The Mistake by Pressure

               The Mistake by Pressure

                        a short story

                   By Lene Ododomu

Ami cannot stand the pain of not having a child, especially a male child that's mostly needed to place her among people that count in the family of her husband. She will go to the market and almost everyone in the market talks about her. A place where two or more people gathered, especially in the street, they will start discussing her immediately she walks passed them. Then in the church when other people want to do their babies' dedications, she will be ashamed to join them while going to the altar  for thanksgiving because of her childlessness. So she became so downcast and even thought of committing suicide, but later made up her mind by changing the environment they lived. She makes this decision known to her husband, Perewei, and he agreed by relocating from Kwali to Gwagwalada in order to escape the pressure.

Perewei works with Julius Berger Transportation Company as a driver, so he hardly stays and spends time with her. Some even contemplate that this can also cause her delay in bearing a child and while others, especially his people from the village believed that the fault is not from their son but from the woman who is cursed. Because of this, Perewei cannot take her home because they will tear her apart.

Ami attends Catholic Church and it's her birth church, but due to this her unproductive womb she decides to look for solution by going from one church to another. Then she finally finds a church called The Eye of God Ministry somewhere at Lugbe, Abuja and the pastor's name is Chubuzo Chidike.

Pastor Chubuzo is a well-known pastor in of Abuja because of the miracles he performs. The church is always densely populated because people come every day seeking miracles. There is no prophecy he will tell about a person that will not come to pass, so he was nicknamed as "Half Jesus".

Ami told Perewei about him and he agreed to join her as a member of the church. They came to the church the following Sunday and he declares his membership and was welcomed as a new member. 

When pastor Chubuzo was about to give his sermon, he saw a vision about Ami and decided to call her to the altar and prayed for her. Then he now announced it to the church that God has given Ami a child and her days of sorrow have been taken away. The two couple jumped up and started shedding tears of joy and were joined by some members of the church.

One week later after the prophecy by pastor Chubuzo, Ami missed her period and they decided to go to the hospital to do checkup. Test was carried out and the result also came out in few minutes. The doctor started smiling as he put the envelope on the table. He then congratulated Ami which put the two couple in suspense because they were eager to see the result. He put the result in Ami's hand and asked her to read it for her husband. 

Ami could not hold her joy when she opens just half of the test result. She stood up and hugged her husband and started jumping and singing. Without wanting to be told again, Perewei joined her started dancing and singing.

Three months after, they came back to the hospital to do scanning and be sure that the baby in the womb should be male since that is what the family of Perewei needs. They did the scanning and detected that it was a baby girl. Perewei turned down his face without looking at Ami's face since she cannot provide him the male child that he mostly needed. But the doctor advised him that it is not the fault of the wife. He then further added that God gives, and it is something that was produced by the two of them during sex. Besides, he is even the one who provided the sperm that produced the eggs. So he should not put the blame on her because she is a woman. 

Ami knows her husband very well that he is stubborn and decides not to listen to the advice of the doctor. She started crying when he walks out of the doctor's office. She was even expecting that he will be waiting for her outside, but to her surprise when she came out of the hospital,he has already gone without considering her situation as a pregnant woman. 

But thank God for Ami that an unknown man saw her when she was crying under the hot sun with her pregnancy and then decided to render her help. He ordered his driver to take her home without wanting to know her problem. 

When Ami got home, she met Perewei drinking and talking. She doesn't want to talk to him because of his mood, so she went straight to the kitchen and prepared food for him and herself. When she was done with the cooking, she came to the sitting room and met him already drunk. He vomits and the whole sitting room was already smelling badly. She managed to move him to rest him, cleaned him up and brought him to the room where he started snoring like a hungry gorilla. She also cleans up the sitting room and put it in order.

When Perewei woke up from sleep, he was surprised to find himself on the bed because all he could remember was the sitting room where he was drinking. Ami came in and served him his food which he ignored. Then he told her that all he wants is a male child. She intended not to cry again, but his persistence of wanting her to produce a male child brought back her tears.

Perewei started avoiding Ami all because she was about giving him a baby girl. Before he goes to work, he used to kiss and hug her, and sometimes cook if she wasn’t awake while leaving for work. But now she is an enemy of his progress.

When Ami could not stand this pain again, she decides to meet pastor Chubuzo for spiritual advice. She met him in his office and after telling him everything, he prayed for her and also added that she needs a spiritual change.

 Ami at first did not understand him when he said spiritual change. But pastor Chubuzo later let the cat out of the box that he has to sleep with her in her matrimonial home for God to change the baby girl in her womb to a baby boy. She ignores the message he gave to her, but he added by saying that she will lose her marriage if she fails to adhere the message of God. Still she could not give him a final answer but instead insisted to think about it.

Ami got home thinking every day and night but she keeps the secret away from her husband. When she heard that her mother in law will be visiting them in two weeks’ time, she left with no option than to conclude by sleeping with pastor Chubuzo to save her marriage. So one day when Perewei has left for work, she called the pastor and he came to their house. She took him to the room and he gave her direction to take a bath with a shop he brought for her. Then after that he lights 18 pieces of candles and stand them around the bed and instructed her to lie down on the bed naked by also widening up her legs. 

Perewei forgot his driver's license and returns home with anger for undergoing a stress of coming back. He could not believe what he saw when he opened the door of their room. He met pastor Chubuzo doing his job with his pregnant wife on their matrimonial bed. He did not do anything to pastor Chubuzo but started beating the wife and videoing her naked. Also to fulfill his tradition, he brought her home.

It was a sad moment for Ami when the whole community of Torugbene gathered and then instructed her to remove all her cloth in front of everybody, including children who were supposed to see her as a mother, watched on. Also, two women were instructed to put pepe inside her private part which made her to scream and cry helplessly. 

But that was not even enough, they took Ami to parade around the whole community before passing the final traditional punishment on her by flogging. But Perewei wept like a new born baby when he realized that the fault was not from Ami but by the pressure of wanting a male child.