AncilChapter 18: The Unwelcomed Visitor
There was now a collective silence. I had no idea what was going through Kate’s mind but I was trying to come up with all the ways that I could have explained my intimate episode with Samantha. I was obviously the father and I didn’t want Kate to know, at least not yet
I gulped.
“That’s amazing!!” Kate said. “You’re going to be a mother.”
“That’s the problem,” Samantha started. “I may not get the chance to be a mother.”
“What do you mean?” Kate asked.
“The doctor told me there is a 40% possibility that I could die during childbirth. He told me that I should consider getting an abortion but I don’t — I don’t know what to do.” Samantha’s voice broke a little.
“That’s horrible. And what does Jonathan have to say?” Kate asked.
“Jonathan insists that he’s not the father. I can’t even remember who the last person I had sex with was.”
“I think that Jonathan just doesn’t want to take ownership of the baby and is taking advantage of your memory loss,” Kate said.
“I guess. But I have this strange feeling that it wasn’t him. I think the father is someone else. I just can’t recall.”
I gulped again and started sweating more than I should have in the Tobago sun.
“Well, whoever he is I think he needs to man up and take ownership.” Kate looked at me and I felt somewhat awkward and tense as if she knew it was me. I wasn’t sure why she looked at me but I had hoped that it was for support.
“Yeah, but that’s the least of my problems now. I have to decide if to abort my baby or risk dying.”
“You should abort it,” Kate said. “It’s painless; the baby won’t feel a thing.”
“You can’t abort it!” I shouted, louder than I should have. Even though I was not going to admit that I was the father, I still had a deep connection with the pregnancy since I caused it and whatnot
“Why not?” Kate asked me, stern-faced.
“Because it’s wrong,” I said.
“So you think I should risk my life for this baby?” Samantha asked.
“Yes. There’s a 60% chance that you could live. Are you really going to kill a baby for 40%?” I said.
“Abortion isn’t murder,” Kate said. “It doesn’t take away life, it prevents it.”
“Yeah, the doctor said that too,” Samantha said.
“You should think about it,” Kate said. “Don’t let us tell you what to do. It’s your life.”
“I will.”
“Anyway, talk to you later. We’re not really home right now,” Kate said.
“Where are you guys?” Samantha asked.
“We’re in Tobago,” Kate said.
“I don’t know where that place is but I’m sure it’s wonderful.”
“It is. Right now Ron and I are staring at the Atlantic Ocean on top of a cannon,” Kate said.
“The Atlantic Ocean is on top of a cannon?” Samantha asked, confused.
“No, we’re on top of a cannon watching the Atlantic Ocean,” Kate laughed.
“Oh. Sounds like fun. I hope Ron is behaving himself on that cannon,” Samantha joked.
“I always behave myself, especially on top of cannons,” I joked despite the tension welled up inside of me.
“Good. I’ll talk to you guys later,” Samantha said. “Visit soon.”
“Bye,” Kate said.
“Bye Kate.” Samantha paused for a while and then said in a very flirtatious manner. “Bye Ron.”
The way she told me bye caught me off guard but I just said bye as though it didn’t.
Samantha hung up the phone and as soon as she did I said, “She’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, I’m not worried. Samantha is a really strong woman.”
“Very strong,” I emphasized.
“I really don’t get your relationship with Samantha,” Kate said.
“What’s there not to get?”
“I don’t get how you two managed to be friends for such a long time without hooking up. If I was a guy I’d fuck her twice a day,” Kate said, sounding very un-Katelike.
“Since when do you curse?” I asked, somewhat surprised at her choice of words.
“I don’t curse unless I need to. I just found the word ‘fuck’ to be the most ideal verb to use in that particular sentence. It’s just grammar.”
“Well fuck,” I said.
“Since when do you curse?” Kate asked.
“I don’t curse unless I need to. I found the word ‘fuck’ to be the most ideal verb to use in that particular sentence. You know, grammar and whatnot,” I repeated.
“Nice explanation but it wasn’t a verb in your case,” Kate laughed.
“You want to go on an adventure?” I asked Kate quickly changing the topic in order to capitalize a bit more on our time together.
“What kind of adventure?”
“Well, since we’re in Tobago I say we look for that Tobago man your mother always wanted to meet.”
“Oh my God, you remembered that?” Kate asked, sounding a bit surprised.
“Of course, I remembered,” I boasted.
“I was thinking about it but I didn’t think that there would have been enough time.”
“We can make time. We can walk around and find the most gorgeous-looking man and tell him all about your mother.”
“I don’t think that we have to go very far,” Kate said, tilting her head to the right where a man stood all by himself looking out into the ocean. He seemed to be in his very own zone, isolated from the mass of humanity surrounding him. But he was gorgeous. I know men aren’t supposed to be gorgeous but he was. Long flowing dreadlocks lean muscles and freshly marked facial hair were just some attributes that contributed to his model physique. I could have definitely seen why Kate picked him.
“Well, let’s go then,” I said, quickly jumping off the cannon.
Kate followed after with me leading the way but she took the lead the closer we got to the man.
“Hey,” Kate said to the man, upbeat.
The man turned and looked at both Kate and me with an expression of scorn and annoyance. He pursed his lips and then refocused his attention to the ocean without even verbally responding to Kate’s “hey”.
After a couple of seconds of awkward silence, that seemed to outweigh the noises surrounding us Kate put out a hand as a friendly gesture for him to shake it and said, “My name is Katherine and this is my boyfriend Ronald.”
“Kyle Keegan,” the man said monotonously, without even looking at us. He proceeded to take out a cigarette and smoke.
“You’re the second handsome Trini man that I met with the name Kyle,” Kate said. “That’s pretty awesome.”
“What you want for that? A trophy?” Kyle Keegan asked rudely.
“Ummmm. No,” Kate said, sounding unsure. “I was just trying to break the ice since we only just met and all.” She seemed rather nervous from the shakiness in her voice as though she was somewhat intimidated by him.
