How Worthy? - Part 2

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 Mama's stories of cars braking off the highway and crashing onto the walkway nudged me to go home. Growing up, I wondered if the scary stories were real but now I know the world is such a broken place.

A dark plump woman roasted yam and plantain on an Iron net in the next street. I stood by watching her flip the hot yam pieces and plantains over and scrape off the black parts. Her hands didn't burn. The day the kerosene lantern Mama bought for me in junior secondary class touched my skin, I had blisters that engraved the design of the lantern on my skin. Some people still ask if it's a tattoo.

 The toasty aroma of the yam slowly wafted into my nostrils and I walked towards her. I would ask her if I could sit on the bench under her shade while I waited for her to prepare three yam pieces for me. I wasn't hungry but I would sit down there until the heavy flood of tears welled up in my throat disappeared. I would board a taxi and go home.

Funmi lay in bed reading a book she had borrowed from the State Library two days ago.  

Hi, babe, what did Doctor George say? She sat up, turning the book on the bedside table.

I wanted to lie down on the bed and feel the soft cotton sheet on my skin but instead, I said, “Jidenna hasn't called me since today, I told you he'll eventually lose interest.”

Funmi did not say a word, she climbed down from the bed and hugged me as I unhooked the hoops on my ears.

“Ifeyinwa, what about busy days when we get lost in the bulky work on our tables? People still have busy days,” she said while she patted my back.

I sighed. I had nothing to say.

I need to get an apple from the fridge, I said, shrugging off myself from Funmi and walking to the kitchen.

The cold water trickled onto my palms when I turned on the kitchen faucet. A plastic container of detergent sat on the kitchen window. I didn't get it, instead, I watched the water come faster onto my palms until it formed a pool. 

I must have stood for five minutes before I heard Funmi's voice.

“You're overthinking, Ifeyinwa”, she said.

She held out my phone.

Jidenna was calling.p

I sighed and took the call.

“Ify Kedu?” (How are you?)  he said.

My heart thudded and leapt. He still gave me butterflies.

I stood still at the kitchen sink while I watched the water trickle down before Funmi came and turned it off. She led me into the room and took the phone from my right hand.

Jidenna was still at the other end, confused.

“Funmi, Please help me tell her that I'll come to see her tomorrow unfailingly.” He said. I heard him exhale and for one moment I wondered what must have been going on in his mind. That night, I slept off, laid on the propped-up pillow on the wall, the apple I had gone to get from the fridge clutched in my hand. 

The sound of heavy rain on the ceiling woke me up around 2 am, pangs of hunger suddenly tugging at my belly in spasms. I strolled to the kitchen to warm the jollof rice Funmi had made the day before. I didn't mind if the food would digest or not, I would eat and maybe look up a few things online.

When I checked my WhatsApp, I noticed I had 8 unread messages from Jide.

I tapped to read what he had written.

You are a special art because you are God's art. Do you not know that you're made in God's image? Vitiligo is such an unexpected change but does it reduce you? I will never stop loving you because of that.…… Ever thought of God's love? Boundless! I want to say a lot to you…..

I closed my phone. The tears were rushing up to my throat. Lightning struck and I jolted to consciousness. As I dug into my jollof, all I could think of was the scent of petrichor in the courtyard at dawn.

And Oh, I would see Jidenna too.

It was weekend.

From: The Journey of a Waiting Girl Series

#ThrivingWhileWaiting #TheJourney #TheJourneyOfAWaitingGirl #thejourneyisthedestination💗

OUR WEBSITE

www.thrivingww.com