By Dada Olowo Eyo
Monday, 15 June 2009 at 17:30
Posted on the now defunct "facebook.com/notes"

When the two young boys rushed over to tell us that one of our friends had slumped we thought it was one of those false alarms or pranks young children play on adults. But little did we know it was the start to a very, very long twenty-four hours of major drama; because Bennett (not his real name) really had slumped and although the ladies around had taken off his jungle boots; green-ringed, white socks; seated him on a white, plastic chair; he was still too weak to even sit upright...or recognize any of us.

Bennett arrived at the lodge around March, he and his colleagues tried as much as possible to adjust to the very hard conditions at the lodge. It turned out he would smoke at least a packet of cigarettes a day and drink quite often, too. On this particular day, a Saturday, I was just finishing my meal outside when Uche came around to sit on one of the make-shift bamboo seats; we exchanged pleasantries, talked about the just-concluded French open, ongoing Queens court warm up event and the upcoming Wimbledon grand slam. Bennett had just finished a bowl of "eba" and earlier an even bigger bowl of yams and eggs; he then went off. About thirty minutes later the boys rushed over.

We carried him over to our side of the lodge and laid him on a bare mattress. Too weak to even respond to his name the girls made a concoction of milk and malt and I force-fed him. We took off his pants and made sure he had plenty of air. Later on one of the doctors at the lodge was called in and after a number of annoying calls to the authorities the infirm was rushed to the FMC.

 After much dust had settled we began to trace the origins of the almost fatal occurrence. Bennett had been courting a lady living there at the lodge and they had gone quite long. But something happened the previous day. He discovered his "toastee" had given an alternate number to a fellow called "Big boy" and he got to know about it. Coupled with his excessive smoking habit, heavy drinking and worrying, he went off in a mad rush that Saturday night to over-indulge himself and that resulted in his slumping.

He's still at the hospital receiving treatment for a cacophony of ailments chief among which is dehydration--mostly as a result of too much nicotine and alcohol in his system. The doctors also say his heart has become fragile and has difficulty pumping much needed blood around his body. I would not go into the stories brought back by friends who accompanied Bennett to hospital. It would amount to washing our very dirty linen in public. Let us just say it was not pleasant. We pray for his speedy recovery.

The question now is why should he take such matters of the heart (or love?) too deeply at and in such an environment where nothing lasts for more than one year anyway? A friend of mine, Blaze, a Counseling Psychologist, said he would talk to him when he is eventually discharged from hospital on how to handle such affairs. The lady in question has not been seen ever since and She, I do not think, would be willing to offer as much as a sigh when she hears of the incident.

That’s what happened at the weekend of June 12, 2009.

Now I ask: Should we love senselessly--only to die needlessly?