THE DAYS BEFORE LIFE ITSELF
The shrill cry of a newborn tore through the night, subduing screams of pain emanating from the woman who lay on a haystack within a dimly-lit cave. She was surrounded by three women who tended to her needs as she labored through childbirth. The atmosphere was so hot and dry that despite the absence of the sun, they felt as though they were being scorched by the heat. It wasn’t like they weren’t used to it – it was the tropics after all. But the circumstances surrounding the woman’s pregnancy made the environment especially discomfiting.
There was blood everywhere. Frantic, the chief mid-wife piled packs of hay upon the woman’s parts in a bid to staunch the flow. With a sharp-ended stone, another mid-wife hurriedly tied and cut off the tube which connected mother to child. The third midwife who held the wailing baby shook in revulsion as she regarded it. It was pale and not the kind that shows promise of future darkening. The blond hair and narrow nose dashed all hopes of that. Without a doubt, this baby was the latest addition to the growing number of Oyibo.
“It cannot be heard that I helped in the birthing of…this,” the one with the baby gestured towards it in fear and disgust. “Here, have it. I need to return to my mate,” she said as she pushed the baby towards the midwife with the cutter-stone.
“Don’t be foolish!” the chief mid-wife chided.
“Yes, the birth is a shameful one. Not after all the trouble it caused this poor woman. Yet, we have done only our duty and the Great Lion will not punish us for it. Besides, he now has need for this kind.”
The other mid-wife who had barely spoken through the ordeal hissed in anger. “Do not attempt to dress his heinous acts with mild words. The Gorilla does not need. He enslaves them is what he does.”
“Say his name again without the word Great and I’d turn you in, Kuni. I shall not be killed for your transgressions!” The chief mid-wife responded in anger. “Now wrap up the child with the haycloth to enable us depart for the Great Lair this instant.”
At that moment, the bed-ridden woman raised a frail hand, her countenance betraying her futile struggle to find her voice. She had lost too much blood and appeared on the brink of death. The midwives didn’t need words to understand the woman’s request. They had each borne children and understood the overwhelming need to hold one’s offspring in one’s arms soon after birth. Their hearts went out to her but they knew that was all they could offer. The Great Lion’s law was clear.
The immediate family of anyone who birthed an Oyibo was to be killed instantly. To the Great Lion, unlike a full-fledged Oyibo who couldn’t hide in plain sight, dark skinned people who secretly bore the Oyibo trait were the worst traitors of all. With a resigned look, the chief mid-wife pulled out a stone knife and stabbed the woman in the heart.
The three women proceeded to depart from the cave, Kuni, being the only one remorseful enough to cast a backward glance at the corpse.
Nice.
And birth is a beautiful thing as part of the circle of life.