I didn’t say anything, I could only nod. I got up and put on my clothes, feeling terribly ashamed of myself. I knew this wasn’t right. But I had to find a way out of the situation I found myself in. I couldn’t help feeling guilty because of Aunty Florence, but each time I remember she was also using me for her own gains, the guilty conscience I feel inside disappears. She was supposed to help me find a solution to my problem, but instead, she chose to use me as the solution to her own problem.
“Listen to me, Rosie, please, don’t see me as a bad person,” Uncle Fred said to me, “I know you must be thinking that I am a terrible person, but honestly I am not. I am truly a good person, and I am really sorry for forcing myself on you earlier. I truly regret my action. Please, find it in your heart to forgive, okay?”
He looked at me for a few seconds, expecting me to say something. But I said nothing.
“Are you still mad at me?” he asked, holding my hands. I gently took my hands away from his.
“When are you taking me to the doctor?” I’d shot at him. He wasn’t expecting me to totally ignore the question he’d asked me by asking him another question entirely.
“Anytime you are ready,” he answered, gazing deep into my eyes as though he could find inside it the answer to the question he just asked me.
“Can we go today?” I shot at him, my face expressionless.
“Today?” he retorted. He was shocked.
“Yes, Uncle Fred, today,” I threw at him.
He thought about it for a while. “Okay, then. Let me see what I can do.”
“So, what do I do now?” I wanted to know.
“You just hold on for a few minutes so I can freshen up,” he explained. “You too can go ahead and do the same, then, we set out for the place. But we won’t walk together, I will only be directing you. I will walk ahead of you while you follow me from behind and I’ll point the hospital to you and you go in while I join you a few minutes later. Is that okay by you?”
I nodded. “Yes, it is,” I returned. And less than an hour later, believe it or not, we were on our way to the clinic….the place where the biggest decider of my future will be determined!
We stepped out of the house separately. He was walking ahead of me while I was a few meters behind him. Thankfully, we did not meet anybody who knew us on the way. Soon, we got to the hospital. It was a few streets away from where we lived. Surprisingly, it was a big hospital, bigger than I expected. Uncle Fred pointed at the hospital and I nodded in acknowledgement. He went inside and I followed him.
A lady came to meet me and asked if I wanted to see the doctor. I told him, yes, and she went to bring out a form for me. “The form is one thousand naira,” she said.
“Don’t worry, I will pay,” Uncle Fred said, handing the money to the lady.
“Please, tell the doctor that Fred is here to see him,” he said to one of the nurses that stepped out of the doctor’s office. She nodded and went inside to tell the doctor. Soon, she emerged from inside and told him he could go in to see the doctor. I was busy filling out the form while Uncle Fred was inside with the doctor. I sat down and waited till some 15 minutes later when the doctor pressed the reception bell and one of the nurses went inside to meet him. She returned a minute later and asked me to come in.
The doctor’s office was clean and neatly arranged. He had a small bed in a corner where patients were tested. Uncle Fred was seated in front of him, his eyes following me as I stepped inside the room.
“Sit down, Rosemary, that’s your name, right?” the doctor asked.
“Yes, sir,” I nodded.
“Fred told me you’re pregnant, right?” he inquired.
“Yes, sir, I am, “replied, looking slightly away from him.
“How many months?”
“It’s almost four months, sir,” I told him.
He asked me to come over to the bed where he examined me. “So, why did you have to wait till now before deciding you want to abort the pregnancy?”
“It’s a long story, sir, and I don’t think you will like to hear the details, I had to come all the way from the village to get this thing done, and now that I’m here, all I want is to get this thing out of my body!”
The doctor and Uncle Fred looked at each other, its obvious the two are very close friends. He probably must’ve told him he is interested in me. But I doubt if he was stupid enough to tell him he just banged me moments before we left the house.
“You’re well over four months gone, young lady, I can tell that from what I have seen here,” the doctor said after examining me. “Normally, I do not take such cases but because of my friend, Fred, I will do it for you.” He urged me to my seat and took a long look at me with a faint smile on his face.
“It’s alright, no problems,” he finally said. “Pay ten thousand naira to the lady outside and come in tomorrow morning by ten o’clock and let’s do it, if that’s what you want!”
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