9 9 THE WHEELS BEGIN TO TURN

Eghe Boom Boom fell sick again the morning after my aunty travelled to visit her family. It started from her walking over to my dad, with Kompa walking behind her, tail wagging, then she climbed into his bed and whispered to him as he slept.

"Daddy, I have a headache."

My dad woke up immediately and he turned to her. He could see that her hair was scattered as though she had been running her hands through it and her eyes were squeezed shut.

"My baby, how bad is it?"

"It hurts."

"Okay, let me get you something for it."

He stood up from the bed and walked over to the bathroom that was attached to his bedroom and opened the cupboard that hung over the wash hand basin. That was where my mum used to keep a lot of her medicines, and my dad didn't take them all out when she left us to hang up in the sky. In fact, he didn't take out anything or move any of my mum's things. They were everywhere, just like they were when she was still around. He brought the bottle of medicine back into the room, opened the small refrigerator that was in the room, brought out a bottle of water and went over to Eghe Boom Boom who was holding her head.

As my dad gave her the medicines, Kompa left the room and came over to my room. The door was ajar, which was the law in our house. You locked your door only when you were changing. Although, sometimes I broke the law when I was angry and needed to sulk alone. Kompa walked inside, rose up on his hind legs and used his right paw to tap me gently on my cheek. I knew it was him instantly, even in my sleep.

"Kompa, go away, I want to sleep," I said without opening my eyes.

"Wake up, sleepy head," he growled to me.

"Go away!" I said more firmly.

"Boom Boom has a headache."

"You are giving me a headache." I was so sleepy; nothing could break through the sleep that was embracing me like a bed of soft feathers.

"Wake up, your sister is sick." His growl was short and forceful.

I opened my right eye and looked at him. His shiny nose was right there by my face, and his tongue was hanging out. I could smell his breath. It smelt like Vaseline.

"Sick?" I asked as if it was the first time I heard it.

"Yes, she is with dad," he responded.

I sat up, stretched, stepped out of my bed and walked barefooted to my dad's room. When I got to the room, my dad was cradling Eghe Boom Boom in his arms.

"My head." She was crying.

It was not a shout or a scream; instead, it was a moan that sounded desperate. I walked over to them on the bed. Kompa was on my heels. My dad looked at me.

"Did she wake you up?" he asked me.

"No, Kompa came to call me." I responded.

He glanced over at Kompa and then back at me.

"You can go back to bed, you have school in the morning."

"Will she be okay?"

"Yes, the medicine I gave her needs time to work."

It was then that Eghe Boom Boom screamed. It was sharp and loud and took us by surprise.She grabbed a hold of the top of her head with both arms and squeezed her eyes even tighter than she had done before.

Kompa began to bark and walked around in circles. His ears were upright, his tail was raised high and the hair on his body was upright too. He barked again and walked over to the door, stopped and turned around to look at us. Eghe Boom Boom was still screaming as my dad tried to calm her down. Kompa's bark grew louder. I listened to what he was saying and turned to my dad.

"Daddy, Kompa says it is a crisis she is having. He wants us to take her to the hospital."

My dad looked up at me. I could see the confusion in his eyes. He didn't say anything at first, it was as if he was frozen; but when Kompa barked loudly again, he snapped off from his frozen state.

"Go back to bed, I will take her to the hospital," he said as he started getting out of bed.

"I want to come with you."

"You have school tomorrow."

"Please, Dad, I am begging you. Let me come with you," I said with all the emotion I could muster.

My dad rushed over to the closet, opened it, brought out a shirt, wore it over the t-shirt he was wearing, brought out a pair of jeans and wore it over his shorts.

I looked over at Eghe Boom Boom and said, "Dad will take you to the hospital. Sorry, my love."

I looked over at my dad again.

Kompa was still barking.

My dad hurriedly brought out a pair of sandals, slipped them on and rushed back to Eghe Boom Boom who was still screaming on the bed and hitting the bed with her heels.

"I am taking you to the hospital now, baby. The pain will stop soon."

She kept on screaming as she held the top of her head and kicked her legs in unimaginable pain. My dad lifted her gently and rushed over to the door. Kompa ran out towards the front door and I followed them out of the room.

"Can I come?" I asked again.

"Okay, just put on your shoes."

I ran over to my room, picked up my shoes and ran out without putting them on.I met them running down the staircase in front of the house.

"Dauda, open the gate, quick!" my dad called.

Then he quickly opened the back door of the car and gently laid Eghe Boom Boom on the back seat.

He turned to me and said, "Sit by her."

Kompa barked as he ran around us.

"Dad, Kompa wants to come with us."

"There is nowhere to keep him, dogs are not allowed in the hospital."

Kompa barked again.

"He says he will stay in the car."

"We might stay too long at the hospital, I can't keep him in the car for that long."

Kompa barked again.

"He says the doctors will allow him to come in with Boom Boom if you tell them that she wants him by her side."

Eghe Boom Boom screamed even louder. The lights on the top floor of our neighbour's house came on and my dad quickly opened the front door of the car and got in. Dauda was opening the gate.

"Okay, let him in."

Kompa jumped in immediately, took his place beside Eghe Boom Boom and began to gently lick her face. But Eghe Boom Boom's screams didn't stop.

I got in and shut the door behind me. My dad started the car and drove out of the compound in a screech. I saw the worried face of Dauda staring at us as the car drove out of our compound and raced down the street. I reached over and held Eghe Boom Boom's feet. She was shaking them uncontrollably as she screamed.

"Sorry, Boom Boom, we will be at the hospital soon," I said as calmly as I could. She didn't hear me and kept on screaming.

It was horrible to see her like that. She was already sweating and twisting from side to side as Kompa tried to calm her down. I felt so bad for her that I wanted to cry too.

My dad called out from the driver's seat.

"Baby, hold on, we will get to the hospital soon."

She kept screaming and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Boom Boom, sorry." As I said those words, I felt tears well up in my eyes and slide down my cheeks.

I knew I needed to do something to stop the pain.

It was just so unfair for my little sister to suffer like that. I watched her roll from side to side with her head between her hands as though she was afraid that her head would fall off and she needed to hold it in place. Her pink nightie was soaked in sweat and sticking to her body.

I turned and looked out of the window. I tried to see if I could see the night sky. But the car was moving too fast. I wound down the window and put my head out to get a better view of the sky. I wanted to see the star that was my mum, so I could tell her to stop the pain that Eghe Boom Boom was suffering. The cool night breeze blew with force on my face as I leaned even further out. It was then I heard my dad's voice shout at me.

"Put your head back in!"

I did as I was told.

He looked at me through the rear-view mirror.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"I wanted to tell Mum to help Boom Boom."

"Just ask her for help, she will hear you."

"She said I should first find her up in the sky before I ask."

"Your mum understands that you can't stick your head out of a speeding car. She will hear you, just ask."

And so, as Eghe Boom Boom screamed, Kompa licked, and my dad drove, I quietly called out to my mum and asked her to help my sister.

My dad carried Eghe Boom Boom in his arms and ran into the hospital. She was now screaming, crying and speaking, one after the other.

"Daddy, make it stop!" Then she would scream and continue, "It hurts so bad, Daddy." Then she would break into tears.

When my dad got into the room that had the words EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT boldly written in letters that glowed, he made straight for the counter where there were three nurses. The rest of the room was filled with people who were sitting on benches and looking dull and unhappy.

"My daughter needs help. She is having a crisis." My dad was panting.

Kompa and I had run in behind him and were now standing by his side. The nurses looked unbothered. It was as though they didn't see that Eghe Boom Boom was crying in pain.

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"Excuse me, I said my daughter needs help!" My dad's voice rose higher.

"Please stop shouting. We are not deaf!" A nurse with a big stomach shouted back at him.

"I'm sorry. Please can she see a doctor?" my dad asked.

"Can't you see other people waiting?" the nurse said with irritation.

"Yes, I can but she needs something for her pain. She has sickle cell anaemia." My dad continued, his voice was low, as though he was sharing a secret with the nurse.

"Oh! One of those." She said with her nose raised with disdain as she looked down at Eghe Boom Boom who was twisting and turning in my dad's arms. Her cries were rising and falling with her movement.

"Can we see a doctor, please?" my dad asked again.

"The doctors are busy. Have you been to this hospital before?" she asked.

"No. We usually take her to our family doctor."

"So why didn't you take her there."

"Because it is far from my house and she needs something to stop the pain immediately."

"This is a General Hospital there is nothing like immediately here. You will have to pay to open a file for her and then…"

"I will do all of that while she sees a doctor. Can't you see that she is in pain?" My dad's voice was rising.

"She is not the only person in pain in this hospital. If you cannot wait, then take her to another hospital. I don't have time to argue this early in the morning," the nurse said and sat down behind the counter.

I could feel anger rise through me. I wanted to shout at the nurse but because the counter was taller than me I couldn't see the nurse's face anymore. I turned to the other nurse who was writing in an open file on the counter. She was slim, tall and bespectacled.

"Excuse me, ma. Please, can you help my sister?"

She looked at me from the top of her eyeglasses for a moment. My dad and Kompa turned to look at her. Eghe Boom Boom was groaning now.

"We don't allow dogs inside the hospital," she said with an even more stern voice than the nurse with the big stomach. "Take your dog out of here.''

Kompa immediately broke into a run. He raced down the corridor away from the counter.

The nurse looked at him in alarm.

"Stop your dog!" she called out.

"Kompa!" I called him.

He didn't respond, rather, he took a turn and disappeared from view. The slim nurse turned to my dad as the nurse with the big stomach stood up.

"Sir, we don't want trouble. Go and get your dog before it bites somebody," the slim nurse said.

"Kompa will not bite anybody," I answered.

"Daddy, my leg is hurting me!" Eghe Boom Boom cried out.

"Please get a doctor for my daughter," my dad said in a firmer voice.

"Get your dog, take it out of here, fill the form, sit down and wait your turn."

"Please, she is in pain."

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" the nurse with a big stomach responded in a high-pitched voice.

Just then, a man emerged from the corridor and walked towards the counter. He was wearing a white lab coat and had a stethoscope hanging around his neck.A doctor. Kompa was walking in front of him.

When they got to the counter, the doctor immediately reached for Eghe Boom Boom and held her arm gingerly.

"So this is why you came to drag me out?" He said looking down at Kompa.

Kompa stood there, his tongue hanging out as he panted, looking up at the doctor.

The nurses looked at the doctor and the one with the big stomach spoke, "We told them that dogs are not…"

The doctor interrupted her by speaking directly to my dad, "What is wrong with her?"

"She is having a crisis. Sickle cell anaemia."

"Oh, I see."

He turned to the nurses, "Admit the patient, stat."Then he turned to my dad, "Anything she is allergic to?"

My dad shook his head.

One of the nurses grudgingly walked out from behind the counter and wheeled a stretcher that had been standing against the far wall towards us. My dad placed Eghe Boom Boom on the stretcher and the nurse pushed her down the corridor.

The doctor followed the stretcher and my dad, Kompa, and I walked behind him.

"When last did she have a crisis?" the doctor asked my dad.

"Been a couple of months."

"And I take it you do not have a case file here?"

"No, our family doctor attends to her."

"Okay. Does anyone else in the family suffer from it?"

"My wife. She is late."

"Sorry to hear that. We will stabilise her and get her well enough for you to take her to your family doctor later on today."

"I appreciate that, doctor."

"Thank your dog. What is its name?"

"Kompa. And he is a he, not an it," I said from behind them.

The doctor looked back at me and smiled.

"Kompa!" He called out the name and Kompa ran forward to him and rubbed his body against the doctor's leg.

The doctor continued speaking, "A very intelligent dog you have. He ran into the room where I was, barked, ran to the door, looked out, ran back in, barked, ran out, looked back, ran back in and kept barking. I have a dog myself and I knew instantly that he wanted me to see something, so I left the patient I was seeing and came out."

Kompa whined loudly and kept rubbing his body against the doctor's legs as we all walked briskly down the corridor.

"Can your dog talk?" I asked.

"No, dogs don't talk," the doctor responded.

"Kompa said thank you for helping out. He wants to know if you can get a match for my sister."

"He said all that?" the doctor looked down at Kompa.

"Yes."

"A match?"

"Yes. The foundation is looking for a match for a bone marrow transplant, and they have not found any."

We got to an empty room and the nurse wheeled Eghe Boom Boom in. We all followed.

The doctor kept speaking, "I don't know where to get a match for her, but I will get her well enough so that when the match is found she is in good shape for the transplant. Is that okay?"

"I guess so," I said sadly.

"Now let us treat your sister." He turned to the nurse and began to tell her what to do.

I looked at my dad as he whispered to Eghe Boom Boom who was still rolling in pain on the stretcher.

The nurse left the room and another nurse came in and began setting up a drip stand while the doctor started to write down on a notepad.

Kompa walked up to me and began whining as he said, "We have to do something. There is no point waiting for a match that might never come. I think you and I can go out and find one."

I looked down at him and knew not to discuss it with him in the presence of everybody, so I looked up at my dad and said, "Dad, is it okay if I take Kompa outside? He wants to relieve himself."

My dad looked over at me, "Yes, you can, but please don't go too far."

"I won't," I said then I walked over to Eghe Boom Boom, kissed her on her sweaty forehead and said, "Sorry, Boom Boom. I promise, soon all this pain will end and you will be as well as I am."

The doctor looked up from his writing pad and said, "Amen."

I smiled at him and walked out of the room with Kompa in tow.