Day 26

Effe wakes up with an effort.

It had been a wonderful dinner with Chris the previous day, and although she had enjoyed herself so much, she had not been able to get rid of the sight of Elaine's 'strange' baby.

She had told Chris about it, and he had laughed so hard that tears had come into his eyes, but he had not made any comment on it. She takes a shower and arrives at the hospital with Eyram, who is picking up a prescription from Dr. Henderson for Junior. Chris drove them because he would later take Effe to the Ameyaw-Eden Clinic.

Effe had told Eyram about Elaine's baby, and she had been sad and suggested maybe Effe was exaggerating. She wants to see the baby herself, so she came with Effe to the Maternal Wing. When she goes to Elaine's ward, she finds her asleep. She is connected to some machines that are beeping.

A nurse smiles at her and tells her she cannot stay long.

"She's been sedated. She was terribly upset, and the stress was making her blood pressure shoot up alarmingly," the nurse explains.

"I see. And her baby?"

The nurse smiles and shakes her head.

"Elaine doesn't want to see the baby. That's what is causing her to freak out. The baby has been taken to the paediatrics section."

Eyram thanks the nurse and goes out.

She quickly takes the elevator down to Level 3 and enters the paediatrician's zone.

She asks to see Rupert, and one of the nurses takes her to the Wards.

When she enters the room, she finds there are quite a group of people present.

Steve's parents, Elaine's friends Rebecca and Sheena, Dr. Rupert Henderson and some nurses.

Steve's mother is crying against her husband who is looking shell-shocked. Rupert is leaning against a wall at the far end. His sleeves are rolled to his elbows, and his tie is undone. He looks very flustered.

Eyram walks to the crib and looks down at the baby. He is very handsome, and he is sleeping peacefully.

Try as much as she could, Eyram cannot stop the great shock on her face.

Oh, my dear Lord!

Effe had been right. Elaine's baby is not only white, he looks exactly like Rupert Henderson. Eyram feels her heart beating with great disappointment.

She shakes her head and walks towards Rupert. She stops and glares at him.

"No, not you too! Goddamn it, Eyram! Not you too!"

She licks her lips and shakes her head, trying to grasp the implications of what she has seen.

"Why, Rupe? People talking about it too?"

"Everybody! Steve even fought with me! Now I've given them blood samples to send to the lab for a DNA test! I don't know how Elaine's baby came to resemble me so much, but believe me, I had nothing to do with that girl! And if you don't believe me then I guess I never really knew you at all!"

She reaches out and touches his arm, and smiles wanly.

"I believe you, Rupe. But you must admit it is one hell of a coincidence. That baby looks so much like you it's absolutely uncanny."

The door opens suddenly; Effe and Chris enter. Chris walks to the cot and stares at the baby boy. He touches the baby's cheek. Just then the door explodes outward, and Steve enters.

There is a day's growth of beard on his face. His white shirt is stained, and his eyes are bloodshot from lack of sleep. He is holding a green sheet of printed paper, and his face is livid. He rushes at Rupert and begins to shout.

"You bastard! You damn stupid little fuck!"

He pushes Eyram out of the way and crashes a fist into Rupert's jaw.

Doctor Henderson falls with a cry of pain. He holds his jaw. There is blood on his split lip. Steve screams and raises his leg to slam it down on Rupert's face, but Chris grabs Steve and shoves him back savagely. Steve tries to move forward, but his father leaves his mother and grabs him by the arm.

"Hold it, son, hold it! Why are you assaulting this man?" Captain Hollison asks with confusion and horror.

When Steve speaks tears fall down his face.

"He's the father of Elaine's son, Papa. The DNA test just proved it!"

Rupert gets up and his face is incredulous.

"What? That is horse crap!"

Steve moves forward and throws the sheet of paper at Rupert.

"There! Take a look at it yourself, you son-of-a-goat! You bastard!"

Rupert takes the DNA sheet and his eyes skim it. His look of shock and incredulity makes the blood drain from his face.

"Good Lord! This ...this can't be right! I d-don't understand any of this!"

Steve dashes at Rupert again with his fist raised.

"You damn fuck! You were with her all this while, fooling me! You two were screwing each other, weren't you, you piece of shit!"

He tries to hit Rupert again, but Chris pushes him back.

Eyram and Effe face Rupert. Both of them have accusing eyes.

"Jesus, Rupert! Is this true?" Effe asks, horrified.

"Can't believe you'll stoop this low, Rupe. You've greatly disappointed me!" Eyram says, and there is a hint of pain in her voice.

Rupert looks at them as he takes steps back and his back comes up against the wall.

"There must be some mistake somewhere," he says tearfully. "I've never had anything to do with Elaine! That child is not mine! Not mine!"

Chris speaks whilst still facing Steve, who is trembling with fury.

"Actually, Doctor Henderson, that baby could be yours, although I'm sure you had nothing to do with Elaine in the making of the baby in the true sense of the act."

There is absolute silence in the room as all eyes turn to Chris.

"And what do you mean by that?" Steve asks scathingly. "What do you know, you illiterate moron?"

Chris shrugs and turns to Doctor Rupert Henderson.

"I may be an illiterate moron like he says but that does not make me stupid, you know? I read somewhere about a black couple who had a white baby. The man was so angry he filed for divorce because he was sure his wife cheated on him. The lady, aware she had known no other man since she got married, decided to defend her reputation. After a fierce battle at law, it was established that the child was indeed not for the man but the wife had not cheated either."

"Stop the crap, you fool!" Steve says angrily. "You are not making any sense. How could that be even remotely possible?"

"Let him land, will you?" Rupert growls.

"It turned out the guy was uncircumcised and had a lover who was white. The white lover also had a white fiancée," Chris continues with a chuckle. "The black guy's uncircumcised dick picked semen from the white lady who had had sex with her white fiancée the same day and impregnated his wife with it. Funny huh? I'm pretty sure something similar happened in this situation. Someone here is not telling the truth. I know that for a fact. Does the Love Bed Hotel in Kasoa ring a bell to anyone here?"

Steve cannot hold his anger anymore. He pounced on Chris and tries to punch him, but Chris moves back effortlessly and pushes the angry man back.

"Shut the fuck up, you nincompoop. What do you know?" Steve screamed.

"What do I know? I know you are a cheating bastard. I know you did not cheat on Effe with only Elaine," Chris says calmly. "There was someone else and that had resulted in this whole mess. You were with that woman at the Love Bed Hotel in Kasoa. I saw you, Steve. You don't have to be literate to see what's going on when you two drive all the way to Kasoa to be together. I saw you kissing her when you left the hotel. You better own up and clarify the situation. You know exactly how Elaine ended up with a white baby!"

At the mention of the hotel, Steve freezes, and his eyes suddenly look scared as he moves toward Chris.

"You shut the fuck up!" he hisses but with little conviction.

Everyone stares at Steve expectantly. It seemed to everyone Chris is not making up a story. He knows exactly what he is talking about.

"Steve?" Effe asks softly.

Steve is mute. He starts to sweat profusely but says nothing. Rupert glares at him in confusion.

"Aren't you going to respond?" Rupert asks. "This is your chance, Steve, to come clean. You hold the key to this puzzle; give us all the peace we deserve. I need to know what happened. My reputation is at stake here."

"You believe this piece of shit?" Steve asks nastily. "The guy just wants attention and is spewing forth bullshit and you of all people fall for it? God, and I thought you were smart!"

"You know I am telling the truth, Steve," Chris says calmly. "My friend is the Manager of that hotel in Kasoa. I saw you with…"

"Shut the fuck up, you piece of horse shit. If you know what's good for you, you will get out of here right now before I break every bone in your body!"

Chris breaks into a hearty laugh enjoying every minute of Steve's discomfort and fear. Chris turns to him, and there is hardness in the depths of his eyes.

"You wanna know what happened here, right? I think everybody has a right to know how this unpleasant situation arose."

At the mention of Kasoa, Rupert suddenly remembers the toll booth ticket he had found in his home and Barbara explaining that she needed to cool off and so drove around. He remembers how tensed she was when he asked about the toll ticket and the fact that she lied to him about her whereabouts when he called her that day.

"And what have I got to do with this hotel, Mr. Bawa?" Rupert asks as the beginning of a frightening suspicion begins to form in his mind.

Chris turns and faces Rupert, and his face is sad.

"I was with my friend one day at the hotel when Steve came there with your wife, Doc."

"Chris! Lord, no!" Effe screams.

Rupert is trembling badly. He shakes his head numbly and waves a trembling finger at Steve.

"Barbara? She's having an affair with Steve? No, no, no!"

All eyes turn to Steve. He looks away, shamefaced and shocked. He glances at Effe and rubs a shaking hand across his face.

Eyram is looking puzzled and shakes her head.

"I don't get it, Chris. Even if Steve is having an affair with Barbara, as you claim, how does that make Elaine pregnant?"

"I think this is what happened. Rupert must have made love to Barbara about nine months ago, and then Steve must have had sex with Barbara just after Rupert. Steve is not circumcised…"

Steve turns bitter and hurt eyes on Effe first, and then glares at Chris.

"What? How the hell did you know that?"

"Wait wait wait! Jesus, Chris, that's one hell of an assumption, boy!" Rupert says, his voice horrified.

"It's the only logical explanation, Doc. If Steve is uncircumcised, some of your sperms, still inside Barbara, must have been trapped inside Steve's foreskin when he had sex with your wife. And when Steve made love to Elaine, probably on the same day, your sperms, trapped inside Steve's foreskin, moved from Steve into Elaine and made her pregnant! Simple as that," Chris says with a tiny smile playing around his sensuous lips.

"Dear me, what madness!" Eyram exclaims. "Surely that is not possible!"

Effe begins to laugh and shake her head.

"Actually, it is possible, Rammy," she says, barely able to contain her laughter. "Cases like that have happened, and even one has been recorded here, in this hospital, not more than a couple of years ago."

Rupert is shaking his head with wonder.

"Yeah, yeah, that must be it! There was a time, way back in February, almost ten months ago, when Barbara visited me here. I had just returned from a trip and had missed her a lot. We made love in the office that day, but then I had to go into a meeting," he says thoughtfully. "Thirty minutes into the meeting I realized I needed some data from my laptop, but when I was coming back for it, I saw Steve leaving my office rather hurriedly. He was tucking in his shirt as he went. It was night, and I remember wondering about a possible affair between them because Barbara looked flustered when I entered the office. I'm sure they had a quickie that night in my office, and I almost caught them! I'll be damned!"

Steve is shaking his head, and there is devastation on his face. He looks absolutely crushed. The reality finally hits him. He remembers that incident quite well. When he went home that day, Effe was at the theatre and Elaine seduced him into sleeping with her.

"Oh no, no, no! Oh. Lord, no, no, no!" he groans with great despair.

Eyram is laughing too.

"This is some crazy shit!" Eyram cries. "Rupe's sperm gets trapped inside Steve's uncircumcised dick and makes Elaine pregnant? Oh, my God! That is poetic justice of the highest calibre!"

Rupert takes two quick steps forward and suddenly lands a hard fist on Steve's face, right into his nose. Steve yelps with pain as blood spurts from his nose. Rupert also shouts with pain because his knuckles hurt from the blow.

"You hypocrite! You hit me because you thought I was with Elaine, meanwhile you are the one sleeping with my wife!" Rupert screams into Steve's face.

Steve sinks to the floor, clutching his bleeding nose, and his father growls and makes a move for Rupert, who retreats with fear. The Commander draws back his fist to hit Rupert, but Chris steps forward and glares at him.

"You better not," Chris says calmly. "Didn't see you reacting when your son hit the Doc."

The Commander looks at Chris defiantly, sees the hardness in there, and then he turns to his son with a curse. Effe stands in front of Steve and shakes her head wonderingly.

"Steve! Elaine wasn't enough? You were cheating on me with Barbara, a married woman too? The wife of your colleague? My God, did I know you at all?"

Steve falls to his knees in front of Effe and grabs her legs.

"Effe, honey, please, please, please forgive me! I'm so sorry, baby! Effe, please, you know I never loved any of them! I don't know what came over me. Please find some space in your heart and forgive me. I love only you. This is all a great punishment for me. Please, we can have our life back! All that is in the past. I'm never going to look at another woman again. I give you my word!"

Without a word, Effe turns and leaves the Ward. Rupert grips Chris's hand and shakes it hard.

"Thanks, partner. Thank you very much!"

"It's cool, boss," Chris says.

He turns and runs after Effe.

Rupert is looking down at the baby, and a huge grin splits his bleeding face.

"My son! My son!"

Eyram comes and stands beside him.

"He's very handsome like his father. You finally got your child after all, without really enjoying the act," she says mischievously.

He looks at her laughing eyes, and they both laugh, and stare at each other.