A forbidden romance between mother and son

CONSEQUENCE

1

Some where in a developing village,in Enugu state,Kachi and her mother were seated on wooden chairs peeling the cassava they harvested from their farm. The cassava would be later processed into cassava flakes(garri) and sold at the village market.

Mazi Okeke,Kachi's father is a palmwine tapper whose income can barely feed the family. Oriaku,Kachi's mother is a petty trader of different food items,including cornflakes (garri).

Apart from these,Okeke's family also have their farm lands as another source of living,which is in fact,the major source of living in the community.

Kachi jerked up from her chair,startling her mother. She ran to a corner and threw up the contents in her mouth.

"Kachi,are you OK?" The voice of a concerned mother filled the air.

"yes mama" Kachi replied,wiping her mouth with the back of her hand before walking back to her place.

"why are vomiting?" Oriaku asked,suspiciously.

"mama,I don't know. I am not feeling well" Kachi replied.

"Kachi,you have been behaving strange lately,tell me what is wrong with you?" Oriaku was filled with expectations. "I hope it's not what am thinking?"

Kachi's heart skipped. She knew what her mother was thinking. But she was very careful for that not to happen.

"mama,which one is behaving strange?...and I don't know what you are thinking o" Kachi said in her defense.

"OK. After we are done with this,we will go to nurse Eliza's house." Oriaku said before picking up a cassava.

"nurse Eliza,to do what?" Kachi shrieked.

"to find out what is wrong with you" Oriaku replied.

Kachi was scared. She didn't need to ask that question because she already knows the answer. Nurse Elizabeth was one of the lucky people who got to further their education after secondary school.

Elizabeth came back to the village after studying nursing because she wanted to help the people of her community.

Elizabeth owns a small clinic in her house; one segment is a room and the other is a clinic,that is not properly equipped. Nurse Eliza came from the combination of nurse and Elizabeth.

FEW HOURS LATER.

"mama Kachi,I have collected Kachi's blood and I will be taking it to the place where the test will be done." Elizabeth announced.

"we should we expect the result?" Oriaku asked,not happy with what she heard.

"in two days" Elizabeth replied.

"it is far,but no problem" Oriaku replied unhappy. Oriaku paid off her debt and left for home with her daughter,whose mind has never been at rest.

Through out the day, Kachi was restless. She drowned herself in thought and prayed earnestly for the test result to come out negative.

"what if this result comes out negative?" Kachi asked herself.

"what will I do?" She muttered.

"oh God, please do not let this happen to me" The thought of being pregnant overwhelmed her.

Kachi was so lost in thought that she didn't hear mother calling for her. It took a thunderous slap from her mother to bring her back to reality.

"Kachi, what are you doing here?" Oriaku roared

"ma? nothing" Kachi replied quickly and sprang to her feet.

"what do you mean by 'nothing? Won't you join me in the kitchen to make dinner?" Oriaku queried.

"umm..." Kachi tried to speak but her mother shut her up.