Where is the Baby?
Three days ago, she climbed up this steep slope, hands akimbo, a small bag strapped to her back and her stomach heavily distended. By the time she reached the gates to Murang'a General Hospital, her feeble legs, tired of carrying the nine month load gave up the fight and she crawled the rest of the journey to the casualty department.
Today, in the scorching noon sun, she walks clumsily out of the hospital gates. Her right hand clutches her stomach as the left holds tightly onto the scarf covering her head. Her stomach is deflated. A middle aged woman walks beside her carrying the small baby bag and a red basin. They drag their feet forlornly down the slope barely speaking to each other. But, where is the baby?
A man crosses over to them and offers the young woman a bottle of water. He holds her waist to stop her from collapsing under the pain she carries in her heart. The stitched hole on her stomach threatens to burst as she wails to her husband, "Where is the baby?". The man, with tearful eyes, looks at her straight on the face and retorts, "They disposed of it. Yes, the hospital did."
The trio make it to the bus station. One of the Namu touts spots them. He is a neighbour back at Kahuro. He secures them the front seats in the matatu for the women. The man sits behind the driver holding the baby clothes bagful and the red basin. He's lost in thought. The tout looks at them empathetically and asks without asking, 'Where is the baby?'
The journey to Kahuro is uneventful except for the huge bumps that make the woman with a stitched stomach wince in pain each time they bump. She can't quite tell if the pain is from the stomach or the heart which keeps screaming, 'Where is the baby?' The kind tout drops them right at their gate. A lazy neighbour minding her business at the road side waves at them gayly and shouts, "Thank God you're back mama Tess. I'll drop by to say hi to the new visitor tomorrow!" She saunters off to another neighbour but not before looking back at the trio and asking herself rather loudly, "Where is the baby?"
Home at last. Tim and Tess,their little babies, have been waiting for them eagerly. They knew they had a new sister coming. They rush to meet them at the gate with screams of jubilation. "Mama! Papa! Welcome back home! Ah...where is the baby?"
