Wrong Number

Two nights before, Ugo and his dear wife had wished they weren't expecting a third child. Not that it was some moral crime, things were just unimaginably difficult.         

'Nne', he had started, 'how do we cope when this child gets here?'         

'Haba! He's here already. Don't worry, we will be fine'. 

'Hmmm...', was all the response he muttered. The factory job he toiled hard to get wasn't paying much after all. So, the big day came and everyone in the delivery ward made frantic efforts to help Nne whose strength had ebbed after exhaustively pushing out the fourth of the set.                                                            

'This is the last one', Nne. You've been very brave, the doctor said.         
'I'm... ti...red, I... I... can't', she retorted even when others joined in admonishing.                            '
'You're too late for CS. Please! It's just this once biko!'. 

Few minutes later, there were eruptions of beautiful noise. Everyone in the hospital knew Nne had quintuplets. An overtly religious woman in the lobby shouted halleluyah and rolled on the floor multiple times for gratitude. 

'By the way, where is your husband?', the doctor suddenly remembered.                                   'He is at work', Nne said weakly.                              'We should tell him the good news. Please, get his number and give him a call', he said to one of his nurses. 

Grrrrrrrin... Grrrrrrrin... the telephone rang continuously. 'Hello', the conversation had started.                                                                    'Hello', the deep voice at the other end re-echoed. It was Ugo's.                                                      'My name is Silifa. Khun... khun... Nurse Silifa from ehm... ehyin... your family hospitul'.          'Ok, I'm listening'.                                                            'It your wife oh, she haf bon baby'.                        'Woooow... boy or girl?' Ugo asked.                            'Saaa, it is faif oh', Silifa dropped the bomb.  Immediately, Ugo's ears twitched. He become very hot on the inside. 'Sorry, I missed that. What did you say?' Silifa retold the news.            'I think you just called a wrong number!', he said and hung up.

AUTHOR: Ayomipo Akorede