ASHELEY

Whoo!!!

 Okay, this version of WordPad is a bit better than the one I'm usedn to, and by used to, I mean absolutely detest!

Also, pretend you didn't see the fact that I typed out "usedn" up there, I'm sometimes too petty to make said corrections - blame the computer for this.

Let's get to it then.

I almost didn't write this post. Because I suck at goodbyes and apologies, and I've never known how to pretend like one thing is something that it's not, even though I'm the queen of beating about the bush. Like the way I'm doing now.

Wait here while I go Google pictures of Ansel Egort for inspiration.

I read this blog yesterday. Just yesterday, because my prospective employer wanted to see if I could write, and she wanted to see something I had done previously. Suffice to say, it was weird reading my own words, and there were those moments when I was ready to swear that those words I was reading were not mine.

I couldn't have possibly come up with all those things - both the good and the bad.

Some things stood out though, like the fact that I haven't posted in a very long time, and while I've been off convincing myself that I didn't have enough time to post anything, I was actually losing touch with this gift.

So, I'm here to try and change that. Even if what I have to say doesn't make that much sense to you, please just keep reading wai.

I'll give you a story now...

(Because story ideas are so easy for me. It's just the commitment it takes to finish it that's hard)

                                                     

                                                           ***

She checked the time on the wooden wall clock and turned to the blank page on her computer screen. This was going to be hard, and that wouldn't change simply because she was stalling.

And so she began.

"I met Cordelia in my final year of nursing school. She was everyone's lithe beauty, skin made of the creamiest caramel, and the brightest smile I had seen in a while..."

Asheley and Cordelia had been friends for the better part of the last 3 years. They had studied together, eaten together and shared a room for the last year of training school, and when they joined the advanced degree programme at the Winston University, they had remained the same inseparable pair.

It was during one of such "pairing" moments that they met the famed Philip Ansah-Gable. Lectures had just ended for the day, and Asheley was too tired to cook dinner so they both decided to get some rice from the school's diner to-go.

They were both laughing at a funny sub-tweet someone had posted on Cordelia's Twitter when they both walked right into a warm brick wall.

He was tall, dark, incredibly handsome and completely aware of that fact, judging from the boyish smirk on his face when they had finally gathered enough composure to close their mouths.

"My bad, ladies. I'm sorry."

"Many happy retur-"

Asheley stopped herself at the last moment. What was happening? She raised her head to the beautiful man and laughed at the surprised grin on his face

"I'm sorry, Mister. I do that sometimes. Forgive us"

"Do what? Walk right into other people? Or say strange things?" he cocked one fleeked eyebrow at that, and Asheley dragged Cordelia out of the way, and into the cafeteria, willing her feet not to trip.

"What was that about?" Cordelia asked the moment she regained momentum.

Asheley blinked. What?

The question was soon forgotten, because the fried chicken had come in, and many of the students were trooping to Reggie for their regular fix, and they joined the queue.

"Many happy returns?", Cordelia asked just as they were finishing their chicken back in their room

What were you thinking?"

Asheley laughed and sprayed rice,

"Kw33r! did you see the man? You're lucky all I said was 'many happy returns', and not 'Take my life and let it be'."

After a while, they stopped discussing the handsome guy and resumed reading, first semester exams were nearing, and "man dem" needed to hit the books.

                           

                                                                                                                                               

                                                                  ***

Asheley was at the school clinic with a mild infection. She had kept insisting it was nothing and that she was going to be fine but Cordelia was not having it and now her mom had found it out, so yeah, the clinic was the least she could do.

Exams had been taken and some of the students were preparing for the holidays, leaving campus for home.

Ash had managed to snag an internship with the dentistry clinic, and so was spending the holidays in school. She had just managed to convince Cordelia to go home for the holidays, and she was back in the hostel room right now, waiting for the test results to determine whether Ash's condition was good enough for her to leave.

"Ms Ankrah?" a matronly nurse intoned, The doctor is ready for you now."

Ash went in, noting with a bit of surprise that her attending physician was male, and turned on the professionalism. After all, she wouldn't want her patients feeling uncomfortable and raising hell because of her sex.

The doctor was in the small bathroom attached to the consulting office when she went in, and she knew he was male because of the rich baritone that had asked from inside

"Ms Ankrah?

"Your results came back. Please put on one of the green gowns on the table. I'll be with you shortly."

She was making herself comfortable when he walked in snapping on new gloves. 

Without even a look in her direction, he grabbed her file folder from the table.

"Test came back negative for STD's, but you seem to have a yeast infection. I'll check quickly for signs of dermatitis and then prescribe a few antibiotics to fight the infection"

He turned a dimpled cheek to Asheley, then froze.

"It's you..." Asheley's heart missed a beat.

The funny lady from the cafeteria."

Asheley was far from shame-faced. She had recognised him long before he had spoken about her nether regions and right now she was busily cursing her *Amaarts3we ancestors in her head.

As if that was not enough, he now has to recognise her and call her the 'funny cafeteria girl'. Ah! This man was not going to see her naked today. Kai! Nanka she'll go home and die.

"I don't have an inflammation, Doc."

The man stared at her and blinked.

"I'm a nurse in training. Getting my degree here."

"Okay", he smiled again showing those unfairly dimpled cheeks

"I understand you're feeling a little uncomfortable at the moment. I shouldn't have said what I did"

He stretched out a conciliatory hand

"I'm sorry.

Ash smiled and took the hand.

Maybe this guy was good after all.

"Dr. Ansah-Gable. Call me Philip, please."

She blinked again

"I'm sorry. You?"

You're cardiothoracic-turned-general surgeon Ansah-Gable?"

This time, he smiled with teeth.

"The one and only. And while we're at it, how about you spread out the cloth for me to walk on too, since apparently I'm fit in your eyes to walk on water."

Ash laughed.

"It's just that we hear so much about you in class. All us nurses hope to scrub in one of your surgeries one day, and with the way the professors talk about you I least expected you to be so young"

This one spoke her mind, if anything.

                                           ***

When she left the hospital, he went to the matronly nurse at the OPD

"Asarebea, can you do me a huge favour..."

When his shift ended at 11, he was smiling in his car with a phone number in his hands.

"Asheley Ankrah."

                                                                  !!!!!!!!!!

That's all for now. 

This post is dedicated to Glorious and Gracious Kajah, the indestructible twins of the Vandal blood group and the Presby lineage. You have celebrated your birthday.

I pray you gentlemen (pah! Can Vandals ever be gentlemen?) continue to walk in the grace and the glory you were both so aptly named after.

Show this dedication to your friends, from now dierr your names are set in stone.


And I haven't forgotten about my powerbank oh, allo-boys!



Until next time,


Grace and Peace.

*Amaarts3we is a Ga clan (just one of the Ghanaian ethnic groups)