“Hayibo! Four months ago, you were six weeks pregnant… but it still doesn’t show that you’re pregnant – am I missing something here Noxolo?”

She swallows her saliva,

“I had an abortion.”

“What?” Sabelo almost screams while he stands up.

“I’m so sorry.”

“You aborted my child, Noxolo?” he asks loudly.

“I was happily going to tell you that I was pregnant. But it all changed when I got back as I found you lying on the bed crying… I couldn’t tell you,” says Noxolo, she’s crying.

“You had just lost your job. Sakhile’s fees at the crèche were outstanding and we weren’t going to afford to take care both of them. You were facing a trial that left you in prison for four months.”

“Yoh… you are so dom!” he shouts.

“You had no right to abort the child without telling me!”

“If I had kept the baby, I wouldn’t be working right now, that’s the policy at work.”

“I don’t need your money to take care of my kids!”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t be saying that!” Noxolo yells at him, she stands up and looks at Sabelo.

“Since December, I’m the only one who has been a bread-winner of this family. If you have some investments somewhere, then don’t blame me for what I did… I did it because I knew that we had nothing… You shouldn’t have kept it as a secret that you’ve been investing your money somewhere!”

There’s a moment of silent, Sabelo’s hands are on his waist as his standing looking at Noxolo.

“It was our child,” his tears fall to his cheeks.

“But you decided everything alone, why?” asks Sabelo, feeling angry.

“My opinion doesn’t matter to you if I’m not working?”

“I’m sorry, Sabelo.”

“Apologizing doesn’t change anything… it doesn’t bring back the child you’ve aborted!” he shouts while spreading his hands.

“Practically, if I slap you right now, would saying that I’m sorry change that I’ve slapped you?”

“No, but I’d forgive you.”

“But you won’t forgive me if I lost Sakhile. He’s your only son.”

“What do you mean now?” asks Noxolo, “I love you Bab’Zikalala, I’d truly forgive you if you apologise. He’s our child; I’d understand that you mistakenly lost him. No one is perfect.”

“No, you wouln’t. And you’re just saying that because you want me to forgive you,” says Sabelo, he wipes his tears,

“You’re not sorry at all because you weren’t going to tell me about the abortion if I didn’t have this dream!”

“Baba Sakhile, please calm down, don’t allow the demons to mess up your mind – please hear me out. Think deeper… I know that it hurts right now, and please understand that I wasn’t happy when I decided to abort our child. Please look at the decision that I made. Yes, it’s not wise to abort a child. But due to the circumstances that we were facing, I had to do it.”

“In your sermons, you’ve always told God’s servants that He doesn’t give us the problems that we can’t handle. But what you’ve said now is totally the opposite of what you’ve been preaching all along,” says Sabelo in a sorrowful voice, his eyes are full of tears.

“Suddenly, you don’t have the guts to face me!” he shouts as he looks at Noxolo turning her back as she sits on the bed.

“Look at me, tell me why you had to hurt me like this!”

“What was I supposed to do?”

“That’s the stupidest question I’ve ever heard from you!”

“Go on; insult me if it pleases you!”

“Is that the best you can say?” asks Sabelo, he walks slowly going to stand in front of Noxolo and asks,

“Was it my child?”

“Are you saying that I’ve been cheating?”

“Answer my question!”

“Yes, it was your child.”

“All along I’ve been thinking that you’re a saint, but you’re not. You aborted an innocent child. You truly deserve to be in hell.”

“I never thought that you are so childish.”

“What?” Sabelo asks loudly.
Noxolo remains quite.

“Oh, now you can’t talk!”

“I don’t have anything to say to you anymore, it’s clear that we won’t stop arguing if I continue with replying to your childish questions.”

“When were you going to tell me about the abortion?”

“I don’t know, and now I regret telling you about it. Everything that I’ve been afraid of is happening right now.”

“I never thought that one day I’d say this to you, you disgust me!” says Sabelo

“For god’s sake, I did what was best for us. It’s not wise to have a child while you can’t support it!” she shouts while standing up and looks straight in Sabelo’s eyes.

“I had no choice. You were locked up in a cell.”

“You had no choice. You had to kill my child,” Sabelo’s tears slip to his cheeks as he shakes his head.

“Is that what you’re saying to me, Noxolo?” he asks sorrowfully.
There’s a moment of silent, Noxolo is looking down – she’s crying. Sabelo looks at her; he’s disappointed, confused and angry.

“So being unemployed mean that I mustn’t be consulted?” asks Sabelo.

“No, it doesn’t mean that… I’m sorry, okay. It wasn’t my intension to hurt you like this,” she replies while wiping her tears.

“You better start packing your bags, I don’t want to see you or ever talk to you again!” he shouts.

“It’s ten to four o’clock in the morning, I’m not going anywhere.”
Sabelo looks at her and takes two pillows and a duvet cover; he gets out of the bedroom and sleeps on the couch at the living room.

***

Tell us: How would you have reacted if you were in Sabelo’s shoes? What are your overall thoughts about this story.