Mary was quite miffed at the way the young doctor continually stared at her. She didn’t understand why an obviously pregnant woman would be subjected to such blatant leering from a man who was supposed to know better, considering the fact that he was a medical doctor.
She had commenced ante-natal visits to the nearby hospital, and a doctor who usually sat at the far end to attend to outpatients had been very unprofessional in his way of looking at her. Anytime she happened to raise her head, she found him staring at her.
”Pervert,” she said to herself. That alone made her consider changing her choice of medical facility but she had so bonded with the midwife and nurses that she was reluctant to do so.
”What makes you brood’,’ Mary the midwife, her namesake asked ”You know it’s not good for the baby”
She started, and stared incomprehensibly at the elderly woman. She sighed quietly.
”Please tell me. Do you need anything?”
Mary shook her head negatively and furtively stole a look in the direction of the offensive doctor who quickly looked away.”
”That doctor,” Mary said ,”he stares at me all the time. He makes me feel weird.”
The midwife laughed uproariously and gently patted her on her shoulder.
”That’s Dr Nat. We think he likes you,” the midwife said and smiled.
”We?” Mary asked, confused
”We have all noticed how he looks at you anytime you come here,” the woman explained.
”Oh,” Mary said, quite short of words with her mouth opened like ‘O’ letter.
The culprit guessed that they could be talking about him. He quickly saw to the patient sitting in front of him and sauntered over to them.
”What are you ladies talking about? Care to share?” he asked in a deep but pleasant voice.
”Why do you always keep staring at me like that? It’s rude, you know?” Mary asked him point blank.
”Because you are an old friend,” he replied with an amused look at her.
”An old friend from where?” Mary asked hotly, not liking his overbearing attitude one bit.
”Don’t tell me you have forgotten about Nathaniel Sowah,” he asked with mock anger.
She stared at him blankly, hard, and smiled shyly. She had recognized him now. She remembered him from her C. Y. O days and had met again a few years ago at a Conference of Catholic Students Association. He used to be tall and lanky but was now ‘thick and tall’. He seemed to have filled out in all the right places.
They spoke and reminisced on days gone by.
Auntie Mary, the midwife was forgotten and she left in a huff when she found herself excluded from their conversation.
One Week Later
Billy went to the City for some groceries. After purchasing the usual household items, he also bought a dozen lady’s panties, body splash of different types and lotions, and other necessary tools needed to aid him in his womanizing crusade. He visited long-lost friends and passed the night there and returned the following day to meet a community in chaos.
The village Chief was up in arms. And his subjects were in subdued moods.
He later got to know the reasons.
Word had it that Amerley had returned from a visit to a friend and started complaining of stomach pains and later collapsed and was rushed to the clinic. No one knew of the friend she had visited and neither did they have an inkling of what actually happened, but tongues were wagging and rumours were rife that she had tried to abort an unwanted pregnancy. Her symptoms showed a classic case of poisoning and the doctors were doing all they could to save her life.
Her parents, the Chief and Nanayere, had spent the whole day at the clinic, seeking answers and assurances on the condition of their daughter. The matter took a different turn when the doctors confirmed the pregnancy rumours. She was eight weeks pregnant and they suspected attempted abortion.
Her father, a fair and upright man swore to the high heavens to get to the bottom of the matter.
”The one responsible for my daughter’s state of health would dearly pay for this,” he swore, and his whole body shook with fury.
When Billy heard about what had befallen Amerley, he got scared. He felt as if he was sinking into the bowels of the earth. Even though he knew he wasn’t responsible for giving any abortion drug, he was afraid of his association with her being discovered. It could lead to fingers being pointed in his direction as the one whose actions sent her to the theatre. For the first time in his life, he was beginning to regret his lifestyle.
”What if she dies and they find out that I am responsible for the pregnancy.”
”The whole village is going to find out about me and all those girls,” he thought and thought and tormented himself with the repercussions of his actions.
His mind coursed through different scenarios that could lead to his disgrace as a respected Agric Extension Officer.
”What if they decide to take instant justice on me.”
He worked himself into such a state that he feverishly began to stuff his things into the suitcase with the intention of running away.
He was so fixated on what he was doing that he failed to hear the faint knock at the door. It wasn’t until they became persistent that he heard it, and he sprung to his feet.
To say that he was highly agitated was just putting it mildly. He was so petrified that he looked towards the window aiming to jump through it.
”Billy please, open the door, haba. I can see you through the keyhole,” Safoa said impatiently.
With the suitcase in hand, he went and opened the door for her. She walked past him into the room, angry at him for keeping her waiting outside.
‘Abeg, put the bag down. I don’t have all day, my father would be home in thirty minutes time,” she said with asperity and brazenly pulled her dress over her head.
He closed the door and double-locked it.
His lethargic movements irritated her so she pulled him towards her and undressed him herself.
It was thirty minutes she asked for but it was after an hour and a half before she left. As he lay there trying to recover his breath, he forgot about Amerley and the problems associated with her and smiled at the sexual interlude he had just had.
”What a sweet pawpaw. This ‘Bush Allowance ‘ has really made my day,” he said and smiled with contentment. He even had the presence of mind to start comparing all her Mantsekrom girls in terms of sexual adeptness. He smiled again and was about falling asleep when the door was forcefully kicked in, almost tearing it away from its hinges.
He, as quick as a rat, jumped out of bed and crouched in the corner with a cry of fright. Safoa, who had left his room no longer than twenty minutes ago was pushed into the room viciously by Safohene Mogyahyew, her father. And he had a double-barreled gun in his hand.
Apparently, he had followed when she went into his room. He had heard them as they enjoyed themselves and when he could no longer bear listening to them, he had gone for his gun with the intention of going back there to deal with him when he met his daughter on her way back home. He grabbed her and escorted her back into her lover’s room. He now trained his gun on the hapless Billy.
”Please sir, I am sorry,” he pleaded, with both of his hands extended forward like a praying mantis.
Safoa, on realising that her father’s attention was now on Billy scurried out of the room and ran away.
Billy saw his chance when the man turned to look at his escaping daughter and swiftly went towards the opened window. The old man felt his movement and swivelled around. His fingers squeezed as a reflex action and released a bullet that slammed into the young man. He fell as easily as a piece of paper blown by a whiff of wind. Billy who was almost jumping out when the bullet got him was thrown out and he landed heavily on the grass outside. Safohene, on seeing what he had done, quickly left the room and went home hoping that no one had seen him enter or exit from Billy’s room. Though the gunshot had been deafening and had shattered the stillness of the night, no one was brave enough to come out to see what was happening.
It was only thirty minutes later when a passerby found him lying in a pool of blood. She raised an alarm but it was only when people recognized her voice that they went out to help take the wounded man to the hospital.
Safoa ran screaming hysterically till she got to Kutorkor’s house and went in to seek refuge from her father’s wrath. His position as the Safohene ensured that he constantly consulted the priestess so she thought it wise to go there for her to plead with her father on her behalf. Little did she know that she had entered the lioness’ den.
Billy Gosa was unconscious when he was rushed to the village health post from whence he was transferred to the Regional Hospital, some fifty miles away. The gunshot wound was too complicated for the scarcely equipped health post to deal with.
***
Mary was having an easy time with her pregnancy devoid of any complications. She was always showered with praises by the nurses on duty for how well she was taking care of herself. And also the fact that she never missed any of her antenatal visits. She was their star patient and they took pride in attending to her. Only Mary the midwife knew the story behind her pregnancy. She had even offered to have her move in with her for the duration of the pregnancy but she had gracefully declined. She didn’t want to be a burden on anyone and more so, her mother was there. And Mina Aba her landlady too.
She was now quite friendly with Dr Nat and Auntie Mary had been having fun making snide remarks about them. She always made them laugh and had even been calling them Romeo and Juliet. They were nothing more than mere friends and looked on with amusement whenever she tried to get them to admit that they were dating. She made Mary laugh a lot and she always looked eagerly to her visits to the hospital. She was like another mother to her.
Billy was healing fast. He was shot through the thigh and it hadn’t touched the bone. He was placed on antibiotics and painkillers to help fight infections and his strong youthful constitution did help a lot in the recovery process. But despite that, his nights were spent in pains.
”Anytime you come near me, the pains go away,” he had told Kukuwa the fair-complexioned nurse and she smiled sweetly at him.
She liked him and wondered how anyone could possibly think about shooting him.
She wanted to know more about the shooting and he had winced in pain even though he had taken the second dose of painkillers of the day. He gestured for her to sit on the bedside chair and extended his hand into hers.
”I am an Agricultural Extention Officer and one of the villagers brought me kontomire and cocoyam but her father who had followed her to my house threatened me with ‘te abrɔfrɛ’ and it went off accidentally,” he told her haltingly.
She looked at him with emotion and squeezed his hand, smiling down at him with dimples showing on her cheeks
”All the pains left my body when you squeezed my hand with your soft palms,” he said softly.
She blushed mightily and felt tingles cruise down her spine.
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Zac 29-Episode 1" />