EPISODE 34 – A SIGH OF RELIEF

Sometime last week, news filtered in that a colleague of mine back in University had passed on while she tried to deliver her baby. It was a most shocking news as I still remember seeing her a few months before and even though we were not particularly close, I can authoritatively state that she was a very likeable person; very gentle and easy going all through the almost-seven years we spent in University as Economics undergraduates. I remember she had gotten married before our final exams began and my heart went to her husband and baby (if it survived) and the loved ones she left behind. For some mothers, having a baby seems like the most natural thing in the world but then when you think of people like B (real name withheld), you can’t help but sigh and appreciate the grace of God that has kept you alive, taking you through the labour room without hitches. I turned twenty-five yesterday and once again I was reminded that it is simply the grace of God that has kept me alive all this while; in spite of the good and bad ordeals and nice and terrible things I have done in this quarter of a century of my existence. I believe in fresh starts and so here’s hoping that the next twenty-five years of my life go down in history as the best anyone ever lived. THE GEEBEE CHRONICLES continues from the last episode.

The doctor had assured Cher and I that we had nothing to worry about. In fact, she had asked us to give her fifteen minutes within which BG would be out of the theatre and so I could hardly breathe when the same woman came out less than seven minutes later with a frown on her face. She proceeded to inform us that the abortion would not be possible that day due to a ‘little problem’ as she put it.
“But you said there was nothing to worry about,” I said in a voice that I hardly recognized as mine. “What is the problem?”

The doctor sighed and I had to hold myself back from choking her. Her body language was making me wonder if there was something worse that had happened. Perhaps BG was already dead on the operating table and this woman was finding it difficult to break the news. I pushed back the thought almost immediately.
“Is she alright? What have you done to her?” Cher asked, already taking slow steps towards the room we had seen the doctor emerge from.
“Nothing lady,” the doctor said quickly. “I have not even touched her. She’s fine.”
I looked at the woman curiously for a second. If BG was fine as she now claimed, what was the funny look on her face all about? I wondered.
“You are responsible for her condition, right?” the doctor asked me in a low voice.
It was a most annoying question. I imagined pointing to Cher as the person responsible for BG’s pregnancy to insult the woman’s intelligence for daring to ask me such an unnecessary question considering how tensed I was at that moment. Of course, it was obvious I was responsible. I brought her there for crying out loud. I simply nodded in agreement.
“How often have you two . . .” she said, cutting off her words and making funny gesticulations with her hands. I immediately knew what she was trying to ask and I wondered what that had to do with the situation.
“Once,” I said sullenly. “It was just once.”
Cher hissed furiously.
“Doctor, what is this all about?” she asked. “We came here to have the thing removed so why are you asking all these unnecessary questions? If you cannot do it, let us know so we could go someplace else.”

The woman asked us to sit down and I did. Cher remained on her feet, looking as though she would grab the doctor in any minute and beat her up. The older woman looked at Cher for a second and turned to face me.
“You see, I asked you that question because I had to be certain your girl’s situation was not out of the ordinary. I observed that her ‘opening’ is too narrow and if I am to go ahead with the evacuation now, it will only cause her serious damage. Obviously, she has not had enough penetrations to expand her vagina walls and that’s why we have this situation.”
I cursed myself inwardly for the umpteenth time. A single moment of pleasure was causing me this hell and here I was being practically ‘blamed’ for doing it just once. The doctor was indirectly saying we should have done it many times over in order to have her vagina walls wide enough for an evacuation. What nonsense!
“So what do we do now?” I asked.
The woman went on to inform us that she had induced her vagina walls with some ‘medical thingy’ I can’t readily remember now and assured us that the tissues around the walls would be more relaxed by the following day and the evacuation would be easily done. She advised that BG left with us and we all returned the next day. She added that it would help if we had good and forceful sex that night. I cringed with revulsion.

We had hardly gone a few yards from the clinic when Cher informed BG and I that she would be returning to school immediately. I almost fainted. There was no way in hell I could allow her leave when she was yet to fulfill her purpose for coming in the first place.
“Guys, I have tried now,” she said. “I have a test in school this afternoon and I can’t miss that for the world. Besides, I believed this whole thing would have been over today.”
BG and I pleaded to no end but this time around our pleas met the toughest brick wall. Reluctantly, I gave Cher some money for her transport fare back to her school. I realized there was no running away now. I would have to be the only one with BG at the abortion. I consoled myself in the fact that Cher was now involved somehow; after all she was aware of the situation. I decided I could use that to my advantage in the event of any misfortune.

The next day, we were back at the hospital and as BG was taken into the theatre, I sank in the same chair I had sat the previous day and wished Cher was around to be my accomplice once more. I realized that in spite of her irritating behavior, her presence had done a great deal to relieve the pressure. However, it was a different ball game this time and the pressure was almost unbearable. I jumped when I heard a scream from somewhere in the distance. It sounded like BG’s voice and I began to pray like I had never done in my entire life. I asked God for his forgiveness for going ahead to kill an unborn child and to save me from further embarrassment by sparing BG’s life. I made a vow to get closer to him and dedicate my whole life to him if only he would answer my prayers at that moment and I knew I meant every word. Almost thirty minutes later, the doctor came into the waiting room and this time, she was smiling. I needed no one to tell me the worst was over. I heaved the deepest sigh of relief as the woman told me I could go in to check on my girl.

BG had been transferred from the theatre to one of the patients’ wards for a bed rest and as I entered the room, she smiled at me weakly. I moved closer and held her hand tenderly. For sometime, we remained silent and I tried to picture what the future would look like. As far as I knew, it was over between us. We had no choice but to part ways, each of us going separate ways but I wondered if she was truly ready to let me go, or if I was indeed ready to let her go for that matter.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE GEEBEE CHRONICLES.