Blue Petals.

Episode 8: All shades of blue.

..."Oh, I didn't see you there, sir" I said, as I turned around to see Mr Bisi standing by the entrance.

Sir Bisi was dressed in white shorts and a 'carton brown' round necked shirt, his beards were well groomed with patches of grey hair, here and there. He held a book in his hands, a closer look at it, I realized it was a Bible.

"How're you, Mr Juwon?" He asked, smiling. He smiled like an 11 year old boy who had no worries about life.

"I'm very fine, sir. I didn't want to disturb earlier on, I saw you were having your..." Cynthia helped to complete the sentence "...quiet time"

It's not like I forgot the word, I'm yet to get over the fact that a billionaire would take out time to have quiet time and the quiet time would involve studying the bible and praying as against other activities like Yoga, practicing gymnastics, or playing golf.

'What in God's name is a billionaire praying to God for?' I asked myself. He has everything; fame, home, love, mention it all.

"Oh! it's fine. I trust Cynthia kept you company." Mr Bisi intercepted my thoughts with his soothing voice, his voice calm enough to cause anyone to sleep. Cynthia chuckled where she was.

He sat on one of the sofas in the room and rang a bell which was fixed right beneath the arm of the sofa he sat on, a middle aged woman appeared. She was dressed as a maid, with a blue apron on her; 'Aunty franca, what do we have on the menu for lunch?' he asked.

"We prepared steamed Jollof rice, fried plantains and roasted chicken, sir" she replied with a little bow.

"Alright, set the table for three, we'll be up in a minute." Mr Bisi added. 'Okay, sir' She replied taking her leave.

"How is the writing going, Mr Juwon?" Mr Bisi inquired. Although, he had a calm voice, he was firm with his words, not like he searched for them while he spoke.

"I should be submitting initial drafts for editing, next week, sir. Sandra's Journal was very helpful; more like, all I had to do was to add finishing touches to what was written in it. The observations were apt and expressions were clearly articulated, I must say the journal was silver-tongued." I explained.

"That was Sade's Journal" Mr Bisi added. We stood up to walk towards the dining room when Collins came in.

"Hi, everyone" he called out. "Young man, why are you back so early?" Mr Bisi replied
"He's got a lazy ass" Cynthia said returning from the dining room 'table is set' she added.

On sighting me, Collins exclaimed "Monsieur, je suis heureux de vous revoir"

'oh my God, not this again' I said to myself... "Collins, it's nice to see you again as well" I replied receiving his hug wishing he did not have to speak to me in french.

He pulled off his neck tie as he climbed the stairs that led to his room. "Cynthia, I'm famished, whatever we're having, I'll take double." He called out to Cynthia who was already in the dining room.

"How did you get to understand French?" Mr Bisi asked. "Yeah, that's true. I'm curious as well" Cynthia said as she took a plate and placed it in front of her uncle who was seated in the dining room.

"I actually took a French class on Duolingo, I've been practicing for a book I intend to write later on" I replied.

"Oh my. What's the book going to be about? Romance, something like with love from Paris?"  Cynthia teased. I smiled, because I don't think I would make a good romance writer.

Cynthia had already dished our meals when Collins joined us, so, Mr Bisi went on to bless the meal and this had everyone saying 'Amen' after his prayers. (These little details were striking impressions greatly in my heart.)

While everyone ate, I sat savouring the redolent aroma of the rice which had me almost biting my lips, not to talk of the tempting size of the piece of meat on my plate.

"I could hear everyone's cutlery softly clinking against his plate while they ate.

"Don't tell me you also don't like Jollof Rice?" Collins eyes widened in shock when he saw I was yet to eat. "No way." Cynthia said, her eyes sparkled with excitement.

I couldn't resist it: I bursted out into laughter "who doesn't eat jollof Rice?, it's everyone's favorite meal." I said. Unlike, the other time I came here, I took every spoon into my mouth without being skeptical of what it was I was eating. The meal was beyond sensation.

"Something funny happened this morning, you guys wouldn't believe" Collins broke the silence. He was done eating, the pace at which he ate showed he really was hungry.

"I was stuck in a traffic jam on my way to work, it was total gridlock for almost 15 Minutes, when I heard a noise come from the car next to mine. Initially, I was unbothered, I was listening to a morning show on the radio. But the noise more like wails was persistent, for a second, I thought whether to wind down my glass to ask what was wrong or just observe things from my end; almost like in a flash, the door to the driver's side of the car swung open and then a woman with a blue head gear on came out screaming for help. Seeing this, I turned down the volume of the radio to watch intently what was happening.

She opened the door to the back seat of her car and drew out her son who should be between the age 5 & 6, he had choked on whatever it was he had put into his mouth and wasn't breathing anymore. Obviously, the woman was his mother, she shook him endlessly calling out his name 'Seun!!, you'll not die in Jesus name' she called out for help, two other people came from the cars behind us to attend to her but instead of helping, they just stood pitying her. One of them started praying and speaking in tongues.

It was an annoying sight, but guess what? The jam was gradually easing out, as cars ahead of us started moving. I thought whether to come down and help or go, hoping someone else would attend to the child.

Without thinking, I came down from the car, took the child from the woman, and placed him on the ground just beside his mother's car. Although, I have never administered a CPR before, but the practical lessons we were taught in high school were so vivid in my head."

"Mrs Gayle was an awesome P.E. teacher " Cynthia said smiling at her brother. At this point, we had all finished our meals, so our attention was sorely on Collins. You should see how attentive Sir Bisi was, like a little child listening to a fairytale.

'...you can do this, I said to myself' Collins continued

"I knelt beside the boy and had his head tilted backwards slightly and his chin lifted, I placed my ear close to the boy's mouth and nose also, he was still not breathing normally, without wasting time, I placed the heel of my right hand on the centre of his chest, placing my other hand on it, I pushed down about two inches and gave him 30 compressions.

I placed my mouth over his nose and mouth and breathed into him, at first, there was no response, I was scared, I wished I didn't come down from the car. Although, people around me kept praying, I gave the boy a mouth to mouth ventilation for the second time and this time, his chest rose, he started coughing."

'I am exonerated, I told myself ' Collins said sipping his wine. "Didn't anyone call the Ambulance?" I asked. 'Yes, someone did' He replied." I was trying to make the child cough more to expel the object that obstructed his airway when an Ambulance drove by. Thank God!' I exclaimed,

"So, guys that was how I saved the day before the professionals came around " Collins said ending his story. Cynthia gave her a brother a big hug and Mr Bisi patted him on the back.

Where I sat, I stared at them, smiling and then it crossed my mind "Isn't CPR meant to be a thing to be taught in schools and in every office for times as this?" What if there was no one around to perform CPR on the child, would he have survived before the Ambulance came?

To be continued.