"Chineke! Pregnant kwa?"
"Stop shouting, did I tell you so you can tell the whole neighbourhood?"
"I'm sorry, I was shocked. Do you really sleep with all those men?"
"Stop asking stupid questions. What I need is a solution, not judgement."
"Sorry, I'm not judging, just asking. Forget I asked. What do you want to do now?"
"If I knew, I won't be here talking to you."
"Ok, let's start from here: who is responsible for the pregnancy?"
Dani is crying now. Not the noisy kind of cry, just quiet, frantic
sobs. Her face is filled with tears and her nose is dripping.
I feel sorry for her, I really do.
"I don't know", She responds amidst her sobs.
"Hian. This one pass me o, we have to tell mama."
"I'm not keeping it, I have to abort it; I'm only nineteen, I can't be a
mother." She says, wiping her tears and trying to compose herself.
"You should have thought of that before having unprotected sex with all those men."
I have a problem. I know it's a problem.
My mouth sometimes has a mind of it's own. Speaking without my permission.
My friend is hurting and I'm hurting her more with my words.
And as if the heavens were in agreement, one of the boys playing soccer
on the field attempts to pass the ball to his team mate but he kicks
too hard, and pakam, the ball hits me, right in the middle of my
forehead. I let out a heart wrenching cry.
"Serves you right." Dani says with a hint of gratification in her voice.
"I agree, but you're still pregnant." I retort using all my will power
to stop me from adding the fact that the paternity of the child is still
in question.
I had to bite my tongue so I don't say it.
"I'm not in support of an abortion D, please don't do it. I'm sorry if I
sounded judgemental but you know I love and will hate to see something
bad happen to you."
I'm trying to be nice here. I'm trying to tell her the truth like any good friend should, without being mean.
"But I have no choice. I had unprotected sex with chief last month and I always do the same with Toba." She says.
"Hmm. So at least we know it's between those two abi?"
"Errrm, it seems so, though I've been with Emeka the spare parts dealer
too a number of times without condom. But I'm not sure if that happened
in the last one and a half months. The pregnancy is six weeks old."
"Hehehe. This is serious trouble o, Nne. I'm too young to handle this.
Why don't you ask aunty Ada, the one that introduced you to chief. She
is older and more experienced."
"Ha! That one? Radio without
battery. She likes to boast about how she's helped other girls "fix
their problems" and she thinks she's some kind of messiah. I don't want
my matter to become the next topic she brags about abeg."
"It's
getting dark, aunty would be worried about me by now, let's go. I
suggest we think more on it for one or two days, this came as a shock to
me coupled with the fact that I have no experience in this sort of
things."
"Hmm. Mother Theresa, I hear you. Just don't tell anyone o. I trust you sha."
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
It's been three days since my friend told me about her pregnancy. My exams haven't given me enough time to go see her.
Today's paper is Economics, I should be through before 3pm. That should give enough time for me to see her before going home.
Thank God the paper went well, I walk out of the school premises to the
road, hoping to catch a bus home.
It's while waiting at the bus stop
that a small Toyota car zooms past me but slows down and makes a
reverse. I try to look stern and uninterested until I hear,
"Ify, hop in, it's me." Dani shrills from the front passenger seat.
"Oh, I didn't know it was you, thought it was one of those unserious men."
I get in the car, about to say hi to the driver only to discover it is Toba, the Yoruba loverboy.
"Oh, Toba hi, I didn't know you got a car."
"Hello Ify, yes, I did, I just got it yesterday and what better way to
celebrate than to take my girl out for a treat. You're welcome to join
us." Toba is all smiles.
He is by all standards a handsome man.
Tall, muscular, a pretty face with squared jaw lines sitting pretty on a fairly long neck.
His shoulders are broad, his biceps are to die for. I keep stealing glances at him.
Such a fine specimen of a man, and he's got eyes only for my friend.
Plus he is ambitious, probably on his way to stardom.
What more can a woman ask for?
Apart from the fact that Toba is an athlete, He is intelligent too, a student of Unical, and from a good home.
His family have been in Imo state for the past three generations,
though he is from ogun state in the western part of Nigeria, He speaks
igbo fluently.
He is every woman's dream. Did I tell you he kept an afro cut with neat, shiny, beards?
"Oh no, let me not ruin your date by being an extra wheel, I need to be home as soon as......"
"Toba stop the car, my head is spinning, I can't breathe, I'm going to
throw up." Dani lets out as Toba drives the car to a halt.
The young man looks scared, like something terrible is happening.
Me, I'm just perplexed. Is this how pregnancy works? You just feel sick
all of a sudden? I thought they said pregnant women had morning
sickness, we're in the afternoon for heaven's sake!
We both rush
out of the car and help Dani out, She starts vomitting all over. She is a
mess. She can't stand upright. She's pale as paper.
"What's wrong with you dear? are you sick? What did you eat? Toba seems genuinely concerned and worried.
I on the other hand, I'm lost for words, I dare not say anything for fear of letting the cat out of the bag.
We both help her sit in the car and fan her with books from my bag.
"I think we should take her to the hospital." Toba tells me in a matter of fact tone.
"I don't think that will be necessary. Maybe she has indigestion, I'm sure she'll be fine."
I had barely said this before Dani starts falling off the car seat.
"That is it. I'm not taking any chances." Toba says as he rushes to the
driver's side of the car after securing Dani in the car and closed the
door.
I rush in and sit at the back of the car as I try to hold her steady and see if she's still breathing.
______________________________________
______________________________________
"Are you the ones that brought in the lady that fainted?"
A lady who appears to be a doctor walks into the room and is addressing Toba and I.
We've been in the hospital reception, waiting for news on her status.
"Yes!" We both chorused as we jumped to our feet.
"Oh, OK, she's fine Now, we've managed to revive her, she seems
dehydrated but we need to carry out some tests to be sure of what the
matter really is."
"Ok Doc, thanks, what do we need to do?" Toba asks eagerly.
"Just go to the nurses station over there, you'll be given a list of
the tests to be carried out, take it to the accounts department where
you'll be billed and pay. Then we carry out the tests."
"Alright Doc, we'll do that right away. "
All rights reserved
Written By Tolulope Fakayode-Faniran
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