EVEN - FINAL EPISODE

For several days, my boss remained at the hospital and his condition only got worse. He had been in intense coma for three (3) days. The doctor’s report had not been too helpful as the Chief Medical Officer clearly stated that he couldn’t identify what the problem was. As difficult as it was, I had to start rendering prayers on his behalf.

At work, gossip spread like wild fire around the various members of staff. Some stated that he was into occultpractices and his sins were catching up with him, others said that he had been cheating on his wife since he became CEO and his judgement day had arrived while very few stated that his mean attitude towards me was responsible for his sudden attack.

“You serve a living God!” one of my colleagues whispered at me early in the morning, during work hours. I pondered on what she said for a while before continuing with my duties. One month into the CEO’s stay at the hospital, the company received a call stating that his condition had become far worse than expected and that he was very close to the grave. Without holding any board meeting, the Managing director of Topaz Consultants insisted that every member of the office go and see him that day. The drive to the hospital was faster than expected.

On getting to the hospital, the state of Mr Akanbi- My boss was a terrible sight to behold. He had a gray and disgusting substance coming out of his mouth, nose, eyes and ears and the smell was simply horrific. As soon as we stepped into the office, he opened his eyes slightly causing some of us to step back in fear. And then, the most ridiculous thing happened; my boss began to cough profusely. A quick call was made to the doctor who rushed into the room wondering what the problem was. As he made efforts to check him, Mr Akanbimade moves signalling that the doctor should stop.

At that point, he began to make funny confessions about how he wanted to make my life miserable until I killed myself. I simply stared in shock. “Why would you want to do that to an innocent man like me?” I whispered gently in tear.

Still coughing, he responded in pain “I wanted to get even after the slap you gave me when we were in school”. At that point, I recalled who he was and what had happened while we were in school.

Before I could respond, Mr Akanbi gave up the ghost.