The girl grew up according to the strict rules her parents observed. When she was eighteen years old and had just started Matric, her mother sent her off to their GP for a check-up.

She arrived at the doctor’s consulting room after school on a hot January afternoon. She had never met her parents’ new GP but gathered that he was a young recent graduate who had started practice in their home town.

Several other people were in the waiting room. The receptionist was an ancient old woman who ordered her to sit and wait her turn. The atmosphere in the waiting room did nothing to alleviate the hollow feeling at the pit of her stomach. Soon the heat in the waiting room had her thighs clinging together under the skirt of her school uniform.

After about half an hour the old woman said: “Famina, your turn. Knock before you enter and take your card with you.”

She did as she was instructed. (more…)