Rhetorical questions filled my brain, but there was no one who could respond to them. That was the time I realised that the sun casts a much peculiar glow in the morning, but as it rises, its heat becomes so much that it can scorch the skin.

“How can love like this be so untrue? In such mighty love, there was no light. Sellina, have you really gone?” I murmured.

The tears that poured out my eyes were as strong as water falling to generate electricity. After waking up from a coma, my mother narrated to me a shocking story. After seeing my belly, I was shocked that there were stitches indicating that I had gone through surgery.

“Mom, what happened to me, and where is my wife?” I enquired.

My mother’s eyes were as wet as the morning dew, but she still gathered strength to tell me.

“Son, we thank God that you are now fine,” she slowly started. “It was on June 27. The fierce winds of July hustled you into in-activity and you fell sick. Lucky, your rich friend, Likagwa, was available. We carried you to the hospital and he offered to take care of all the medical expenses that we incurred during your sickness.

“You had difficulty breathing,” she continued. “And as a result, you were put on oxygen. Things normalised for three days, and you were released from the hospital, but the condition changed a day after you got home. Your stomach started inflating, and the condition got so worse that you could not respond to anything. As such, we drove back to the hospital again.

“The doctor then advised that you go through gastrointestinal surgery because you were diagnosed with a blockage in your colon. The surgeon did his work at first attempt, but to no avail. You still could not peristasize. In the second attempt, a part of your intestines was cut off, and we buried it in the soil. I just thought that you would not be fine, but reading the scriptures gave me hope. One said, “Seek and the door shalt be open to you”, and I prayed to the Lord to guide the operating on you.

“A protruding pipe was put through your belly for the disposal of fecal matter as peristalsis malfunctioned,” my mother continued. “These hands of mine were only there to wash your pajamas. Lucky, the third operation gave you life. A few days after it, you regained consciousness. We thank God,” she concluded whilst wiping her tears off her cheek.

“Well, I’m now fine. These surgical wounds will heal,” my inner voice said.

The statement that my mother made about washing my pajamas touched me deeply, and it made me question Sellina’s womanhood. Oh my dear Sellina, how could you ran away from me during my worst days?

***

Tell us: What do you think about Sellina running away from her husband during his darkest days?