This chapter is dedicated to Bamjay123 I don't know how many chapters I'll update before you go back to school, but I'll try.
Enjoy.
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°Jeremiah's POV°
Uyai was getting discharged from the hospital, today. I was really glad are injuries weren't serious, to be honest. I couldn't be with Uyai as she was getting discharged, but I did promise to go visit her once I was back from the ghetto.
Dami was seated inbetween myself and his elder sister Bisola, as we sat at the back of his father's car. We were busy searching around Uyai's Street, in search of Gabriel. Gabriel was the twelve years old that Dami had been convincing his parents to take in.
"Didn't he say he lived at a hut not too far from where we saw him the last time?" Dami recalled the event from the past, and I nodded. Dami leaned forward till he was close to his father, then began to give directions.
"I feel for him," Bisola said all of a sudden. "He's got no mum and dad, and he's under such condition."
I knew if no one was going to feel for Gabriel, Bisola would. Bisola was someone with similar issue, so she could relate quite well.
We finally arrived at the hut and seated right in front of small looking hut, was Gabriel. Gabriel could be seen breaking kanels with his good hand. Noticing the car in front of his hut, Gabriel stared right at it quizzically. But when Dami and I decided to step down, realization morphed Gabriel's expression.
"Big brother!" Gabriel squealed as he threw the huge stone aside, and ran over to Dami. "I thought you'd break your promise!"
"I would never," Dami dragged Gabriel a little bit closer, and wrapped his arms around him.
"That's him?" Dami's dad asked, looking down at Gabriel. Dami nodded at his dad's question. Dami's mum, a woman who could be mistaken as Dami's eldest sister, eyes began to water.
"Poor child," She sympathized, but wasn't ready to walk over to Gabriel and give him a hug cause he looked dirty and shattered.
Bisola was quite different from her mother, she was more like Dami. Bisola on the other hand, didn't mind. She walked over to Gabriel and then hugged with a tear rolling down her left cheek. Receiving so much love, made Gabriel to start shedding unknown tears.
"Do you see this?" Bisola showcased her false arm to Gabriel. "Today, you'll be operated on and you'll have one just like this."
"Cool," Was Gabriel short words. "Just like iron man's."
"Exactly...." I dragged, finding his reference duckishly cute.
Dami's dad had no problem with Gabriel, as he placed his hands on Gabriel's shoulders. At least, he managed to make contact with the boy. Dami's dad led him into the car and when Gabriel asked about his things in the hut, Dami's mum told him to forget about it cause she'll get him new stuff.
"So sad," Commented Bisola once Gabriel told everyone in the car, what happened to him. "A rich boy transformed into a poor one over night."
"Well, that's a thing of the past," Dami's dad voice out, while driving. "He has gotten himself a new family."
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Dr. Joel, a specialist for Gabriel's type of issue, looked straight at Dami's parents. "You mentioned you're having problems getting a prosthetic arm for a boy?"
Dami's father nodded his dead. "Gabriel, yes. During Bisola's treatment, you did say no matter how rich I was financially, it would still be a problem. And I remembered you made that statement cause Bisola had to wait till she was nineteen because you said she was still growing as at that age and a new arm would be outdated every___"
Dr. Joel interrupted Dami's dad, suddenly. "As I told you before, that was indeed true. But the hospital had decided to have children's foundation for the unfortunates. We'll take care of the expenses."
I felt a surge of relief and so does everyone. "That's wonderful," Bisola beamed. "You're so lucky, Gabriel."
Dr. Joel turned to Gabriel. "Now, let's take a look at you, young man."
Thirty minutes later of Dr. Joel and Gabriel being in close room, He finally appeared and turned to Dami's dad. "I think we can fix him up as good as new." Dr. Joel then brought out something that looked like a calender with various robotic like arms.
"We do have two types of prostheses. Myoelectric, which is a state-of-the-art, and a cable-operated arm. As you can see, the Myoelectric arm is made of plastics and covered with a hand like glove." Dr. Joel turned and smiled at Gabriel.
"Does it move?" Asked Gabriel, as he pointed at the pictures on the calender.
Dr. Joel bent, so he could be at the same level with Gabriel. "Do you ever have that feeling of moving your hand? And I'm talking about the one that's no longer there." Gabriel nodded, making Dr. Joel to smile. "Now this is how this arm works. Whenever you think about the arm that's no longer there, the muscles that used to work there will contract and automatically generate a Myoelectric signal. In simple terms young lad, you'll be able to open and close your hand just by thinking about it."
"Cool!" Gabriel's eyes shown bright.
"Now here's the tricky part, but you'll get use to it." Dr. Joel said. "You'll have the arm on and take it off, before having your bath or sleeping."
"And how do I do that?" Gabriel asked curiously.
"It's really very simple, boy." Dr. Joel enlightened. "You'll just pull on the new arm. It's simple, a right fit. There would be a kind of thin nylon sock over the arm. You can't swim nor bath with it, but you can do just about anything else! Just think of it as putting on a pair of shoes. You put it on in the morning, and take it off at night."
"I can put you through," Bisola said to Gabriel, showing off her false arm.
"Are you ready?" Dr. Joel asked Gabriel. Gabriel remained quiet as he stared at everyone. We all waited for him to decide. Whatever he decided on, was okay by us. After all, it was his life.
A smile all of a sudden, crawled on Gabriel's lips. "Yes!"
This chapter is a reminder of Gabriel, which I'm sure a lot had forgotten about because of more serious issues in the story.
So how do you see this chapter? It's short because it's focused mostly on Gabriel and there's nothing much to say about him.
Vote if you love or hate this chapter, comment and share to others.
Till next time,
Much love,
X
-Eddy