The Impossible Destination

 September 30, 2008Kano, Nigeria07:15pm  His father left him in the doctor’s common room some minutes ago after helping him to a bar of chocolate before leaving to attend to an emergency in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. He had been told to remain seated and enjoy his chocolate while watching television. His father Dr. Umar Musa was a medical doctor at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and his mother Maryam Musa was a nurse currently working at a private clinic. AKTH was the largest hospital in Kano and one of the best health facility in the country. Thirty minutes ago his father and he were both watching the national geographic station in their living room after his mother who was working a night shift left for work when his dad got an urgent call from the hospital notifying him that one of his patients was having a seizure and without wasting a minute his father grabbed him and drove to the hospital. After sitting in the doctor’s common r

  If you were the only child to a father who was a doctor and a mother who was a nurse, you had to find a way to adjust to the demand of such a reality which included being a companion to yourself and also finding other things to keep you company when you were not in the company of your cronies. Arafat didn’t have a lot of friends because he didn’t need a lot of them. His rule for making friends was based on intuition, tolerance and respect for personal space. If you were lacking in those three departments he marked you as an invalid and the problem was most of the people around him were invalids and so was the fool standing before him screaming at him because he had kicked the ball wide instead of putting it in the net. Today was a Wednesday and school hours on Wednesdays at SISS were split into class hours and sport hours. Sport hours was currently in progress and the captain of the soccer team was already making him feel the wrath of his ever growing ego. Tunde Badmus

  It was 5:30pm on a Sunday evening and Ara was out shopping with his parents at a mall. VC his best friend and he were both at a table inside a cafeteria in the mall helping themselves to some burgers and soft drinks. Their parents were also seated at another table in the cafeteria deep in conversation. Victor’s dad was also a medical doctor and a close friend of Ara’s dad. Just like Ara’s mom, Victor’s mother was also a nurse and a close friend of his mom. It was funny how people could keep the same company as the ones they spent time with at work. He would die of boredom because whenever both VC and his self were in the joint company of their parents, the topic was always health related. VC was a student of the commercial class at school and had dreams of becoming a chartered accountant in future while Ara was a student of the science class and had a dream of becoming a scientist. VC was a smallish guy in size with big eyes that were always occupied by the lens of his m

  Two weeks later, Ara was back in the classroom hopelessly staring at Mr. Edward his physics teacher. It was his first day back at school after the incidence. Claudine was still breathing through a ventilator and her life was being sustained by life-support system and equipment at the hospital. The news from the hospital was that there was no sign of improvement as her health deteriorates. Ara had been put through the scope by Claudine’s parents and his parents. The only reason he haven’t been interrogated by the police was because Claudine’s parents believe that he is innocent. The most difficult part of the whole incidence was sitting through a session with a shrink hired by Claudine’s parents. The shrink had psycho analyzed Ara and even though his parents had offered to seat with him throughout the session he had declined. Ara’s parents had ended up telling the Douglas that the session with the shrink was going to be the last time they would put their son through furthe

  Ara brushed his hand through her hair. Claudine looked peaceful and beautiful as always but she also appeared exhausted. She was still lying on the gurney he had used to wheel her into the old abandoned equipment room at the apex of one of the buildings at the LIGH. The brightness from the LED light he was holding radiated her skin. She was putting on a hospital gown and she still looked beautiful in it. The old equipment room was dark and stuffy with no source of light and though the electricity connection and the switch in the room were still working he couldn’t turn on the lights because he was going to attract attention he was not looking forward to. If he was going to execute his task without flaws he needed to remain Isolated and untraceable. Breathing was not easy in the old equipment room but that was the least of his problems. Ara felt relieved that the digital flow meter on Claudine’s oxygen cylinder that was connected to her ventilator showed that there was still