Aunt Inayo laughed so hard, wondering why her niece had suddenly become so lazy. It was harmattan and the winds laughed harder than aunt Inayo. She rushed to the other end of the room to help Ana close her window.

"Who knows if she has not caught a cold, this girl will never look out for herself. The next minute, she'll be shivering like a kitten in a bowl of water." Aunt Inayo said to herself.

Ana slowly walked back into her room, her aunt's eyes followed her every step. "How are you?" She asked a troubled Ana, who will rather choke on okra soup than answer that question.

"I am okay, it is probably fever or some reaction to what I ate the night before."

"You should tidy up If you must take your bath before we set out for shopping."

"Aunt I can't, I really don't feel so well."

"You just said you are okay, what is it?" Aunt Inayo asked with so much concern in her eyes, it looked like she was going to cry.

"Where's mother?" Ana asked, looking around her as if her mother was a mice that can fit into a corner.

"Ana, you haven't answered my question. What is wrong with you?"

"Aunt I don't know. You just go to the market, I will tidy up and I will be fine. So where's mother?"

"She left for work early, she said there are some documents she needs to print out as early as possible." Aunt Inayo finally answered but Ana's mind was in a distant place.

"Ana, Ana, Ana!"

"Oh sorry aunt, I didn't get that. What did you say?"

"You need to rest your head. Stay away from your phone if you must. I will just go out now before the sun gets too hot. I don't like bargaining under the scourging sun, the market women who are use to it, may trick me into buying at more expensive prices than I should.

"Ah, go o. You can't be buying all of those listed items when it is noon. Please don't forget to get the blender, we can't use that broken one anymore."

"Hahaha, it is the first thing on this list. Have you forgotten that we took our time to write out everything? I will even be back home before you know it." Aunt Inayo said as she shut the door behind her.

Ana heaved a sigh of relief, and buried her face in her blue pillow. It seemed like an invitation for all the thoughts she'll have to deal with. Her mother had gotten married to her father at the age of twenty two because she was pregnant for him, and not because they were in love. Her mother went for her friend's birthday party, only to have found herself in bed with her friend's boyfriend who wouldn't take his eyes off her the whole time.

According to the story she was told by aunt Inayo, her mother was just trying to find herself and was influenced by friends who had really gone wild at that time. So when he came to her and made advances, she didn't even realize he was only after her body. She just wanted to start living like her friends, not minding if it was her friend's boyfriend or not. As soon as Ana came into the world, he left little Ana and her mother.

Ana who had never felt the love of a father, was often carried away by male attention. Indeed Ana was honey skinned, her long attractive legs carried her perfect shape so well that she always got a free ride to wherever. Her white teeth casted a spell when she smiled. She was too pretty to be ignored by male folks.

Like her mother, Ana went to Lizzy's birthday party. A friend she met in her second year at the University. Lizzy was born into a wealthy family so she happened to have friends of the same social class.

When Lizzy introduced Ana to the senator's son, he had winked at her and asked her out on a date. Ana saw nothing wrong with the fact that he wanted their outings kept a secret from Lizzy. For whatever reason, it felt good that her friend wasn't in her business. The last time she had sex with him was the other night she lied to her mother that the driver was stopped by the policemen, luckily for all the passengers they were asked to run, so she trekked home. That was a lie; if only her mother knew that on that very night she was in a man's car moaning and calling out his name, her mother would have committed suicide.

Miji had refused using protective. He said he wanted to feel her and she was so dumb to have let him. Her dream came to mind again, she almost screamed. She remembered the pharmacy where Lizzy had gotten pregnancy test slip from. She looked at the wall clock in her room, it was just 10am. Should she get going immediatly, she'll get back before aunt Inayo returns. She jumped out of bed, to hell with her other thoughts.

Her last year in the university and this happens? "Oh God, oh God, no!" She was restless. Especially when the doctor had said: "you are three months pregnant, and you don't look it! You do have a great body my dear." The pregnancy test slip showed a negative test result, so Doctor Afan was her only option and looking at him now, she felt shackles tighten around her knees. She only had sex with Miji once, and that was a month ago. Three months pregnant?!

™Joy Okwori.