THE BABY FACTORY
Enobong was amazed at the way her son looked like her father’s carbon copy, he smiled like The elder Bassey , she named him, Bassey junior , after her father , she wondered what her life would have been if she was back at Eket . Each time she heard a knock her heart ran to the sky, she wondered if it was the adootors , who have come to collect her baby . Mary had told her how she was treated like a an animal , when she refused to give up her first baby , that Madam Gold would let you keep the baby for three months, so it could suckle lactation milk , then when one least expected they would pluck the baby from the mother , and live her in emptiness and sorrow .
There was a knock at the door Eno panicked and got on her feet , baby Bassey was three months old, and according to Mary’s story it was old enough for them to collect . She went to the bolted door .
“Who is there?” She asked more like a speech more than a question.
“It’sis me iMery and Ekaite.” Mary said . The two could hear Eno struggling to open the door. Finally the door was opened and they got in.
“How is your baby doing Eno?”
Ekaite asked in Ibibio language.
“What are people talkingl? You people shoulu nor sell me oh!”
Mary said In broken English . Eno and Ekaite laughed hilariously at her, Mary was a source of laughter in times of pains , to the two girls .
“Your English is very terrible Mary, how many times will I correct you?
Ekaite who was outspoken said to Mary . Ekaite was five months gone into her pregnancy, she was tired of fighting her abusers , she shared a room with Mary and two other girls.
” Enobong are we going to remain in this place ? They’ll come and take Bassey away from you, I don’t want to give birth to my baby here .”
Mary Who was heavily pregnant watched silently as the ladies discussed.
“I don’t know if I can try an escape again, I don’t know how we can get out of the forest , we’re at the middle of no where .”
Enobong said .
“I don’t want to give birth to my baby here , Mary you shouldn’t accept slavery, they’ve taken four of yoid babies, will you give them the one you’re carrying?”
Mary shook her head.
“Then Eno you must help us to escape so we can report to the police, see how girls are dying like cows in abattoir, last week Grace died!”
Eno was not aware of who Grace was, since many ladies were coming and going.
“Who is Grace? ”
Enobong asked .
“Oh she’s a girl at the next room to mine, she gave birth last week, ans6 wouldn’t stop bleeding, Nurse Amara wanted her to be taken to the hospital, but madam Gold refused, nurse Amara tried her best , but she died ,she was buried behind the clinic , and her baby was taken to Madam Gold’s orphanage home in town .”
Eno was saddened, there was a knock at the door that startled the girls.
“Who is there ? Eno asked.
” Come and open the door Eno! I need to take blood samples!”
She screamed angrily. Eno got up and opened the door.
“What are you people planning here ? How many times, has Madam Gold warned you girls not to meet in secret ? I am going to report you.”
Nurse Amaka took the blood sample of baby Bassey. She went to Madam Gold’s office.
“Hello madam I have a report to make.”
Mrs Ukamaka looked up from her phone, she was engrossed on a St of a woman who was kidnapped and forced to bear children for her kidnapper , for thirteen years .
“What is it Amaka, my time is precious to me !”
She said displeased, by Amaka’s disruption.
” Madam I think Eno and her friends are planning another escape.”
Mrs Ukamaka returned her focus back to the screen of her phone.
“How do you know that?”
Amaka was uneasy about Madam Gold’s demeanor .
“Well Madam I walked on them discussing something, behind a locked door .”
Mrs Ukamaka didn’t take her face off the screen of her phone .
“So you’re reporting them because, you heard them discussing? How are they going to scale a twelve feet fence? ”
She asked. Nurse Amaka was confused, she made to leave the room when Madam Gold called her back.
“Call Emaka for me .”
When Emaka came she asked him to put an eye on Eno, that if she escaped again ,his life and that of his colleague at the gate would go for it.
“Hello madam Commissioner, how are you doing? ”
“I am fine madam Gold, this is a fine time for me to have, my babies, my husband has traveled out for a course.”
Madam Gold was talking to a buyer on the phone.
“Yeah Madam we have the babies now , two girls and a boy”
“What are their genotypeS?”
She asked.
” The boy is AA and the girl is AS”
The commissioner loved that combination, because she was AS her husband was AA, the babies would have same blood groups as them .
The commissioner was calling from Lagos, she had been married for fifteen years without any child. So She was introduced to Madam Gold , who advised her to pretend as if she was pregnant, that she shouldn’t let even her husband to know, that her pregnancy was fake, she had deceived everyone one , feigning to be pregnant.
“So how much are the children for ?
She asked .
“Madam it’s seven million , three million for the girl, for million for the boy .”
The commissioner was not comfortable with the price .
“Madam Gold did you manufacture the babies yourself? Why are the prices so high?”
She asked disappointed.
“Madam if you know how much we give to our contacts who bring us the mothers and how much we pay the village youths were we farm the babies and how much we spend on treating the mothers … If you’re not ready we have…”
The commissioner cut her off
“Send me your account number I’ll send you one point five million.”
For madam Gold it was gain, she collected the money amd started arrangement to take late Grace’s daughter and Eno’s son .
Eno was having a feeling that something was wrong , she kept going round the compound looking for a way to escape . Wherever she went she saw the eyes of Ugochukwu and Magnus watching her.
One cold morning after I had rained heavily , madam Gold came with Nurse Amaka and Magdalene and Magnus, they wrestled Bassey away from Eno, she fought them furiously like a mad woman , there was no way she was letting her son go to forever land . Magnus smacked her at the middle of the head with his huge hands , she slumped in a pile of sleep . The baby was crying for it’s mother , madam Gold drove away with the baby , Nurse Magdalene was acting as the nanny of the baby , they drove to Onitsha where lay Grace’s daughter was picked and they drove to Lagos.
Nobody suspected the two women, because madam Gold dressed like a rich nursing other, then Magdalene her helper , they drove to Lagos and the babies were handed over to the commissioner , she took the babies home, while her husband had travelled to England for a course , and claimed she had bore children, she hide the babies, for Two months indoors , feeding them baby food and water .
Eno woke up from her unconscious state , several hours after her baby was taken, her head hurt as if she was hit with a mallet, she had forgotten why her head hurt, but the pains and headache was unbearable . She began to look for her baby.
“Where is my baby! My baby !
She was banging at the door of her room, they had locked the door from outside. She cried so much that her head ache .
