nicely warmed, I set up the dining table and went into the room. In my mind I thought it a good idea to first have him well fed so that he may have good energy for an afternoon catch.
“Sweetie, lunch is re…..a…dy… What?” I exclaimed in panic and confusion.
He was ALL sweaty and red. His skin so pale and eyes had a deep red tan. Halfway covered in the beddings, beads of sweat run down his fore head as his eyes rolled up towards the roof. I could only see the white eyeballs. His pupils were not visible.
I walked in slowly in shock and noticed heave on the floor, just by the bedside. Horrified at the scene, I trembled as I wondered what to do or where to start. What was wrong? Had he been food poisoned? Still in shock and perplexity, I swiftly ran to his side crying, not knowing what to say or ask.
“Wh…wh…at? Wh…how?” was all I found myself stammering.
He didn’t respond. He simply shivered and kept his eyes rolled while panting. Even before I could utter Jack Robinson, another round of vomit was all over me. I was trying to hold him by the head as my hands slid in his sweat when he threw up on my chest. All soaked in hot fowl smelling gag, I jumped off the bed and quickly stripped half naked. Hastily I ran to the bathroom, grabbed a small towel, dumped it and ran back to dab his forehead. I realized this wasn’t working so I speedily dashed back to the kitchen, filled a bowl with water, grabbed a kitchen clothe and ran to first aid him. This is where all the first aid I had ever learned in my life flowed back into my head.
Within moments, he had calmed down and was now breathing inaudibly. He silently dozed off.
Everything was running through my mind. Questions were endless. I cleaned up the mess in total confusion but consoled myself with an assumption that it was most probably food poisoning. He most probably ate something bad while at work. Or maybe he fed on a spoilt leftover snack. Whatever it was, I was sure that it wasn’t consumed in my house because I didn’t feel sick at all.
An hour went by and he was still lying in the same position. He hadn’t moved an inch. I was now sitting by his side observing him. Then he began murmuring. He spoke but I couldn’t figure out what he was saying. It sounded like he was asking for something. I put my ear nearer to his lips so I could listen closely, then I heard him so softly asking for water. His voice was so weak.
I was well equipped with all I thought he would ask for. A clean clothe, bowl of clean water, fresh drinking water and even food! I poured water into a glass half full, supported his head and slowly sipped him. He gulped as if he had stayed for days in a desert with no water. One could hear the sounds he made as he swallowed from outside the room.
Once his thirst was quenched, he slowly turned away and faced the other side. He was not telling me anything and this began to frustrate me. My patience was worn out by now, so I gently asked him.
“Sweetie, please tell me what happened? Did you eat something strange today? Is your stomach aching? Where does it hurt? Why do you have a fever?”
No answer. He only went on complaining of pain in his ribs and shivers.
We went through another hour of total silence. Sometimes he was so silent that I would place my cheek just by his nose to see if he was breathing. For some reason, I was so shaken to a point of worry. He was also coughing a lot.
As time went by, it grew darker. Dusk drew in darkness. I never even thought of cooking that day. I didn’t feel hungry at all.
His cough got even worse. At this point I began recalling the doldrums he had exposed lately. For the past week he had not been all cheerful like he used to. I assumed that he was a little green-eyed by the fact that I wasn’t going to depend on him so much any more. One time he even asked me if I had lacked anything while in his care. He found it a little difficult to understand that I only wanted to keep busy outside of the house. Much as it didn’t seem to make sense to him, he modestly concurred with the idea.
As all this thoughts raced through my mind, he made on outrageous cough that jerked my mind back to the room. As I turned to him, he signed as if to ask for something to spit on. I put a small bucket before him that I had kept aside just incase he wanted to throw up again. He sputtered a thick pink discharge that resembled a chunk of meat!
‘Enough is enough!’ I said to myself as I sprung out of the bed and ran to a neighbors’ house.
Sly is what we called him. He earned this name from his ‘smooth operator’ nature. Sly could find his way through to utterly ANYTHING. I remember how one day, we invited him over for dinner, after which we were sipping on liquor when Sly noticed Romeos snake skin cowboy boots. Sly was a guy who told many jokes that by the time he was done, he would leave us in rib-cracking pain. He began by telling us how we wouldn’t know when those boots shall leave our house in his feet. And true to his word, the lad left in the snake boots. Romeo ultimately gave them to him at his own free will.
I thumped on his door unconsciously. He opened to an enthralled face as tears streamed from my eyes. I could hardly speak so I ushered him to our house. We were only two houses apart. Wedged in bewilderment, he hastily trailed behind me. When we got to the house he asked me the same questions I had been asking myself. What happened?
Without wasting time, he dashed for his car keys and we rushed Romeo to the closest health facility. It was a small private clinic run by Nuns. After briefly examining him and running a few tests, they gave him a shot of what to date I don’t know then asked us to rush him to the National Government Hospital. They had stabilized his condition, but advised he shouldn’t be taken back home. By this time I felt like I was sweating even in my teeth. I couldn’t stop myself from crying. I noticed that my tears irritated Sly but I couldn’t control them. While he drove, I sat at the back with Romeo’s head rested on my laps. He was serene after the jab.
The events of that fateful day were ALL NEW to me. I had NEVER in my life encountered anything yet close to it. From the beginning when he walked into the house to the time when we got to the hospital.
In those days, only money talked. No money no attendance. Due to a relay of activities, my wallet was nowhere in the picture. Sly had to bail me out on this one. Romeo regained once again and was now vomiting red stuff. He was taken through so many tests, chest x-ray, and urine samples yet again. On this day I realized why people discredited Government Hospitals. We had arrived in this one at around 8.30pm. After so long procedures, this including the paying of bills, examinations and a lot of waiting, it was decided that Romeo had to be admitted. This conclusion was made at 5AM in the morning!!

(To be continued……………………………..)