Work Text:
At a nurses’ station in Detroit’s Woodward Memorial Hospital, a statuesque woman was just about to sit down at the desk; however, another nurse approached her.
“Abishola, bad news,” the grey haired nurse said, “There was a major pile up and there were a lot of people injured. We’re going to need as many nurses here as possible.”
Abishola nodded and then asked, “Do we know how far away they are?”
“ETA is ten minutes tops,” answered Gloria.
“Thank you. Can you take care of Mr. Liberman while I make arrangements for Dele?” Abishola asked, with her Nigerian accented voice.
“I’ve got you. Make your calls,” Gloria said, as she was already heading in the direction of Mr. Liberman’s room.
At Gloria’s departure, Abishola was already sitting down behind the desk and was dialing a few numbers.
Abishola placed the phone back on the hook and looked at her watch. Only eight minutes left , she thought.
Abishola sighed and thought back to the people she tried to contact. She tried her Auntie Olu and Uncle Tunde, whom she lives with; however, they won a three day and two night all expense paid in town getaway to MGM Grand Detroit.
Abishola tried her best friend Kemi; however, she was not feeling well.
Then a thought occurred to the Nigerian nurse and she then picked the phone back up and dialed her boyfriend, now fiance: Robert “Bob” Wheeler.
Bob answered the phone on the third ring. “Hey.”
Smiling, Abishola responded, “Hello Bob. Look, I do not have a lot of time and I need to ask you a question.”
A little concerned, Bob says, “O-oh okay. What’s going on?”
Not wasting any time, Abishola says, “Well there was a serious accident and a lot of people are going to be coming to the hospital any minute now. And because I don’t know how long I am going to be here, I was wondering if you could take care of Dele for me?”
Immediately, Bob answered, “Of course! But what about Olu and Tunde?”
“They are on a trip that they won,” Abishola said.
Bob hummed in understanding and then asked, “So do you want me to pick Dele up from school?”
Breathing out in relief, Abishola said, “That would be great. Thank you Bob.”
Smiling Bob answered, “Anything for you. Be safe.”
Abishola hung up the phone feeling better knowing that her son would be in safe hands while she was working. After that thought though, Abishola and the other nurses had to rush to assist the first wave of injured patients.
School had just let out as Dele weaved his way through the ocean of children looking for his mother; however, instead he saw Bob’s rotund figure standing in front of his shiny onyx coloured Cadillac.
“Ek'ale,” said Bob.
Looking at him with confusion, Dele greeted him saying, “Ek'ale Bob. What are you doing here?”
Tucking his hands in his pockets, Bob said, “Well, your mom is going to be working real late because there’s a lot of people hurt due to an accident. And with your Auntie and Uncle away, your mom asked me to take care of you.”
Dele then asked, “For how long?”
Smiling down at the small boy, Bob responded, “That’s a great question. But I’m sure as soon as she’s done, she’ll come and get you.”
Pursing his lips, Dele nodded in understanding and got into the passenger seat of Bob’s Cadillac.
After Bob slid into the driver’s seat, he glanced over at Dele and said, “Since today's Friday, I’m going to take you by the apartment so you can pack enough for the weekend just to be safe.”
Dele nodded and they rode in a comfortable silence.
Thirty minutes later, after Dele grabbed his things, the onyx coloured Cadillac pulled into Bob’s driveway and they both entered Bob’s large house.
After they got situated, Bob and Dele sat down at the breakfast table to do their respective work.
Sometime had passed before Dele’s stomach grumbled quite audibly. Bob looked at the embarrassed young boy and said, “Guess it’s time for dinner.”
Bob grunted a little as he got up and once he crossed the room to his kitchen, he asked over his shoulder, “What do you want to eat?”
“Anything’s fine,” answered Dele with a shrug.
Bob opened the glass pane of his refrigerator and inspected the contents inside. But then a mischievous glimmer shone in his eye and Bob closed the refrigerator door.
Pulling out his cellphone, Bob ordered some food from a local restaurant and then told Dele, “The food’ll be here in about twenty minutes.”
“What did you order?” asked Dele.
Smiling, Bob said, “Oh you’ll see.”
Dele furrowed his brows but didn’t say anything and went back to his homework.
Twenty minutes later, Bob had paid the delivery driver and brought the food to the kitchen and looked over at Dele, who was still working at the breakfast table.
“Food’s up!” said Bob enthusiastically.
Curious, Dele approached the older man and looked at the bag on the white counter and then at Bob. The young Nigerian boy’s expression made Bob smile.
Lifting one of the three takeout boxes out of the bag and placing it on a tray, Bob said, “Why don’t you dish out our food while I give my mom her food.”
Dele nodded and went to retrieve the plates from the cabinet while Bob went to give Dottie her food.
Once the older man left, Dele was just about to plate the food like he was asked to do; however, his eyes widened as he opened the styrofoam takeout box.
The physical size of the sandwiches were quite massive to say the least. Between two slices of soft Italian white bread was a variety of sliced meats topped with provolone cheese, with a copious amount of thick-cut French fries, all topped off with a pile of coleslaw.
Dele was so in shock that he didn’t realize that Bob had come back into the kitchen.
“Delicious, huh,” Bob said.
Dele looked at the older man and asked, “What is it?”
“It’s from a local sandwich shop and this is my absolute favourite sandwich in the world! It’s called a Primanti Sandwich also known as the Pittsburgh Sandwich! And it’s amazing !” said Bob as he platted the sandwiches.
Seeing the young boy’s still shocked expression, Bob handed Dele his dinner saying, “Just try it.”
Nodding, Dele took his plate and followed Bob to the table where they had just been sitting earlier.
After they sat down, Bob looked over to Dele and said, “There really is no way to describe how great this sandwich is!”
Dele chuckled and said, “Really?”
“Oh yeah! Try it!”
Dele looked back toward his massive sandwich and took a tentative bite. As he chewed, Dele hummed.
“Good right?”
After swallowing, Dele said, “This really is great!”
“Right,” Bob said as he then took a bite of his own sandwich.
They ate in silence for a while and then Bob asked, “So how’s your dancing going?”
At the question, Dele’s countenance brightened and he answered around a bite of his meal, “Great! I even started a dance group at school!”
Smiling at the young boy, Bob praised, “That’s great Dele! You’re looking a lot happier these days.”
“I am! And thanks again for talking with mom. I know she was mad at you for a while,” said Dele.
“I did tell you that I would say something I would regret,” Bob said, “But I don’t regret helping you. I don’t ever want you to think that, understand?”
Dele nodded with a smile.
Smiling back, Bob then added, “And as you can now see, you’re mom and I are back on track.”
Dele nodded and said, “I’m glad about that too.”
Bob then changed the subject and asked, “So do you wanna watch a movie after dinner?”
Dele smiled and said, “I finished my homework already, so sure! What do you have?”
Bob swallowed his last bite of his sandwich, wiped his hands on a napkin, and said, “As your elder, I insist you choose. I’ll pay for an On Demand rental.”
Dele sat back for a moment and thought. But then his eyes lit up and asked, “How about Black Panther?”
Bob smiled at the boy’s enthusiasm and responded, “Sure! I’ve only heard of it and haven’t seen it yet.”
Dele deflated the tiniest bit and said, “Oh we don’t have to watch it if you don’t...” Before he could finish though, Bob interrupted and said, “Dele. I want to see it. Okay? I only said that because I work a lot. And that generally means that I don’t watch a lot of movies. That’s all.”
Smiling again, Dele said enthusiastically, “It’s a great movie!”
Chuckling, Bob said, “I can already tell. So why don’t we clean up a bit, i.e. I wash my plate while you wrap your leftovers up, ‘cause you’re not gonna finish that, and put the movie on. How’s that sound?”
Dele nodded in agreement and did what Bob suggested.
Within moments, Bob and Dele were sitting side-by-side on the couch and watching Black Panther.
Many hours later, Abishola entered Bob’s large home and as she walked past the kitchen counter, she could see the top of Bob’s head lolled back in his sleep.
Smiling to herself, Abishola rounded the couch and thanks to the soft glow from the large television mounted on the wall, she was able to see pretty well. The sight that greeted her was both surprising and endearing.
On the navy blue couch, Abishola saw that Dele was fast asleep and tucked into Bob’s side with Bob’s arm draped paternally over his thin shoulder.
She found herself staring at the two of them for a moment; however, Bob began to stir a little and then his eyes fluttered open.
Seeing his future bride standing in front of him, Bob greeted her quietly. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“What time is it?”
Looking at her phone, Abishola answered, “A little past midnight.”
“Wow. Do you want me to drive you and Dele home?”
“No. I’m still working and I have to go back. But I wanted to check on Dele, you, and your mother.”
Smiling, Bob said, “That’s sweet. But we’re all fine. Mom’s okay and hasn’t had to go to the bathroom yet. Me and Dele did our work and then had a pretty big dinner and watched Black Panther. I guess we must’ve dozed off though.”
“Yes, you both did,” Abishola said, but then she sat on the arm rest of the couch and took Bob’s free hand and added, “Thank you again. I really appreciate you for doing this.”
Bob looked up at his future wife and kissed her hand that he was holding, and then saying, “My pleasure, honey.”
Bob then released her hand, carefully stood up, and scooped the prepubescent boy into his arms as if he didn’t weigh anything and said to Abishola, “I’m going to put Dele into the other guest bedroom and when I come out I’ll take you back to work.”
Abishola smiled at this and nodded.
Watching Bob’s retreating back, Abishola thought to herself, I look forward to spending the rest of my life with that man .
IPARI
THE END