The woman sat in a chair beside her sleeping son. Neither of her eyelids had kissed the other throughout the night. The boy had suffered enough seizures to last a lifetime. It pained her to see her baby suffer this way. What could she do? Her job was already swaying under the impact of the situation. It wasn’t like she earned much but at least she could hold up with her son. He was all she had now. If only Mark was alive. If only he had listened to her and not made that journey, maybe they would never have come to this point. Or maybe they would have. But at least she wouldn’t be alone.
The Proprietor had summoned her two days ago. Their conversation, brief, but straight to the point still replayed within the walls of her head.
“Ma, I’m sorry about all of these. I never intended for any of these to happen.”
“Mrs. Mark, I understand and I sympathize with you. I don’t blame you for any of these but you surely understand that business is at stake her. We cannot meet the demands of our customers with you being so unavailable.”
Vera looked down at this point. She dreaded the words that came next.
“I’m afraid you will have to be replaced if something is not done about this before the weekend. I’m sorry.”
Vera opened her eyes and sucked in a breath. The hospital walls seemed to be closing in on her every second. Bills were piling up, the landlord had come to their apartment this morning but he didn’t have a chance to harass her because she was already on her way back to the hospital.
She stepped out to the corridor for a moment. Resting her lean frame against the door and shutting her eyes, she remembered. She didn’t even have to try. The memories came unbidden. And so did the tears.
Just a year ago, they had been a happy family. The envy of every eye on the block.
Mark would return from work earlier than her and would fetch Sam from school and bring him home. When she arrived later, both would be at the door to welcome her.
“Mommy! Daddy, mommy’s home!”
She would put her bag down and brace herself for a supersonic hug, and while she tried to answer all his little boy questions which came all at once without a break, Mark would come striding from the door to meet her, his…
Her reverie was cut short by the sound of an opening door at the end of the corridor. It was the doctor. He seemed to be looking for someone but as he sighted her, he changed his mind and beckoned on her to come.
She turned her back on him for a second and wiping the tears, she turned to him with a smile that fought its way out from the depths of her broken soul.
Doctor Kalu was a tall, thin man. He wore rectangular specs that sat just at the bridge of an aquiline nose. He had a sharp sense of dressing which made him a bit odd for the profession he undertook. He always had a frown she guessed was supposed to put him out as strict and too-busy-for-you-to-waste-my-time. But somehow, he always had this fondness for her that seemed to be on reserve. Like someone was going to burst into tears but then on a second thought, put himself in check so the only signs you could read was the wet eyes and that was it.
She stepped into his office and stood at his table, hands folded behind her, like a little girl.
“Please sit.”
She sat down and lifted her eyes to face him.
“Madam, it’s been over a month now. Getting to two. Your son would get better if we had the means to afford his surgery, but as it is, you can’t. We want to help you, but you see, we would run at a huge loss if we don’t discharge him now. Your bills are accumulating on a daily basis and I doubt there’s any hope of you paying anytime soon. Not that I blame you…”
His words trailed off at this point and Vera sighed. Within her, she knew he was right. He had tried, he really had. But could she let her son die?
“Doctor, I understand. Thank you so much for being there for us. But I can’t take him home now. He will die and you know he’s all I’ve got left. Please Doctor, I’ll pay, as soon as I can. I will. Just don’t send him home, please.”
At this point, she got on her knees and the tears escaped as if on cue.
Dr. Kalu sat upright when he saw her rise from her chair. When she knelt, he felt his heart lift in a strangely warm way.
“Please get up Vera. Don’t do that.”
But she wouldn’t budge. She remained there, crying and begging for her son.
He didn’t know when he stood up and gently helped her back into her chair.
“Doctor,” she began,
“Shhh… Don’t worry. And stop calling me that. Just call me Kalu.”
Vera felt an egg form in her throat. Kalu?
He sat on the table and placed his right hand on her shoulder and took off his specs with the left.
“It’s alright. I can help you, but I will need your consent.”
Vera thought an angel had just descended into the room.
He would help her?
“Doctor, whatever you ask me to do, I will do. Whatever you want. So far as my son’s life is assured.”
He smiled. A kind of smile she hadn’t seen on him before. His lips slanted to the left in a crooked way.
“whatever I want? You’ll do whatever?”
She nodded vigorously. “Anything Doctor, anything.”
“It’s alright. Let’s start with you calling me kalu.”
He shifted closer and she could really smell his fragrance hovering just above her now. He walked behind the chair and stood behind her.
Uncomfortable, Vera squirmed in her seat. What was it she had to do?
She cleared her throat, anxious to normalize the air in the office and as she did, she felt the zipper on her blouse go down and a hand roam on her skin.
She sat up like a thousand volts of electricity had just been shot through her brain.
She shot right out of the chair and almost knocked him down in the process. As the turn events registered in her brain, Vera’s pupils dilated in shock. Her mouth hung open in wonder.
“Doctor!” she uttered. It came out as half a gasp, half a whisper.
The man didn’t flinch. He stood there, a smug smile on his face.
The look on her face was incredulous.
“What was that?”
He threw his head back and laughed softly.
“Come on Vera. You’re too big to play dumb at this point.”
She looked at him, still in disbelief. Dr. Kalu sighed upon realizing that she didn’t get the sum right.
“I told you I can help you, no?”
“Yes, but…”
“And you said you would do anything, right?”
She couldn’t believe her ears, so she looked into his eyes and that was when it dawned on her. How could she have been so naïve?
“Do you want your son to die?”
In her mind’s eye, she could see it happen. She would leave Doctor Kalu’s office and turn down his devilish offer. She could refuse to bite this apple and then what? She could see Sam, draped from head to feet in a white sheet, being rolled down the hallway into the morgue.
And all for what? This body that she prided over her son’s life?
She bit her lower lip and forced herself to think. Various emotions poured through her like a drain. Panic, shame, fear, loneliness and guilt. Morality took the seat at the farthest back. No one would help her. She had absolutely no one to turn to. And yet, she couldn’t shake off the darkness that was spreading over her. This moment would change her life forever.
Doctor Kalu seemed to read her mind and he was waiting.
“Vera, darling, you give what you have to get…”
“…what you want.” She finished his sentence.
She walked away from him and towards the door. Doctor Kalu stood watching, a frown on his face.
She got to the door and turned to face him. A lifetime passed between them.