Father beat his pregnant wife of seven months. He thumped her. He kicked her. Where did you put my keys? he asked as he delivered a punch to the spot near her belly-button. Wooi-wooi, you are going to kill me. You never gave me any keys. Wooi-wooi which keys do you mean? she cried as the blows continued to land on her swollen body. My car keys, you stupid thing, he responded as he triple-slapped her wet fat cheeks. You are going to kill me for something I never did, she cried. He pushed her and she fell face down onto their marital bed of a little less than two years. As she fell onto the white doctors gown lying on his side of the bed, the car keys jingled out of the white coat-pocket and onto the floor. They both stared at them for five long silent seconds that seemed like forever. Their one-year-old baby stirred in her baby-cot in the corner of their bedroom. The frozen moment of suspense was broken. He shamelessly picked up the bunch of keys, got his coat and stethoscope, and drove away in a cloud of smoke. He was a young angry doctor. As she turned to lift her pregnant body off their bed of lovemaking where the baby was made in passion, she felt the warm sticky gush of liquid between her legs. And then she felt the sharp pangs of pain below her belly-button. The cramping started. She passed out on their bed. When she gained consciousness, she was alone in a hospital bed. Her thoughts ran to her baby girl who had missed her breastfeeding. Where was the baby??? She touched her womb and knew in an instant that she lost the unborn baby. Her husband had hit his unborn baby to death while it was still in its mothers womb. She bled his baby out of her body as she was unconcious from his blows and kicks. I am sorry you lost the baby, a young nurse told her. Doctor took it to the village for burial but told us not to wake you up because you needed to rest. I am sorry Mummy. As I cleaned the black marble on my fathers freshly tiled grave, I thought about the smaller grave in our family graveyard. Did my sibling called Saatuka meet my father with a smile when he crossed over to the world of the dead that he sent her to many years ago? He beat her out of our mothers womb before she was mature enough to survive. Did she welcome him into the world of the dead with a daughters embrace? Did father recognize her? Did he apologize to this unborn child for ridding her of the chance to live as a human being? My tears fell onto fathers grave as the pain of unanswered questions mixed with the shame of deep family secrets. Domestic violence kills...
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 18:29:18 +0000
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