Dr. Kalu Obinna, Nigeria’s Leading Burns Specialist, took a break today for the first time in six years. At 11:45 am, that was fifteen minutes before the usual time and that was too much time to waste for a man who believed that time determined everything in his profession. He never fails to say, “You should never rush to help or delay in giving help, but you should always be around to share a smile or a laugh because that could be a victim’s last one”.
He took the break and dashed to his office like someone running away from the devil. There had been a fire outbreak at the Mile 9 Main Market the night before and a lot of casualties were recorded. He and members of his team have been on their toes for eleven straight hours trying to save some lives and none of them bothered. But the smell of burnt flesh was beginning to get to Dr. Kalu so he ran.
He ran into his office and went straight to the toilet where he emptied his bowels. He didn’t want to stop so he kept forcing himself. He kept pushing like a man who needed, so badly, to see his insides. After a while, he suddenly stopped. Weak at the knees, he leaned on the WC and held the wall. Deep breaths after deep breaths, he took. And when the jerking subsided, he
quietly walked back to his office.
At the door, he stopped to take in the sight. The many awards he has received in six years were neatly arranged on the table to his right. Maybe he should keep doing what he does for the awards, he thought. But then, that would never be his truth. He knew a lot of persons believed he was doing it for the awards, but he alone knew his truth.
He slowly walked to his seat, dipped his hand into his breast pocket and brought out a picture. One look at it and the tears came streaming down. It was a picture of his daughter. No eyes or a smile he could spend his lifetime correcting; just her charred remains from a fire started by a jealous neighbor. Her mother could not live with herself after the incident. So she upped one morning and left; no bags or clothes – never to be heard from again.
Away from the world and alone in his, Dr Kalu cried. Today, the twelveth day of April in two thousand and twenty, would have been Nenye’s eighth birthday.
Image: Piron Guillaume
CHINA TORI 
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