??Love and betrayal ??
?? ???????
??Episode 28??
❤❤❤❤❤❤
From U.S Bah ❤✌?
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 ha-rd 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, and
so she came with Effe to MATERNAL CLINIC.
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 tell her she
can’t stay long.
NURSE
She’s been sedated. She was terribly
upset, and the stress was making her
blood pressure shoot up alarmingly.
EYRAM
I see. And her baby?
The nurse smiles and shakes her head.
NURSE
Elaine doesn’t want to see the baby.
That’s what’s causing her to freak out.
The baby has been taken to
PAEDIATRICS.
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.
EYRAM
(de-eply shocked)
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 in front of him and
glares at him.
RUPERT
No, not you too! Goddamn it, Eyram! Not
you too! She lic-ks her li-ps and shakes her head,
trying to grasp the implications of what
she has seen.
EYRAM
Why, Rupe? People talking about it too?
RUPERT
Everybody! Steve even had a fight 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.
EYRAM
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.
Effe and Chris enter. Chris walks to the
cot and stare 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.
STEVE
(screaming)
You b—–d!
You d–n stupid little white f– k!!!
He pushes Eyram out of the way and
crashes a fist into Rupert’s jaw.
Doctor Henderson falls down with a cry of
pain. He holds his jaw. There is blood on
his split li-p. 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.
CAPTAIN HOLLISON
Hold it, son, hold it! Why are you
as-saulting this man?
When Steve speaks tears fall down his
face.
STEVE
He’s the father of Elaine’s son, Papa. The
DNA test just proved it.
Rupert gets up and his face is
incredulous.
RUPERT
What? That is horse crap!
Steve moves forward and throws the
sheet of paper at Rupert.
STEVE
There! Take a look at it yourself, you son-
of-a-goat! You b—–d!
Rupert takes the DNA sheet and his eyes skim it.
His look of shock and incredulity
makes the blood drain from his face.
RUPERT
Good Lord! This …this can’t be right! I d-
don’t un-derstand any of this!
Steve dashes at Rupert again with his fist raised.
STEVE
You d–n f–k! You were with her all this
while, fooling me! You two were s——g
each other, weren’t you, you piece of
white s–t!! He tries to hit Rupert again,
but Chris pushes him back.
Eyram and Effe face Rupert. Both of
them have accusing eyes.
EFFE
Jesus, Rupert! Is this true?
EYRAM
Can’t believe you’ll stoop this low, Rupe.
You’ve greatly disappointed me!
Rupert looks at them as he takes steps
back and his back comes up against the
wall.
RUPERT
(tearfully)
There must be some mistake
somewhere. 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.
CHRIS
Actually, Doctor Henderson, that baby
could be yours, although I’m sure you
had nothing to do with Elaine.
There is absolute silence in the room as
all eyes turn to Chris.
STEVE
And what do you mean by that? What do
you know, you illiterate moron?
Chris shrugs and turns to
Doctor Rupert Henderson.
CHRIS
I may be an illiterate moron like you say
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 knowing 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.
STEVE
Stop the crap, you fool. You are not
making any sense. How can that be
possible.
RUPERT
Let him land, will you?
CHRIS
It turned out the guy was uncircu-mcised
and had a lover who was white. The
white lover also had a white fiancée.
The black guy’s uncircu-mcised d–k picked
semen from the white lady who had had
s-x 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 could not hold his anger anymore.
He pounced on Chris and smacked him
on the face.
STEVE
Shut the fuc-k up, you nincompoop. What
do you know?
CHRIS
What do I know? I know you are a
cheating b—–d.
I know you did not cheat on Effe with only Elaine.
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 with my own eyes. 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
ki-ssing 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 goes
very rigid, and his eyes suddenly look
scared as he moves towards Chris.
STEVE
You shut the f–k up!
Everyone stairs at Steve expectantly.
It seemed to everyone Chris was not
making up a story. He knows exactly
what he is talking about.
EFFE
Steve?
Steve is mute. He starts to sweat profusely
but says nothing. Rupert glares
at him in confusion.
RUPERT
Aren’t you going to say anything? This is
your chance, Steve, to come clean. You
hold the key to this puzzle,
give us all the peace we deserve.
I nee-d to know what happened.
My reputation is at stake here.
STEVE
You believe this piece of s–t? 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!
CHRIS
You know I am telling the truth, Steve. My
friend is the Manager at THE LOVE BED
HOTEL in Kasoa. I saw you with ……
STEVE
Shut the f–k up, you piece of horse s–t. 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 ha-rdness
in the depths of his eyes.
CHRIS
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 nee-ded 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. Rupert still didn’t get how
the child turned out to be his.
RUPERT
And what have I got to do with this hotel,
Mr. Bawa?
Chris turns and faces Rupert, and his
face is sad.
CHRIS
I was with my friend one day at the hotel
when Steve came there with your wife,
Doc.
EFFE
(screaming)
Chris! Lord, no!
Rupert is trembling badly. He shakes his
head numbly and waves a trembling
finger at Steve.
RUPERT
Barbara? She’s having an affair with
Steve? No, no, no!
All eyes turn to Steve.
He looks away, shame-faced and
shocked. He glances at Effe, and ru-bs a
shaking hand across his face.
EYRAM
(shaking his 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?
CHRIS
I think this is what happened.
Rupert must have made love to Barbara, nine
months ago, and then Steve must have
had s-x with Barbara just after Rupert.
Steve is not circu-mcised-
STEVE
(bitter, hurt, his eyes on Effe)
What? How the hell did you know that?
RUPERT
Wait wait wait! Jesus, Chris, that’s one
hell of an as-sumption, boy!
CHRIS
It’s the only logical explanation, Doc.
If Steve is uncircu-mcised, some of your
sp-erm s, still inside Barbara, must have
been trapped inside Steve’s foreskin
when he had s-x with your wife. And
when Steve made love to Elaine,
probably on the same day, your sp-erm s,
trapped inside Steve’s foreskin, moved
from Steve into Elaine and made her
pregnant!
EYRAM
Dear me, what madness! Surely that is
not possible!
Effe begins to laugh and shake her head.
EFFE
Actually it is possible! Cases like that
have happened, and even one has been
recorded here not more than a couple of
years ago.
RUPERT
(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. Thirty minutes into the
meeting I realized I nee-ded some data
from my laptop, so I came back to my
office. 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, 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 hit
him. He remembered that incident quite well.
When he went home that day, Effe
was at the theatre and Elaine se-duced
him into sleeping with her.
STEVE
Oh no, no, no! Oh. Lord, no, no, no!
Eyram is laughing too.
EYRAM
This is some crazy s–t! Rupe’s sp-erm
gets trapped inside Steve’s
uncircu-mcised d–k and makes Elaine
pregnant? Oh, my God! That is poetic
justice of the highest caliber!
Rupert takes two quick steps forward and
suddenly lands a ha-rd fist into 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.
RUPERT
You hypocrite! You hit me because you
thought I was with Elaine, meanwhile you
are the one sleeping with my wife!
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.
CHRIS
You better not.
The Commander looks at Chris defiantly,
sees the ha-rdness in there, and then he
turns to his son with a curse.
Effe stands in front of Steve and
shakes her head wonderingly.
EFFE
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.
STEVE
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 hand and shakes it
ha-rd.
RUPERT
Thanks, partner. Thank you very much.
CHRIS
It’s cool, Boss.
He turns and runs after Effe.
Rupert is looking down at the baby, and a
hu-ge grin splits his bleeding face.
RUPERT
My son! My son!!
Eyram comes and stands beside him.
EYRAM
He’s very handsome like his father. You
finally got your child after all,
without really enjoying the act.
He looks at her laughing eyes, and they
both laugh, and stare at each other.
To be continued..