As I walked towards that grey building that for the past four
years I had come to know to house both the mortuary and the Morbid
Anatomy Department of the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital,
something in my heart snapped. I could hear my heart pounding. My
steps suddenly became heavier and laboured. To say that I was
confused will amount to saying the least. I had much more
inexplicable feelings.
Minutes later, I was facing a grim looking mortuary attendant to
whom the implications of my visit could be translated "business as
usual". "Please Sir, do you know if any medical student was brought
in last night?" I managed to ask. The attendant peered at me
curiously, obviously wondering how to answer me. Years of working
there must have taught him that answers of such questions trigger
reactions that could be well beyond his control. "I am a medical
student. I was told my room mate died and was brought in here last
night" I quickly added, recognizing his dilemma.
"I wouldn't know , Sir. You are a medical student. You may go in
and see for yourself," he answered.
One thing I definitely wasn't prepared for was to confront the
stone cold body of my room mate on the bier. As a medical student , I
had seen quite a great deal of corpses. I had dissected cadavers
without caring a hoot. This wasn't another corpse. This was my best
friend, J.F. Machado, a.k.a. , The Sultan. I had been told that
morning that he had died at a private hospital in town and had been
brought to the Teaching hospital morgue. My heart was torn in shreds,
I hoped that there had been a mistake somewhere. The only way to
confirm was to check at the morgue.
"Sir, isn't there a register I could check from. I just want to
confirm if he is really here or not." I asked. "Yes, here." He
replied shoving a pile of three hard covered big books at me. With
trembling hands I began to go through the first book. Page by page, I
flipped and skimmed pausing a little now and then to check closely
any familiar name. This books - books of the dead.
There were columns for name, age, sex, cause of death, address and
next of kin. By the time I was through with the second book, my heart
started feeling lighter. I had not found his name yet. "Definitely ,
this must be a joke", I said to myself, " an expensive one"
As I opened the third and last book, the first name there caught
my attention instantly. I heard a voice behind me say," Why seek ye
the living among the dead?" I quickly turned around but there was no
one there. " Why don't you check for his name in the Book of Life?"
The same voice added.
I left the morgue with tears flowing down both cheeks freely.
Suddenly my steps were no longer laboured. The pain in my heart had
disappeared. I felt better. The picture on my mind was the entry made
in the Book of Life -
Name - a new name
Age - eternity
Sex - neither male nor female
Cause of life - belief in Christ
Address - heaven
Next of kin - Jesus
My heart started singing, "death where is your sting, grave where is
your victory"
Copyright:
Sola Farotimi
2001