Efe sat in the chair the doctor pointed to. I was tired of these predictable visits. I was tired of taking folic acid every blessed day. In fact, she knew the doctor would ask her and not tell her that the last time she took the folic acid pill was the last time he visited her a month ago. Routine vitamin C pills weren’t too bad, as he took more than half the first few days of the month and gave the other half to his only brother in exchange for favors. She washed the dishes when it was her turn or swept the part of the house that he owed to get some of his orange-flavored tablets.

‘How are you today Efe Omatseyi?’ The doctor broke out in his reverie.

Why did she have to call him by name like she was confirming a fact when she saw him there on a monthly basis or even more often every time she had a seizure and had to be admitted? Ah well, she wasn’t the one I was mad at. He was angry at his parents who treated him like an egg right now and acted like they couldn’t wait to get rid of him the next. He had heard them fight last night. His mother wants to have another child since she does not know how long “Efe would survive this disease.” Their father was of the opinion that they could have another sick child if they tried again.

‘I’m fine Ma’. He responded hastily when he saw her looking at him wondering why she hadn’t spoken a word since he entered. Of course his father would not want to have another child from his mother. He had seen the man hanging around a beautiful fair-skinned lady when they both traveled to Enugu. They had gone there to see a herbalist (traditional medicine healer) who was supposed to give them a “wonderful” concoction that would cleanse their system and change their genotype. Her father spoke to her frequently on the phone when he felt that no one was close enough to hear him. ‘Amaka baby, I’ll be there to see you again before you know it!’ she was probably already pregnant. However, that was none of his business. After all, he probably wouldn’t be around for much longer.

‘Here Efe, go and make your Cellular Volume Packed in the laboratory. When the result is ready, you will come so we can discuss. Do you have a complaint?

‘No mom’. He said this as he headed for the door. Honestly, I was tired of everything. He had forgotten to ask where his water bottle was. She insisted that he carry water with him everywhere so that he could drink frequently. He was supposed to prove this by showing him his bottle every time he came here. He was definitely going to ask for it when he got back, just before his long speech. Kai, this doctor liked to advise Africa.

He greeted the lab scientist as he sat down for blood research. The laboratory scientist was a man in his forties who never smiled. He didn’t care about that because the truth was, there was absolutely nothing to smile about. However, he wanted the man to be approachable, so he would beg him to send him a result that was higher than the actual value of his cell pack volume. He knew it would be lower than his steady state value today, as he had not eaten regularly, had not taken his routine medications, and had been feeling dizzy for the past few days. Ah well, I knew I couldn’t stop the whole cycle that was going to happen next. He had even packed a suitcase when he came. The blood test result would be low; they would admit it and give it blood. He would be put on trial by the overzealous doctor who would go one step further to advise his parents on things they already know but are no longer interested in doing as they have already concluded that he would soon be gone.

He left the lab and sat in the waiting room. There was a cute girl sitting near him. It looked very healthy; he wondered what she was doing at the hospital. The girl looked at him briefly and then turned and focused on the movie being shown on television. He felt that she must have noticed his yellow eyes or the shape of his head. He was a constant victim of emotional bullying at school. His teammates never laid a finger on him, but the shape of his head and his limp was a constant topic of discussion between them. You would think they would have gotten used to it by now. Still, they found a way to remind him that he had sickle cell disease every day. School was another place he was tired of. He would have thoroughly enjoyed the many days he spent away from school had he not spent those periods in the hospital. Either he had excruciating bone or abdominal pain that had even caused him to pass out twice or he was being treated for malaria. He was once treated for a bone infection. He received so many blood transfusions that he stopped counting when he was 10 years old. He read on the internet that he was at risk of getting a blood-borne infection from that amount of blood transfusion.

He was afraid of going back into that office. When would it all end? The pretty girl from the waiting room turned to him and smiled. He realized that even though he had expected her to smile at him, he did not dare to smile.

Ella, I love your relationship with this great guy. Both make me want to love. Kai, sweet love, oh! ‘Idehen said this, dragging Ella over to sit with him. He was about to get into a serious discussion and he didn’t want her to get distracted.

She sat up flushed. ‘Bros leave me alone jo. I know you won’t stop bothering me again. ‘

Idehen went on to tell her that she wanted to have a serious relationship because she wanted to get married in the next two years. He wanted her to link him to one of her beautiful, well-mannered friends. She had good manners and was sure she had to have good friends since birds of the same feathers gather.

“The only thing is, you have to make sure his genotype is AA.”

‘Ah ah, Idehen, you want me to start asking my friends about his genotype. Nah wah for you oh Won’t it make them lose interest right away?

He explained that since his genotype was AS, he had to marry a woman with an AA genotype. This was to ensure that their children had either AA or AS genotypes. If he married a woman whose genotype was also AS, they had the possibility of having one or more children with the SS genotype.

Do you remember my friend Kenny? She has two sons with the SS genotype, that is, they have sickle cell anemia. He is always in the hospital for one or two of his children. Do you want me to borrow money from you to treat my children? Abeg asks them sharply. There is no time to make mistakes.

“I thought they said that one in four children would have sickle cell disease, how come both of Kenny’s children have it?”

‘Noooooo. If both parents have the AS genotype, for every child they have, there is a 25% chance that child will have the SS genotype.

‘Brothers, don’t become a Doctor!’

‘To forget! You need to learn from other people’s experiences, oh. ‘

‘Shade, how far? Has Olu done the genotype test now?

Shade looked up from the novel he was reading. ‘Ejo, fi mi el oh! Let me. Ah ah. You keep talking and talking about this genotype. ‘

I won’t let you be I hate to say I told you, but that’s how your last relationship ended. I have a lot of respect for Segundo for ending things. This genotype risk is just not worth it. ” Tola continued cutting the vegetables on a cutting board while talking to Shade. He had a stern look on his face.

Ma’am, I hate to say I told you, but you just said it.

‘I’ll say it oh. You know that you know how to love very well. I won’t give you my shoulder to cry on this time. So you better tell him to check his genotype from the beginning. He had stopped cutting the vegetables and was swinging the knife as he said this.

‘WELL WELL! Can I read now?

‘Not. This is serious. If you don’t look into it now, you may end up hurting yourself again later or worse, marrying at the risk of having children with sickle cell anemia. ‘

Shade closed his novel after making a dog’s ear out of the page he was reading. He stood up approaching Tola and began to speak very fast as if he couldn’t wait for all the words to come out.

‘What if I tell you that I already love Olu and he loves me? We have decided that we do not care about the genotype. So even if his genotype ends up being AS, we will get married. Our love will conquer all the challenges we may face in the future. After all, we may not even have a son with the SS ‘genotype.

Tola had stopped cutting the vegetables now. Deliberately he dropped the knife as if he wanted to avoid using it.

‘Ah ah, say something. Why do you look angry? That’s why I didn’t want to tell you anything right now. She sat in the chair next to her close friend and immediately regretted doing so when Tola stood up and started ranting.

Of course, it’s about the two of you and the great love you share. It’s about how you would deal with whatever comes your way. What about that child you could have? The one who would have multiple visits to the hospital where he is pricked with needles, who would suffer great pain? Both are not the ones who would have to take painkillers, like many. ‘ He had to pause and take deep breaths to calm himself.

Tola wondered if he should bother telling her that her brother was the boy she was talking about. I had seen him suffer a lot. Was I so wrong in trying to prevent another child from going through similar problems? He was married now with two children, but she knows how stressful things were for him when he was younger. She was just trying to stop other kids from going through the same test.

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