Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ACT (05/05/22)
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TITLE: A Mother's Love | Previous Challenge Entry
By Graham Keet
05/11/22 -
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It had taken her almost eleven weeks to reach this point so she had to act now or face the alternatives. Her thoughts went back to her mother: Mamma always gave me sound advice—if only she was still alive she would know what to do.
On the one hand she wished Simon had had the guts to stand by his actions, but on the other hand she didn’t need to listen to him vehemently blaming her for everything, after all, it took two to tango. His last instruction to her was, “Get it done.”
The house across the road looked cold and uninviting, but if she was going to go through with it, now was the time. With more bravado than she was feeling inside she hurried across the road and rang the doorbell. A bell grated somewhere in the house and a voice called out, “Come in.” Inside was a short passage leading into a larger room with chairs around the wall.
This must be the waiting room, concluded Nomsa. She glanced at the couple sitting at the far end. The girl looked about fourteen while the man she was with must have been in his twenties. Nomsa noticed the way he was holding her upper arm looked more like he was restraining her than providing any comfort.
A door marked ‘Surgery’ opened and a large White woman in a nurse’s uniform came out holding a clipboard with papers. “Come,” she indicated to Nomsa to stand before the desk behind which she had seated herself. Nomsa felt the woman’s eyes scan her body. “How many weeks?” she asked.
For a moment Nomsa considered running for the door and not coming back—but that would not solve anything. “Just over eleven weeks,” she answered.
“You left it pretty late, honey, do you know that twelve weeks is the cutoff time?”
“Yes”.
A noise behind Nomsa caused her to look around. The young girl had broken free from the man’s grasp and was running for the door. The man, however, was faster and grabbing her by her hair, he jerked her off her feet. “You’re going to go through with this whether you like it or not, I’ve already paid the deposit,” he hissed as he dragged her back to her seat.
The nurse came over and stood in front of the girl. “What’s your problem? It will only hurt if you carry on like this, so just relax. Max has already paid the deposit and you know you must listen to him. Anyway, he’ll give you a rest before you need to have guests again.”
Nomsa was horrified. The nurse resumed her seat. “You need to fill in these forms and pay a deposit before we can help you. Sit down and complete the forms.”
Nomsa took the forms, glanced briefly at them, then placing them on the seat next to her, put her head between her hands and sobbed.
“That’s not going to help you, honey. You’ve left this until the last minute—after twelve weeks we can’t help you anymore. That’s the law. You must act now or never. What does your partner say about this, does he want it done?”
“He doesn’t care, and anyway, I never want to see him again.”
The surgery door opened and a girl of about eighteen came out. From her unsteady gait she was obviously still under sedation. Nomsa noticed that the front of her skirt was stained with blood. The nurse gave her a package. “Here Miriam, take these for pain.”
The nurse then called, “Next”, and beckoned to the man to bring the young girl into the surgery. Nomsa stood up and walked with Miriam to the front door, offering her some support as they stepped outside. Miriam took hold of Nomsa and with tears streaming down her cheeks spluttered, “I shouldn’t have done it, God please forgive me, I should have been brave—but I wasn’t.” Then she was gone.
Nomsa recalled something her mother often told her, I loved you even before you were born. With these words resounding in her head she hurried back to the waiting room.
The nurse looked up as she entered, “You’ll be next, honey.”
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