And morning became me; waking up to countless text messages and missed calls. As a light sleeper (or maybe an insomniac ) it was important to constantly keep my phone on silent at night as any slight sound would keep me up all night. The only other time phone blew up so much was the morning a passenger passed away onboard an A/C on the Lagos-Abuja-Sokoto route. I had handled the flight the early hours before heading home, just 2-3 hrs into sleep from a night shift. I got countless calls and had to head back to the airport.
Who checked him in? Did you assess him? Did he fly alone? Did you see “fit to fly” note from a doctor? Painful as it was, i did asses him, and quite frankly i didn’t check the passenger in (i only changed the seat and insisted on a family member accompanying him in case he required help on board). I took the heat for, my superior who actually checked him in, the boarding gate agent who boarded him, the crew who let him on board and everybody that had no qualms with him flying. Less I digress….
So what is going on, why so many calls from the office and colleagues? Then I called the first on the list. “Hey, whats up?”, He goes “Is it true?”, is what true ooo (i really hate gossip), “That Esther passed”…. I was cold for a while…. I thought I was still dreaming….. I was confused.. I thought it was a bad joke. “What do you mean?”, “What are you saying….”, “She is off duty bro, we are on night shift” (she was a member of my team). “No oh, she swapped because of her school, she needed 2 straight days for her masters classes in Ibadan”. Yea, i remember she had told me she swapped. I felt as empty as i have ever felt in my life.
Esther and i had a brother-sister friendship, i was frank with her on coming late and eating between meals, i encouraged her as a masters degree student shuttling between Lagos and Ibadan (Oyo State), telling her of how that would open doors of opportunities for her. She was such a willing learner, daughter of a pastor (a wealthy one at that) she was quite level headed, if there ever was a task to do, she volunteered. If there ever were 3 people i was extremely proud to mentor and work with she definitely is one of them. So what happened to Esther?
As usual, the days between shifts were not enough to meet her class requirements in Ibadan, where she was studying for her Masters degree so she would have to swap and work up to 5 days straight gaining 2 extra days which she’ll add to her off days. This would give her a long stretch of up to 4 days for classes. On her swap that night, she had gone to the business class lounge where some of our colleagues go to rest between midnight and 5 am when check-in resumes at the international wing of the airport. On rare occasions, we have regional arrivals about 1:00am and the only task expected of customer service agents was to meet the A/C on arrival, collect the documents that came with it, and usher passengers down to the arrival hall where the baggage and ground handling agents take over.
True to her person, she had elected to do this that night. On her way down the marble stairs from the lounge, she slipped and fell and that was it. Unfortunately she wasn’t discovered till hours later as that area was devoid of human traffic till the morning hours. Could she have been revived if found earlier? Could she have survived if there were cameras there? Why didn’t anyone question the lack of customer service agents at the arrival of the A/C? Why was there not a buddy system in place to know where everyone was at everytime. I don’t know, and probably would never know.
Just a flight of stairs!
Has brought us so much tears,
Just a flight of stairs!
Has brought forth our inner most fears,
Just a flight of stairs!
Has taken away a rare Gem,
Just a flight of stairs!
Has Slashed an Iroko right down its stem
Just a flight of stairs!
Has brought down an Angel in its prime
Just a flight of stairs
Many fear it may have been a Crime
Just a flight of stairs
It doesn’t help the situation
Just a flight of stairs
Conspiracy theory ? Or plain complication?
Just a flight of stairs
We’ll miss your beaming smile
Just a flight of stairs
Your loss tastes like bile
Just a flight of stairs
Keeps me up at Night with a stern stare
Just a flight of stairs
Has Shown we truly Care
Waiting on Esther….
I’ll take today’s briefing so don’t bother,
Please show up early don’t be LATE!
I know you’ll oblige me, I have faith!
I’ve been inundated with calls, texts & pings,
All sorts of stories, different things,
Telling me you’re not coming tonight!
It gave me a crazy fright,
Who gave you a day off?
I’m ready to call your bluff!
Who am I to hassle about eating late at night?
Or why you didn’t close the flight?
In all things, you brought a listening ear,
And I sense you really did care,
A teachable spirit!
My chest hurts, I can still feel it
I really wish I could hug you now!
Even if you squeeze your face or frown
Please Esther come, don’t be LATE!
I’ll wait up for you by the gate.
Many questions and answers went through my head but still left me empty and confused. It changed my general attitude to a lot of things. I remember penning 2 amateur poems December, 2011 in a tribute to her. Please see below, as i remember my friend, my sister, my mentee.
Good night Esther, its going on 10 years but you will NEVER be forgotten
May her soul continue to rest in peace. Amen
A very dark day, keep resting Esther.
So sad. She seemed like one of our young hopefuls. May she sleep well.
…I remember this event so vividly. Sadly, I do not remember ever meeting her as a colleague.
So sad an event it was, we felt it in places far flung out. So close was our bond as a team that our pains and gains permeate our network not minding our geography.
That you still inked the loss to today’s pain does exhume the feeling, that feeling of loss I felt losing a colleague I never met. More so, it does reaffirm the transience of life.
Short was hers, yet impactful.
Rest still Esther and thanks for the memories Foresythe.
Still a very painful memory for me
Very painful. May her soul rest in peace. May God comfort you and her family and loved ones in Jesus Name Amen
Your write up still brought back the pains I felt the morning I heard of Esther’s passing. Then I wished it was untrue, I wished she would wake up, I wished it wasn’t our Esther, I wished it was a dream, I wished there was a mix up somewhere…….but like the saying goes if wishes were horses beggars will ride………9 years and counting the pain is still so real. Adieu Esther….still missing you.
so beautiful and painful to read, I’m actually crying. You write beautifully my brother.
Dear Esther now that I know of you, I will never forget you.