One tough journey

THE MISFORTUNE

One early Saturday in the month of June, Mr. James had to travel to his hometown for a funeral at Aburi over the mountains, it was at this time that there had been serious rains in the mountains causing serious land and rock slides in the area. He decided to go with his son because he wanted him to do some work for him during the funeral. They left Botianor very early in the morning in order to avoid the heavy weekend traffic on the Cape Coast-Winneba Road and get to Aburi on time. Elsie had wanted to go with them but her father asked her to stay with her mother and keep her company.

After their departure, Elsie decided to help her mother to alternate her clothes. Mrs. Millicent was very good at sewing and though she was a housewife she mostly kept herself busy sewing when she was done with her house chores. Elsie was a fast learner and in no time, she had also mastered the craft of sewing, Mrs. Millicent suddenly had a certain bad and negative feeling and was about to call her husband when Elsie told her he cannot be driving and making phone calls so she decided against calling him. She kept on feeling the same way and by evening she decided to call James who had not called to tell her if they had arrived safely and would be returning or staying over and returning the next day this was so unlike her husband.

In an attempt to escape from the heavy traffic which greeted them even in the early parts of the morning, Mr James decided to use the Weija road through to CP, down to Gbawe, and finally arrive at the Mallam junction overpass. Upon reaching the overpass, Mr. James was in so much hurry that he did not notice that a truck had parked right ahead of him, he was not fast enough to swerve and catch a break and ended up crashing into the truck. Mr. James died on the spot because it was his side that went under the truck first, Frederick secured a series of injuries but did not die. The police came together with the ambulance and they were taken to the Ga South Municipal Hospital which was the closest, investigations were ongoing as no one was ready to tell what the cause of the accident was.

Later in the evening, Mrs. Millicent and Elsie thought it wise to call them since now it was obviously getting weird, they decided to call them but both their lines could not go through. She started to be worried about her husband and son and kept calling and calling but all to no avail. The two decided to sleep it off and thought maybe it was the network problems in Aburi that were making it difficult for them to reach them. Sleep hardly ever came into the eyes of Mr. Millicent as her feeling had grown worse and she feared something bad might have happened to them. The next day, the first thing they decided to do was call Mr. James' brothers and ask if he got to the funeral because they had not heard from him after he left the house yesterday morning, they did not even let her land when they started raining insults on her but that morning, she did not have the energy to argue so she placed the call down.

As they sat thinking of who else to call, a call came through from the police about an accident that happened yesterday morning on the Mallam Junction overpass, her heart beat began to rise faster and faster, and even before the detective could finish his statement she started wailing and crying her heart out, she thought she had lost her husband and her son. Not later after that, she got another call from the hospital saying they found the number on one Mr. James and decided to call, this time the information was clear and loud, Mr. James died on the spot and his body is in disposition at the morgue awaiting autopsy but the young man with him was okay yet he had suffered severe injuries on her legs and that could make him lose his legs.

Mrs. Millicent was advised to come to the hospital immediately to identify the corpse and sign some papers. She could not believe what she had just heard, was he dreaming or it was a joke, Elsie was too shocked to shed tears, the two got ready immediately amidst tension, hurt and shock and made for the hospital immediately, they did not know what to expect but were ready all the same, it was a moment of mixed feelings for the two. Mrs. Millicent had lost her husband and son and Elsie had lost a father and a brother because they had been involved in an accident. Elsie and her mother rushed to the hospital in tears. Upon arriving, they got to know that Mr. James couldn't make it and had kicked the bucket, that was a hard realization to take in they were not expecting it to be said abruptly as the doctor had said it. On hearing this, the two broke down into uncontrollable tears.