The Surprise (HS)
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The Surprise 'Come with me please, Mich.' Tanya didn't know what she was asking. If anyone saw us and told my parents that they had seen me going into a Family Planning Clinic I was dead. 'Look Tan, you got yourself into this mess, don't expect me to get you out of it. Anyway, are you sure that you are pregnant?' '99%. I was due the day after the party and that's two week ago. Come with me please, I really do need some moral support. Please, Mich, say yes. It's dark by four o'clock and we can slip in then without anyone seeing us. Against my better judgement I agreed and at 4.15 that afternoon we slunk into the clinic after checking that there was no-one who knew us in the vicinity. The receptionist looked up. 'What can I do for you?' As it was Tanya who wanted the test, she answered. 'We've come for pregnancy tests.' 'We,' I hissed. 'It's you that needs the test not me.' The receptionist appeared not to have heard and handed us two forms. 'Just fill these in and the nurse will be with you in a few minutes.' Tanya grabbed the forms and hurried to the table at the back of the room with me in close pursuit. 'What do you mean by saying that I want a test? I'm not the one that's pregnant. You can go and tell them that you made a mistake and that you will be the only one having the test.' Tanya slipped into her most persuasive mood. 'But, Michelle, it is so much less embarrassing if there are two of us and it's not like you have an examination or anything and no-one else will know. Please, Michelle, please.' Call me stupid or a coward or anything else that you please but I went along with her, filled in the form and had the test. The nurse took the two samples away and returned about ten minutes later. 'I have good news for one of you two young ladies.' I smiled, a self satisfied smile Tan was pregnant and it served her right for getting me here and tricking me into having the test, 'Tanya Price, I can tell you that your test proved negative and you are definitely not having a baby. Michelle Roberts, I am afraid you are not so lucky, your test is positive.' This was impossible. She must have got the tests mixed up or Tanya had played a cruel trick on me and switched the sample. I complained to the nurse and she kindly repeated the tests but the results did not alter. I was pregnant. Devastated did not even begin to describe how I felt and it would have been easy for me to take my own life at that time. Fortunately, the nurse took me to one side and showed me that whilst this would be difficult, it was not the end of the world. Thousands of other girls had been in the same position and had survived and any had overcome their difficulties and reached the top of their chosen fields. However, she stressed that I must tell my parents about my predicament. 'No way,' I thought but realised that they were going to find out sooner or later. 'O.K. I'll tell them before it starts to show but not just now.' I returned home in a very subdued mood and mother immediately asked what was wrong but I said it was only a headache and retired to my room as soon as I had eaten. Two days later, I started to learn what pregnancy was all about. I was violently sick. When I came down for breakfast, mother asked what was wrong. She had heard me empty my stomach into the toilet and had assumed that I had contracted a dose of food poisoning. I was in such a state that I hardly knew what I was doing or saying and I blurted out 'No, I'm pregnant.' 'How could you do this to your father and me? Don't you realise the shame that you have brought on the family?' I snapped. Harry Sains © 2014 1. The Surprise 'Don't lecture me about bringing shame on the family. You were married on 13th March 1994 and my birthday is 3rd October. I don't think that a baby weighing 7lbs 12 oz is likely to be three months premature, do you? ' She suddenly became very quiet and then put her arms round me. 'Sorry, please forgive me but it came as such a shock and I didn't think before I spoke. I didn't even know that you had a steady boyfriend. Of course, your father and I will do everything possible to support you. Would you mind telling me the name of the father?' 'That is part of the trouble, I don't know.' Her voice rose and then quietened as she realised that a shouting match would achieve nothing. She just hugged me for a while and then quietly asked. 'How many boys have you slept with?' 'Just the one,' I replied, 'but I don't know who it was.' Mother looked very puzzled an so I tried to explain. 'When I went to Olive's eighteenth birthday party, there were sixteen of us, eight boys and eight girls Her parents had gone out for the evening and we had the run of the house. We played this game where you turned out all of the lights and the girls went and hid and the boys had to find them and they would be rewarded by a time of kissing. I hid under one of the beds. Their curtains are very heavy and you could not see a thing. I was there for quite a long time and then I felt a hand on my ankle. The boy, whoever he was, pulled me out and we started to kiss. He was wonderful, so gentle and yet so passionate. I had never been kissed like that before and I fell in love with him, even though I didn't know who it was. We fell onto the bed and continued kissing and cuddling and it was so wonderful. Some of the girls at school had been boasting about boys caressing their breasts and, suddenly, I wanted to know what it felt like and put his hand on mine. He was reluctant at first and then started to caress me It felt so wonderful that I suggested he put his hand inside my blouse so that he did not dirty it. Soon, we were naked to the waist and it felt fabulous. We carried on kissing and cuddling and then realised that we were totally naked. I sort of got carried away and asked him to make love to me. At first, he said no, not that he didn't want to but he had never had relations with a girl before and didn't have a condom. By this time, I was desperate for the experience and explained to him that it was also my first time and, therefore, I would not get pregnant. It was a wonderful time and afterwards he asked my name and would I go out with him. I would have loved to say yes but was slightly afraid that I would not like him in the daylight and I wouldn't want him knowing what had happened and boasting about it. I told him that it was better if neither f us knew who the other was and to just put this down to experience. He was nice enough to accept this and got dressed and left. I followed some time later but I knew that, if I ever kissed him again, I would know him. So the father could be any one of eight.' Mother still hugged me and proved to be very sympathetic. 'What are you going to do now? 'I definitely want to keep the baby,' I said. 'but I want to know who the father is regardless of who it might be. I may tell him or I may not, depending on how I feel but I want to know' Back at school, there were eight boys who were destined to be kissed although they didn't know it and I set about hunting them down. It wasn't easy. I was surprised at just how difficult it is to find an excuse to kiss a boy without them getting the idea that you are throwing yourself at them. George Blackett was the first. He had been going out with Angela for over a year so it was relatively safe provided that she did not scratch my eyes out. He paid me a compliment about my new hair style, said how it suited me. I told him how sweet that was, flung my arms around him and kissed him. Definitely not. I was not surprised as he was too devoted to Angela and I thought I had heard her whispering where she was going to hide to him. O.K. That was cheating but I would have done the same if I'd had a regular boyfriend. Carl Green came next. He was a wizard at maths but a bit of a geek. I feigned difficulty with my homework and asked him for his help. With the problem solved, I had to reward him. Ugh. Thankfully another negative. Three days passed and, despite some very imaginative moves on my part, I had not managed Harry Sains © 2014 2.