She shrugged. I could see I made a whole lot of sense to her, but still….”I know how you feel, Rosemary, but still, I am not ready to lose you because of some education that you can still go back to school to acquire anytime you’re ready to go back to school.”
She gave a heavy sigh and then continued. “What I need to think of now is how to stop your father from taking you to the doctor to abort the pregnancy. I must think of something fast!”
There was no point trying to make her see reasons any longer, except of course if I wanted another stinging slap. Once mother made up her mind to do something, Jesus Christ would probably have to come down from the cross to persuade her to do otherwise.
“I wil have to make sure you are not around by the time your father returns home to take you to the hospital. I didn’t ask her how she was going to do it, but I knew I had no other option but to simply keep quiet and do exactly as she says, otherwise…
I kept to myself all day. I was starting to feel sick about everything. Sick about everything going on around me. With my eyes wide open, I had gotten myself injto a problem that has totally altered my life. And right now, I couldn’t even tell if things were going from bad to worse for me. Everything was happening so fast. I could see my whole life crumbling right before me but there was really nothing I could do to stop it from crumbling.
It was the following morning that things began to happen. Father had just for work. Mother told me to get dressed, that we were going somewhere. I was puzzled but I decided not to ask any questions. Less than an hour after, we were set to leave the house. Mother had packed a few of my clothes. I just stood there behind her, watching her.
Moments after, we were inside the cab to God knows where. Finally, we got down off the bus. I was finally with the area but I had no idea who we were going to meet. I continued to follow closely behind mother. We got to a house and mother knocked on the gate. We waited a while but there was no response. She knocked again. After what seemed like an eternity, somebody came out. It was a woman, she was much younger than mum. From the way she smiled the minute she sighted us, it was clear she and mother knew each other very well.
“Aunty, welcome, ma,” she and mother hugged. And then another figure emerged from the house behind us. It was Aunty Florence!”
I was surprised. I was confused. I had no idea was mother’s game was. But I was too scared of her to speak up and ask her questions. Not with the other two big aunties present, my questions, if I dared to ask them, would earn me a stinging slap for sure.
“Aunty, come in and sit down, please,” Aunty Florence said. Then, she turned to me, ”Rosemary, how are you?” “I am fine, ma,” I answered, looking away from her gaze.
“Hope you’re okay?” she asked, her gaze still fixed at me. I nodded in response. She turned to the other lady. “My friend, this is my young cousin that I told you about, the one that was raped and now she’s pregnant.”
“Oh, my dear, so sorry about what happened to you, don’t worry, everything will be alright,” she said to me, putting her arm round my shoulder. Agaiin, I simply nodded.
“Aunty, I am surprised to see you, hope no problem?” Aunty Florence asked, a puzzled look on her face.
“There is a new development, Florence, and only you can help me deal with the problem,” mother returned, her voice low and laden with grief.
“What is it this time, Aunty?”
“Rosemary’s father wants to take her to the doctor….” She topped.
“Okay, so, what’s the problem, I’m listening,” Aunty Florence urged her on.
“He wants to take her to the doctor for a D&C and he wants to do it the moment he returns from work today!”
“And you don’t want the pregnancy terminated, Aunty?” Aunty Florence’s friend asked.
“Of course, I don’t want it terminated. What if something happens to her? What if she is never able to conceive again?”
“But it will also be a big problem for her in the future when she is set to settle down and marry or is the boy who raped taking responsibility for the pregnancy?”
“For where? He has disappeared,” Aunty Florence replied.
Mother did not say anything. “So, Aunty, what do you want me to do now?” Aunty Florence asked her, breaking the silence.
“Please, let Rosemary stay here with you till you’re able to talk to your husband and take her with you to Lagos…”
“Ah! Aunty, that won’t be possible o! This is not my house now. And besides, what will you tell her father when he gets home and can’t find his daughter? Where will you tell him you took his child?”
“Don’t worry, I will take care of that, will you help me or not?” mother said with finality, turning to her sister.
“But, sister, this thing may not be as simple as you’re making it look like, her father will not…”
“Will you help me or not,” mother interjected before Aunty Florence was done talking. There was silence…
