It was in the early hours of January 24 2006 being Monday 7
When i heard a very hard knocks on my door and followed by a voice calling my name 'Ugochukwu Ugochukwu' when i listened closely i recognised the voice to be my uncle's wife voice, she said " Ugochukwu please come out your grandfather want to talk to you" that was how i stood up and ran to the sitting room where the man was lying on the bed, i stood close to him and he whispered this few words to me, " Ugo (as he fondly calls me) please help me with my Go-bag i have something to give you" i went to get the bag and return with it and he continued " taking the bag from me look through it and handed it over to me and said" i give you my blessings you are my favourite grandson, please take this bag inside it is my documents and some cash, in the morning please give mrs Oriaku 200 the money i am owing her and keep this documents safe for me when I come back i will take them, please go and call me Obinna the Okada man (cyclist) to take me to the hospital" this was his exact words to me and I never knew this was the last thing I could hear from him. As i ran out to go get the cyclist the next thing I hear was a shout of cry from our house as i run back to the house the Mr Obinna the cyclist the man is dead.
A day before the ugly incident
On Sunday January 23rd 2006 after i came back from where I went and grandfather called me and was complaining that he is feeling a kind of pain on his body and later he told me to take him to the hospital close to our house, which i did, on getting to the hospital he was admitted and placed on medication and later in the day at about 15mins past 7, he called me and told me to tell the doctor to discharge him that his time up, i was surprised to hear him speak like that, i and mother tried to convince him to stay but he refused, the doctor has no choice than to discharge us, when we go back home same day he felt he felt ok not until 4am Monday 24th January when I was waking up by the knock on my door. But why would my grandfather tell us that his time is up could it be that he knew that he will die? What could have happened and why?
Why the pain so hard on me
I started living with him when I was born so the bond was so close, my education from day one to secondary school was with him, i could remember the promise he made to me that after my secondary school i will attend the best University in Nigeria but unfortunately he died one year before I finished my secondary education. The man is great man and wirh good heart i could remember how he treated his wife while she was sick before he died.
an incident that happened 4 years before he died
My grandfather was a farmer and a while tapper, he makes several money from his business he is generous and hospitable many people come to the house to drink palm wine for free each morning.
One evening i we went to tap wine as he has climbed the palm tree of about 15 feet tall, as he was about to rest on the rope, he doesn't know that someone has enviously cut his climbing rope so as he was about resting on the rope, it cut. That was how he found himself on the ground, i heard the sound and rush to check what happened and that was how i saw him on the ground, i had to shout for help and some people came to my rescue and he took him to the hospital and the hospital discovered he had fracture on the leg and we were referred to an orthopaedic Hospital for the leg fracture.
After spending 7 months at the orthopaedic Hospital he was able to walk with his legs again, this incident happened in April 2002 3rd. And almost 4 years before the sickness that killed him.
My grandmother died on 1999 November after a long illness and it i and my grandfather took care of her before she died.
Conclusion
My grandfather is a great man that every person wants to meet with him, he is ready to go hungry to make sure i eat, i enjoyed every single day i spent with him. I remember how he calmly cared for me.
Check out the next episode of my post on what happened on his funeral day.
Also check out when I drop the next story with title the last days of my grandmother on the earth and lessons to learn.
Tear keep flowing my eyes each time i remember the memory we share together.
