Complete Woman by Precious Moses

She refused, she was going to give birth like a normal woman, she would give birth to her son like a real woman.
I remember the smell of the hospital, a mix of blood, bleach, air freshener and something else.
I also remember the doctor approaching us in his sparkling white coat, our angel coming to break the good news of a male child.

Anniversary II

Even when Mama had come and asked for the test result, when she had sneered her ugly nose and told her son that I was lying, I hadnt even felt any need to reply her. Instead, the vomit had rushed to myt mouth and I got to the toilet in time.
When I came back, I saw the regret in her face before she hid it. Mama was not a bad person, this I knew from personal experience. She was just one of the women in that circle of abuse and stigmatization of barrenness.

CIRCLE

I had learned that abuse equals to love. And why wouldn’t i?
I had watched my mother wipe her tears and continue to love a man who threw insults at her regularly, a man who abused her so much that in the end, she died a timid, voiceless woman who had lived her life in the shadow of a man. My father was the god of the house and his moods dictated our lives. If he was happy, then mother would smile and talk with a loud voice. If he was angry, then mother would hide and scurry about to make sure everything was in place so he would not explode. If he was sad then mother would bear the blame for all his failures.