THE GOING OF THE GONE

‘Next week Thursday first-April, we will be celebrating our 10^th year anniversary.  We are going to usher in a new beginning for L&J holdiiiiiiiings!’ ululation, whistles and applause filled the air upon the remarks by Mr. John, the company CEO.

L&J holdings for its 10 year anniversary had decided to go public, started to sell shares, its returns were soaring higher. The Gum-Arabic it had ventured into two years back was proving to be a good investment. The employees and the employers were all having best moments of their lives in the company and John was in an exuberant joyous mood when announcing of the plans to celebrate the big day for a company that started as a joke on April 1^st 1999 with merely being a supplier to NGO’s in the country.

For the entire week, productivity was maximum. One night, 4 night guards fought to maintain watch for the night, but due to the positive atmosphere, the night was turned in to a camping night with other employees joining the guards to stay behind that night.

April first is usually a fools’ day. The witty Samuel, head of production at the Gum-Arabic plant for being the famous employee by then had just thought of game to play. He requested John the CEO to on that day play sick or fake an accident that morning. The plan was to simply toy with employees’ emotions with the announcement of bad news that would make the celebration cancelled.

That day, everyone had come with somebody, and somebody was with anybody. The company’s main building had more than 500 people, happy enjoying the champagne. Delicacies and drinks of all sorts filled the room. Guests ranging from investor, government officials, and consumers were in attendance. Mike the Don of the ‘Tri-Headed Bitcoin Mint House’ was also in attendance. John was to arrive in less than an hour for the occasion to officially start.

Samuel was constantly seen speaking on the phone on a number of occasions, before finally grabbing the microphone to make the announcement.

‘Eh ehm. Ladies and gentlemen, in Fifteen minutes, our C….E….Ooooh will be with us, get ready to welcome him with thunderous claps’

Cunningly he announced and went back to his phone, and then came back to the podium 4 minutes later to make another announcement.

‘Ladies and gentlemen’ in a low energy, he started. The room went gloomy, the music volume reduced, the chatting and whispering stopped for a moment. The atmosphere in the room appeared dark and cloudy. The MC did a great deal of acting by setting the tone.

‘I am saddened to announce to you, that our CEO has just developed uneasiness with his breathing, the doctors are already with him trying to stabilize him, lets pray for our CEO’s health so he can be with us today.’

For two minutes, there was confusion in the room, everyone seemed to be concerned. Some people were seen making concerned calls, and they could pull back the phones from their ears in frustration and exasperation. Scared and concerned people were. For some who had tried to call the CEO directly, their calls went unanswered as part of the plan. Then finally after 5 minutes or so, Samuel had just finished with his call when he jumped onto the podium.

‘Eh ehm, once again ladies and gentlemen, I have another piece of news. Today is April Fools’ Day, and our CEO has plaid a practical joke on us, hahaha. He will be here in less than 10 minutes!’

‘Mschew! Stupid, Nonsense, hahaha, don’t ever joke like that again’ mixed reactions, some angry and annoyed, some laughing and some not knowing how to react.

The music, giggles, and laughter took over the room once again, and the brightness of the place was slowly taking over. Everyone was starting to find peace with the joke, however you could sense others still unsettled.

Seven minutes later, a random skid was heard from outside the building followed by a loud sound of vehicles collision. The music stopped suddenly, when screams and wailing of people still standing outside were heard. For thirty seconds or so, everyone in hall stood confused but curious, then slowly everyone started moving outside to quench their curiosity. Samuel was one of the last people to go out to find out for himself.

‘Why oh, why God. Waaaaa, ha argh. No No, it can’t be. Why John of all people’ he heard while moving closer to a crowded scene. Samuel burst into a wild cry when he stopped by a totally crushed Mercedes ML-Class model car. His boss John, helplessly lying by the wheels. The car trunk was folded inside, in front and still attached was the heavy 10 by 4 configured, 300KW engine output Isuzu truck. The over-speeding truck lost control and went head-on-collision with John’s car.

He was heavily bleeding from his forehead, his legs totally damaged, his right hand broken. You could tell the pain was unbearable when he finally gained consciousness. Removing him from the car sit proved difficult, he was gnashing his teeth in pain while Samuel and the company fought hard for twenty minutes to get John off his sit.

Finally they managed to get him out, rushed him to the hospital. The doctors quickly tried to necessitate him upon arriving to the hospital unconscious again. Samuel’s head spinning, covered in blood was by then seeing blurry images in a slow motion as he vigorously and aimlessly strolled in the hospital’s corridors, while the doctors fought hard to help his boss.

Fifteen minutes later, the lead doctor stepped out, the hospital was filled by prayerful and hopeful colleagues, friends, family members and business partners. Some government officials including the ministers of health, roads and infrastructure, foreign affairs and the speaker of the parliament were also among the waiting people.

‘I am truly sorry………’ Even before he finished his statement, people started wailing and crying.

‘Wait, wait, let him finish, maybe he is starting with sympathizing, so he tells us the good news’ shouted one of the guys.

‘Am sorry, but it is bad news. We could not save his life. John has gone to be with God.’

The room went berserk, the hospital walls if they could hear, they could also join. The cries were louder than ever, even the sick patient in the other rooms got the strength to get out of their beds and joined the crowd.

L&J and the country at large had lost a promising philanthropist, an energetic innovative young man. A man that was destined to make the country an Economic giant in the region and the world at large.

What started as an April Fools Day’s prank, ended up in a country-wide tragic experience.