The Baby
Cool breeze flutters through the house from the back door. There is a woman picking melon seeds in the corridor. The tray of melon seeds sit on a low stool instead of her lap because she is so heavily pregnant the baby takes all her lap space. As the breeze blows on her, the droplets of sweat formerly on her forehead dry up and she looks less like a tired expectant mother. A phone rings beside her and she unconsciously breaks two extra melon seeds before she picks it up.
“Hello baby!” a man’s voice sounds from the receiver.
“Hello my lovely husband,” the pregnant woman purrs.
“Sisi, you sound so tired. How are you feeling?” her husband asks.
“I’m fine, just a bit tired. Can’t wait to drop this load you’ve given me.”
“Hahaha, what load?” her husbands asks.
“This punishment na,”she says beckoning to her belly as though he could see her.
“Na wa for you this woman! Anyway, hope you’re not stressing yourself?” He asks.
“No, just picking a little melon for soup”
“Okay, just take care for me. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she replies and ends the call.
Slowly the woman gets up and waddles to the kitchen painfully to prepare dinner for her husband. The pain makes her take very slow steps, and some times she stops to lean panting on the wall. On her way to the kitchen she considers going back to get her phone from the tray of melon seeds but changes her mind. She wonders if not telling her husband she is in labor was a good idea.
Yet it was common sense that had stopped her, working in the factory was a dangerous job, especially a paint factory with all those sharp and whirring machine her husband always talked about. She also knew her husband was having problems with his supervisor, who was being very heartless and irrational.
She bends over with one hand on the countertop as the wave of pain rushes over her again. She bites her lip, almost drawing blood in an effort not to scream. The pain gradually decreases and she walks over to the burner, consoling herself with the thought of her husband returning home in an hour’s time.
Oh God you have been so good
You are so good to me
Oh Lord you are excellent
In my life everyday..
She sings through gritted teeth, pouring water into the pot on the burner. She takes the Semovita from the cupboard to her right and drops it on the table. She takes a step towards the refrigerator and the pain returns in full force. Her hands drop heavily to her knees for support, and she realizes she is losing quality time.
Finally making it to the refrigerator she takes out the bowl of soup and makes her way to the pot of water boiling on the burner. As she turns the Semovita, the pain dissipates gradually till it is a dull ache at the edge of her mind. She is washing her hand after a successful cooking session when the pain knifes through her and her water breaks. Sisi lowers herself to the floor, as slowly as she can because trying to walk would be fruitless.
***
The doctor tells Priscilla there is a rip in her womb that means she won’t be able to have any children. The pastor tells her anything is possible with God and that one day she will carry her own child. Her mother in law tells her she is a witch trying to tie her son down. Her husband tells her he loves her and will support her decision.
Yes, it is not African to adopt but Priscilla tells herself she needs to be wise. She has seen many cases of women who cannot have children waiting for absurd periods of time instead of just adopting a child. All because of a misguided belief that someone else’s child can never be yours.
As an educated and enlightened woman, Priscilla knows that adopting a baby will make her truly happy and give her the peace of mind she needs so much. Her friend Tolu is always ready to advise her against giving up. Like today when she meets Tolu at work.
“Hello Priscilla! I have gist!” She says slumping excitedly into the chair in front of the desk. Priscilla continues typing, ignoring her. Tolu stares shocked at her friend for a moment, then she forcefully removes Priscilla’s hands from the keyboard.
“I said I have gist!” She says leaning into her friends face.
“So what? Is there anytime you don’t have gist? Mtcheew! Talk if you want to talk jare!” Priscilla said.
“Well, I don’t blame you. If not for God I will just pick my bag and leave you to your work” Tolu says looking a little hurt. Priscilla lifts her nose up at her and continues to type.
“I know somewhere you can adopt a baby” Tolu says staring determinedly at a spot on the wall. Priscilla’s fingers freeze mid-air.
“What did you say?” She asks.
“Uhoh, so you’re interested now..” Tolu says jeeringly.
“Stop it! Stop joking. What did you say about a baby?” Priscilla asks, staring at Tolu with eyes fiery with need. Her friend looks at her, sees the sweat already beading on her upper lip and has pity on her.
***
All through the night baby 201 cries and Susan stands beside his crib, watching as he flails his chubby hands in the air. The contorted face of the baby makes Susan do what she never does for any of the babies she sells -put him to her breast. Minutes later, the baby’s cry increases in intensity as he blatantly refuses to be pacified by her gentle whispering and the offer of her dry breast.
Susan puts him back in his crib and calls Kara
“Hello” the other woman’s voice sounds from the other end.
“Baby 201 is dying” Susan says flatly
“What?!” Is that not the baby we plan to give to that couple?”
“Yes” Susan replies. Then there is silence. Both women thinking of how they would pay back the money they had collected from the couple as down payment.
“Give him drugs and call me later” Kara says and hangs up. Not giving Susan time to tell her the drugs were almost all gone down the baby’s throat. Nevertheless, she carries him in her arms once more, forcing the last dose into him.
At five am in the morning Susan walks into the room where they keep the babies, the place is quiet and calm. She walks up to the crib and sees him lying there peacefully. She dials Kara’s number.
“Hello Kara” she says, her voice full of suppressed yet ready to burst emotion.
“What is it?”
“The baby is dead” Susan says
“Oh God! What should we do?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know at all,” Susan says, walking over to the counter where they keep the nylon bags for disposal.
“Kai! Okay, we’re lucky. I’m still at the hospital so I’ll just bring another baby” Kara says hanging up.
Susan walks over to the baby’s body, she covers him with a piece of cloth and wraps him up. In her hands now, he feels less like the little wiggly thing who yesterday pushed away her breasts as he fought for his life and more like hardwood, cold and mute.
***
“Madam, what you did was very dangerous. You could have died” The tall nurse tells her. Sisi catches the woman’s hand in a firm grip.
“Where is my baby?” She asks, her voice broken and faint. The tall woman winces and peels her hand from Sisi’s grip.
“Just rest, Madam. Your baby is okay” she says. Sisi shakes her head against the coarse fabric on the bed, inebriated as she is; she still knows a lie when she hears it. But what can she do? Stranded in this place, so make shift it cannot even be called a hospital. When she had awoken a few hours ago, the nurse told her she had crawled out of her house into the street where a Good Samaritan picked her up and brought her to the hospital.
All Sisi remembers is walking towards the kitchen door and the pain that knifed through her senses. She doesn’t remember her screams and her blind crawling out of the house. She wonders where her husband is and why he hasn’t contacted her. The nurse steps into the room and begins to fuss over something on the table.
After some minutes of fussing noisily, she walks up to Sisi with a syringe in her hand.
“To help you rest,” she says and smiles. The needle pierces her skin but Sisi doesn’t even feel it. Tears spill down her cheeks as she screams in her mind. Raymond! Where are you?! Honey! Her consciousness slips from her grip, her will and her voice dragged under the damp wings of the powerful sedative.
Three days later Sisi walks into her house and sees her father in law’s car parked in one corner of the compound. She hastens her footsteps and rounds the corner to the back door, hoping it is open so she could just get a short cut to the living room. As soon as she opens the back door she hears the sound of weeping in the living room.
Then there is silence and they all turn to face her.
“My daughter!” The old woman moves towards her, not bothering to hide her tears. Sisi falls heavily into her arms, and both women begin to weep.
“Where is the baby?” Her mother in-law whispers in her ear.
“Gone,” Sisi says. Her mother in-law gasps for air and Sisi fears for both their hearts.
When they disengage, Sisi is helped to a sofa and she reclines.
“Please where is my husband?” She pleads with the four of them standing and watching her. Her father in-law shakes his head mournfully, her mother in law lowers herself to the floor and places both hands on her head.
“He had an accident at work” brother Kunle, her husband’s elder brother says.
“What accident?” She asks about getting on her feet. Kunle holds her shoulders and gently pushes her back down into the chair.
“He slipped on some paint and fell into a machine”
“Where is he?” Sisi asks, fear making her hands tremble. Her brother in-law looks away.
“He didn’t make it”
***
Susan stares at the two bold lines on the pregnancy test strip. Even before this test the awareness of her pregnancy status had come to her in the form of morning sickness, water retention and bloating. She stares at her face in the mirror, refusing to believe the hand that fate has dealt her. All her plans of leaving the baby sales business before getting serious with her life seem like daydreams now.
She takes some water in her hands and washes her face, remembering the heated sex she had in the shower with Ahmed a few months ago.
“Baby no, wait we aren’t using any… Oh!” Her protests get drowned in the pleasure as he thrusts in bareback.
Later in bed he apologizes while caressing her shoulders and kissing behind her ear.
“I wonder why you worry Susan. I want to marry you. Please marry me” he whispers urgently into her ear.
Susan doesn’t tell him she doesn’t want to marry him now only because she cannot answer why.
A loud knock on the bathroom door shocks her so much she bangs her head on the mirror.
“What?! I’m bathing!” She shouts to Kara.
“It is the Police, open the door!”
Susan’s face drains of all color and moisture pools on the floor beneath her. She considers hiding inside the bathroom but the booming voice barks again.
“Open this door! Or we will break it in!”
Susan opens the door and the police man grabs her, bending her hands behind her back. Soon enough the handcuffs click locked and she sees Kara whose hands are also handcuffed behind her. They stare at each other as the police men bring baby after baby out of the room.
***
Sisi stares at the case file on the table. After the two women were captured, the police had extracted information from them and discovered that they had sold her baby off to a couple who couldn’t have children. The tall woman had been the same nurse who had helped her have her baby.
When the Nurse told her she lost the baby she did not believe it. She had doubted that her healthy pregnancy would yield a stillbirth so she went to her family’s doctor, who was a renowned expert and also the doctor in charge of her health care. He too had been shocked at the news, her baby had always had a healthy heartbeat and healthy weight in all the ultrasounds and tests he had carried out in Sisi.
When she told him of her intention to investigate the matter he had given her his support and helped her get information on that particular nurse. They discovered that she was in fact the owner of the makeshift maternity clinic and that a lot of other babies had “died” before then. Paying detectives to watch her had been an easy thing.
They had seen her coming in and out of a particular three bedroom apartment that was curiously sound proof. She had a lady accomplice who was short and fair in complexion. Though they never sneaked out of the house suspiciously, there were times when the tall nurse who was called Kara would bring parcels in cartons from work and take it into the house. Close inspection revealed that those parcels contained newborns.
Sisi could have gone with the police that day but she had been told there were many poor babies in there and her heart wasn’t strong enough for that yet. Besides, her son was not there anymore. He was somewhere with a couple who were clueless of the fact that he had a mother who wanted and a father who loved him very much though he had lost a hand and was still undergoing treatment.
The accident at work had almost claimed his life but for the timely intervention of his co-workers. On his third day in the hospital the doctors had confirmed him dead and had even called her brother in-law and others in the family to tell them the news when he suddenly started breathing again. After that, he spent three weeks in a coma before he woke up. Those three weeks were hell for the entire family, Sisi had never prayed more fervently.
Those were the days of spending all day and all night on your knees. She had bonded with her mother in-law in those days, as both of them battled against their shared suffering. When her husband returned home there was jubilation in the house. The entire family was invited and her husband stood on his feet and gave a speech. In his speech he said confidently that if he could return home alive then their son would be found.
It is with that same confidence that Sisi stands in front of the brown door. She reads the case file again. Mrs Priscilla Aigbedion and her husband, the address is accurate. She puts the file in her handbag, beside the evidence that she is her baby’s mother. Slowly she begins the walk up the stairs, with a warm feeling brought by the realization that she is going in to say: Give me my baby and No, I am not sorry that I have come back for him.
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