Thriving While Waiting

Doctor George sat across the room on the foam-padded wooden chair in his office.  Two art murals hung diagonally beside each other on the wall above his head. Three textbooks sat on his table but my eyes caught a massive blue book themed The Physician.  Jidenna had booked me for an appointment yesterday. I sat deafened by the thick silence, waiting for Doctor George to speak but he sat bent over this desk scribbling notes in a purple journal. When he spoke, he looked me in the eye, his eyes held nothing. No promise, no assurance. “Following your family history closely, I have seen no trace of Vitiligo at all which is not abstract though.” He said Abstract. I didn't remember the meaning of the word but I nodded.  When I left his office, I memorised that he'd put me on phototherapy and had given me corticosteroids to even out my skin and stop the progression of Vitiligo on my skin.  I didn't flag down a bus outside the premises. I stood by the roadside even though Mam...

The year was still young. It rained the night before so when my alarm beeped, I rolled lazily to the other side of the bed until I felt my body touch Funmi's. Funmi was my college roommate who had transitioned to being my roommate in our studio apartment after our service year. It was easy because we both knew ourselves and had gotten employment in different companies in the popularly known Lagos Island, located in the economic centre of Nigeria, Lagos, in the western part of Nigeria. “We're just starting life. Ifeyinwa, we can manage together until we have a bigger space.” She had told me the evening I asked her again about renting a space together. I woke Funmi up that morning when I came out of the bathroom: A dry yellow patch had appeared beside my lips. Funmi said it was eczema and opened her bedside drawer to pull out her Epiderm cream for me to use until I could see a Doctor.  My makeover easily hid it and I didn't bother. When I snuck out into the canteen amid work ...