It’s a fresh week and a new day. Warien Rose Foundation Event at United Nations Information Centre Lagos was a huge success in spite of the hitches at the beginning, everything went smoothly. I still can’t believe we are in December. The year for me just ran like a bullet train.
On Sunday (today) the 8th December 2019, Warien Rose Foundation will have her White Ribbon Walk in Festac Town, sensitizing the Residents on the consequences of rape, domestic abuse and giving information on the new Sex Offenders Register. Walking is good for the body; I think we should all embark on walking from time to time. Amidst various speaking engagement invites came an invite from Rick’s grandmother. I must say it has been quite a while I have seen Rick or Dennis for that matter. I hope it is not the quiet before the storm; a sporadic shiver went down my spine. I must stop thinking negatively it doesn’t help to be paranoid. Right now Bola needs me, she called to ask if I had informed the Girls, I told her, her secret will go to the grave with me.
She decided we should all do lunch in her favourite Restaurant somewhere in Ikoyi so she can share the news with the Girls. I agreed even though it was not convenient for me and had to reschedule an appointment with a client knowing this was very important to Bola. I got to the Restaurant early yet Bola was there before me. We sat quietly each lost in her thought. The Girls came in one after the other and for some reason it wasn’t chatty as usual. It was as if they all sensed Bola wasn’t happy.
I got a call from Jheri Blake and excused myself. “Hello Jheri, what’s up? How is my favourite girl, Chioma?” I said asking after his wife. “Do you remember my Aunt Aramide that relocated back to Nigeria from London?” He asked going straight to the reason he called. I answered in the affirmative instinctively sensing something was wrong. “She is dead!” Jheri said emotionally. Jheri has always been a very sensitive and deeply caring person and he told me how he broke down in tears when the news got to him while shooting a video with the PILLAZ an Acapella Group he belongs to. He told me she had undergone a fibroid operation and didn’t survive it.
I was shocked, oh my God I thought consoling him as best as I could but my mind was on Bola. I didn’t know Bola’s decision but this news and the cause of death was unsettling. I quickly rounded up the conversation and promised Jheri I was going to pop in to see him as soon as I had a minute. Jasmine, the last of the bunch breezed in apologising profusely. No one ordered a drink as the atmosphere was a bit tense. Bola did not waste time, she told the girls how she went with me to the hospital and the Doctor said she wasn’t pregnant but had fibroid and that she had decided she will operate.
The girls were silent for a minute, each grappling with what they just heard and trying but failing woefully to hide their emotions. Even Zara who always has a ‘devil may care’ attitude had what suspiciously looked like a glistening of tears on her lashes, so the girl has a heart after all, I mused. Looking around at my dear friends, I was having an out of body experience which is one of the ways I deal with pain or unpleasant news.
I was numb. How was I going to be ok allowing my friend go under a Surgeon’s knife after hearing what happened to Aramide? No way. After what felt like eternity but couldn’t have been more than a few minutes I asked what the Girls thought. Bola looked at me in surprise, “Why are you asking them? I am the one involved and I just told you my decision,” she said looking at me pointedly. “Well I am sorry but I do not agree,” I said as four pair of eyes turned to me in surprise