MOTHERHOOD

The baby cried, and Oge knew he was hungry. She sat down, and thought about how bad her life had become. She tried to console the child, but he wouldn’t stop crying. She didn’t bother giving him her breasts to suckle, as she had stopped producing milk over three days ago. How would she, when her last meal had been about five days ago, when one family had taken pity on her and given her some bread. She had been surviving on just water, and her strength was already beginning to fail her.



She thought of giving him water, but she was so scared. He was barely three months old, and his immune system was not strong enough for the filthy water that was available. Moreover the little milk that had been dripping out was not even enough to give him much of an immune system in the first place. She looked towards the setting sun, and her mind registered that it has been one week now since Ugo left them to go into the neighbouring village to scavenge for anything edible.

Oge wondered how cruel life had been these past months. The country had been at war for about seven months now. One minute she was holding hands with Ugo and being teased by friends about how pregnancy had changed her, and the next minute she was crawling on her stomach in the bush.

She looked at the face of her son Uzodinma, and made a fresh resolve not to let him die of starvation. She stood up from the stone on which she sat, leaving her small mound of clothes behind, and walked further down the bush path.

She remembered how she had gone into labour, and had given birth to her baby after over eight hours, in the middle of a bush path, while people passed by in different stages of flight, and congratulated her and Ugo on the arrival of their healthy baby. She was lucky that she had not been alone with Ugo when labour started.

They had been trekking with a widow and her son that had lived in their neighbour-hood. The widow had called on two other women passing by, and they had acted as her mid wives. The widow had died one week after Uzo was born, when a troop of soldiers had caused a stampede. Her son had wandered away from them days after.

She must have walked for about five minutes, and Uzo’s cries had weakened and finally died down. The child was too weak to even cry, and had fallen asleep. She figured she had about ten minutes before hunger woke him up once again. She strapped him to her back, and looked around the bush.

Another fifteen minutes, and she saw what she was looking for. She nearly wept for joy, a coconut tree. She got nearer the tree, and alas there was not a single coconut on it. She wasn’t surprised, everybody was hungry and everything was food these days.

Mosquitoes sang in her ears, and feasted on her flesh but she did not mind. Her wrapper caught on twigs as she went by, deeper into the bush. She longed for human company. The group she was with, had moved ahead the day before, but she had insisted on staying behind to wait for Ugo.

The sun had set completely, and she lit her last candle, to illuminate the way. She spied another coconut tree in the distance. It looked so stunted, she doubted there would be any coconuts on it. But she moved eagerly towards the tree.

She couldn’t believe her luck, two coconuts dangled from a low branch. They were not mature, but they were better than nothing. She pulled and pulled, finally one of them dropped down. She brought out the little dagger Ugo had insisted she kept, “for self protection” he had said.

She sat down under the tree, and set to work on the coconut. The baby began crying again. She stood up and wiggled her body up and down, to settle him while still trying to use the small knife on the coconut. It seemed impossible, but her baby must not die. She nicked her hand with the knife, and cried out in pain.

A beam of light flashed in her direction, and she stood still. Then she moved as silently as she could to the back of the tree, where the grasses were taller. Being a woman and alone posed a lot of danger for her. Many had been raped, by the soldiers, by the militants and by other civilians as well. She was very frightened.

The beam came in her direction once again, and she crouched low. Then she saw a lone man, walking towards her, with what seemed to be a flashlight of some kind. In his left hand he held a cutlass. Oge wished she could lay her hands on the cutlass. It would make the task of opening the coconut so much easier, but she knew how dangerous it would be if he sighted her.

He seemed to be searching for something. He walked passed where she was hidden, without seeing her. But no sooner had he passed than Uzo let out a really loud wail. The man turned around in fright, alert and pointed his torch directly at her. Oge knew she was doomed.

“Hey, come out now” the man ordered. Oge stood up, and stepped out of her hiding place. The child’s cry grew even louder.

“My husband is just down there” she said to the stranger.

“What is wrong with your child” he asked taking a step towards them.

 “Nothing is wrong with him, leave us alone.” Oge responded, taking two steps backward.

“I mean you no harm, My name is Tokunbo” the stranger said.

Oge looked at him suspiciously, and unstrapped her baby from her back. “We don’t have anything that would be of use to you” she replied, rocking the baby.

“He seems hungry, won’t you feed him?” Tokunbo said, accessing her.

This man must be a pervert Oge thought to herself. He wants to see my boobs. “Mtcheew” she hissed. “Do you see food anywhere?” she asked him sarcastically.

“Where I come from, babies suckle their mothers. Well, do whatever you wish” with that, he started walking away.

“Stop please” Oge said, shocking even herself. “please” she added. The man stopped and turned around. “what is it?” he asked her.

“I need your cutlass” she said to him, biting her lower lip. A habit she used when she was uncertain.

“I am sorry, I can’t give you my cutlass. I need it to protect myself” he said.

“I don’t want to keep it, I just need to open this coconut” she said “it’s for my baby” she added quickly
“Is your baby old enough to eat coconuts?” he asked walking towards her. He took the coconut from her hand and sat down to cut it open.

“I can’t produce any milk. I need to chew the coconut and give the baby the milk” she said as she sat down beside him.

“Are you not the mother? Why won’t you produce milk” he asked, still at work

“I haven’t eaten for five days, so no milk” she responded sadly.

He silently peeled and removed the husk of the coconut, pausing only to pass it to her to drink the water, which she gave her baby. When he was done, she thanked him and began chewing. He sat with her, watching her extract the milk for the baby….




“Oge, oge, wake up” Ugo said.


Oge opened her eyes, and her husband was staring at her. She was not in the bush, her hands flew to her bulging stomach, and her baby kicked her furiously. She picked up her phone, and called her mother to buy her a carton of baby formula. Her husband knew she had been having one of those her dreams again.


THE END



LIFE IS A CHOICE MY FRIENDS
SO CHOOSE WISELY
ENOUGH SAID





Ivy Brown