That Night

It began two moths after Mum’s funeral. I was four months pregnant by that time. Dad couldn’t forget about Mu. Every spare moment he would think about her and Kyra. So to take his mind off things, he would do projects.

His first project was to move house. We sold all our furniture, except for Mum’s favourite armchair. We sold the house and moved in two blocks away from Meg’s house. In between school we worked together, painting the walls and furnishing the house. It took up a lot for the money we had saved up. We had nearly the same amount of rooms, but we had two spares. Dad insisted we make the rooms a nursery and a playroom. So we did.

Project two was meet some neighbors and make some friends. Meg and I soon became best friends with Maria, Dad and Danielle really like Maria’s parents, Tracy and Dave.

Project number three was because we were getting dry of money. Dad wanted to find a job too, so he would be busy during the day. Since Dad never went to university, he never got any job he applied for. He ended up being a teacher, in primary school.

Project four is the most annoying. It is to insure my baby’s health. He takes me to the hospital to give me injections to check I’m healthy, and so is the baby. I faint after injections of any kind, every single one, so that is why this project is so annoying.

Then one day, after World Aids Day he bought me a kit to check if I had HIV. I refused to do it at first. But after a week of Dad’s encouragement I decided to do it. Just for the baby. Dad pricked me while I was near the bed so when I fainted I landed on it. He sent the card to the laboratory. He said it takes about five days for it to return.

A week later the results returned. Dad stood next to me as I read it. We were by the bed. I read the results. Oh no, what about you, the baby?! Oh no! I sat down on the bed and looked up at Dad.
“I tested HIV positive.”