3 3 IS HER PET NAME (1/2)
I desired siblings and whined to my parents about it. It was continuous. And then my mum got pregnant. I would sit in front of her every day after school and watch her stomach. It seemed like every day, while I was at school, it grew bigger. I would sometimes speak to the baby inside, and at other times, I would place my ear on it to listen to the movements of the baby or just simply rub her big stomach. Finally, my mum gave birth, and the baby was a girl. She was very tiny with pink skin, curly hair and the most beautiful face. I was elated. But it didn't last long as I wasn't patient enough to wait for her to grow into a playmate. I also had to be very careful around her because she was frail and sickly, and the doctor had told my parents that she had the same sickle cell anaemia my mum had.
I remember how much my mum cried the day she was told that my sister would be like her. My dad didn't cry at all but his silence was just like tears. It was heavy and very sad. I was too young to understand what was wrong at the time and no one bothered to explain it to me.
But the night my mum slept and didn't wake up, she told me that she and my dad should not have had my sister. She said that they should have known better because there was a huge chance that my sister would be born with the same illness that afflicted her since my dad had the genotype AC and she had the genotype SS.
She explained to me what genotype means as she groaned from the pain that made her tremble with heavy beads of sweat on her body.
First, she told me about genes.
”A gene is what determines a characteristic you have. It is like a recipe that makes food come out a certain way,” she said.
”Like a manual that teaches you how to play a video game or build a treehouse?”
”Yes. Aren't you a brilliant boy?”
I smiled proudly, and eager to prove that I was even smarter, I asked a question. ”How do you get genes?”
She answered without missing a beat, ”You get your genes from your parents, and it controls how you look, speak and behave. A genotype is the totality of the genes that is given to you by your parents when you are born. It is like the first birthday gift you ever received.But you get this while you are still inside your mum.”
”So, I got a genotype when I was in your tummy?”
”Yes, you did. The AS genotype.”
”AS?”
”Yes, but it is not a bad genotype, even though it is not the most common genotype.”
”What is the most common genotype?”
”AA.”
”How many genotypes are there?”
”There are seven major types of genotypes. They are AA, AS, AC, SC, CC, S Beta Thalassaemia and SS.
The last one is the genotype that causes sickle cell anaemia.”
”I see. So, your genotype is different from mine?”
”Yes, it is. I have the SS genotype.”
”Hmmm.” I took in that information with a great deal of thought.
She continued speaking. ”Everyone has a specific pair of genotypes, which they inherit from their parents. Some have AA, some have AS or AC and others have the SS genotype. In order not to transfer the SS genotype to your children, anyone with SS should not marry and have children with anyone with SS, neither should anyone with AS marry and have children with anyone with AS or AC, neither should anyone with SS marry and have children with anyone with AS or AC because in all those cases the chance of having a child with sickle cell anaemia is high.”
”What genotype does Dad have?”
”AC.”
”I see. So, in our case, you, my mom, has SS, and Dad has AC, and you both had me, who has an AS genotype and…”
”And your sister who has the SC genotype.”