Chapter ten
Hell was let loose when Mama Adaobi overheard her son discussing a disgusting matter with his cousin during the early hours of the day. She had been accused severally of eavesdropping by her husband in the past. The discussion this morning would have been dismissed as a phantom but the evidence was too overwhelming to ignore.
“Die! You crazy, stupid witch! Son snatcher! I’ll kill you today!” Those were Mama Adaobi’s terrible, biting and angry utterances as she continued beating and battering Veronica, whose sin was that she was pregnant for her son, who is her blood relation. All the while she was just weeping and sobbing like a little kid. She cried and cried as the fat, saucy and boisterous woman descended on her, beating the hell out of her.
While Obinna had gone to visit Emeka who was assaulted by Cobra and his gang about three weeks ago; his father had gone for a beer-drinking spree with his friend. He couldn’t afford to miss it for anything these days. The poor girl was stripped naked and pushed out to the heavy rain. What was left on her body was her bra and underwear. She tore her clothes to shreds when she tried to put up a good resistance and left her shivering inside the rain.
What actually happened was that Mama Adaobi and her husband had travelled for a burial ceremony in the village and stayed two weeks. Before they came back from the trip, their son had sowed a wild oat. But prior to the coming of Veronica, Mama Adaobi’s handling of her matrimonial responsibilities was really bad and unsatisfactory. Everyone always complained about her cooking, rude manners and general conduct which were clearly nothing to write home about. The family’s meal would be served late and when her husband complained, she would get angry and rain abusive words on him. She wouldn’t wash the clothes of her husband but let them pile up, very dirty and unkempt. Her meals were not always sweet and tasty.
So, it was a welcome relief when Veronica visited the family. She had actually come to search for the white-collar job in Lagos. The family took a personal interest in the young lady who was very charming. Before they woke up, Veronica was already awake, cooking the meal. She was a good cook. She would make sure there was water in the tank and would do the laundry. Papa Adaobi was always neat, spick and span. She was loved by everyone except Mama Adaobi who saw her as an enemy. However, Obinna started developing amorous interest in the young lady gradually. So when the opportunity came, he seduced and lured her who had ostensibly won his heart. He was ready to throw caution to the wind and was never bothered about whose ox was gored. Everything appeared to have gone out of existence except his new infatuation.
Some minutes later, Mama Adaobi paid N30, 000 to some thugs and hoodlums to deal with Veronica. Out in the cold, the merciless thugs molested the girl and dragged her in the mud while she begged for mercy with tears dropping from her eyes.
“Die, you bitch!” the leader of the hoodlums hollered threateningly.
“We were invited to deal with you till you have miscarriage!”
There was nobody to rescue her from the hands of the heavily armed thugs. People fled from the scene for fear of being attacked if they intervened. The young girl was in the pool of her own blood when Obinna arrived about three hours later. He was shocked and dumbfounded. The sight of her on the bare floor with blood on her head, arms and thigh nearly moved him to tears.
“Who did this to you?” he asked for the umpteenth time. He was shaking with anger and fuming.
“It’s your mother; she called the…thugs for me!” She was still weeping uncontrollably as he rushed to meet his mother.
”What have you done to her?” Who asked you to kill the poor girl? Is it her fault that she is pregnant for me? It is rather your fault…Yes…if you had truly been a mother, this surely wouldn’t have happened! You should rather go and hide your face in shame…”
At that moment, Mama Adaobi lashed out at him as she was boiling with rage.
“You can go to hell! You…useless son of a bad father! You can take me to court if you like! I’ll make sure that I kill that stupid girl!” She thundered.
“Do you realize that your actions could lead to the death of the innocent girl and you’ll be charged for murder? Whether, you like it or not, she’s having that baby by God’s grace,” he concluded with an air of authority.
“She won’t have that baby while I’m alive! She and the unborn baby will rot in hell!” She left and spat with derision.
Obinna went out hurriedly and rushed her to the hospital. She spent two days in the hospital under intensive care. He took good care of her as he provided all that she needed. However, when they left the hospital after she was discharged, they never expected more trouble for the week.
“The snake emits poison, may your life and that little baby be poisoned as from today! May you face disaster and calamity in your life! May that child suffer and not be happy! May you and your baby die suddenly! May the young baby not live to old age! I command the evil forces and deities to deal mercilessly and wickedly with you and your baby!” These were the bitter words of Mama Adaobi as Vero entered the house. As she was raining those terrible curses, something untoward happened to her body instantly. She started shaking and trembling. Her tongues and eyes were twitching. Before long, her legs and arms had become lifeless as if there was no blood and bones inside them.
“Yee, I’m dying, I’m dying!” She screamed.
“What’s the matter with you?” Obinna said and came running towards her from the door of the Jeep.
“You may have stroke or palsy! Let’s go to the hospital! This is an emergency!” He said.
Mama Adaobi couldn’t lift her leg and arm again. Tears streamed down her eyes uncontrollably. She was feeling terrible and excruciating pains all over her body.
That evening, Veronica saw the guy who got her pregnant fly into a temper which she had never seen in her entire life. He was so hysterical, calling her all sorts of names and she didn’t even know when she started crying heart wrenching tears of hurt and betrayal. When he later looked into her eyes, he realized how scared and hurt she was. He pulled her close and ran his hands through her hair until she had calmed down and he said in the most subtle voice ever: “Why don’t you have an abortion?” She pulled back instantly, but when she thought of her parents, family, friends and stigma of having a child outside wedlock with a blood relation, she knew that she had no other choice. He had made all the arrangements. The following day, they went to the room-like Clinic. Veronica shivered all through the way but he kept telling her that it would be okay and that he was proud that she made such a brave decision.
A nurse appeared and took her medical history to make sure that the type of abortion offered to her was a suitable one. When the nurse was satisfied, she further requested to see the sanitary pads, referral letter, blood group card, Medicare and any health care card; that she had been earlier informed to bring along when coming. Vero opened her bag and presented the items, and the nurse ran a quick gaze on them.
“Did you abstain from food, drink or smoke for six hours before the operation as we advised?” The graceful-looking nurse asked”.
“Yes!” Vero answered, masticating the word.
Veronica was shortly given a tablet to soften her cervix and make it easier to open. After thirty minutes, she was called to enter the room where the abortion was supposed to take place. She lay down on the table trying to dissociate her mind from what was about to take place when a young man told her sternly:
“You know, I can’t perform this procedure with your underwear on”. Then, she began to pull it off. As she did this, a sense of guilt suddenly overwhelmed her. First she had pulled off the underwear for pleasure and now she was pulling it off to get rid of the stigma the pleasure had brought…what a shame, she felt so exposed.
A small, plastic suction tube connected to a pump was inserted into her womb and used to remove the foetus and surrounding tissue. All through the times that she felt instruments coming in and out of her, she kept thinking of the lady she had become and the hypocrite she had transformed into.
“If only I can get through this…only if…” Vero muttered and felt a sharp pain pierce through the whole of her body. She screamed but then the doctor told her to be quiet. She felt another pain but this time she bit her lip and then the pain began to come in successions. Instinctively, she knew that something was wrong because she was too weak to talk or to move and then she heard the voices of Obinna and the doctor talking about the fact that she was bleeding excessively. The pain was so unbearable and she felt herself getting weaker and weaker. With the last strength in her, she pleaded with God:
“Oh Lord, I’m so sorry for taking my underwear off, please forgive me.” And she drifted into a world where the pain seemed less hurtful and the voices seemed less distant.
“After having been laid on this painful slab of abortion, I will never involve myself in activities that will bring me back to it again” She sobbed as she experienced mild cramps for which she took simple painkillers.
Obinna loved women to a fault. He made it a habit to sleep with their housemaid from the village. Her name was Sylvia. She was a local seraph; her beauty was disarming and out-of-this-world. Immediately, he set his eyes on her, his unquenchable sexual appetite went wild.
“You have to go through romantic baptism first, Sylvia, if you’re to work here. Is that right?” He ordered one mid-night with a sarcastic grin on his face.
“I’ll do whatever you want.” She replied without objection. Some minutes, they were in tastefully furnished bed. He made it a habit later until his mother beat the daylight out of the girl one scorching afternoon and then sent her packing without picking a pin from the house.
Barely a week after Veronica committed the abortion; the snake-eyed guy began his lascivious and lecherous moves again. He opened his small briefcase that was half-filled with crisp N1, 000 notes running into some cool thousands.
“Take everything, it’s all yours Vero! I must ‘do it’ right now” He said, gradually unzipping one night.
“Please, leave my room now! I’ll scream that you want to rape me! I won’t do it, even for all the money in the world again,” She said trembling. “I’ll call your mother now!” She threatened.
“I don’t care about her! Even if she would enter here now and brandish a sparkling machete, I won’t be moved! I have to force you right away!” He threatened without any cogitation. He had climbed down the ladder of reason, step by step, bit by bit into the cellar of forgetfulness. He threw caution to the wind and pulled her closer and started fondling and cuddling her passionately. He was about pouncing on the sultry looking girl when she jerked, grabbed his phallus and cut it with a small sharp knife she brought out from under the pillow. He screamed in excruciating pains. Blood spilled on the floor. The cut was nearly fatal.
“Yee! Yee!! Yee!!! Somebody help me.” He yelled in agony.
“Ha! Haa!! Haa!!!” Vero roared with laughter and started ranting senseless and meaningless phrases while he rolled on the floor in gnawing pains. Left with a deep cut on his phallus, he regretted greatly for having taken a risk with the girl, whose madness was deep-seated, alarming and dangerous. She packed her belongings and left the house shortly with her head in the clouds, but unknown to her, her womb had been corrupted; a mistake she would regret all her life.