Presentation Day (Episode 19): Dead Man Walking
1:00 pm
“Oga, you dey alright? Oga Oga… holl on… holl on. Oga” Tony heard a male voice yell at him but he couldn’t make out the words neither could he open his eyes wide enough to see who it was. He felt hands shake him gently then search his pockets and pull out his car key. He thought he was getting robbed and in the desperation to not lose his health and his car in the same hour; he forced his eyes open. All he had was a terribly broken arm but he didn’t know it yet.
“Relax… if you move anyhow, you go spoil that hand” Olinlin struggled to open the car back door in a hurry. Gently, he carried Tony with his broken arm into the back seat, got into the driver’s seat, and drove off. He drove as fast but gently as he could in order to not injure Tony further.
“Oga, no close your eyes abeg…” he pleaded with Tony not to close his eyes; from lessons learnt in life, he believed that if Tony closed his eyes and fell asleep, he could go back into unconsciousness and pass away from there. “Make I on radio… so that sleep no go catch you, we go soon reach hospital” he switched on the radio.
“Aaaah!” Tony screamed again, this time from pain; a very painful headache he didn’t know he had and Olinlin understood instantly pressing the off button immediately. Tony, still unable to form coherent words because of the shock he was under, widened his eye balls as a way to assure Olinlin that he was not neither going to close his eyes nor fall sleep.
As the car moved, he avoided the site of his broken arm at all cost; the first sight of it was traumatizing enough. He expected his legs to be injured after the hit but that fact that it was his arm that was destroyed by the incident baffled him. “Holl on… holl on enh, we go soon reach” Olinlin’s voice kept interrupting his thoughts and he widened his eyes to reassure the man again.
“E be like say you be wan do superman” Olinlin tried to make a joke but Tony didn’t laugh; not because it wasn’t funny but because he didn’t get the joke. They finally arrived at the hospital and luckily for Tony, he didn’t need surgery; all he needed was a lot of stitches, bandages and a cast for his broken arm.
He was heavily medicated so the pain was at the most minimum it could be “sorry enh, thank god say na only your hand injure… you for die o” Olinlin sat beside him for moral support as the cast was being applied to his broken arm.
He was tired of Olinlin and his constant chatter but he appreciated it anyway. After the cast was applied to his arm, he was required to stay in the hospital for more tests and observation just to make sure that nothing else was wrong with him; so he was given a room for the time being.
While Olinlin was out buying them something to eat, Tony tried to relax on the hospital bed. He tried to distract himself with the television in front of him but it was somewhat impossible. So, he closed his eyes to see if he was going to be able to relax completely but instead he remembered the accident clearer than before.
He saw the car like it was still in front of him, a navy blue Toyota Camry; he saw the malicious look on the face of the man who drove the car. The memory was so clear that he could see the car plate number and as the car came for him he saw himself using his arms to protect himself “ooooh” he exclaimed finally learning the reason he had a broken arm and not two broken legs.
He smiled realizing what Olinlin meant when he called him superman; he said it because he knew Tony instinctively tried to use his hands to stop the car from hitting him. “But wait” Tony said to himself, a knowing smile pulling his lips from side to side as he sat up.
He dialled his phone “Hello” a male voice answered on the other side “Good Afternoon, Uche… it’s Tony” “Tony how far now” Uche was happy to hear from him and sorry to learn of his accident. “I only have a broken arm… no other injuries” Tony explained “thank god”.
“If I give you the plate number of the car will you be able to get the name of the owner of the car?” Uche was a Vehicle Inspection Officer who had access to all the cars registered in Abuja “Yes, do you have the plate number of the car?” Uche asked
“Yes I do. Let me send it to you on WhatsApp” “no need, I am in front of my computer just call it” and so Tony proceeded to calling the plate number of the car that hit him.
A few seconds passed by and Tony’s anxiety made him impatient “Is the car in your system?” he asked but there was no answer “Hello…hello…” “The car is registered to Mr. Henry Obinna Eke,” words that sent a hefty dose of shock down Tony’s veins.
Mr. Henry only negotiated with Tony to make him relax and unsuspecting but unfortunately for him; the man he sent to take out Tony was unable to finish the job because he saw Olinlin across the road watching him.