Impact Detroit Magazine Impact Detroit Magazine 2013 | Page 44

An Agreement Between Friends
By Gina Castle from Abuja, Nigeria

One day Annie decided to
approach Yusuf with the idea of
having a kid together. She knew
all too well how irresponsible he
was, but she took a deep breath
and popped the question. After
all, with her abusive past, she
was doing well to have his
attention and friendship. To her
surprise, they discussed the idea
at some length. Annie suggested
artificial insemination, but of
course, getting him to agree to
those terms was impossible.
After hours of discussion, Annie
gave in. She gave up the idea of
artificial insemination and settled
for the traditional method. They
did agree on one thing, however;
to remain friends and take care of
their child even if one of them
eventually married another
person.
This was an
Yusuf on the other hand was a
arrangement made in heaven.
playboy with rugged outdoor
This was an agreement between
good looks. His family bred
friends. And, Annie exhaled.
horses. He was one of those rich
kids who always got what he As it does, time passed. Annie
wanted or so it seem. Over the was so excited that she was
years, he gradually drew closer to pregnant and having her first
the dark side and embraced child with someone she cared
drugs. Lately, using them seemed deeply for. After all, he was
to be his number one priority, but wealthy, good-looking and they
Annie still remained close to had a good friendship with an
Yusuf. She told herself that this understanding, an agreement.
was a phase - the drug usage - However, towards the third
trimester of the pregnancy, things
that would soon pass.
Yusuf and Annie were really
really close. One would say they
were like the cartoon characters,
Tom and Jerry, in more ways
than one. They had been best of
friends for many years. Annie
was an exotic beauty, traveling
the world as a photo journalist.
She was in her late twenties and
had been celibate for a few years.
She was very much single, but
longed to have kids.
Sadly,
Annie had a very rough past and
at some point in her life she had
been molested, abused and raped.
As you can see, for Annie,
marriage was a fleeting dream,
far from the grasp of her mind.
And as it were, there weren't any
decent prospects insight anyway.
Her love for children did not
make it any easier.

got worse between the two
friends, Yusuf and Annie. Yusuf
didn’t stop using and got deeper
into drugs. Things got worse
between them after the birth of
her daughter, too. Yusuf still
hadn't changed and what had
been a pretty fulfilling friendship
with a solid future, began to fade.
A year passed and then three and
Yusuf had only been to see their
daughter eight times and did not
provide for his daughter; not that
he could not afford to. He was
actually wealthy.
He just
couldn't be bothered. He always
apologized for not being there for
his kid and he even apologized
for all the lies he kept telling
people about the situation and
promised to change.
These
words which should have
brought comfort actually crushed
Annie’s heart because she knew
him all too well and his words
never quite meet up with his
behavior. He felt as long as he
was "cool" with Annie, his
daughter would be taken care of.
Things were beginning to be
extremely stressful for Annie as
she tried to balance working,
traveling and raising a child
alone with no support. Although
Annie agreed to forgive and set
aside their differences and let