If you ever need to go to the hospital for anything at all, never do it on a Monday morning. The place is more filled up than a bank hall, with patients and their relatives wearing gloomy faces and waiting patiently in the reception awaiting, do not think it is all gloomy in the waiting room , you may be surprised you could get some current gossip right here as you will always find some patients putting up a brave face and trying to appear as if they are not anxious to see the doctor, after all the waiting room is not the “Death roll” Doctor . Barrister. Miss, Tochukwu Precuios, was among those putting up a bold face and acting as if she had rather not been there , actually, she, would not have bothered to come to the hospital today except that she was tired of answering so many senseless and irrelevant questions from her clients who were always asking her what caused the bruises and injuries on her face.
Everybody likes a bit of popularity , but nobody wants to be seen as a patient in a hospital ward. And Barr. Was glad that nobody has spotted her out yet , not until that good for nothing Mallam Musa whom she did a rape case for suddenly screamed her name :
Hey Barrister, what brought you here?
I thought it was only poor people that get sick in this country too!
And you think lawyers are rich people abi? when clients like you refuse to pay your bills for legal service you receive or you think federal government is paying me one salary abi?
Tochukwu replied him with a stout and angry face to enable him get off her side , but the Mallam continued from one topic to the other, Tochukwu was so irritated that she did not hear the Nurse call out her name to go in to see the Doctor.
She finally heard her name and moved into the consulting room, where the doctor was going through the file of the last patient, the doctor was a middle age woman with a quaint look and a bi focal lenses that gave her the look of a ghost . She continued her work as if oblivious of the presence of Tochukwu and then suddenly raised her heard and gave Tochukwu a quick glance especially at the part of her face where she had an injury
Your faces is badly bruised, was it one of your clients that hit you or what?
Oh! It is just a minor domestic accident.
You mean to say your husband, battered you or you had a real domestic injury , like for real?
The Tochukwu looked at the doctor scornfully , and hissed, look here doctor : I came here to treat my injury not to be quizzed or interrogated by you, I saw the police station before coming to your place.
Sorry if it hurts my dear, but you must understand that I am a housewife like you, I suffer the same problem like so many other house wives out there in our society. As a medical doctor so many women come to me regularly for treatment, some of them have to undergo plastic and corrective surgeries , just because one beast that calls himself a husband decides to make his wife a punching bag. It is an issue that bothers me so much, due to the regularity of the problem, I can easily tell when a wife had an accident or when she has been battered by her husband. Usually when , she is battered by her husband she has sever psychological depression even if the injury is a minor one.
You are right, I am a professional woman myself I am a lawyer and every day I handle cases of women who bring up one case or the other against their husband , the problem is endemic and I believe something should be done about it.
That is quite amaze madam, you say you are a lawyer, who handles cases of women who have filed for divorce against their husband, yet you live with a husband who can so severely batter you like this?
Actually , he is not my husband, we are getting married soon, precisely by December in St . Dominic Island in the Caribbean
Are you crazy? You intend to marry a man who batters you? Is that love or what!
Love! Did I hear you say love, do you think I am a teenage who is have love blues for the first time or what,
So what will probably make you marry a beast who even before he solemnizes the relationship, has already started beating and battering you like this?
Well, I do not intend to stay in the marriage for long, if we get married this December I am sure that before next year in june I would have divorced ,
I wish you look; , That is if he does not kill you before December
you do not realize how big divorce business is do you ? My man is one of those Idiots With a “big surname” his father is a former Governor of one of the southern states, I met him in a Paris Nite club , where I was one of his “groupies” that was when I was running my LLM programme in England ,: Women, Alcohol , Cocaine, Marijuana etc something lead to the other and he has continued to persuaded me to marry him. Of course he is an unrepentant addict of everything useless : Women, Alcohol , Cocaine, Marijuana etc,I will put up with him till we get formally married in December , then I will quickly file for divorce soon after then, by then I will be free to use his big name which is like a password to get big contracts and have half of his wealth for myself if you know what I mean, hehehe
You speak like a very shrewd business woman, I just pray you realise your heart desires yourself, That is if he does not kill you before December
God Forbid Doctor, I know how to handle him ooo , I give him sweet sugar that he cannot resist.
And you think that is enough to keep him or what ?
Forget it abeg , you appear to be very lucky yourself, are you single?
Hahaha, shallow waters run deep my sister, that is the same problem I am facing at home , many people see me outside and admire me that I have open shining golden teeth’s and gap tooth in front but very few realise that it was that beast of a man that calls himself my husband that removed my front tooth , because , according to him I had the guts to go and insult one of his girlfriends,
So your husband is a womaniser also?
You are either very funny or you are just trying to make fun of me, do you know any man that does not womanise in this world?
They could be, perhaps a reverend father or something
Do not even go there girlfriend, my first two kids belong to a reverend father, who paid my fees from secondary school up through medical school, and I was not the only girl who enjoyed such sponsorship from him my dear . When he died at least 8 other children attended the burial all looking like the late catholic priest. The other priests who were not aware of his clandestine and nocturnal activities were busy saying the late priest had so many brothers that looked like him, not knowing that , they were his children
It appears you feel for this your Rev father man more than your current guy, was the priest a more correct l man than your present bobo? , like you know what I mean abi?
Go away, you are crazy , like I said , he died and life must go . My family started putting pressure on me to properly settle down and get married so I just had to settle down with the Idiot I had in my life then, because . Ever since we got married, I have become a punching bag to that idiot who will come home every night drunk.
Too bad , I think so many women are suffering the same problem in silence, we must find a way of stopping this nonsense of wife battery in our society, women must be treated with dignity and respect not like punch bags. And what we need do right now is to form an association to solve our problem together
You are saying we form an Association of Battered Housewives A.B.W or what ?
Yes we need to form an association but , the name you suggested sounds too defeatist we need a name that will inspire us to action , help us defend our common violated rights and advance our interest both indivuals and collectively
Lets call ourselves Women of Integrity or Women of faith
No that sounds too churchy, I prefer we call ourselves : Association of indomitable Housewives
That sounds aggressive
Yes , we need to pursue our goals aggressively not passively, and the name is like a caution to the world that we are not women that can be dominated or suppressed anyhow
So how will that stop the men from battering us , how will that stop domestic violence , is it that we are going to be practicing wrestling or martial arts at our meetings or what?
You cannot rule that out, although like always , violence will be ,the last resort, largely however, we shall be gathering together to develop strategies to ward off aggression from the men.
Okay, when do we start,
Maybe next week, yes next week, we will meet to elect a Caretaker Exco and formulate the vision and mission statement for our noble association
Very well then my sister in arms we shall see next week
