But it was bad, really bad. The headache that is. And it had been building up. On her way from the office, she stopped briefly to buy a sachet of paracetamol at a road side chemist, popped a couple of pills in and zoomed off again. Minutes later, the dull thumping abated and she was able to put her mind to other tasks, cruising through light traffic on the third mainland bridge. It was still quite early in the day and closing time traffic hadn’t hit the road yet. Good. She still needed to check on Gladys her sister friend to see how she was doing on the business they had started together as a part-time thing. Joy had had to spend averagely two hours every day for the past two weeks, checking on sales, putting Gladys through on sales strategies, that sort of thing, her part in the partnership.
She spent a little over two hours today though, and had to leave hurriedly. She’d promised to have dinner with George her fiancé that evening. She raced down Western Avenue but not for long. Oh no! Closing time traffic! Ikorodu road was at a near standstill. All lanes were packed and moving at snail speed. Joy sighed resignedly as she pulled up behind a static line. Then as if on cue: ‘Dum dum, dum dum’. Uh, not again, Joy cringed as she rubbed her temples with fingers of one hand and rummaged through her handbag for the sachet of painkillers with the other. She cracked open two pills and popped them in her mouth, grimacing at the acute bitterness even as she tried to swallow without water.
It took a little longer for the effect to set in this time, but thankfully she was still vigilant enough to identify openings in traffic and make use of them until she was once again cruising speedily down to her place. On getting home, she hopped out of her car and walked briskly into the premises …and met her fiancé leaning against his car, tossing his keys from one hand to the other. “I’m sorry”, she said in a childish voice, putting on a girly pout, her head slanted for effect. “Yeah, I’m sure you are” he replied half-chidingly. “Let’s get going”. They took his car. Some minutes into the journey, the faint echoes of a resuming ‘dum, dum’ brought her to sharp realization of an oversight. “Oh no! I forgot my pills!” she gasped. “What pills?”, “My pain killers. I’ve had this horrible headache all day”, “Oh, don’t worry, there’re some in the glove compartment” he offered. She reached in and pulled out a sachet. “Hmm, these are the exact kind I bought” she noted. He looked over and hissed. “No wonder you’ve had the headache all day. Those aren’t really effective. Look inside again for the panadol extra”. She rummaged further and found the sachet of caplets. They stopped briefly to buy a bottle of water with which she washed down the pills. The effect was impressive after a few minutes. She settled down in the seat, fully delivered of the headache. “My hero” she sighed. “What, me or the panadol?” he quipped, eyeing her in mock indignation, eliciting a wily chuckle from her.
The rest of the journey went wonderfully well. They dined, talked and even met a few old friends before calling it an evening. He dropped her off back at her place and was about to drive off when he noticed she’d taken the sachet of panadol extra. “Hey, be careful how you patronize that hero o’ yours, he could keep you awake well into the night if you try him. If you need to, better stick with the former pills”. “Okay, thanks. G’nite!” she called back as he drove off.
Indoors, the house was a mess, cushions disturbed, books and magazines strewn across the floor amidst cutlery and some sneakers. Dominic, her brother had apparently come home from college. Her brow furrowed in annoyance. “Dominic!” she called, “Dominic!” No response. He wasn’t in his room either. Sighing, she began cleaning up the place, working her way to the kitchen where she met the sink full of dishes she’d hurriedly eaten from this morning. Resignedly, she began to wash-up.
Just as she finished cleaning up, Dominic waltzed in, kicked his dusty shoes off in the middle of the sitting room and plopped onto the couch. “Ah sis! Finally you’re back! How you been?” he called, picking up the remote and switching on the TV. Joy stomped in, right over to the TV, switched it off and gave him a piece of her mind, complete with accusations and threats to which he jovially replied “Ah, take it easy sis! I was going to clear it all up! I just forgot!” still fuming, she retired to her room, leaving him to finish the chores while she prepared her notes for the next day’s presentations. It was already some minutes to 11pm. Half way through her preparations, it came knocking again: ‘Dum Dum! Dum Dum!’ It actually caught her a little unawares; she didn’t take note until it was a resounding thud in her head. And it was bad. It was really bad. And it had been building. All day... Maybe it was time to call it a day she thought as she reached for the pills. Pulling up both sachets, she contemplated her choices. The panadol extra looked inviting, especially with the chorus beating in her skull at the moment. It’d been so effective earlier tonight. But memory of her fiancé’s words rang in warning: “He could keep you awake well into the night!” Pity, she sighed. She badly needed every second of sleep she could squeeze out of the tonight. “Guess that leaves our ineffective friend” she thought as she popped two of the other pills in her mouth and downed them with some juice. On an afterthought… she broke out a third pill and popped it in as well “for extra measure” she reasoned. “After all, wouldn’t want the headache to wake me up in the middle of the night anymore than I would want the panadol extra to keep me awake. “And as for my ‘heroes’” she thought, patting the sachet as she sleepily snuggled into her bed, “I’ll need them for tomorrow. It’ll be a very busy day, what with reports, meetings, presentations and all…”
-Alexander Oloyede
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