Seventy-Four

Ken Kedem turns down the volume of the television and presses the power button almost violently, and the television goes off. His wife emerges from the bedroom, dressed for the hospital.

Mr. Kedem picks up his car keys and turns towards the door.

Minutes later, as they drive towards the hospital, his wife reaches across and takes his hand. Her face is distraught from the tears she had shed.

"Ken, I'm sorry. I'm absolutely sorry! You were right," she says solemnly. "I have hated Chris for no reason. I should've encouraged Effe to stay with him and not tried to tear them apart. I'm so sorry, dear."

Ken looks at her and smiles wanly.

"It's alright, my dear. No need for blame games now. Your daughter needs a mother more than ever now," he says gently.

Forty minutes later, they enter the reception of the male ward. There are a lot of people present, including Chris' mother and his sister. Effe sees them from across the room where she is standing by the window. One look at her and Mrs. Kedem knows her daughter's soul is absolutely shattered.

Effe walks unsteadily towards them, and then she falls into her mother's arms and begins to cry, totally broken. Ivy guides her to a seat and holds her tightly as she cries.

"It's okay, my darling. It's okay," Ivy says, fighting back her own tears. "Everything's going to be fine. How're they?"

"They're still operating on them, Mom," Effe says hoarsely. "I'm dying, Mama! Dear Lord, what have I done? If any of them dies I can't live, Mama! I just can't live!"

Ken Kedem sits down beside them and gently pats her hair.

"There, there, sweet-cakes, they won't die. Just hold in there," he says softly.

The glass doors to the staff entrance opens, and Ira and Rupert come out, still in their surgery gowns and looking absolutely drained.

All eyes turn to them, and Effe gets to her feet instantly, her heart thudding with fear as she sees the crushed look in their eyes, and she almost collapses.

"Please. Are they okay?" Effe asks quaveringly.

Rupert smiles sadly, his kind eyes tortured.

"We extracted the bullet successfully from Chris' head. As for Junior the bullet luckily missed his heart, but it nicked his spine a bit," Rupert says as kindly as he possibly can under the situation. "He's currently in a coma, but his stats are very good, and he's a very strong and healthy boy, so we expect him to come out of the coma soon. We're certain of a full recovery. Chris is alright, but we're a bit worried that he might lose his memory temporarily because of where the bullet lodged. We have induced him into a coma to let the swellings go down and the head to heal so that he might not permanently lose his memory. All we can do now is pray, but I can assure you they will be fine."

There are cries of relief from the people present.

"Where are they? Can I see them, please?" Effe asks tremulously as tears fall down her face unheeded.

"They're both in Ward 5. We joined two beds for them," Rupert says kindly. "You can look in briefly, but only family, please."

A few minutes later Effe and her parents enter Ward 5. Behind them are Diana and Mrs. Lois Bawa whose eyes just wouldn't stop leaking tears. Also, with them are Wailer Vroom, Rupert and Ira.

Chris is lying on the bed, absolutely still, wearing the blue admission gown. His eyes are shut, and he is connected to a lot of beeping machines. Junior is lying beside him on the other bed, connected to the life-support machine, and he looks pale and tired. Effe is blinded by tears as she stumbles forward and kneels by the side of the bed. She reaches across and covers their hands with hers.

Ira sees the gesture, and she scowls, turns and walks out of the ward.

Effe breaks down completely, and weeps her heart out.

She cannot stop, even when her father tries to console her.

She gets up and puts her head on Chris' shoulder, and weeps from her soul, so shattered and torn that her tears wet and stain the gown like blood.

The main door opens and Mrs. Lois Bawa enters, followed by Diana. Their families are in the living-room, watching television. The Reverend Brand Bawa, Stan Bawa, Ruben Essel, Diana's husband Kwaku Dossah, and their son Marlon.

Also present are Stan's wife Esther, and their daughter, Maame Serwaa. Diana silently sits down beside her husband and puts her head on his shoulder. He puts a loving, comforting arm across her shoulders. Her son looks at her with a sad face.

"How's Uncle Chris and Junior, Mama?" Marlon asks, and he sound just as horrified as they are all feeling.

"They'll be fine, MD. They'll be fine," Diana says with a broken sob. "They just need our prayers."

Mrs. Lois does not stop.

She continues towards her bedroom, and after a moment her husband gets up and follows her. He finds her lying on her side on the edge of the bed. He sits down beside her and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Lois. As usual, you were right," he says painfully. "I'm terribly sorry. I'll go and see him tomorrow, after I listen to what Elaine has to say."

Mrs. Lois jerks at the mention of Elaine's name, and she peers at her husband in incomprehension.

"What? Is Elaine coming here?" Lois asks with surprise.

"No, no. Haven't you heard? She's doing a program this evening. She says she's going to show what happened to Chris the night he hit the poor girl with the car."

Madam Lois sits up suddenly, angrily.

"What? What's wrong with that girl?" Lois asks, horrified. "Chris and his son are fighting for their lives and she wants to show something demeaning about him? And you're going to watch it?"

"I need to, dear. She says she has some new evidence that will blow our minds. If I'm going to be a father to my son, which I admit I haven't been in a long time, then I need to watch it, and if it's as terrible as I suspect it will be, I'll know how to protect Chris."

"Dear Lord! What at all does she want from Chris?"

"She's never forgiven him for raping her, Lois. And I guess she's disappointed Chris wasn't jailed today, and so she's doing all she can to smear him with mud."

"That girl is not a Christian!" Lois says harshly. "She just attends church!"

"We can't judge her, dear," the man of God says gently.

"Do you have her number? I must call her right now! She must stop this nonsense! She has to let Chris have his peace!"

He takes her in his arms and rubs her back gently as she begins to weep again.

"It'll be alright, dear. It'll be alright," Reverend Bawa says.

There is a gold-plated embossed name tag on the glass door that reads:

ELAINE BOATENG

PRIVATE LOUNGE

HEARTBEAT TV

Effe slides the door open and enters the small but beautiful Lounge. There are deep armchairs, a complex dressing-table, a desk with computer and printer and other fittings.

There is a tall, dark man in beautiful African smock and black trousers sitting comfortably in one of the armchairs. Elaine is sitting at the dressing-table as three beauticians attend to her. She sees Effe through the mirror, and she shoos the women away and turns to face Effe.

She has a happy smile on her face that dies quickly when she sees how angry Effe is.

"Wow, girlfriend, you look pissed," Elaine says, sounding surprised.

"Elaine, it's enough," Effe says coldly.

Elaine gets to her feet and spreads her hands in a gesture of confusion.

"Enough? What do you mean, Ef?"

Effe plants herself squarely in front of her life-long friend.

"Enough about Chris, Elaine. The man is in the hospital, fighting for his life. My son too, in case you haven't heard, is also in a coma. And you don't care? You just don't give a damn? You're going to do another dirty expose on him? Are you going to turn him into a beast again? Jesus, Elaine, the boy dated you once. Don't you think he's suffered enough?"

Elaine's nostrils flare, and her lips move off her teeth in a rather unpleasant snarl.

All her bitterness and hatred come to the fore.

"Chris Bawa is a beast, Effe! Always has been, always will be!" Elaine says hatefully, spitefully. "Now he's living like a victim, everybody feeling sorry for him because of that damn mad Barbara! Well, I'm very sorry about Junior, but I don't give a damn about Chris. I'm going to remind this country once again that the man should be back in prison where he belongs!"

"Such hatred, Elaine! Such bitterness!" Effe says, stunned. "Why do you hate Chris so much? I can't believe it's only because you claim he raped you!"

"Claim? Did you say CLAIM? Damn you, Effe! You saw it yourself! You saw my tattered clothes, and you saw him on top of me with his damn dick inside me! And you say I CLAIM?" Elaine says furiously.

"He was your boyfriend, Elaine! You know, Ira once told me Chris doesn't need to rape any woman! Well, maybe he did rape you, but he told me that's the way you liked your sex…crazy and kinky! You know something? This doubting of Chris has stopped with me. I've pledged to believe what he tells me. I'm going to believe in my man, Elaine, something I've stupidly not done all the years I've known him," Effe says levelly. "I'll believe him, trust him, and to hell with you. He has served five years in prison, Elaine. He's out now, and I made his life so miserable! My God, Elaine, I helped the court sentence that poor man to twenty-five years in prison because, although I pulled out, I prepared the case, and if it hadn't been for Junior, Chris would've been in prison right now! Don't you think he deserves a little break, Elly? He's in a coma, Elly! Are you going to let this rot fester in you forever?"

"Get the hell out of here, Effe!" Elaine explodes, absolutely furious. "I have new evidence that shows how that beast hit that girl and poked out a police officer's eye! I'm going to show that to the world, whether you like it or not! I'm going to destroy Chris Bawa, and until he's rotting in jail again, or dies, whichever comes first, I'm not going to let him have any peace!"

Effe shakes her head, stunned by the woman's passionate hatred.

"I pity you, Elaine, I really do. Go ahead, do your worst. But you should know one thing, girlfriend, as hard as you try to destroy Chris, I'm going to love him harder, okay? I'm going to love him so hard, and so passionately, that he wouldn't give a dog's ass what you, or anybody else for that matter, does to him. So, go on, do your very worst, Elaine! No matter what he goes through, I'm going to be there for him. I'll cover him so completely with my love that your hatred, and that of everyone else, will be as useless as a wink! But one thing is for sure, Elaine, after this interview, we cease to be friends. I'm going to hate you ten times more than you hate Chris."

She turns to leave, and notices that the strange man in the room is smiling rather mischievously at her. She makes to walk away, but he stands up and extends his hand.

"Hello, Madam Effe. My name is Wachipa Sey, and I'm sure glad to make your acquaintance," he says softly.

Effe shakes his hand.

"Have we met before?" Effe asks, puzzled.

"Oh, no, ma'am," Wachipa says with a chuckle. "Actually, I'm the man who's going to be interviewed tonight by Elaine. I'm a bird watcher, you see, and I report to the National Geographic. I watch African migrating birds."

"And you saw my husband hitting that poor girl and wounding that policeman?"

"Yes, ma'am. I saw it all," he replies sadly.

Effe shuts her eyes for a moment, and when she looks at him again there are tears in her eyes, but she bravely refuses to let the tears fall.

"Then, Mr. Wachipa, I beg of you, do not do anything to hurt Chris, please. He has paid for that mistake with five years of his life in prison. Is it the money? Whatever they're giving you for this exclusive please I'll double it," she cries imploringly. "Chris has been hurt too much, especially by me. He's in a coma now, fighting for his life. He doesn't need to be hated again, please, I beg of you. Don't do this!"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I think the world has to know what happened, no matter how unpleasant it will be. The world needs to know how 'evil' Mr. Chris Bawa is," he says sadly.

Effe shakes her head, and does not say anything more. She walks out with her head bent. Elaine sits down again, and the make-up experts resume their work.

She sighs heavily. She is shaking with intense anger and hatred, but she remembers Effe's final words, and suddenly she is filled with dread.

***

Effe, Ira, their parents and Rupert are huddled around the beds.

Effe kisses Junior on the forehead, and then she walks up to the bed where Chris is still lying immobile, the machines beeping all around him.

She has tears in her eyes as she sits on the bed, leans across and hugs Chris, putting her head on his chest.

Her tears fall silently.

"Chris-Love… please, live. You and your son…don't make me go mad, please. I love you very much, CB. I'll always love you. Live, my love… just live," she weeps, her heart tearing apart with pain.

Rupert sighs and lays a hand on her shoulder.

He nods at Ken.

Ken Kedem sighs tremulously.

"Come, my princess. Let's go home, dear. You need to rest," Ken says gently.

Effe does not budge.

She keeps on speaking tenderly to Chris.

After a while, the others leave the Ward quietly, leaving Effe and her boys.