Spiritual Satellite

Most renowned prophets were born of the name Moses, Elijah, and Jeremiah-and Dr. Charles was of that order. Some twenty years earlier, he had heard a voice which had asked him to steer clear of women, alcohol, and tobacco, because there was a special job needed of him. "Who are you, lord?" he asked the speaker, the owner of the well-distilled voice in that memorable dream of his that had become etched into his memory, almost like indelible ink. He was only nine then. Today, now aged twenty-nine, as he closed his room in the house officer's residence, he wondered whether the gift was a blessing or in fact a burden, well crafted to leave him drifting between insanity and stupor. About two weeks previously, during the swearing-in ceremony of the Ibadan Medical class of 1991, his eyes were opened for the very first time. He had created a scene that would remain a red-letter day in his life. He knew that neither the college provost, who kept on shouting, "Take the boy to the emergency room. He's schizophrenic," nor his classmates and other guests were in a hurry to forget June 24, 1991.