In Owerri, a city in the eastern part of Nigeria, there lived a king who almost got visited with childlessness but was bailed from that ordeal with a 3rd-phase asthmatic child from birth, which came into the king's life at his 60 years of age. The king, King Okorie, took this baby to many hospitals, both in Nigeria and abroad, but still, no permanent solution was proffered. All the doctors pointed to the fact that if the child succeeds in reaching 5 years, then he'll be free from the disease. By so doing, a customised inhaler that would serve the child for six years was given to the royal family to give the baby every night before he sleeps, and if they fail to do that, the asthmatic symptoms will come within a few hours and it'll be unbearable for the child, which may result in his death.
The king and his family accepted their fate, and that was the means they used to survive the child for 2 years, and the baby didn't feel the symptoms of asthma.
One day, the king's sister, Amarachi, who has been married for two years without a child, came visiting from Lagos. She spent three days and was so fond of her nephew as a way of reminding God to give her, her own baby. All through her stay, she took charge of caring for the baby; she moved the baby's belongings to her room and found so much joy petting the baby.
On the morning she was to return to Lagos, she returned every one of the child's belongings to the Queen's room and bade farewell to them.
On the evening of that day, after the Queen had finished bathing her son, she went to the drawer to pick up the inhaler but couldn't find it.
"Prisca!" She screamed the name of her personal maid.
"Yes, your highness," Prisca responded in a jiffy.
"I can't find the inhaler; you were the one that attended to this room today," the queen said with her fingers pointing at the opened drawer.
"Yes, ma, I cleaned up the room, but I didn't see the inhaler there. I thought it was still with the King's sister, Amarachi." Prisca said in a shaky tone as she walked close to the drawer, she searched there and it wasn't there. She searched on the bed; the wardrobe and it wasn't there too.
The queen, in anger, left the baby with Prisma in the room and went to meet the King.
"So your sister came to visit us with the pure intention of killing our only child, right?" She poured out immediately she got to where the king was, with her legs shaking like someone who's ready for war.
The king looking surprised and asked, "What do you mean by that? Amarachi left this morning, and we were all happy when she was leaving. What's happening?"
"I can't find our son's inhaler, and it's obvious that Amarachi had done something with it before leaving," the Queen said, and as soon as the King heard that, his eyes widened, and his breath grew shallow. and he raced to the room to see if the son was okay. He went there and saw he was okay, In that single moment, a profound sigh of relief escaped his lips, carrying with it the weight of his worries and anxieties.
*"Are you sure you've searched everywhere? The king asked both his wife and the wife's maid, and and they both responded that they'd searched everywhere.
He took his phone from his pocket and dialled Amarachi's number.
"Hello brother, I'm still on the way, I'll call you once I arrive." Amarachi said as she picked up the phone and wanted to turn off the call.
"No ooo! Hold on! Please help me check your bag to see if my son's inhaler is there with you. Maybe you misplaced it inside your bag without knowing." In a calm and convincing tone, the king pleaded.
"Inhaler? It's not possible. By the way, what's happening? I hope my nephew is okay?," Amarachi asked as lines of worry etched themselves onto her forehead.
"Just check first and tell me, please," the King pleaded again.
Amarachi left the phone to her left ear with her shoulder supporting it while she opened her purse, and behold, the inhaler was there. "Brother, it's here I didn't know I mistakingly placed it on my bag."
"Okay, thank God. Please highlight from that car and return back to Owerri now, otherwise, my son, your nephew will not be able to make it to the next day." The king, with a sign of relief but scared too, pleaded again.
Amarachi had travelled far already, but those words from the king instilled fear in her.
"Driver, stop!"
She screamed at the top of her voice, which shocked everyone in the bus.
"I can't stop here, it's dangerous, you have to wait till we get to a safer place," the driver said in a bossy manner, and Amarachi didn't take that at all.
"Please stop!....Please, I beg you in the name of God." She was still trying to claim her strength to control the driver with her shout until tears took over her, and the people in the bus felt her pain and thought maybe she was pressed, so they helped her to convince the driver to stop. The driver agreed, he stopped, and Amarachi rushed out of the bus.
She looked left and right, and there was no vehicle going in the opposite direction. She began to jug back with tears and frustration written all over her face.
Luck smiled on her, and a bus drove by. She told the driver to take her to the nearest airport. The driver charged her heavily, but she didn't care, she was running out of time.
She got to the airport, and she was lucky to meet one of the planes going to Owerri with immediate bookings. She paid and entered the plane.
It was already 11:00 p.m., and the baby had begun to display slight symptoms of asthma that he hadn't experienced since they started giving him the inhaler.
The king and queen, upon noticing the symptom in their son, began to run helterskelter.
"It's obvious that your sister has been jealous of our son because she has none; that's why she came to kill our baby," was what the queen continued to saying in the mist of tears.
It got to 12:00am, and the baby began to shake, gasping for breath. The mind of the king became heavily unsettled; he picked up his phone and dialled the number of the doctor who gave them the inhaler, but the number was switched off. It was as if the earth was against him.
He decided to call Amarachi's line, and immediately she picked up, he cried out to her, "Please use a flight because my son is dying already. Come down from the car and take a flight, please."
"Yeah, I'm on a flight, and I'll soon arrive at Owerri. Please keep your faith tight. So sorry for the troubles I've caused you," Amarachi said as they ended the call.
He returned to the room and met his wife using a towel to cool the baby's chest as a way of keeping him alive till the inhaler arrives. He joined her on the scene, petting the baby.
Just so suddenly, Amarachi walked in, rushed to the spot, opened the baby's nose, and placed the inhaler. Before their eyes, the baby's gasping for breath stopped automatically. The queen didn't notice the presence of Amarachi until the baby became calm.
Amarachi, knowing what her carelessness had caused, knelt down before them and pleaded for forgiveness. The queen walked to her, raised her up, and hugged her. "It's okay, dear, things like this happen. The good thing is that, you bravely beat the time and saved your nephew"
This is my entry to the Monthly Contest, Race
Published here