“Let me go and freshen up, I hope you will
come out for dinner”, she said standing.
“Yes, see you at dinner”, I answered as she
left the room.
My Mum was right, as a muslim I have to
accept the good and the bad, and I have
learnt never to question my Allah, I thought
as I slipped into my clothes.
I retired to my room as soon as dinner was
over after saying goodnight to my parents.
I had a long day and I needed to rest.
The time was 12:45am, I have been lying
for more than 3 hours but I still couldn’t
sleep.
Had it been Basheer was well, we would
have been chatting by now, I thought.
I felt better when I woke up the next
morning.
I couldn’t go back to sleep after saying my
fajr (dawn) prayers. It was 7:45am when I
got up from my bed, took my bath and got
ready to go out, I had decided to go for my
lectures then go and see Basheer later in
the day.
I met my Dad on my way out in the sitting
room.
He dropped the newspaper he was reading
as soon as he saw me.
“Good morning, Baba”, I greeted kneeling
down.
“Good morning, Na’imah”, he answered
smiling.
“Am off to school”, I told him as I stood up.
“Basheer’s parents are on their way, they
boarded a flight just a few hours ago.
They’ll be here early tomorrow morning”, he
explained.
“Okay, Allah ya kawo su lafiya (I wish them
Allah’s safety throughout their trip)”, I
replied.
“Take care of yourself”, he advised going
back to his reading.
I looked in my mum’s room and found her
still asleep so I headed out.
I went straight to my class as soon as I
parked my car in the parking space meant
for students.
“It is suprising how life can change for
someone within a short period of time”, I
said to myself.
The lecture started as soon as I settled
down giving my friends no chance of asking
me what was wrong with me as I looked a
little bad and the ever-lively Na’imah was
silent that morning.
The lecture was boring as I kept glancing at
my wristwatch every minute. My mind was
not with the lecturer as I was faraway
thinking of how Basheer was coping. The
voice of the lecturer brought me back to life
as he called it a day. Finally it has ended. I
was ready to leave when Azizah caught up
with me.
“Hey, what’s up with you?” she asked
“I am fine, why?” I replied
“You didn’t attend any of your lectures
yesterday and you didn’t give me any
explanation for that. And here you are
telling me you are fine”, She complained
“I am fine”, I repeated
She knew how much I hated questioning but
I could see it in her eyes that she didn’t
believe me. But she let it go
“Well, our Industrial training request forms
are ready, the co-ordinator started giving
them out yesterday and there’ll be a lecture
to guide us on how to go about everything”,
she explained as I stared at her.
“Okay, I will make sure I get mine. What
time is the lecture?”, I asked
“I think by 4-6pm in the Yar’adua Hall 1,
She answered giving me the details.
“Okay, I will come but am not promising
you I’ll be here”, I said standing
“No Problem, are you going somewhere
now?” she asked following me out of the
lecture hall.
“Yes, I am going to check on our co-
ordinator to get my IT request form”, I
replied.
“We don’t have any other lecture, do we?” I
asked
“No, we don’t, just the IT guidance lecture
by 4″, She reminded me.
“Yeah, I will see you then”, I said going past
our department block to where I parked my
car.
Azizah was my friend and coursemate.
She was a friendly-looking girl but could be
annoying sometimes. She was very
hardworking and never missed any lecture
or information, that was why I relied on her
always. I checked on our co-ordinator to
collect a copy of my form but his office was
locked, I glanced at my wristwatch, it was
after 12, Maybe he went for a lecture or
meeting, I thought. So I left and headed for
the hospital.
I walked up to Dr. Imran’s office as soon as
I arrived at the hospital. I had to wait for a
few minutes as he was seeing some other
patients.
I went in as he finished with them.
“Good afternoon Doctor”, I greeted him as I
sat down smiling
“Good afternoon Na’imah”, he smiled back
looking at me.
“How are you today?” he asked
“Am fine, thank you”, I answered.
“How is Basheer?”, I asked
“He is doing fine”, he answered then added,
“I checked on him this morning, he’s in no
danger, lets just hope he wakes up as soon
as possible”.
“For how long does a coma normally last?”,
I asked him
“It may last for days, weeks or even years”,
he said
My heart was beating fast now!!!
