The Perfect Copy
#7
Elizabeth stepped out just as Neelo drove back in the yard. She walked over to her daughter’s car and opened the door.
“I have been calling! Where have you been? You said you want to get painkillers, for an hour now?”
Tears filled Neelo’s eyes. “I am sorry.”
“Your father went out to look for you! What’s wrong Neelo?”
Mire tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Elizabeth swallowed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I…”
“What? Talk to me. Is it a boy?”
“I am HIV positive.”
Elizabeth frowned. “What?”
“I am HIV positive.”
“Neelo! What happened?”
Neelo’s throat dried up and she looked down crying silently. Elizabeth moved closer and hugged her tightly.
“Talk to me sweety.”
“I… Kgosi gave it to me.”
“Kgosi?”
Neelo sniffed as her mother moved back. “Who is Kgosi?”
Neelo pointed at the neighbor’s house.
“You mean Amo’s husband?”
Neelo nodded. “He… last year we bumped at the mall and he gave me a lift back home. We started talking and we started a little friendship. He would take me out and buy things for me. And I started liking him that when he told me he wanted me to be his girlfriend, it was an easy yes. We started sleeping together and it went on till I got pregnant this year.”
Elizabeth moved back.
“I had an abortion and I made sure his wife found out he was cheating because I was angry.”
“Neelo!”
“But she didn’t find out it was me. He made up a lie or so I thought. He called me as I was leaving the boutique saying he tested positive for HIV. And I should test too. Turns out he had other women that he was sleeping with at the same time as me.”
Elizabth shook her head. “Neelo I…”
“I am sorry.” Her voice broke. “I am so sorry.”
“I don’t understand why? Do you lack fatherly love?”
Warm tears ran down her cheeks. “Ng ng..”
“So why?”
“I am sorry.”
“I can’t believe you are the woman Amo has been crying to me about. How am I supposed to face her? And to think she adores you so much.”
“I am sorry.”
“What other diseases did this man give you?”
‘That’s all.”
“I am very disappointed Neelo. I didn’t know somewhere down the lane, I made a mistake with how I raised you. Today you have flawed me!”
“Will you tell daddy? Please don’t tell him.”
Elizabth shook her head. “I have no choice but to send you abroad for university. Maybe Botswana is a problem.”
“But I-”
“I am done talking to you. You are going there.”
Elizabeth walked inside the house and rubbed her shaking hands against her dress headed to her bedroom. She stepped inside and put her hand over her chest shaking. Her phone rang and she quickly picked her friend’s call.
“Hello?”
“Hey, I saw your message. What is wrong?”
“Maria keeps calling asking for money. It’s worse now. She calls every other week threatening to destroy my family if I don’t. Today she called the boutique and spoke to Neelo.”
“Jesus!”
“I am scared. I am thinking of sending Neelo away for school, I will convince Bruce that we should to SA.”
“What about your businesses?”
“I will manage them while in SA. I am a doctor, I can always find another job in SA.”
“Or we can find a way to silence Maria.”
“How? I-”
“You can always pay someone to pay her a visit. To just scare her. Nothing hectic.”
“Her boyfriend knows as well.”
“Good. Target both to show that you mean business.”
***
That same evening, Neo smiled as Quinton placed a plate of food before her.
“Thank you.”
Her small phone rang and she glanced over. She jumped off the kitchen stool.
“It’s mama, let me talk to her.”
“Ok.”
Neo stepped outside picking.
“Mama.”
“Neo, where are you?”
“Ma?”
“Where are you? Because I just finished talking to Tsona and she is telling me you are there with your grandmother.”
“Yes.”
“That’s funny, because I have been staying with her for two days now. So where are you? Or are you a ghost that we can’t see?”
Neo swallowed.
“Neo? Where are you?”
“I am in Gaborone with a friend and-”
“What friend?”
“You won’t know her.”
“Neo if you are with a man tell me.”
“He is a friend.”
“Is he rich?”
“Mam?”
“Is he rich?”
“Yes. He works at the company aunty cleans for.”
“Mhmm. He is your boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Your voice got quiet.”
“He likes me.”
“And you like him?”
“Mhmm..”
Her mother sighed. “You need to be careful. Sometimes all he really wants is to sleep with you and that’s all.”
“He wants me to move to Gaborone. He will get a house for me. And pay for it in advance. He is nice.”
“I sent you to Tsona because I didn’t want you to keep witnessing the abuse. The abuse that happens when you fully depend on a man. I don’t want that to ever be you. Some men are not physically abusive, he will financially abuse you. You are young and… you are very young. I don’t want anyone to take advantage of you.”
“He is kind. He is not like… yours.”
“And do you think he can be kind till you go to UB next year? That is if you don’t fail again. From there on, the government will give you allowance. But it doesn’t work out, there is woman named Elizabeth in Gaborone. She will help you. Once you go to her house, she will have no choice but to help you.”
“Who is she?”
“She is raising your sister.”
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