God Has Spoken Read Online Free PDF Page A

go seek treatment, telling her aunt she felt okay, that it wasn’t that bad. So Aunt Madge applied some more of her home remedy and let Tiny stay in bed. Tiny still refused to go to the police station.
    â€œI bet it was Dolly those people were after and attacked my poor niece in retaliation,” Aunt Madge muttered to herself, refusing to accept what Tiny had become. “Maybe Tiny will now stay away from that little she-devil.”
    And Tiny did, but not for the reason Aunt Madge thought. A few days later, Tiny dragged her still bruised body to Dolly’s house, only to be informed by her mother that Dolly had left the day before for Kingston.
    â€œAnd I hope she never comes back,” Dolly’s mother said with apparent relief in her voice.
    Tiny looked at her with disgust before she walked away. She wasn’t sure who she was more upset with . . . Dolly for leaving without even a good-bye or her no-good mother who did not care what happened to her teenage daughter.
    Over the next few weeks as Tiny’s tummy grew, she used a piece of an old sheet and wrapped it tightly around her swollen belly until it was as flat as a board. She attended school as normal and every afternoon she was home helping Aunt Madge with chores around the house. Aunt Madge was elated to finally have her niece back.
    â€œI wish Dolly all the best wherever she is,” Aunt Madge said one morning to herself. “Tiny can now move on with her life, and I won’t have to worry so much about her again.”
    Aunt Madge’s words couldn’t be further from the truth.

Chapter Four
    â€œLord, have mercy!” Aunt Madge yelled as she dropped the bucket of water she held in her hand, water splashing everywhere. “Tiny, what is that?” She pointed at Tiny’s swollen tummy as if it wasn’t obvious.
    Aunt Madge was outside when she heard the spatter of water in the bathroom and knew Tiny was having a bath. As it was her turn next, she dipped the big, plastic bucket in the water drum and carefully took it into the bathroom. There she got the shock of her life when Tiny’s pregnant belly greeted her at the door.
    Tiny’s wet body slid down into the bath as she began to sob. “I’m sorry, Aunt Madge,” Tiny said. “I’m so sorry that I let you down.”
    Aunt Madge ran out of the bathroom, horrified.
    The roller-coaster ride Tiny had been on for the last five months had literally left her nauseated, light-headed, and drained. She had watched in alarm as her body changed in preparation for motherhood. Not knowing what to do or where to turn, Tiny decided to hide her secret for as long as possible. But not anymore. “Maybe it’s for the best that Aunt Madge finds out,” Tiny whispered as she looked down on her big stomach. “I can’t do this anymore.”
    Even though she knew she was in a lot of trouble, a sense of relief flooded Tiny’s body. She no longer had to tie a sheet around her stomach, enduring the discomfort all day. No more lies, no more secrets. Well, maybe a few secrets . . . like the identity of her baby’s father.
    Aunt Madge grabbed the light pink sheet from Tiny’s small bed as she ran past, wrapping it tightly around her waist before she proceeded outside. This was a practice by the older generation of Jamaican women; to ban their bellies and bawl as an expression of the tremendous grief they bear. With her hands on her head, Aunt Madge marched circles around the yard as she howled like a wounded, rabid dog.
    Tiny watched her aunt through the window and cried even harder, her wet body now wrapped in a towel. To see Aunt Madge in so much pain was almost more than she could bear. As Aunt Madge’s cries grew louder, so did Tiny’s.
    Finally, Aunt Madge knelt down on a large rock that pierced at her knees, but her heart was in too much pain to care about physical pain, and she began to pray. “Lord, this is too much for