Gustave breaks the news to his parents

CHAPTER 9

They leave the pub and the following day Gustave breaks the news to his parents.

Gustave told Erica, her mom of a beautiful flower he had found and that he intended to go and pluck it. Erica was surprised he did not pluck it at once since beautiful flowers could attract people and that somebody else could pluck it in his absence. Erica didn’t know he was using a metaphor to describe a beautiful lady he had met. When she finally understood him, she asked of her name.

Gustave mentioned her name Nimako, a medical doctor to her. Though she had not yet met her she asked him to bring her home at once and she congratulated him for such a significant move he had made in his life. Erica had been praying for him to get married but Gustave seemed not to be interested. When the right time came, it changed his behavior.

Everybody could notice Gustave appeared to be in a different world. Happiness was written all over his face and anybody who knew him could notice it without any doubt. He was singing happy songs in the house almost everyday.

He was actually working with zeal. Somebody who was almost all the time moody had suddenly changed to be very expressive. In fact, our people were not wrong when they said, ‘The eye never forgets what the heart has seen.’ Erica could sense Gustave was really in love. She asked him to bring her home for her to see her. An arrangement was made for Nimako to go and see his parents. Nimako’s skin was star shadow-black and she had eyes of galaxy-blue. She had an electrifying smile. Her hair was coral-black and it crashed over her shoulders. Nimako also had kiss-inspiring lips that were pillow soft.

As for her teeth, they were sparkling, wizard-white and she had an angelic smile. She was curvaceous with a goblet shaped waist. Her spider’s-leg eyelashes and orbit-shaped eyes made her very attractive and everybody admired her. Her nails were Venus-red and as rosy as glow-worm. It appeared as if she was just dropped from a different planet.

No wonder Gustave could not withstand her beauty, for she was indeed beautiful; finally, she visited Gustave. He gave her a hug and he gave her a seat too. He served her with Eko Juice and cabin biscuits. He then went to call Erica. As soon as Nimako saw Erica, she rose from her seat and she approached her with that beautiful smile. Erica immediately opened her arms and hugged her. She welcomed her and Gustave used the opportunity to introduce her beautiful lady to her.

It was like a celebration. The atmosphere was charged. Smiles were all over their faces. Champaign was popped. Erica had a chat with Nimako and she admired her more when she got to know that Nimako was Ghanaian. Erica stayed in Ghana for sometime before she moved to France and so she recalled the good old days when she was at Kumasi in Ghana. Nimako felt at home and her relationship with Gustave grew from good to better.

Erica advised Gustave and Erica to make sure that their relationship worked. She told them that love is like a baby; it therefore needs to be treated tenderly. They should be patient and accommodative to each other. Nimako sought for permission and she left.

Nimako goes to work the following day.

Patient:

Good morning, doctor.

Dr. Nimako:

Good morning. How are you doing today?

Patient:

I’m fine. Thanks for asking. How about you, doctor?

Dr. Nimako:

I’m good. So what brings you here?

Patient:

I’ve come for a regular checkup for a suspected case of glaucoma. I don’t have it but few years ago, a doctor examining my eye and knowing my family eye history advised me to undergo precautionary checkup once a year.

Dr. Nimako:

He puts the past reports on the table. The doctor goes through it.

Dr. Nimako:

I see that your optic nerve is thicker than normal. I think that might be the reason why you were asked to undergo precautionary tests every year. You can have same two tests- visual field analysis and OCT- today and once you’ve the two reports, we can meet again in the afternoon.

Patient:

Thanks.

Dr. Nimako writes the names of the two tests on her letterhead and pushes it across the table. The patient leaves the doctor’s cabin and again approaches the reception desk. He goes through the tests and the tests are ready.

Dr. Nimako:

I hope you had a smooth experience going through the tests?

Patient:

Yes, it was.

The patient gives the reports to Dr. Nimako. She goes through the pages, looking at the colored images of the eye.

Dr. Nimako:

Your reports are absolutely fine. Since these reports haven’t shown anything suspect in many years, I think you can now take these tests once in two years and not once in a year.

Patient:

Okay.

Dr. Nimako:

Well, that puts glaucoma thing to rest. Does your work involve working on laptop for long hours?

Patient:

Yes.

Dr. Nimako:

In case your eyes get tired quickly, I would recommend….it’s an eye drop, which you can use 2 times in a day. Our eyes get dry when we look at the computer screen without blinking for long. This eye drop will lubricate your eye.

Do you have any other question?

Patient:

Yes. I see something black, wavy structures floating in front of my eyes and they don’t disappear even when I close my eyes. What are they? Are they harmful?

Dr. Nimako:

They are called floaters and a lot of people develop them to different extent as they grow old. They are not harmful.

Patient:

Thank you.

Dr. Nimako:

You’re welcome.

Dr. Nimako closes from work and she goes home. In the evening she calls Gustave and tells him about her parents coming to join her in France.

‘It pays to take good care of one’s children.’ Nimako’s parents spent all their time, their resources and everything at their disposal to make sure that Nimako became an asset in the society. No wonder it is said, ‘When a seed is sowed today, it germinates tomorrow.’ Nimako never forgot what her parents did for her even during the difficult time. Nimako had a good job. She got a lot of money. Everything around her showed that she had been blessed. She therefore invited her parents back home in Africa to join her in France.

She wanted to share her happiness, her resources and everything she had acquired with the very people who were the reason why she had gone far in life. Stephanie and Ransford were happy when they received the message from Nimako that they should join her in France. As soon as they received the message, they started preparing to move to France. Lo and behold, they got there.

They were amazed when the plane touched down in France. They could not believe they were in France. It was just like a dream for them.