went to
check.”
“And?”
“What do you mean and? There is no
and. I am pregnant.”
“How far gone are you?”
“About a month and half.”
A long silence stretched on after
her response. A silence Collins eventually broke.
“What do you want to do?” Collins
asked after taking a deep breath.
“What do you mean what do I want to
do? You are talking as if it’s my problem alone. It’s our problem
Collins. Not MINE! OURS!” She spat at him.
He took another deep breath and
counted to ten in his head.
“I didn’t say it was your problem
alone__” He began slowly.
“But you sure as hell implied it.”
Judith shot back her eyes blazing with rage.
A muscle twitched in his jaw as he
struggled to control his temper. However, of course she was not
done, not by a long shot.
“Awon Okunrin sha! Won ma fe doo
obinrin. Ti oyun bay o, won fe sa! O le sa fun mi lai
lai*
“Men! They want to sleep with women.
When pregnancy ensures they will want to run. You cannot run from
me__ never!!”
“Calm down Judith.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. Admit
it; you just want to run away don’t you?”
“The thought hadn’t occurred to me
till a few moments ago. Now would you calm down and let us discuss
this like adults?”
His voice was cold and dangerously
low. There must have been something in his eyes because she
immediately became silent and he could see fear steal into her
eyes.
“Now that we are both CALM__” He
began, stressing the calm. “What do you want to do about
this?”
When she did not respond, he pressed
on. “You know there is only one obvious choice here?”
“Which is?” She asked looking
suspicious. He took another deep breath and counted to ten before
he spoke.
“You are going to have to abort the
pregnancy.”
“I will DO WHAT??” She screeched
bearing down on him menacingly. His eyes grew as hard as pebbles.
He had had enough.
“SHUT UP YOU SILLY COW!” He roared.
She jumped startled taking several steps backward. She looked at
him with eyes filled with fear. The frightened look in her eyes
filled him great satisfaction. Yes let her be afraid. If he
frightened her well enough maybe she would get rid of the damn
pregnancy and leave him free to continue with his life.
“Let me explain some things to you
in case you are too stupid to figure it out on your own. I am not
ready to have a child at the moment__” He ignored the pained and
shocked look on her face as he continued.
“__and if you want to really honest
with yourself you’d realize you are not ready to have a child
either. Let us face it Judith, we are both still in school. Where
are going to find the money to look after a child? What will your
parents say? How will your father react? You know as well as I do
how strict he is__” He paused letting his voice drift off to give
her time to consider all he had said.
The tears brimming in her eyes spilt
down her cheeks in long streaks. “I thought you said you loved me.”
She asked. Her voice was teary and broken.
He had to fight the urge to snort.
“Love? Was she for real? Girls were so dumb. A guy had stripped you
down to nature’s bear essentials and just as he went for the kill;
aiming to slide into you, you go and ask him whether he loves you.
What in the world do you think he is going to say?
Of course he will tell you he loves
you. He might even tell you that he will kill his mother for you.
He would say anything to make sure you keep your legs wide open
long enough for him to slake his thirst with your body. However, he
did not say any of this aloud.
“Of course I love you, but we have
to be realistic. We cannot afford to have you pregnant now. You
have to remove it.”
A heavy silence ensured after he was
done speaking. There was no more to be said.
Chapter Nine
Sighs burst from Collins lips as he
walked away from Judith’s house. That had been a close one. He
vowed to use protection from here on out. Dallying with a woman
carelessly had