The first thing I see when I get home is my mother crying and shouting at Molebogeng.
“After everything I’ve done for you! I gave you everything you needed and wanted, and then you repay me by getting pregnant?” my mother shouts at Molebogeng.
“I’m sorry, Mama,” Molebogeng says with tears in her eyes.
“Ma, am I a bad parent? What did I do to deserve this? Ma why is God punishing me?” my mother wails at my grandmother.
“Go tla siama, Modiegi. It’s not the end of the world,” my grandmother says soothingly.
“And of all the nurses, she just had to be examined by Patricia! No, I’m being punished. She can’t have an abortion now, because Patricia would know. Ma, what am I going to do?” my Mom continues to ask my grandmother while crying.
“I’ll drop out of school for a year then continue the next year…” Molebogeng says cautiously, but my mother interrupts her.
“Shut up, wena! Is that why you got pregnant in the first place?” my mother screeches.
“No, but you’re the one who forced me to study radiology!”
“So I also forced you to get pregnant?”
“Dumelang,” I greet cautiously.
“Oh my baby, don’t ever change!” my mother exclaims, rushing forward to hug me.
“I won’t,” I tell her.
My mother composes herself and smiles. “I have to go to your school meeting. I almost forgot about it.”
My mother goes into her bedroom and my grandmother follows her. I can hear them continuing with their conversation from behind the closed door.
“Hi, Lebo,” I say.
“Hi. I’m tired so I’m going to sleep,” Molebogeng tells me. With these words she leaves the room.
I’m shocked! Out of all people, Molebogeng is pregnant! Molebogeng, the golden child, will have to drop out of university and raise a baby!
I go into panic mode as soon as my mother leaves the house for the parents’ meeting. She can’t handle any more bad news. She is going to have a heart attack. I’m going to be the cause of my mother’s death.
***
I’m watching TV when my mother gets home from the meeting at school. She looks subdued and gloomy.
“I was just about to go and do my homework,” I say, quickly standing up to try and avoid her.
She gestures for me to sit down. We both sit on the sofa.
“Why didn’t you tell me you failed?” she asks.
“I was scared,” I admit.
“Do you want to change the subjects you are doing now? I don’t want to force you to study something you’re not interested in, then later you get pregnant and blame me for it.”
“I do want to change my subjects, Mama.”
“OK, just make sure you pass them. I don’t want to be a grandmother of two before I’m fifty.”
I hug her.
This has been a day of revelation. I might not know what life has in store for me, but I’m going to create my own canvas and paint it in a way I can be proud of.
The End
***
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