The ‘Sex-Prone’ Stigma of Her Life A True Life Story

I was resting on the rail built to surround the balcony of our house. My eyes were roaming instinctively around a flamboyant flower in front of the house. I was actually praising God in my mind for the beauty of nature. What necessitated this was when I saw different types and sizes of beautiful, colourful, properly winged butterflies dancing up and down the flower and sucking at it nectar and causing some pollen grain to fall off.

This sight of natural beauty and wonders of creation engulfed me so much that I could not notice when someone walked pass me. Suddenly, I was startled and almost fell to ground following a declaration that came heavily from the parlour right behind me.

“Yes! I said it earlier on, but you would not listen!” Immediately, I got hold of myself; I turned my attention to the scene, realizing the voice to be that of my neighbor, Mr. Obong. He’s a retired soldier with the might of a war veteran; no wonder his voice almost “tore the walls apart”. He was charging on her daughter Jane, for bringing shame to the family. Yah! She brought shame to the family, and her father rightly, chastised me. This is her story....

Gaining admission into the higher institution was indeed, mind blowing for Jane. It was her first experience away from home so you can understand why it was a life defining adventure for a teenager like her whose character and personality were molded by such liberation from parental tutelage. The awe of independence was very exhilarating and more so in a citadel of learning like Unical. In fact, with that euphoria, she got swallowed up in the fun filled packages in the campus.

In her year one, Jenny met a lot of people for the first time; she fell in love or so she thought but, she somehow managed not to go overboard at that early stage. In my opinion, one of the greatest challenges a fresher faces in the university is an emotional one. Yes! That’s the truth.

In her second year, Jane met this young man, young, brilliant and handsome guy called Henry; a man in the real sense of the world. I wouldn’t bore you my dear reader with what her heart or stomach experienced the day he asked me out, but I will tell you what happened after she told him to keep those feeling away for they are better off as friends. He tried to keep away from her but; she realized and insisted that they stick together as mere friends. He accepted, and they moved on.

It didn’t take a lot of time before she started passing the nights at the guy’s house, even though they weren’t in any serious relationship. Hmmm! Did I tell you that she was the beloved of the family? Yes, she was! She was the first child of the family and it took another seven years for a second child to come. So, she was over-pampered to a point that even her father’s strict military commands’ did not go much to me. In fact, on the contrary, she was loved more by her father.

Unfortunately, she misused the opportunity and time, and grew stubborn and sluggish. As a result of her carelessness and laisser-faire mentality she failed two classes, and when she managed to the final class, she couldn’t sit for the final exam because I was already expecting her first child with her ‘friend’ Henry. Due to the shame associated with her condition, Jane hurriedly left school to stay with her cousin in Lagos.

However, Henry had now graduated and said he wouldn’t want to have “an irresponsible care-free illiterate as a wife”. All effort to convince him that Jenny did things she did to help him secure a nice future couldn’t yield any fruit. He insisted that “the lady should go and get educated or at least some civility and carefulness”.

Jenny left Henry to her father’s house just to beg her dad, even if it means enrolling me into an Adult Education Programme to enable me gain some learning and rectitude. She cried and hoped another opportunity can come for her to make amends. It was at the point that her dad jumped into the parlour, furious and, suddenly, I was startled and almost fell to ground following a declaration that came heavily from him: “you had better stopped begging us, you useless and bloody idiot. You misused all you opportunity and had made yourself a laughing stock.

He warned her finally, “Go back to your boyfriend or whatever you call him, you no longer belong to this family and in fact, you are disowned forever”. The young girl left their house without any forwarding address. She can’t go back home, her dad has disowned her and her mum is late; her step mother doesn’t care about her at all. The step mother accused her dad of spoiling Jane with goodies. What about her boyfriend? He threw her out of his house long before now; and her aunty in Lagos is so disappointed in her.

Poor Jane must have realized that fortune lost can never be regained; meaning that she has to live with this ‘Sex-Prone’ Stigma for the Rest of her Life”

Nwaimo Chibuzor

Publisher/Editor (Trendy Gist Magazine)

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