THE EXETA

CHAPTER SEVEN

After Clarence had gone through all that he needed to go through before he has deemed fit and eligible of the grand master of the guild he suffered a minute skin fracture. After he was admitted to the hospital, the first person he encountered was a woman in all white apparel. She was an angel, Clarence thought. Her demeanor was so unique and exuded an endearing fragrance and aura that expedited healing process of Clarence. Clarence could not forget the face of the woman who told him she was called Theresa, Doctor Theresa Akua Agyemang Prempeh. After his first encounter, Clarence looked for every way possible to pass by the Korle Bu teaching hospital just to catch a glimpse of his angel. Theresa was beginning to extrapolate that it was not all the time that Clarence visited her that showed that he needed immediate health care. Sometimes, he just wanted to engage her in conversation. Luckily the friends of Theresa, popular among was a lady called Agatha had proposed she should go on a date with the young physicist. Theresa had shunned the idea initially, but after Clarence incessant pestering, they went on the first date, then the second, then the third – then like heaven was loosed on earth, a new love story was born – Clarence weds Theresa, it had all happened very fast, seventeen years ago

The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital was established on October 9, 1923, as a General Hospital to address the health needs of the indigenous people of the Gold Coast, under the then Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Gordon Guggisberg's. Popularly known as Korle Bu, which means the valley of the Korle lagoon, it is located at a Korle Gornor in a suburb of Accra, just some few meters from the natural Korle lagoon lake. The Korle Bu teaching hospital is currently the third largest Hospital in Africa and the leading national referral center in Ghana. The hospital was divided in many units with sections which include, the Clinical and diagnostic departments of the Hospital which comprises of the Medicine, Child Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pathology, Laboratories, Radiology, Anesthesia, Surgery, Polyclinic, Accident Centre and the Surgical/Medical Emergency as well as Pharmacy.

            Other departments included, the Pharmacy, Finance, Engineering, General Administration. The Hospital also provided sophisticated and scientific investigative procedures and specialization in various fields such as Neurosurgery, Cardiothoracic surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Dentistry, Ophthalmology, and others. At the Cardiothoracic surgery unit of the Surgical Department, Dr. Theresa Frimpong Manso had just performed a cesarean section for a Police officer who was at deaths door. Lieutenant of Police Benjamin Kwesi Nyinaku had suffered an internal hemorrhage after the impeccable execution of the cesarean section by Dr. Frimpong Manso. And as the rule of medicine stipulated, he needed an immediate supply of blood or he died. Unfortunately for him, his fiancé, the only family at that time was not available, as she was outside Accra doing her work as s school Teacher. The only family the police lieutenant had was his adopted son. The first son of his elder brother, Kwabena Darko.

            Dr. Frimpong Manso had narrated the urgency of the situation to Kwabena and he had agreed to donate blood for the survival of the man who has brought him to the city. Luckily, the blood of Kwabena was compatible to that of his adopted father. So Kwabena had saved his adopted father. Dr. Frimpong Manso was now relived as she had allowed the police lieutenant to rest from the labyrinthine roller coaster of having to virtually lose his life. Dr. Frimpong Manso after the macabre incident moved to her office for a time of solitude as that was what she always did after a bloody and hectic cesarean section. After some few minutes of just taking a moment to recuperate and to straighten her thoughts, the door knocked and to her surprise her good friend entered.

            Dr. Agatha Lamptey was an Ophthalmologist in the ophthalmology section of the Surgical Department of the Korle Bu teaching Hospital. She was in the same departments as her best friend Theresa. She and Theresa has been friends from Medical school. For the six years they had spent in Medical school had formed the bases for their friend ship. They have grown together, studied together but parted ways in their fourth year. But that was not enough obstacle to truncate their friendship. They still stayed in touch until they finally graduated and were inducted as certified health professionals of Ghana Health Service. And as fate saw it fit they were again posted to the same Teaching hospital as their workplace. Whoever thought that could have been possible. To them, it was really God as both were staunch Christians.

            Agatha moved in as she had sensed from the face or her friends that she was not in a good mood. May be her coming was in handy. At least her friend could use some talks and conversation hoping whatever may be bothering her will be assuaged after their conversation. Theresa looked to the face of her friend. Trying to feign that all was alright. But her friend had seen all already. Agatha mildly moved to take a seat in front of her friend.

            “Agatha…what a surprise…” Theresa tried so play nice. Agatha was sure the answer she was expecting, but that was not what she was going to give to her. She took a long gaze at Theresa,

            “You do not look well….I know when I see it. What is the matter?” Agatha managed to let Theresa settle in.

            “Ask me again….I was trying to save a patient, but I ended nearly killing him instead.” Theresa lamented.

            “I see…”

            “Yes….but he is okay now…he had a blood transfusion and everything will be okay.” Theresa assured.

            “Am sure it will…you had no intention of causing any harm. So please don’t let this take you too far.” Agatha pampered.

            “I see….so tell me, anything new you like to discuss today. I am sure, I could you use some interesting conversation now, to take my mind off what had just happened.” Theresa now seemed elated.

            Agatha also beamed with a smile. She was glad her friend was back alive, “I guess so. So the children are on vacation. Jackie as usual has already started her vacation classes and Charlie is still thinking about what to do. But he is still picking up. Though he is the youngest, he will.”

            “Wow…young Charles has grown I can image the last time I saw him. What he is 7 now…?” Theresa asked.

            “Yes he is and Jackie turns 13 this November…” Agatha remarked excited, “What about Simon and Lily…it’s a long time I saw them, if not at church…? Agatha inquired.

            “They are all doing fine, Simon says he is studying to so he would be selected to compete in this National Science and Math’s Quiz and Bionic Lily… Lily is already attending vacation classes.” Theresa narrated.

            “Wow…that’s great news from Simon…. he should work hard, we are all with him.” Agatha depicted a smile of joy showing he was proud of the kids.

            “Then another item of interest, the government want churches to pay taxes…. Why, what happened?” Theresa asked.

            “I heard about the news last week and I did not take it serious until, here at work where I heard my colleges talk about it. This has never happened before.” Agatha lamented.

            “I do not have much to say about that. We as a body of Christ have a lot of duty to our nation. So, if paying taxes will be a way of resolving this then let it be.” Theresa said.

            “But…sometime if we have forgotten, most of the senior high school we have here in our country were built by the churches. We can mention of hospital, libraries, and clinics. For me I think the church have been doing more development works than any other government or political party. All they are interested in is power and votes and the end they deliver stones and sticks.” Agatha was becoming livid.

            “I call them the men in black that are good with words. And if you are not lucky to fall under their charm you will be the most miserable of all. What I believe is that, the Church has been contributing its quota to national development for many years now. The church does not need to pay taxes again for the people to see that they are indeed helping in the development of this nation. They have been doing it from the beginning. So, the government should just allow them to do what they do.” Theresa added.

            “And if you listener from the news how the nations moneys keep disappearing from the national coffex and that there are no traces to the culprit, sometimes, I wonder if we ever have any patriotic citizens in Ghana. Citizen who will want to work for the development of this nation, whether they receive remunerations or not. Citizens who will be candid at all time to this nation. Citizen who are ready and poised to expose all forms of bribery and corruption.” Agatha lamented. She moved her head a bit to the air and sighed a little the gravity of the situation was weighting so much on her.

            “There will be…one day. Ghana will not be this way forever. Things will change…things will get better.” Theresa promised.

            “I hope so…” Agatha responded agnostic. Theresa then quickly switched the topic of discussion. “Let Jackie and Charlie come over sometimes. I believe Lily will love to see them again.”

            “Oh…sure I will let them. Most of the time I consider the distance the have to travel from Kasoa to your place.” Agatha replied.

            “You can still make their day with that…” Theresa teased.

            “Yes…I will surely bring them along …very soon” Agatha replied as she stood to her feet to leave, with Theresa walking to escort her back to her unit.

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It was mid-day afternoon, and Simon and his father rode in black 4x4 Volvo. The vehicle was in a traffic jam at the moment and it was going to take some time for them to move on. Simon sat quietly with his seat belt nicely fitted around his abdomen. Clarence sat looking at the traffic ruminating on when they were going to move. Clarence stretched his hands and turned the radio on. The current station was not playing anything soothing, so he continued to change and change. But at the end he still did not find one that he liked so he just turned the radio off. Simon was still quiet. Something he was good at in the presence of his father. The vehicles moved a little, and Clarence also pushed forward.

            “So what were you saying…. you want to stay home throughout all this vacation?” Clearance had managed to break the silence. Simon looked aside. His father was still focused on the steer wheel.

            “No Dad…I want to study for the competition. My friends will come over and some time I will also go to their place.” Simon replied. Clarence nodded.

            “I see not a bad idea though, but what about catching up with your class. If you do not attend the classes, you miss a lot of lectures...well classes’, right? Clarence asked.

            “No need to be afraid of that Dad…I have finish almost of the topics…” Simon responded so confident. Clarence then gave a sigh of relive, “Sometimes I do forget my son is a human microcomputer….” Clarence laughed. With that, the cars in the traffic begun to move. The space was now paved, and Clarence presses on the speedometer and gassed on.

The Morrison house was the same. Nothing had really change, just that Mr. Morrison was home this time and he had welcomed his visitors and they were already talking in the living room. Caasie had served them some drink and had left to do her normal chores. Mr. Morrison smiled at the document his good friend had just given to him. He glanced through very excited.

            “Awesome Clarence…I never doubt your savviness…. this was just what I needed. The last one you worked on for us was great. My engineer will be very excited.” Matthias replied ecstatic.

            “Okay…to begin with this is my son Simon…in his second year going to his third her in High school as you people call it.” Clarence introduced Simon. Simon quickly stood to his feet and stretched his hands to shake the men he had come to learn form. Matthias gave Simon a good look nodding his head as is he was a good thing.

            “Wow…Simon…you father is a great man…nice to meet you too” Matthias shake the hands of Simon. Simon was not really used to that. After shaking he then moved quietly to sit down.

            “As we discussed these are the document you will need for the final facet of the nuclear fusion reactor. It a simple local brand but it has all the features and the abilities of an upgraded reactor.” Clarence expounded. Matthias looked on listening to his good friend.

            “I see, I will get this quickly to the engineer and see what comes out of it. Am really passionate about nuclear fusion, and I believe after we are done, Ghana and Africa will marvel at this, just like what Europe, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the U.S is building with ITER.” Matthias said passionately.

            “I can wait to have a look at what you have done so far. I believe you are getting nearer everyday…” Clarence responded.

            “Yes we are …certainly, we will be glad to have you, just let me know when you will be free.” Matthias replied and goes back to opening the files. Simon then takes the chance to whisper into the ear of his dad. Clarence nod having heard what his son had told him.

            “Can I get the washroom…Simon here wants so use the place” Clarence inquired. Matthias quickly stopped reading and looked on. “Okay…where Cassie is.” Matthias bellowed, “Cassiee…can you please come round?”

            With that Cassie appeared from nowhere. “Yes…Sir… you called me...”

            “Can you please help young Simon here to find the washroom?” Matthias inquired politely. Simon the stood to his feet and looked at the face of Caasi. She was not familiar, but her face showed she will be a good woman.

            “Okay…follow me Simon.” Caasi turned to Simon and the moved away from the living room. Clarence watched his son disappeared with Cassie. He then moved closer to Matthias and stretched his neck. There was something he had been trying to ask him for long. And he thought this was the best time to do it.

            “So this question, and I have been meaning to ask for a long time…. how were you able to obtain the funds for this nuclear fusion project? From my guess as a physicist it would require so much funding. Something no African can easily grant you. So where and how did you get your funding for this …? Clarence inquired

            Matthias looked at the stern face if his brother and friend and started to laugh, as Clarence was still solemn eager to know how his friend had been able to do what he was doing.

Simon had just finished using the washroom and was on his way to the living room. As he moved, he got to appoint where as he turned right and saw something unusual. The thing was not so familiar. He was so fascinated about it so he decided to go towards to to have a closer view of what was happening. The scene was that of a hydraulic press that exuded incessant pressure for a water fountain. And the most fascinating thing about the fountain was that it radiated a violet cloud like smoke. It was more like the water bubble were giving off violet steam into the air.

            Simon moved closer. He was spell bound. The hydraulic press was fashioned a manner such that is operated on its own – automatically. Producing the pressure that drove the water into the fountain. The violet steam emanating from the water also added beauty to the fountain. Simon got to it and was trying to decipher how the person who had mounted the fountain did it. As he looked around, the water twitch and the flow was not coming as it used to. The water was now falling away, being wasted. Simon then tried to stop the hydraulic press by applying pressure on it, but he ended aggravating the situation. The water then broke form the tube connecting the press to the fountain and gushed out with great force. Simon still trying to fix it, some bellowed from behind him.

            “What!,….what is happening?” It was obvious the tone of the unknown voice was furious. Simon was still trying to fix the mess he had incurred, so he was not able to look back. The person seeing what was happening quickly moved to the fountain and turned off the power supply hidden below the green grass. Everything then stopped. Simon was now relieved and now turned to look at the person who had saved him. He saw her. Though she was full of anger as her face depicted it, her beauty was still conspicuous. Simon ‘s mouth dropped as he did not know what to say. The face he was looking at him was not a friendly face at all.

            “Who are you….? And what did you do to my work?” Marlon bellowed livid. She then started moving around hoping the damage was not a big one.

            “Don’t you have manners at home…, how did you enter this house in the first place, who invited you here?”

 Marlon kept asking furious question. She was planning to do a video recording on her vacation assignment. She was almost done and was taking her cell phone from her room and would have called Cassie to record all for her. But now all that she had taken weeks to work on had been rendered futile by some total stranger. Simon was still stricken with fear and guilt. He had not said a word still.

            “Are you dump?, Can’t you talk…? Who are you…? Marlon was still furious. Simon then managed to break the silence, “Am sorry…very sorry.” Simon pleaded.

            “Three things I hate in my life – the word SORRY, people who are dump and total strangers who try to invade people’s life, and you fit all the three…do you know how hard I worked on that.” Marlon was pointing to the now lifeless fountain.

            “I said am sorry….” Simon managed to speak a bit louder. Marlon was still livid,

            “You are making me angrier…” Marlon then moved towards the living room, bellowing his father’s name and Cassie.

            “Dad….Caasie…Dad…Cassie are you there…...” Marlon had entered the living room livid and had reported all that had happed to his Dad. Simon had come in to apologise, but Marlon had moved away now crying into her room. Mr. Matthias then part ways with The Frimpong Manso’s and they headed back home.

Simon had been quiet the whole time his father drove them back home he had not said a word. He had been humiliated and scorned by a girl presumable her his age and he could not do anything about it. What kind of girl is she Simon thought? She had no manners and had a very cold heart. What a daughter to Mr. Morrison? Simon thought.

            That night Simon refused to have dinner and went to bed early. Clarence had narrated all that had happened to Theresa and Lily at dinner. They were all sad for poor Simon.