Melania's Mistake

“When I asked her how she a school child could afford to buy us grocery and buy herself those fancy clothes and weaves, she said she was doing part time jobs there in Harare, I myself did not believe it but her mother convinced me that Mela was a hardworking girl who could balance the demands of a job and her school work. Its Mai Mela’s fault, she is to blame for this mess. Her loose tendencies have rubbed onto my offspring. This is my punishment for thinking I could tame a loose woman with a ring, I am sure she knew all along where all the money was coming from. ”. Baba Mela said looking into the blazing fire “But mukoma, there is no way you can complain about your wife having been loose today; you fell in love and married her did you not. Married her and sired six children with her, besides this is not the time to point fingers, we need to focus on finding a way forward”. Tete Mazviita responded as she took a seat on the reed mat spread next to the fire. “There is only one way forward, the son of a snake must marry my daughter in the coming month”. “We can’t marry that young child to an old man, she says he already has two other wives. No good will come from such a situation, she is too young” an emphatic Tete Mazviita retorted. “heee too young to get married to that old man but old enough to lay with him. She has made her bed and must lie in it, with that same old man” shouted Baba Mela. Tete Mazviita didn’t feel like continuing with this conversation, she was talking to a man who was swimming deep inside the contents of a brown bottle, there could be no reasoning at this time “We will continue this conversation in the  morning mukoma, when you have calmed down, yes the child has made a grave mistake but no good will come from such extreme punitive measure”.

Three hundred kilometres away Mela was waiting for Solomon at the corner of Samora Machel and 4^th Avenue.  He was thirty minutes later. He was always late for their meetings, she had always written off his tardiness as a result of a very busy schedule, ‘surely one cannot have so much money and not need to be busy’, she had consoled herself. But in her current predicament she made a saddening realisation that his tardiness was probably a result of his inability to prioritise her and their relationship, for lack of a better word. Today, in the middle of the storm she had opened her eyes to the harsh reality that he never truly cared for her, she had just been an opportunity that he had grabbed.

Her ringing phone snapped her out of her miserable thoughts, it was him, he had arrived. “Hie, honey”, he greeted her as she got into the car. Solomon didn’t wait long enough for her to respond before getting to the crux of his issue, “I have been thinking about your situation and I have found a solution that works well for the both of us”. She had to interject “Your situation? What do you mean my situation , do you mean that I am in this alone, what are you saying?”. “You are so feisty, you’ll make a great lawyer when you are done with your studies my sweetheart”, he laughed. Surely this was not the time to be cracking jokes Melania thought to herself. “Hear me out Melania, you are in the middle of your studies and like I said you will make a fine lawyer. You have so much potential and a baby is the last thing you need at this point. It will set you back Mela. So I was talking to a doctor friend of mine and he has agreed to deal with the issue”. “Solomon, I hope you are not saying what I think you are saying” Melania screamed.  “I have two wives at home and you are in the middle of your studies, a termination will solve both our problems”. Solomon was resolute in his position but Melania was not having it, “I am not terminating, it goes against everything I believe in, it’s not an option. Besides I have already spoken to my tete about the issue, it’s not a secret anymore”. “WHAT!!!! Did I not tell you to keep quiet about this issue until we had worked out a solution?? This is the very reason why I referred to it as your situation, if it were our situation you would have consulted me before taking such drastic measures”  He was so angry it scared her, she had never seen him this angry.

 He parked his car in one of the university campus parking  bays and continued, “Give me the pregnancy” he shouted “what do you mean” she was trying to be strong but her voice sold her out, she was on the verge of tears, “I mean hand the pregnancy over to me”, he repeated. “But you know that it’s not possible for me to hand it to you”’, she answered in a shaky voice. “Well if you can’t hand it over to me, then it’s YOURS not OURS Melania, now deal with it however you see fit”. Now the tears were flowing down her face and he immediately regretted his harsh words, she was but a young girl after all. “I am sorry Melania, I didn’t mean to be so harsh, you have just made me very angry today. I know that you are scared but you shouldn’t have rushed to your aunt with this matter. You are not emotionally stable at the moment so I think it will be best if I take matters into my own hands. You will have to tell her that you miscarried, we will blame it on stress. I’ll make an appointment with the doctor and advise you tomorrow. Don’t worry I’ll fix it my love”, it was as if he was talking to himself, she wasn’t there, what she wanted didn’t matter, she was just an opportunity which he had grabbed. When he reached towards her seat she thought he was going to hug her but sadly he was opening the door for her, he was dismissing her. Melania grabbed her bag and disembarked from his car.

I hate it when this happens, Solomon thought as he sped away….