What's her mistake ? - 31

You have to excuse me!

I have put Dammu’s words in third person. Somehow the severity of the situation did not allow me to write the exact words of Dammu. So, I am using a less emotional language.

Dammu left in a hurry with her husband’s younger brother. But the hurry was only in her intension. The enlarged stomach did not allow her to walk fast. But it was a matter of life and death. So, she followed him.

But the journey was not on a flat ground. They travelled on a very rough terrain. There were not many trees to hide. It must have been Rajastan (said Dammu) since the sunlight did not fade fast. Finally after what seemed eternal walk, they reached a dilapidated house. The wind was very hot.

“Have we come quite far?” asked Dammu after gulping the hot air inside her lungs.

“Sorry! Did I make you very tired?” asked her husband’s brother.

“Of course! You are like a wire. I am on the plumper side. Added to that, this extra weight!” she said putting her hand on her bloated tummy.

“When is the date of delivery?” he asked.

He was trying to use little light since they had not walked very far.

“I don’t know. Do you know that the lady who was coming to check me may not be a gynecologist? “ Dammu exclaimed and then started some calculation.

“What are you doing? I asked for the date!” said he.

“Give me time. I am counting” she said annoyed since her counting got disturbed. She had felt that she is about seven months pregnant.

“I have to tell you one more thing. We are not staying here. We have to go away from here. I have asked a friend to bring his vehicle. It is expected early tomorrow morning” he said and took some hay lying nearby and made a bed for her. “You sleep here. I will stay outside and lookout for him. Once he comes, we will leave. Till then if you get some rest, it is easier to reach our destination”

Without waiting for her reply he went out of the building and closed the half broken door.

Dammu slept on the hay looking up the roof. The roof had broken in some place and she could see one or two stars through the hole. The Moon must have been there, since it was the 2^nd day after the new moon day.

She could not move much. Is it because the stomach has overgrown? She wondered. Why a seven month old pregnancy have such a big tummy? Has she made a mistake in her counting? Ugh! This is the trouble in having a half knowledge doctor (or was she a midwife?)

First thing she has to do is to visit a doctor, a proper one at that. I am not like this, she thought. Little more bolder than this. But what had made her a timid woman? She was always rebelling whenever she is cornered. Has her sharp edges have become blunt? Is it because of the pregnancy, that too being held in captivity? Why did not she put extra effort to escape? Was she keen to get the baby delivered in the Haveli where her husband had been born and spent his life before he came to meet with her?

The baby, is it a boy or a girl? She had never thought about it all these months. She wished she had never become pregnant. Then she would not have been held a prisoner in the haveli.

Oh, why did I not take precaution? She thought.

There was a kick inside the wall of her womb. Oh, the baby is kicking her to tell that it is there and she has to take care of it.

Let me count the number of days she thought. She got a shock when the counting was done.

She got up with difficulty and reached for the door.

The moment she opened the door, the creaking noise made her husband’s brother get up.

“What?” he asked in a rough voice. “Any problem?”

“I think I have finished 36 weeks” she was saying. Suddenly there was a shooting pain in her stomach.

She screamed. “I think the water is breaking! The delivery is about to take place! Do something fast!”

She again screamed since the shooting pain started coming again and again.