It happened to my friend: The HIV/AIDS worry (2)

Straining my eyes a bit, I looked at the piece of paper now in my hand. I did not know when I blurted: ‘Ikenna, you tested positive to HIV?’ Later on, I felt it was a bit tactless. The red ink in which the message was scribbled was too stark to deny. It was a harsh sort of reality. My head was now in a spin. I had not handled such before. HIV/AIDS is not strange to me. I often hear it during the news. Therefore, it meant it belongs to others, not my friends, not my relatives. A sense of test took over me – my biggest test to date. I felt a need to rise up to the challenge of the moment. Slowly my head got back to normal. I sat down beside Ikenna – my friend of less than half a year. Some silence crept on us. No one was willing to kill it. I wondered why he chose me of all his many friends he had mentioned to me in the past. He’s quite gregarious. It is my experience of him. I know he could pull the crowd with his charms wherever he went, but not in this state. Only very few reach out to HIV positive people.

‘Did the test about 10 days ago,’ he said, at last thawing the thick ice that had formed between us. He seemed calm. I thought it was a surface show. ‘The result came out a week ago and it has affected me badly.’

‘The weight loss?’ I threw at him, almost in silence.

‘I haven’t had what I’d call a real meal since I found out,’ he informed. Paused for a short while before he added: ‘Been picking food here and there… with no real zest for meal, no real zest even for living anymore.’

‘Have you told your wife?’ I asked.

‘No, I am yet to,’ he answered. His voice shook for the first time. ‘Tony, I’ve ruined everything; I have killed my wife, disappointed my children and hurt my parents.’ Seconds later, the tears came. Ikenna made no effort at halting them. He cried like a baby.

I sat mute, short on consoling. In fact, I had no idea what to do. His cry slowly turned to sob. My heart went out to him. A big, huge man looking more like a wimp! I took another look at the piece of paper, now lying with us on the couch. I picked it up. The test was done somewhere in one of the laboratories in Ikeja. My mind slowly recovered from the initial shock. I got back to normal.

‘Need some water?’ I asked. His cell-phone released a shrilled sound.

‘It’s my wife,’ he informed. ‘Please, pick it for me for I am unable to talk at the moment.’

‘Good Evening, madam,’ I greeted.

‘Sorry, who’s this?’ she asked.

‘Tony, Tony Monye is the name,’ I answered.

‘Where’s my husband?’ she asked.

‘He asked me to pick his call for he’s indisposed at the moment.’

‘Indisposed?’ she threw at me. ‘Doing what?’

‘Using the loo,’ I lied. It was about the best I could offer.

‘Please, tell him to call me as soon as he’s out,’ she said. She hung up before I could mouth another word.

‘Since I got the result, I now realised I have got no friend in this world,’ he pointed out.

‘Hey, stop!’ I screamed. ‘What about me?’

‘Oh, Tony,’ I only just met you…’

‘It doesn’t matter… friendship is in the feelings and, not in the time spent.’

‘I guess that’s why I came all the way to you.’ Another short span of silence came again before he spoke: ‘You know I have been the strongman to so many people, so many relatives…’

‘I know what you are about to say… can I guess?’ I asked.

‘Go ahead.’

‘Why is there no one for the strongman?’

‘Correct, absolutely correct.

‘Maybe you should reveal more of the fact that you’re human like the rest of us,’ I pointed out. Smiled. ‘Next time, just remain a human… that’s all the world needs. Nothing more.’

‘There’s some sense in what you’ve said,’ he acknowledged. ‘On the other hand, in trauma times, you realise how alone you are in this world.’

‘What’s the motivation for going for the test?’ I asked, deliberately forging another pathway.

‘It’s something I do every year,’ he answered.

‘So, the previous one was last year, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Same lab?’

‘Same lab.’

‘And, you tested negative last year?’

‘Yes.’

‘Done some ‘rough rides and stunts’ in the period between then and now?’

‘Not really,’ he answered. Thinking, he provided: ‘No need parading lies or half-truths, man… I did but used some protection… always used protection anytime I played away.’

His phone beeped again. He picked. ‘Honey, I am sorry,’ he apologised to his wife. He signalled if I wanted it on speaker.

‘No, no need,’ I released in an undertone. His right thumb went up. At me.

‘Honey, relax, take it easy… I need to explain some things to you.

The electricity authority always meets with our expectation. The light flickered out.

To be continued next week.