A satirical short story on the evil of abortion, child trafficking and murder of infants)

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When Fred proposed to Chinwa, little did the naive girl know that it was not how the bitter kola sounded in the mouth that it tasted. Fred had promised her Heaven on Earth: he would pay her dowry, take her to the altar and their reception would be the talk of the town. Then, he would process her passport and visa, and, then, they would fly together to Germany. Everything thing would happen in a fleeting moment.

Easier said than done! Fred was driven by lust, and not love. Chinwa had the curviest physique Fred had ever seen. She had a torso that seemed incongruous to her waist—– small face, like that of a doll, slender neck, big boobs, round hips and a protruded ass that wiggled as she walked. She was tall and had a sonorous voice that could captivate any man, like those of the Sirens that captivated Odysseus’ men while they were on their way back to Ithaca.

It was no wonder Fred was head over heels in lust(not love) with Chinwa. Men would profess their fake love for any woman just because of her external endowments. The lust that consumes them is so overwhelming that their internal systems are unsettled, as though they would die from electrocution if this burning desire is not satisfied.

Chinwa’s parents did not like Fred. They reasoned that a true suitor would never shy away from visiting his in-laws to be. Any clandestine affair was not genuine, and the man, definitely, must have a skeleton in his cupboard.

‘‘Chinwa, my spirit doesn’t accept that man!’’ her mother had warned her, her eyes bulging in seriousness.

Oyibo(Chinwa’s mother) always widened her eyes each time she was serious. She was called ‘Oyibo’ because she had the skin colour of white men.

‘‘That man does not have a good intention at all. Why would he continue to see you in secret, doing ‘backyard things,’ a man that claimed he lives in Germany? Listen,’’ she said, holding her right ear in a stern warning, ‘‘If he wants to marry you, tell him to come and pay your bride price. Enough is enough o! A chorokwa m ime mkpuke n’ulo a! I don’t want unwanted pregnancy in this house o!’’

Agu, Chinwa’s father, talked less and acted more. He was a stern-looking man, and his actions exemplified his name (Tiger). He had vowed to shoot Fred to death if he found him again billing and cooing with his daughter, without having come and done the needful.

It was not her parents’ fault. They were exercising their parental role: protecting their daughter. Chinwa had just finished her secondary school education, and always helped her poor parents in their small shop in their village’s local market. Her parents had vowed that their only daughter and child must go to the university, become a medical doctor, get married to a rich man, and pull them out of this poverty that had remained with them like an heirloom.

Chinwa and Fred continued their clandestine affair, not minding Chinwa’s parents’ warnings.

Love, they say, is blind. Chinwa never bothered to care what Fred did for a living. All she knew was that her ‘boo’ loved her and would sponsor her university education and marry her. Fred showed her ‘love,’ of course, and poor Chinwa kept on building gigantic castle in the air.

Fred lived in a neighbouring town, but claimed he came back from Germany to find his heartthrob, take her to the altar and fly back to Germany with her. He kept on giving the poor girl hope, and she kept on allowing him to devour the only thing a woman should guard jealously — most times in his house, where the poster of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which was hung on the wall, kept on watching their sexual escapades, and, sometimes, inside the bush adjacent to her parents’ house, whenever he saw her off, where nocturnal rodents watched them, these weird duo.

One month passed, and Chinwa started feeling some discomfort within her. She spewed up every now and then, and spat like a snail. When her mother asked her, she said, ‘‘Just fever.’’

But, can a daughter outsmart her mother? Can a child deceive the elders? Our people say that when a young boy carries his father shoulder high, the hem of his father’s wrappa would cover his vision. But, in Chinwa’s case, she did not mean to deceive her mother. She did not know she had swallowed the watermelon seed!

‘‘Chinwa! Chinwa!’’ Oyibo shouted. ‘‘Let it not be what I’m thinking! Let it not be what my mind is telling me! Chinwa!’’ She burst into tears. She was emotional to a fault, and had no doubt that her daughter had eaten the food meant for elders, the same way Eve ate the apple meant for the wise.

Chinwa was confused. She stood transfixed, looking at her mother, yet no word came out of her mouth to defend herself.

Just immediately, Agu returned from work.

‘‘What is wrong? Why are you crying, Oyibo?’’ Agu said, looking at mother and daughter in confusion. He was in his faded black polo bearing the face of Tupac and his pair of jean shorts.

To be continued...

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