“You called?” The nurse asked, poking her head through the door, “Oh!” She exclaimed when she noticed that Michael was sitting up, “he’s awake?” She said, looking pleasantly surprised, “yes he’s awake, and also confused” the policeman replied, “he’s asking a lot of questions too, but I thought it was best to check with the medical team first before going ahead to answer any of them” the policeman explained, “good idea” the nurse replied. “How are you doing Sir?” She said turning to face Michael, she took a glance at the monitors beside him and noted that his vital signs were stable. “Not so good” Michael replied, “My abdomen feels sore and this handcuff is really uncomfortable” he replied, “oh yes, your abdomen may feel sore and painful for a while because you just had surgery and the surgical wound on your abdomen has not healed yet” the nurse explained.
A surgical wound is a cut or incision to the skin that is made by a surgeon during surgery. An example of a surgical wound is an incision made during a caesarean section. Surgical dressings are usually placed over surgical wounds to keep them clean. Surgical wounds that are not kept clean can become infected. Surgical wound infections usually manifest within the first 30 days after surgery and can be caused by germs from the skin, the environment or inside the body. Infected surgical wounds are usually surrounded by pus and are painful, they may also be accompanied by symptoms like fever. People who smoke, are overweight or elderly, have diabetes or undergo abdominal surgery or surgery that lasts more than 2 hours are at risk of having surgical wound infections. Surgical wound infections are usually treated using antibiotics. Sometimes, additional surgery may also be required to treat surgical wounds.
“Where am I?” Michael asked, “you’re at the general hospital in New york” the nurse began, “you were about boarding a flight when you started having seizures, an ambulance was called and you were rushed down here immediately” the nurse explained. “But I’m not epileptic” Michael protested, “I’ve never had a seizure in my life” he added, “that may be true” the nurse replied, “some wraps of coc@ine were found in your bowel. One of them burst leading to coc@ine intoxication as you were exposed to an overdose of it,” the nurse explained, “seizures are just one of the possible symptoms that accompany coc@ine intoxication” she added.
“Gosh! I have been caught” Michael thought to himself, “why me?” He thought. “Hope is not lost, I’m already in the USA, I just need to find my way out of the hospital and I will be a freeman” he consoled himself.
***
Chinedu had successfully sold his car and some of his electronics to make up the 10 million naira needed for the deposit, he made the payment by bank transfer and was issued an electronic receipt from the agent.
“We will process the job offer in 2 weeks, after which you will receive it via email” the agent said, “after the job offer has been processed, then we will begin processing of the work permit, everything will be ready in 4 weeks” the agent had advised to Chinedu’s delight.
His place of work needed at least 30 day’s notice for resignation, he had already purchased his flight ticket using his employee discount and didn’t want to risk having to forfeit his salary for the month or pay it back, so he immediately sent in his resignation, so that by the time his work visa was out he could leave immediately.
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“Are you sure of what you’re doing? You haven’t even gotten the visa and you’re already resigning” the colleague who had recommended the agent to him had asked. “See, this work visa is 100% guaranteed, why are you talking like this? Aren’t you the one that introduced me to them?” Chinedu asked, “I just saw their ad online, I haven’t even used them myself like I told you before. But you seem to have so much confidence in them” his colleague replied, “see the guy showed me pictures of people they had helped with copies of their job offers, this thing is legitimate, you better save up and disappear. Look at you, you’ve been working here for 5 years with nothing to show for it” he said to the colleague, “please speak for yourself, I have started building a house in my village” his colleague retorted, “Osheyy village headmaster” Chinedu replied, “by the time you’re finally done, I must have built like two houses in the USA” he added.
Just as promised, in two weeks time, he received a job offer from the agent in his email,”I told you they were genuine” he shouted, beckoning for his colleague to view the job offer, “congratulations bro” his colleague replied, “go ahead and pave the way for the rest of us” he added.
Chinedu was so happy that he bought lunch for all his colleagues that day. He partied all night and was very tired the next morning, “why am I even stressing myself to go to work, when I have just 2 weeks left? Biko, I will call in sick” he said to himself, “in fact my sickness will last for about a week and then I will show up at work to pepper them for the final week” he thought.
A little over a week later, the agent sent him details of his visa appointment booking at the embassy, “this is even happening earlier than I thought,” Chinedu shouted excitedly, “somebody jealous me” he started singing as he passed by his colleagues desk and dropped the printed appointment confirmation slip on his desk, “I have only a few more days left with you suckers” he announced, “by this time in two weeks, I shall be talking to you from the US of A” he announced with evil laughter, “I’m happy for you” his colleague replied, “remember us when you get to paradise” he added, “don’t worry, when I receive my first salary, I will send you $100 for snacks” Chinedu replied, “If I’m not mistaken, that should be like more than half of you salary in naira right?” he asked, “get away from here” his colleague replied playfully shoving him away.”
On the day of his visa appointment, Chinedu arrived at the embassy as early as 5am. He was shocked to see that many people had arrived before him, “wow! Here I was thinking I’d be one of the first to arrive, a whole lot of people have actually arrived before me” he wondered in amazement, as he saw different embassy touts, offering to take his passport photographs and make extra copies of his documents for him at exorbitant prices.
Phones were not allowed at the embassy, so he left his phone at home. The security at the embassy was heavy, there were so many security guards and different checkpoint levels, they had checked his appointment slip to confirm that he was indeed booked for an appointment before granting him admission into the embassy. It felt like the whole of Nigeria was applying to go to the USA as the crowd at the embassy was huge. Further documents were checked when he proceeded, he was asked to go through a walk-through metal detector and was further screened with a hand metal detector. Backpacks and bags were not allowed in, so he was carrying his documents in a clear folder. “You can proceed” one of the security personnel ordered when he was done screening him. He walked into the embassy to see even more people but this time, they were queuing in an orderly manner on different queues, he was directed by one of the officials to join the queue for biometrics and capturing.
When he was done, he was directed to the queue for the actual visa interview. While waiting in the queue, he watched as others who were already being interviewed were being thoroughly questioned. The setting was similar to that of a bank, just that this time, each visa officer was in individual glass cubicles with a microphone. There was a glass panel between the visa officer and visa applicants with a small opening for documents to be passed through. Every question being asked could be heard by not only the visa applicant but even people on the queue. He watched as some people were being rejected on the spot. He had been standing on the queue waiting for his turn for at least 30 minutes and was now beginning to get nervous.
Finally it was his turn to be interviewed, he stepped forward and greeted the visa officer, “good morning” she replied,”please hand me your passport” she demanded as Chinedu handed her his passport, “what is the purpose of your travel to the USA?” She questioned, “I’m travelling for work. I have a job offer from a company in America. I’m here to obtain a work visa” Chinedu responded, “for which job role and with what company?” She asked, “kindly let me see the job offer letter” she added as Chinedu hurriedly fished out the offer letter from his clear folder and handed it to her, “it’s from Benson and Co for the role of a Construction worker” Chinedu replied. She took one look at the offer letter and her facial expression changed, “where did you get this?” She asked, “from the company” Chinedu responded, “the company sent it to me” he added, “I see” the Visa officer responded, “can you confirm to me that this offer letter was sent to you by the company?” She asked, “ye-yes” Chinedu stammered, “please be aware that if you present any fraudulent documents or disclose any false information during the course of this interview, you may be banned from travelling to the USA” the visa officer informed him, “o-ok Ma” Chinedu stuttered, “the documents are not fraudulent ma” he added. “I will have to withhold them, I will send them for further verification, we may have to contact the company directly. If the documents are found to be genuine, then you will be granted the work visa, however, if they are found to be fraudulent, then you will be facing a minimum of a five year ban from entering the USA” she stated, “ok, you can go ahead ma” Chinedu replied, “very well then” she replied, “we will be in contact with you to inform you about the outcome of our verification” she said, “you may leave now” she added handing Chinedu’s passport back to him, “thank you Ma” he said bowing his head and taking his leave.
“Did you get the visa?” One of the curious bystanders asked when he was outside the embassy, “they said they will get back to me” he replied, “ahn ahn, which kind of style be that one?” The person replied, making Chinedu start to feel uneasy. He decided to go straight to the agent’s office since he did not have his phone on him to call him to verify that his experience was not unusual.
When he arrived there, he met a barbing salon at the location he had once visited, “excuse me please, I am looking for the travel agency that used to be here” Chinedu asked one of the barbers, “which agency?” The barber responded looking confused, “Dream USA travels” Chinedu replied, “I visited them here last month” he added, “here as in this very shop?” The barber questioned, “yes, this very shop” Chinedu emphasised pointing to the ground, “it can’t be here” the barber responded, “I paid for this shop last month and we have been operating here for 3 weeks now. Before I rented this place, there was no tenant, it was empty” the barber replied, “is this not ‘The bargain shopping plaza’ ?” Chinedu asked, “no 52 coconut street” he added, “as you can see that is where we are, you can check the map on your phone if in doubt” the barber responded, “did Dream USA travels relocate to another office?” Chinedu asked, still confused, “oga! There is no Dream anything in this plaza” another barber interrupted, “you are disturbing our customers, if you are not here for a haircut, please leave” he instructed.
“I AM FINISHED “ Chinedu shouted, dropping his folder and putting his hands on his head, “oga what is the matter” the other barber asked looking confused, “I am finished o” Chinedu repeated sitting down on the floor, “Mr Man, please take your drama outside “ the other barber said, attempting to lift him up, “I am not going anywhere till you people produce Mr Paul from Dream USA travels” Chinedu responded, “I am about to be banned from travelling to the USA after paying 10 million naira. I am going nowhere till you produce him” Chinedu repeated lying flat on the floor as the customers and barbers stared in confusion.
Find out what happens next, tomorrow in episode 30 #checkwithdoctoro
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