After the Fact

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His wife gazed at the door like she could see through it. “You can say what you want about the morality of the case but we are not the ones doing it. Your nephew has brought wahala to this house and you want it to remain. What do you think the people in her village will say if she goes for her mother’s burial and they see her pregnant? They may decide to troop down here. Their demands will be much more than what these people are asking for, not counting the scandal. Chris, be reasonable!” Her voice had risen again but she didn’t care.

“I understand your concern but a man should do what his conscience tells him and damn the consequences. Let her have the baby and we will take care of it, at least until the father can fend for it.”

Mrs. Okafor’s eyes were almost popping out now and she was breathing hard.

“Well, if you have made up your mind, go and tell the Nwosus yourself. I will not follow you to tell them this.”

Mr. Okafor shook his head.

“Okay, if you feel that way, I will tell them myself,” he said. Then he stood up and left the room.

He came back an hour later. To his wife’s surprise he didn’t look fazed.

“So what did they say?”

“Did you know that the girl had also been kicking against the abortion all along?” he started.

“I don’t care what the girl has been saying. What did our neighbors say so that I will know what to say if they accost me tomorrow.”

“Well, the wife was really mad and called me all sorts of names, saying that she expected you to have prevailed on me etcetera etcetera…”

“And the husband?”

“He said that God would judge us for what our family had done. But don’t let that bother you. I told them I was ready to pay the hospital bill, that is pre- and post-natal and any other incidentals.”

“Did they agree?”

“Well, grudgingly. Though the wife said we should forget about everything.”

“So what do we do with Charles then?”

“I think it would be most prudent to send him back to the village for now.”

“Well, you decided to have this thing your way. Let us see what happens for now.”

They went to bed.

A week later, Mrs. Okafor was in high spirits. The day before, she had received a cheque for the arrears of her salary since the last promotion exercise. It was a huge sum of money and she had withdrawn some of it that day to go shopping with the children over the weekend. She wanted to buy new clothes for everyone in the house as a surprise. There had not been any trouble from the neighbors as she had expected. They seemed to be playing it cool. Charles however, had kept a very low key profile since, only going out early in the morning to wash the car. Most of the errands were done by Peter and Ada. They were both out of the house. She made it known to Charles that she wanted her children to have as little contact with him as possible so that he wouldn’t corrupt them. Hence, she had granted Junior permission to go and play with his friend who lived close by.

She was busy trying to get the evening meal ready when she heard a knock on the door.

“Charles,” she shouted, “go and get the door.”

Charles rushed out of his room and got the door. As soon as he opened the door, he was stunned.

“I want to see your aunt. Is she at home?” Mrs. Nwosu asked acidly.

“Y-yes,” Charles responded and rushed back in to call the aunt.

Mrs. Okafor ushered her guest in.

“Nkechi is in hospital,” Mrs. Nwosu started before she was even seated.

“I gave the doctor some money but he needs more. He needs about ten thousand naira and it is urgent.”

Mrs. Okafor did a quick calculation. She had over twenty thousand with her.

“What is her condition?”

“I need to buy blood for her. I had to go with my car to take her to the hospital after she finally agreed to – you know what I mean …”

Mrs. Okafor nodded. “Is it only ten thousand and she will be alright?”

“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate.

“I thought she didn’t want to abort before?” Mrs. Okafor asked, as she handed the money over.

“Well, since her mother died, she started to see things our way. It is for her own good anyway. I see the good-for-nothing boy is still in this house. I thought you had sent him to the village?”

Mrs. Okafor did not respond.

“Anyway, let me hurry. You should have behaved like this all the while instead of all the unnecessary tension you and your husband caused between us.”

She was out of the door in a flash.

When Mrs. Okafor closed the door, she noticed that the door to Charles’s room was slightly ajar. He must have been listening. She didn’t care that he heard everything. After all, he would never tell. She just walked back to her chores, pretending not to notice.

He gazed out the window of the bus. Several hawkers stood outside with their wares, trying to attract his attention with their goods. He just stared through them. Many thoughts raced through his head. He felt remorseful; no, guilty. The last one month had been morally trying and now it had ended so badly. His mind went through all the events again, up till the very end. He had been the cause of all the troubles between his uncle and the neighbors. He had heard most of the arguments between his aunt and his uncle from his room. Please just go home. We will see how we will get on with life after blood has been spilt. Hopefully, people will forget with time. His aunt had surmised.

He was surprised that his uncle had stood by his wife instead of voicing out his indignation at what they had done without his consent.

They said she had a serious hemorrhage after the abortion and the doctor could not stop the bleeding. So, she bled to death. His uncle had broken the news to him solemnly the day before. Inside him, he felt that Nkechi had not wanted to survive the abortion which she did against her will, so she had not struggled to live. Maybe she was right after all. If he didn’t see anything wrong with killing her child, maybe there was nothing wrong with her dying since she was as much a person as her child: his child. No one would be interested in that theory of his now. Now, they were only interested in his accelerated departure. It was better that the cause of an operation gone sour was far away. He would however, buy the exam form and sit for it in the village. That was the single concession his uncle had graciously granted. Charles understood that. He was glad that the uncle had come up with that because he didn’t think he could stand another day with his uncle – especially after this. He dared not go out either in case he ran into Nephi’s uncle or aunt.

“Leave my bag jo!” a lady who was entering the bus protested as one of the motorpark touts tried to shove her into another bus. She sat next to him. He smelt her strong sweet perfume. Ordinarily, he would have looked her over, but he was not in the mood. He dreaded his father’s reaction when he got to the village. He probably would not talk to him for many a day and would not support him financially. He also didn’t know how he would face his friends who had wished him well when he had left the village for the city. He knew his mother would still accept him no matter what he was. She would still treat him well. His mind gravitated to his mother.

If you come out of the university, you can get a good job in a bank and then take care of your junior ones. His mother had told him this when he was heading for the city. He felt depressed. If only he had exercised some self-restraint when he had met Nkechi maybe things would have panned out differently. If only he had been more prudent. If only he had used his time well.

In a large sense, you are responsible for her death. You irresponsibly got her pregnant and she decided to do the abortion, not because of any of us but because of you. I wish she had never seen you. Well, I guess I am lamenting after the fact.

Ifeoma did not spare him her venom before he left the city. She had met him the day before when he had gone to buy some things. He could not look her in the eyes. He had no words of reply: just shame. She always disliked him. Now that he had killed her dear friend, she loathed him.

“Onitsha! Onitsha! Onitsha!” the motor-park tout called out.

Whatever, the case, he had to pass the exam by all means to redeem himself. He noticed a sticker on the wall of the bus. “God loves me.” It brought a message of hope, after the fact.

                                                                  

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Review or comment on After the Fact –

Reviews:

Don’t know why I waited this long to read the full story but it was quite touching and well told.                                                                                                                                                                                           –  Peter Ogboh  3/2/10

 

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