I was a student in London when I got married. We had been living together for about three years. We started way back in Nigeria. She was the first to take the plunge, and traveled to Britain. Our plan was for the baby to come shortly after her final papers.
We had developed rather unconsciously, but out of practice, a regular routine of waking up and getting ready to leave home on time for our respective schools. On this fateful morning, my wife woke up before usual. Being a light sleeper, I was aware she was getting out of bed. When she came back into bed, I asked her if all was well. She replied in the affirmative. Like a programmed mechanism, we usually got out of bed together; but that day, she said: ?I can?t get up.? It was beyond me to imagine how she had quickly come to that condition.
Eventually, I had to phone for the ambulance for the first time in my life. As we were living in NW 10, London, Middlesex Hospital was the nearest to us. Even though she was not attending the pre-natal there, all her records were there as the Government was in charge of everything medical. There were private hospitals, of course. Under one hour, she was on the operating table. She had ectopic pregnancy, and the fallopian tube was already ruptured.
At the end of about two weeks, she was ready for discharge. We chose the Sunday morning as best suited to serve our purposes. In the seventies, London, on Sunday mornings, was like a ghost town. In spite of that, I decided to go by the byway, as it was shorter. My car type was the Hillman Minx. It had a tray running throughout underneath the dashboard.
All of a sudden, an annoying rattling sound was coming somewhere from the tray. It offended my punctilious disposition towards the car. I ran my fingers throughout the length of the tray to find out what was there. There was nothing. Then, it suddenly stopped. Almost immediately, it came on again. What I did next was contrary to common sense: I bent down to look underneath the tray. I raised up my head just in time to see my car attempting to climb a solid concrete electric post. I remember trying to get out of the car after the impact, and saw many windows opening to see my ignoble crash. The next thing I knew was waking up on a stretcher lying on the floor in the X-ray room of a nearby small hospital. As can be expected, there were neither beds nor chairs in the X-ray room. The crash occurred before 9am. I came back to life after 12noon. I had been striped to my briefs. Apparently, I was been examined for any possible wounds. There was none.
The walkie-talkie was loud enough for anyone to hear the discussion. The plain-cloth Policeman reported to the station that the victim had come back to life. This was followed by switch offs from both ends. Also standing around was the ambulance driver. He recognized me. He was the one who took my wife to the hospital about two weeks earlier. In genuine empathy, he expressed regret at the misfortune that befell my wife and I in a cascade.
I was X-rayed all over. There was no damage done. However, I had pain in my left knee for about two weeks, during which time walking was rather painful. At that time, I have not seen the car to assess the extent of the damage. However, what the Policeman said was a big surprise to me. He remarked that if the LORD GOD was able to protect me from sustaining injuries in such a terrible accident, no man should ask me any questions. He did not even ask me for my driver?s license but ordered me to present it at the nearest Police Station. No charges were pressed.
My wife knew that my failure to pick her up at the appointed time indicated that something serious had happened. When I left the Police Station (I was been expected), I went straight to the Hospital by bus. I arrived there at about 2pm. My wife and some other patients were on the lookout for me as I had been known for my punctuality.
The following evening, I took the towing vehicle from the insurance company to the accident site. I was amazed at what I saw. All the instruments on the dashboard were hanging on the connecting wires. The steering wheel hit against my chest and broke into pieces. At the point of impact, the car was crushed by the electric post right up to the edge of the wind shield. The battery which was seated at the rear end of the hood was crushed. The car was a total loss. The Policeman was right to observe that it had pleased the LORD GOD to spare my life. Indeed, I?m thankful to the LORD GOD for dear life.
Cornelius is a Nigerian. He went to Britain for his university education. He obtained B.Sc. Hons. Physics, and M.Sc. Solid State Physics. He returned to Nigeria afterwards, and taught in universities and polytechnics before he retired. Currently, he is in US to publish and promote his book: The True Mission of Christ. The content is by direct Divine revelation, and therefore, cannot be faulted. More about the book can be found at http://www.babasanyacraig.com
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