The man didn’t seem the least impressed by our pleas, as far as he was concerned, he was merely doing us a favour. In truth, he was starting to really piss me off.
“No, my dear, that amount won’t do it, it won’t be worth my while,” he stressed.
I turned to Aunty Meg. “What do we do now? I don’t have N20,000 here with me. Aunty Meg opened her bag and brought bout some money.
“Take this, its N5,000, add it to what you have with you,” she handed the money over to me. I counted it and added it to mine.
“Give it to doctor Bambi,” she said to me as she turned to the doctor. “Doctor, please take the N15,000, from her and go ahead with the D&C, she will pay the balance later, please..”
The man just stared at the money in my hand for a few seconds, then, almost reluctantly, he took the money from me. “Because of her, I will accept the part payment. But there’s one more thing though,” the doctor said, ”you can’t get the D&C today, you will have to come back for it!”
That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. How could he say we should make a deposit of N15,000 and still come back to do the D&C? Why was he making the whole thing like he was the one doing me a favour, like I am not paying for his services?
“But doctor, why are you making this difficult for me?” I’d thrown back at him.
“How do you mean? I don’t understand,” he returned.
“Of course, you know what I’m talking about, doctor!” I fired back.
“Why would you say I should come back again for the D&C, why can’t I get it done today?”
Aunty Meg gently held my hand, trying to calm me down. “Take it easy, Anita, let’s try and talk things over calmly,” he said to me.
“Aunty, don’t you understand what he’s saying? He’s asking me to come back again,” I turned to her. In the same instant, I turned to Doctor Bambi, “:Doctor, please, you must do this thing for me today! I must evacuate this baby from my womb because if my husband finds out about my pregnancy, he will force me to keep it. If it is about your balance, I have promised you will pay up in a matter of days. Money is not the problem.”
Doctor Bambi, just sat there, staring at me speechlessly without saying a word. He was clearly unmoved by all my drama. To be honest, I felt like slapping him hard across the face. The man was really starting to irritate me. He was acting crazy.
“Please, doctor, what can you do to help us? This is really very urgent, she needs to it get it done as soon as possible,” Aunty Meg also pleaded.
Doctor Bambi looked at me and then turned to Aunty Meg. And then he said,”
“Do you want me to tell you the truth?” I can’t do any D&C today, I have given you an appointment to come in two days time and if you’re not pleased with it, you can pick up your money and leave!”
I was getting fed up with the man. I looked at Aunty Meg and indicated to her that we should leave.
“Doctor Bambi, so you’re saying you cannot even reduce the charges or even perform the D&C right away?” Aunty Meg asked him. But the man simply shook his head.
“No, dear, I’m sorry, that’s the best I can do,” he returned. “Infact, if not for you, I would’ve asked her to come back next week. The truth is that I have a lot of commitments on my hands and squeezing into my schedule two days from now is the best I can do.”
I got up and was already on my feet, “I will see you in two days time. What time should I come?”
He looked through a big book which probably contained schedules of his activities for the week.
“Come in by 2pm, I should be able to quickly attend to you then before I go in for a major operation by 3pm,” he’d said to me.
“Thank you,” I’d retorted as I headed towards the door.
“Hold on, please, one more thing,” he said as I made to pull the door open.
“Please, remember to come with the balance of my fees, it’s very important.”
I did not even respond, I just left the office quickly, barely managing to conceal the anger browing up inside of me. Aunty Meg still stayed behind talking to him. I went out and stayed inside the car to wait for her.
When she joined me moments after she could see I was feeling terribly upset.
“Please, calm down, Anita, Doctor Bambi can be a real pain in the neck sometimes but he’s a damn good doctor, a thorough professional,” she’d tried to pacify me.
“I I don’t like him one bit! He really got under my skin!” I responded with a voice laden with anger.
“You do not have to like him, Anita, what’s important is for him to do the job he’s been paid to do and do it well,” she reminded him.
And I guess she was right. I truly didn’t need to like him. Let him do the job well and get this thing out of my womb before it becomes obvious to everyone that I’m pregnant. In two days time, I will meet with Doctor Bambi, but first, I needed to come up with ways to pay his balance and return to Aunty Meg what I took from her. Now how do I get MD to give me bulk money again,”
To be continued….
