An accurate mistake

Her name was Charlotte but I chose to call her “Harlot” because she was my husband’s mistress. The nitwit was not even up to the age of my first child but she had my husband eating out of her hands. She had Jerry wrapped around her tiny fingers and he seemed to have lost every sense of reasoning.

When I confronted Jerry about his affair, he couldn’t deny it because the telltale signs were visible. He promised to call it off but he clearly didn’t. He thought he was being discreet but he continued to flaunt his infidelity in my face. I knew it was the sex. It had to be the sex. You see, my husband has always been a virile man and it was no bother for me because I could match his energy but with menopause setting in, my hormones were all over the place and my body was reacting in different ways. I ensured that he still got his “lil something something” while I hoped that he would be supportive and understanding as my body transitioned through this phase but the reverse was the case, instead he chose to experiment with young girls until he got hooked by Harlot.

Jerry’s affair was messing with my peace of mind but I decided that I wasn’t going to let his shenanigans affect me more than it was doing already. As long as he kept his business out of my face, I will try to be ok. I won’t go to an early grave because my husband chose to be a nincompoop. I believe Jerry was happy when I stopped talking about Harlot, I chose to ignore him because I needed my sanity. It was as if my silence empowered him and gave him the license to continue to misbehave.

Jerry even went as far as inviting Harlot to our daughter’s graduation party. It was the audacity for me. I recognized her from pictures I had seen in Jerry’s phone… (the good, the bad, the very bad), all kinds of pictures if I must say. Anyway, this was my daughter’s day and I wasn’t going to let anything or anyone ruin it so I tried my best to contain my anger. I took a deep breath and exhaled.. “not today Satan”. Jerry and Harlot had their own day coming.

Read also: Entanglement

After the party, I took up the issue with Jerry and he got upset, he accused me of making a fuss about nothing. Then he grabbed a travel bag, threw in a few clothes and stormed out of the house. I sat there in utter shock not knowing how to react. This man insulted me by inviting his whore to my child’s party and the best he could do was leave the house because he was upset? Wow!
I had no idea where he went to but judging from the update on his WhatsApp status, it was obvious that he was fine and having a good time.

Work became quite hectic for me and it gave me the distraction I needed. I immersed myself in my job. It was during this period that a fellow doctor called to ask for my help in the theatre. He needed to perform a delicate and complicated surgery which happened to be my forte. I arrived his hospital inspite of my tight schedule and I met the mother of the patient, she fell on her knees as soon as she knew that I was the surgeon they were expecting and she begged me to do everything possible to save her son’s life. I gave her my word that her son was going to be fine. When I checked the boy in the ICU, I was happy that his case wasn’t so critical after all. A little nip and tuck here and there and he will be as good as new but his girlfriend on the other bed wasn’t as lucky. She was actually the one that needed the surgery. The poor girl had been sedated so she was sleeping. I turned around to examine her and I saw her face… lying helplessly on the bed was Harlot. Karma! Oh karma, you do have a sense of humor now don’t you?.

In the course of my enquiries, I learnt that Harlot had taken Jerry’s car to teach her boyfriend how to drive, they had an accident and she was badly injured because she wasn’t wearing a sit belt. She had an injury to her spine that required surgery, it was delicate and risky because one little mistake and she will be paralysed. I have done this type of surgery a number of times. I could even do it with my ‘eyes closed and hands tied’. I wasn’t called the best for nothing but I’m sure you will agree with me that sometimes even the best surgeon can make a little mistake especially in peculiar situations like this one.

On the day of the surgery, I stood with the other doctors and watched as Harlot was wheeled into the theatre. I didn’t know whether to be happy or feel sorry for her. As much as I knew that her fate was in my hands, I also remembered the Hippocratic Oath (the medical oath) and the Latin words “primum non nocere” kept on ringing in my head. This was one of the promises within that medical oath that says “first, do no harm”. At this point I was worried about my state of mind because I knew I wasn’t fit to perform this surgery.

Just before the anaesthetic administered the injection, Harlot saw me for the first time and I could see the confusion on her face. She beckoned on one of the doctor’s and whispered something to him while looking in my direction. Then I heard the doctor tell her, “oh that’s Dr. Inna Jerry-Abbi”.

As soon as she heard my name, Harlot went into shock and suffered a massive heart attack. We did our best to resuscitate her but we lost her eventually.

I still ask myself what I would have done on that operating table and I can’t answer the question. The good thing is that I won’t have to carry her death on my conscience.

Harlot was interred. Her boyfriend got better and moved on with another girl. And Jerry? Oh he eventually camera home, looking sober and asking for my forgiveness. I wasn’t going to have any of that. I already had all his things packed in bags. I told him to get lost and wait to hear from my lawyer. I don’t eat leftovers.