I got my period in the 7th grade.
I saw blood stains on my clothes when I was at my grandmother’s,
I ran to the bathroom to wash them off.
I was scared that I had injured myself
And that mama might beat me up, or tell baba and then he’d beat me up.
I noticed that there was more and more blood and that it kept flowing.
I told my cousin.
“Congratulations, you’re a grown up now!” she said.
When I got home and told mama,
The first words that came out of her mouth were,
“Blood? Blood? Did someone touch you down there?
Speak up! Tell me who did this!” she shouted hysterically.
I got scared of her and of her reaction.
It killed me at the time.
“My cousin says that this means I’m a grown up now”,
I told her in between sobs.
“We’ll see next month if you’ve really grown up,
Or if something else happened and you’re scared to tell me.”
I don’t think anything could be more tragic than this.
I don’t think any reaction could be harsher or more terrible than my mother’s.