6 6 THE TES

I didn't have to go to London for the test. Instead, my dad and I went to a big building near the Teaching Hospital where my sister, Eghe Boom Boom was, to do the test.The Teaching Hospital was in Surulere, a very busy neighbourhood in Lagos that was filled with shops and homes. The big building that was near it was a clinic and it was filled with a lot of Europeans and Indians and Chinese.They all seemed to be so busy as they scurried around the building in their lab coats, scattered hair, eyeglasses, and paper files.

My dad said that they were scientists and the clinic was run by the Sickle Cell Foundation.They were in Nigeria to find out how to find a cure for the disease and had brought the equipment that would enable people to give samples of their blood and cells, which will be taken to London for the actual test to see if there is a match between the donor and the recipient.

I was the donor, the one who gives and Eghe Boom Boom was the recipient, the one who receives. What I was to give were cells from my bone marrow, which is the part inside a bone, like the succulent and delicious part inside of a chicken bone which you see when you crack the bone. The cells have to be able to be accepted by Eghe Boom Boom's body for them to work. That is why my dad had explained to me several days before we got to the clinic that it was very important I was a match with her, because if I wasn't, there will be no way the bone marrow transplant could be done and we would have to look for someone else to do it. Someone as young as Eghe Boom Boom and me. His eyes were sad and fearful when he said to me that he didn't know of anyone who could be a match apart from me.

The room in the clinic was very white. Even the tables, chairs and the large refrigerator were white.It was also very cold and smelt like antiseptic soap.My dad held my right hand in his left hand as we sat together watching the nurse prepare the equipment she would use to take the samples for the test.She was a cheerful tall woman with a sparkling white lab coat over a blue uniform and had a little white nurses' cap pinned to her hair. She kept talking as she arranged the equipment on the white table which sat some distance away from us.

"What is your name?"

"Osaik"

"That is a nice name. What does it mean?"

"It is a polynym."

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"A polynym?"

I nodded while I watched her curiously as she worked on her equipment; shiny metallic objects, syringes, vials, plastic containers, cotton buds and some bottles with liquid in them.

"What is a polynym?"

"It is a name made up of two or more words."

"So, what words make up your name?"

"Osasumwen and Ikponmwosa.You take the first two letters from one and add it to the first two letters of the other and you get my name."

"That is an acronym and not a polynym."

"Really?" I said looking over at my dad.

He smiled. My spirit fell and I squeezed his hand in embarrassment. He smiled even wider and squeezed my hand back in comfort.

I whispered to him, "Why didn't you correct me?"

He whispered back to me, "Because I didn't know you were wrong."

We laughed together, and then I turned back to the nurse who was now approaching me with a well-loaded syringe, vials and plastic containers in an aluminium tray.

"Do you still want to know the meanings of my names?" I wanted to make up for not knowing the meaning of polynym.

"Yes, if you would be kind enough to tell me."

I wasted no time.

"Osasumwen means 'God escorts me' and Ikponmwosa means 'I thank God'."

"Beautiful. So Osaik means?"

"It is an acronym. It has no meaning." I said, slightly befuddled.

"But it has," she said, still smiling as she lay the tray down on the high table by my left. "Osaik means God escorts me and I thank Him for doing that."

It took a minute for it to register, then a light bulb went off in my head as I saw how she came about the meaning and I exclaimed loudly, "Wooow!"

I turned to my dad who was also smiling and said, "Dad, did you see what she did with my names?Isn't that cool?"

"Very cool." He nodded his head and smiled even more broadly.

The nurse smiled and began to prepare me for the samples.

I looked at her and said, very candidly, "I am not afraid of needles."

"That's a big boy. We will go through it in a flash and get your samples over to London before you say Abracadabra."

"Abracadabra," I said it loudly.

She looked at me in surprise.

I laughed, "I just said it but you haven't even taken the samples."

"I didn't mean it that way."

"You should never say what you don't mean," I said with a feigned sternness and turned to my dad, "Right, Dad?"

"Not when it is a hyperbole," he responded.

"Hyperbole. What does that mean?"

"When you exaggerate a statement or claim in a way that is impossible to be true."

"Oh, I see," I said, playing with the word in my head and then saying it louder but slowly, "H-Y-P-E-R-B-O-L-E."

The nurse reached out for my arm.

"Are we ready?"

"Yes."

I stretched out my arm on the little white wooden surface that was connected to the white straight back chair upon which I was sitting.My dad held my other hand.

"I have a dog, his name is Kompa and he can speak like a person," I said hurriedly.

"Someone is scared," the nurse said.

"Who?" I asked.

"You?"

"I am not scared."

"Yes, you are, that is why you just said a hyperbole."

"It is not hyperbole; it is a statement of truth."

"Dogs don't talk like human beings."

"Kompa does."

"He translates what it says," my dad contributed.

"Kompa is not an it, he is a he."

"He translates what he says," my dad corrected himself.

"I will love to meet your dog Kompa," the nurse said with a warm smile. "Now make a fist."

I made a fist.

She looked over my bare arm intently and tapped on a spot on the arm.

"Now where is our favourite vein?"

"You can get to see Kompa if you promise me that I will be a match for my sister and she will stop having sickle cell anaemia."

The nurse looked up at me. She smiled very broadly as she spoke.

"Aren't you a loving brother, Osaik?"

"I promised my mum that I would look after my sister. Her name is Eghe but we all call her Eghe Boom Boom. She is five."

"I wish I could guarantee that you will be a match, Osaik, but what I can guarantee is that your samples will get to London in time and that even if you are not a match, I will be here to take samples from any person you and your dad will bring here to be tested. Is that okay?"

I nodded.

"I will be praying for Eghe Boom Boom that she gets her transplant and becomes as healthy as you are, okay?"

I nodded again.

She looked over at my dad, "He is something precious."

"Yes, he is. Thank you," my dad said as he pressed my hand lovingly.

The nurse smiled, turned back to my arm and said joyfully, "Now let's get that sample."

In less than thirty minutes, the samples were taken, labelled and put into the refrigerator. In an hour, my dad and I were beside Eghe Boom Boom's bed in the hospital where she was admitted.

Eghe Boom Boom was discharged later that evening, and we were silent in the car as we drove home. But when she walked into the house, Kompa raced over to her and jumped on her in excitement.He licked her face as she laughed loudly. It was the first time she had laughed since we rushed her over to the hospital.

I looked at my dad as he watched them. I could see he was happy. I was happy that he was happy, and happy that Eghe Boom Boom and Kompa were happy too.

I silently prayed that I would be a match and that the happiness which filled us all that day, would be permanent.