a well brought up girl ask?”
“I suppose she should, but do they?”
“The fact that Rebecca didn’t doesn’t mean they don’t.”
“I give up,” smiled Lilly Loveless.
“Rebecca’s misinterpretation of dating led her into a gutter big time,” Britney went on. “She became pregnant and it was the worst time in her life. She had been despising her mother, not helping her, sleeping out for weeks and absenting herself from school because she had to satisfy the wants of her guy. So she did not know how to go about the pregnancy.”
Lilly Loveless looked perplexed. “Britney, don’t people use condoms?!”
“Not as much as you would think, especially with the risks of getting HIV. With the excuse that you cannot enjoy a bath with a raincoat on, or eat a sweet in its wrapping, some go to the extent of perforating their condoms, if they bother to wear them at all. Others start off with condoms and then abandon them into the relationship claiming familiarity – ‘I know you, you know me now, no?’ In some instances, the condom simply comes under too much pressure and explodes. And the consequences are frightening. A high school student who died recently was discovered to have kept a diary with 87 cases of girls he had infected with AIDS. A male university student diagnosed with AIDS had the audacity to tell the doctor: ‘I got this thing from the University of Mimbo, and I will take it back there. They will see red.’ Not to mention a highly placed customs officer in Sawang who uses the sumptuous bribes he receives daily to lure unsuspecting beauties to his lair, where he injects them with the most lethal strand of HIV known to exist, thanks to his frequent flyer status.” Britney was bitter. “If you investigate further, these are probably guys who had a chance to make a difference from the outset. Stories abound of girls who take a condom from their purse and ask a man to push it on only for the man to push it away saying: ‘You don’t expect me to eat banana without taking off the skin, do you? I’m not a pig, mind you.’”
“And the authorities do nothing to curb such irresponsible behaviour?” Lilly Loveless was scandalised.
“Mimboland na Mimboland,” said Britney.
Lilly Loveless nodded: It said it all.
“Anyway,” Britney continued, “Rebecca’s pregnancy was about three months old and she had not yet informed Richie. One day she gathered courage and told him and they decided to do a D&C, so she could once more be stable and could go about her daily activities and enjoying life unencumbered.”
“Interesting,” said Lilly Loveless, more to herself than to Britney. “In Comfort’s case abortion vehemently rejected, but readily accepted in Rebecca’s case. What accounts for these different attitudes?” She spoke out as she wrote in her notebook.
Noticing that the question was not addressed to her, Britney continued with her story. “Rebecca was faithful in her relationship, but Richie was not. He went out with a girl in their school called Annette. During his 17th birthday party there was a quarrel and a fight. Rebecca could not bear seeing him cheat on her because she had a jealous mind. She never wanted him to talk to any girl. So she was totally devastated when she realised that he had something to do with Annette. Rebecca could not feel free because she was not a ‘bed sharer’ with any other girl. She had become so close to Richie that her school life was affected. She loved him and always wanted him to be near her. And when he was good he was really good. At times, he went to Sawang and brought his father’s car and took her together with her friends to the beach. Rebecca did not believe there could be anyone more than Richie ever.
“They were both at school, but Richie was better able to combine what they did with studies, while Rebecca repeatedly failed her exams. The more time she spent away from class, the greater she failed. Richie would take her to all the nightclubs around, enjoy life, and yet pass his exams when he sat them. For Rebecca the story would be failure, however hard she tried to make up. Studying for exams was like the ‘callé callé’ of her life, and some of her friends would laugh at her behind her back by saying things such as: ‘Who needs brains when you’ve got tits?’
“So you can imagine how she felt when she failed the GCE and Richie passed. He organised a party but she did not bother attending.
“Things got worse when she discovered that she was pregnant yet again. She had a light fever and was vomiting. So she went for a pregnancy test. The results of which were positive. But she was not having things her way this time. Richie, her ‘jackpot,’ did not have money to afford her another D&C. He tried to play games with his parents in the hope of getting some money, to no avail. His aunt later got wind of the pregnancy, called for Rebecca and told her not to do away with the child. With no money forthcoming, Rebecca reported the matter to her uncle who was the assistant commissioner of police, and Richie was locked up.”
“Locked up?!” interrupted Lilly Loveless, looking up from her notebook.
“Yep, behind bars. News reached his parents and they were very angry because they petted him so much. At last Richie was released and a hundred and fifty thousand Mim dollars were given to Rebecca to start preparations for delivery. Instead Rebecca took the money and bought ‘boutique shoes’, expensive clothes and used the rest to visit a traditional doctor for concoctions to do away with the pregnancy. There was no mistaking or compromising her priorities. Yet the foetus refused to cooperate. It did not come out. She pretended to be attending antenatal classes after this failed attempt.
“After about six months and two weeks of pregnancy, she fell ill and was taken to hospital where she miscarried. Then it was discovered that she had administered some concoctions which affected the baby.”
Lilly Loveless pointed to a colourful butterfly that had just landed on Britney’s knee, now crossed over the other. Superstitious, Britney shooed it away and continued.
“Rebecca’s and Richie’s names were headline news in local newspapers, including The Talking Drum. Then she was forced to change colleges, because she could not bear the way friends and others in the community would burn her with their eyes.
“Distance and problems have made the relationship between Richie and Rebecca drift apart and peter out. She is still struggling to pass her O Level GCE, but she refuses to give up on the ‘high classes which Richie brought out in her.”
Lilly Loveless lifted her head and took in the variety of flowers around them. There was a lone student or couple that wandered by from time to time on one of the crisscrossing paths through the gardens. Lilly Loveless wondered about their stories, and resolved to dig up as much as possible from the stacks of newspapers and magazines in the Archives, with the assistance of Prince Anointed. A strange thought crossed her mind: What would a married woman do with flowers offered her by a secret lover at a secret meeting place like this? Take them home? No way! Dump them somewhere in the nearby bushes? More like it. She smiled. Marriage and formal relationships do take their toll on a woman’s freedom to express and explore her sexuality and happiness, don’t they? This was not the time to ask Britney for an opinion, but she would have to one of these days, as it was part of her work to understand the cultural dimensions of sex, power and consumerism in Mimboland.
As she prepared to ask Britney if she knew the name of one of the particularly beautiful orange flowers, Britney started sharing her third interview. She continued to fill the ears of Lilly Loveless who in turn filled her notebook, as butterflies celebrated their presence in the company of the singing birds in the trees.
Lulu
