Aunty Florence was dazed. She was apparently shocked I could speak with such wisdom beyond my years. Truth is, she barely knew me. She barely spoke to me. To her, I was just a foolish child who got herself pregnant while playing around with boys.
The woman sighed. She knew I made a lot of sense. She knew I was right. “You have spoken well, Rosemary. But, still, how do you expect me to go against your mother’s wish? She says it’s a sin for her to procure an abortion for you….”
“But she won’t be the one procuring the abortion, you will, so she has no case to answer with God,” I responded with urgency.
“This is a difficult thing you’re asking me to do, young lady….” Aunty Florence began to mutter.
“Aunty, please, help me…You will do this for me if I were your kid sister put under your care, won’t you? I’m sure you will not sit back and let this terrible situation ruin my future for me.”
Aunty Florence was silent. She was running through in her mind all that I said and weighing her options. I prayed she would end up with no other option than to do exactly what I have requested from her.
“Okay, even if I were to help you, I know no other doctor around here than I can approach to do this for you,” she said.
“Then, I believe that leaves us with only one option then,” I said to her,
“And what option will that be?”
I was slightly nervous. I wasn’t sure how she would take what I was about to ask of her. But, still, I had to say it anyway. “Take me with you to Lagos!”
I didn’t know when I said it. The same Lagos that I didn’t want to go. But I had no choice. The shame, the trauma, the pain, they were all starting to overwhelm me. I could no longer walk in our neighbourhood. I could tell that, somehow, word had gotten out that I was pregnant. I could feel it from the ways their eyes feasted on me whenever I walked down the street. Probing eyes wherever I turned to. It was as though I had done the most despicable thing. I wondered which version of the story they heard. Did they understand that I was raped, or all they heard was that I was pregnant for a boy? Truth is, it didn’t matter to me anymore which version they heard, I just wanted to get out of the village and go elsewhere. If my mother insisted I must bear her her first grandchild, then I may have to relocate. I cannot possibly go around the village with a protruding tummy, when all my mates were busy st6ruggling to get into the university.
“Rosemary, do you really mean that? You want to go with me to Lagos?” Aunty Florence asked, totally shocked I had made such a request.
“Yes, Aunty, I am very sure,” I answered.
“But I thought you made it clear you didn’t want to go to Lagos, why the sudden change?” she asked, a puzzled look on her face.
“Yes, Aunty, I know I said I didn’t want to go to Lagos because I was hoping the mother would see things differently and get me a competent doctor that could perform a D&C without any hitches,” I explained to her. “But now that it’s obvious she is not interested in getting rid of the pregnancy and you’re also saying you can’t help me get a doctor to evacuate the pregnancy for me, then its better I leave the village because I cannot bear the shame of being seen with a protruding tummy when all my mates are looking for admission into the university. The humiliation is already starting to kill me, Aunty Florence, please, I beg you, take me away from here.”
Aunty Florence sighed. I could see that her eyes were filled with pity for me. She knew what I was going through, but there was little she could do about it. She was helpless.
“Listen, Rosemary, I know you very well, you’re a very decent girl. A good girl,” she said to me. “You didn’t ask to be raped. You didn’t plan to be pregnant, what happened to you could’ve happened to anybody. You were unfortunate to have been a victim of circumstance. But, like I told your mother not long ago, I cannot just take you with me to Lagos, I will have to inform my husband first. He pays the rent, not me. He needs to give me the go-ahead before I can take you with me.”
I nodded in agreement. “I understand you very clearly, Aunty, and I appreciate you. But please, when do you hope to return to Lagos and when are you going to be back?”
“I will be leaving in two days’ time,” she answered. “I have some goods I need to come and pick up here and take with me to Lagos. Hopefully, by the time I return, I would’ve spoken with my husband. So, whatever he says I will let you know.”
She stared into space for a few seconds and then continued. “Your mother will be here before I leave, I will let her know about what we have discussed. But like I said, everything really depends on what my husband says.”
Aunty Florence left for Lagos two days after our discussion. My mother came before she left and they discussed. Mother seemed pleased with me. She held me close for the first time since the nightmare began and hugged me. But I was unmoved. I was not doing this for her, I was doing it for myself. The days that followed were very tough for me. I could barely sleep well. I could barely eat. All I was thinking about was when Aunty Florence would return and if she would bring good news from her husband. And exactly about five days after she left, Aunty Florence returned…
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