Life had a way of springing surprises on us when it was least expected. Just when Ada thought they were over the whole Peter drama, she found out her sixteen year old daughter was pregnant. Michael had offered her the job of being his house keeper, although the pay was low she had gratefully accepted. Her new job as the young doctor’s house keeper afforded her the opportunity to spend quality time with Mercy. They were able to rekindle their former bond and closeness. Mercy was even beginning to smile once again, when Michael came home in the evenings he wasn’t on shift, he would take the young girl through her studies.
Michael was like the brother Ada never had and to Mercy he was like the father she never knew. Although he was too young to have birthed a child her age, she continued to think of him as one. Because of him, she wanted to become a doctor too, she wanted to command awe and respect too but she soon laughed off the idea. Which patient will allow a disabled doctor treat them? which hospital would employ a doctor in a wheel chair? How would she cope with emergencies? she had thought. During one of those study time, she suddenly felt dizzy and almost fell off the sofa if not for Michael’s sturdy hands.
When the fainting spells started, Ada had been worried sick but Michael had assured her that it wasn’t something too serious. He had driven them to the hospital where it was confirmed that young lady was indeed pregnant. Ada was stunned when she was handed the result. She closed her eyes as hot tears welled up in them, it slithered down her cheeks and she quickly wiped them off with the back of her hand. She had handed the result wordlessly to Michael when he came to check up on them.Mercy on her part was afraid she had been diagnosed with a deadly disease. She wasn’t scared to die, she decided. Except for her mother, she had little else to live for. Peter had lied to her, he had given her hopes only to dash those hopes again.
“What does the result say? Am I dying?” she asked.
Her Mama sighed heavily. “No. You are going to have a baby”
” What is wrong with him?” Ada asked worriedly, she looked into the face of the handsome baby boy in her arms. The birth had been an easy one, barely an hour that Mercy was wheeled into the labor room, the nurses came out to congratulate her. Although she was initially saddened by the news of her daughter’s pregnancy and the girl had missed her exams, the birth of the little child wiped away the sorrows of the past. She was also saddened by the thought that her grandson would also grow up without a father. Peter had denied the paternity of the child and Michael had threatened to get the authorities involved. When Peter saw that Michael would make good on his threat, he had assembled his belongings and hightailed it out of the Town.
“Mama, what is wrong with him?” Mercy asked, she was indecisive if she loved her baby or not. He had opened a fresh wound in heart; one she had struggled to bury. She wished he didn’t look so much like Peter, she wished she could just love him instead of struggling to love him. She thought he clamped his mouth too greedily and too hard on her Tip. She hated breastfeeding him, she hated his incessant cries and she wished he didn’t demand to be fed all the time.
“You worry too much Auntie.” Michael replied.
They were the family he always longed for. He had been touched by the bond between Ada and her daughter. Both of his parents were alive and kicking but they weren’t cut out to be parents. Michael was conceived as a result of a condom accident. He was amazed at how emotionally strong the older woman was, sometimes he found himself thinking of her as his mother. She always had a warm meal waiting for him, she would fret over him on days he felt frustrated and she was always there to listen when he wanted to let something off his chest. They were his family, he decided. For the space of few months he had known them he had realized that; you don’t need to have the whole world to be happy.
“Alright,” Ada replied, still not convinced. She had seen the look on Michael’s face when the doctor who delivered her grandson drew him aside for a dialogue. She placed the sleeping child in the crib Michael had gifted him. She went out of the room.Michael walked out and met her waiting for him.
“Tell me the truth” She said.
“His legs are tiny, very slim. We can’t say for sure he won’t be able to walk but….”
” What do I do?” Ada asked.
” His diet should be very balanced and he should be given calcium medications. ” Michael said,” then we hope for the best.”
” He will walk” Ada stated.
The news of her baby’s predicament brought Mercy so much sadness. Although she couldn’t say she loved the baby, she wished things could have been different for him. She imagined him been ridiculed by his playmates in school. Her baby would never walk, he won’t know how it feels like to run and feel the wind on his skin just like she hadn’t known too. She refused her meals once again, she refused to talk to anyone and she refused to even hold the little child in her arms or nurse him. Ada had her hands full with the child so she couldn’t monitor Mercy to know if she took her meals or not. She hoped that with time the young girl would snap out of it. Michael being a Doctor had assured her that what mercy was going through was known as “Post-Partum depression” and that she would snap out of it.
One morning, after bathing the baby, Ada went back into their room to wake her daughter. The young girl was so cold and her body was stiff. She had raised an alarm, fortunately Michael was at home and they both rushed her to the hospital although they knew deep in their heart that she was long gone. The doctors couldn’t say what exactly had sent the young girl to her grave.
“Aunty Ada, the baby is awake and he is crying?” Michael said, walking out of his living room.
“I heard him” Ada replied, dunking the baby’s dirty clothes in a bucket of soapy water.
“Oh I see you are busy, I will go get him”.
“No, leave him. He’s been fed, he’s not hungry. He will stop crying”
Another day, Michael had witnessed the same scene again. Ada was sitting close by while the baby woke up from sleep and started crying at
the top of his lungs. Michael had stood watching both of them, baby Joy soon stopped crying after he must have guessed that crying wasn’t going to get him what he wanted. Ada picked him up when he stopped crying, kissing his cheeks lovingly. As the baby grew older, he realized that tears doesn’t solve a thing, so whenever he woke up, he would play in ways babies do, kicking his feet up in the air and suckling his knuckles until his grandma picks him up.
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Epilogue
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It took the boy a long time to walk and at two he still wasn’t walking. Although the doctors had reassured them that his legs were fine and he had also grown healthy. His legs which seemed so tiny at birth had gained some flesh too. Ada being a smart woman devised a means to get her grandson to walk.She examined the legs every evening, she also massages them lightly and thoroughly.
She would place the two year old on the floor and encourage him to walk. Holding both of his hands, she would say, ” Come on Joy, you can do it! walk for grandma! you can do it”
Each time little Joy would drop back on the floor, unable to take even a step but his loving grandma never gave up on him. She soon discovered that he was a little glutton and he loved his sweets. So she devised a new strategy to get him to walk. She started buying him treats and leaving it by the door. She would place him on their bed and encourage him to go pick up his treats.
The first day, the little boy cried while staring at the sweets by the door. The next day, the same thing happened and it went on like that for two weeks. The third week, his grandma was surprised to see him slowly lift up himself from the bed before he fell back again. She watched him with her heart in her throat, she almost leap up with joy when he took a step and then another.
She scooped him into her arms happily and gave him all the sweets. Meal times became a game of fun for both grandma and grandson. The first person to get to the plates of food usually placed by the door got the bigger portion. But of course, Ada always shared her portion with him afterwards.
There was a certain kind of joy in her heart whenever she sees the little child wobbling towards her. One day while she was doing their laundry outside, she was stunned when the child walked to her, albeit unsteadily. Tears of joy brimmed in her eyes and her heart was gladdened. She lifted him into her arms and hugged him to her bosoms. Ada’s determination had paid off.
Michael who had been watching them walked to them. The child stretched his arms towards him and he lifted him up into the air.
” Joy, I am proud of you” Michael said, ” You are old enough to be in school,” he added with laughter.
” S….cool!” Joy squealed, ” Mama, I will go to scool”
” Yes, you will my Joy.” She replied tearfully, ” And you won’t be strapped to the back or wheeled into the school. You will walk with both of your legs to class.”
All her life, Ada had known bitterness and sadness. She had cried herself to sleep many a night. She guessed she was one of those unfortunate people in the world with a bad case of ‘blue,’. But now, she had been given a second chance. Life had given her a second chance at motherhood again and she had also been gifted with someone who would stand by her in times of trouble and wipe away all her blues. Now she had someone who would make her proud and perhaps she just might live to see him become a man any mother would be proud of.
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The End
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