WHEN A "YOUNG AND SMART" GIRL GETS PREGNANT...

Two months passed and Morenike did not see her monthly period and
was a little apprehensive.
"Could I be pregnant?" She thought.
If she was, then it had to be Stanley because she has not slept with any other man of recent. She cursed Stanley with clenched teeths.
"That monster!" she mumbled.

To be sure, Morenike went to a lab in town to carry out a pregnancy test. When she told the lab scientist that she wanted to do a pregnancy test, she searched the man's face to see if he will show any form of surprise, but his face was blank like a newly plastered wall.

"This way please," the lab scientist said and led Morenike to another section of the lab. The lab scientist took her blood sample and carried out the test. Morenike’s heart was beatingvery fast as she waited for the result of the test, while she tried to reassure herself that she was too young and smart to be pregnant. Maybe something else was delaying her menstruation. After all their Biology teacher had once said "menses could be delayed when you think about it and worry too much that it hasn't come"...

Some minutes later,the lab scientist came and sat down opposite Morenike across the table. The lab scientist was a middle-aged man with greying temples and wore eyeglasses hanging loosely on his nose that made him look like one of those ancient philosophers.He cleared his throat and handed a sheet of paper to Morenike.

“You are 9 weeks pregnant. That’s the result,” he told Morenike with an
impersonal and emotionless voice that reminded Morenike of a newscaster
making an obituary announcement.

“I am finished!” Morenike shouted and dropped the paper the lab scientist
had handed her,"9 weeks pregnant? I don’t get it sir. I am used to months.
Break it down in months for me.”

The lab scientist smiled understandingly and asked, “How old are you dear?”
Morenike looked away and wondered what age had got to do with the whole situation. She ignored the lab
scientist and picked up the test result and went through it again as if the result had changed the short period she dropped it on the table,

"How old are you dear"? the lab technician repeated gently. Morenike still ignored him, stood up suddenly,and stormed out of his office. She could hear the lab scientist calling out to her but her head was turning like a whirlwind as she climbed down the staircase leading out of the lab into the scorching afternoon sun, hot tears streaming down her face. Some concerned passers-by stole curious inquisitive glances at her as she walked blindly down the street. She had always imagined and regarded herself as a smart girl. The news of her being pregnant without even knowing it really stunned her. Many thoughts raced wildly across her dazed mind as she stood waiting for a taxi with many blaring their horns at her and pointing their fingers out in anticipation,without her paying attention. She thought of the fact that she was in Form Five and yet to take her WAEC exams billed to hold in the last term of her Form Six more than a year away.She thought,in advance, about the jeering faces of her classmates if they get to hear that she was pregnant. She thought of her no-nonsense aggressive parents.More hot tears filled and blind-folded her eyes.

"Morenike! What are doing there standing by the road?" a familiar voice called out to her from behind, jolting her out her thoughts. She quickly rumpled the pregnancy test results and threw it into the flowing deep gutter nearby.

***Culled from the novel:Deviating Minds by ©Chinedum Igwe and published by Rosedog Books, USA(2016).