Solitude – Episode 49
SOLITUDE
_49_
PRESENT DAY.
‘How long has she been unconscious?’ the doctor asks worriedly
‘Ten minutes.’
‘And the baby?’
The nurses look at each other
‘I asked about the baby!’ he yells
‘We lost her.’ One says
‘No we didn’t, that girl was alive. Give me back that child because I won’t allow you to rest.’
The patient wakes up.
‘My baby.’ She screams
‘Mrs. Chanda your baby is fine.’
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‘Give me my baby.’ She says and the doctor looks at the nurses ‘Bring her baby.’ He says
..
The nurses rush out of the ward with the doctor behind them, they are worried about the wrath that will befall them if they don’t bring back the baby, they were so sure that they had stroke a deal and would get a huge lump sum out of it.
‘Do you need me to repeat myself?’ The doctor asks again
One goes to the new born baby section and gets the little girl, her tag has been changed to match that of the mother who they were going to sell her to.
‘I don’t know what plans you had and I don’t even want to think about it but when all this is done I will personally discipline you so that this never happens again.’ He says walking away upset
‘Doctor.’ Chileshe says her voice worn out
‘Mrs. Chanda.’ He says handing her the baby
‘Oh Lord.’
Tears fall from her eyes, the vision she had had whilst unconscious feels so real.
‘How long was I gone?’ She asks
‘About ten minutes, you lost a lot of blood and we were afraid we would lose you.’
She smiles through her tears
‘This is the most beautiful girl I have seen.’ She says with a huge smile
‘I want to see my husband.’ She says
‘We will bring him in.’
Edward paces about the hospital ward, his wife has been in labor for the past 12hours and every part of him is scared. He has done enough research to know the duration in which she was supposed to take and now he can’t seem to keep calm.
‘Can I see her now?’ He asks
one of the nurses who rushes out of the theatre
They had to rush her there as she kept having dizzy spells and in the process was squeezing the baby when she couldn’t push.
‘Sir you will have to hold on.’ She says leaving him standing there
He wants to laugh and yell at the same time, he has been standing there for God knows how long and that is the only thing that he has been told.
When he can’t take it any no longer, he walks to the cafeteria to grab some water.
When he returns he finds one of the nurses standing where he was earlier.
‘Sir your wife wants to see you.’ She says
He almost jumps out of his pants at the sound of that, he has been praying inwardly that both mother and child survive because he is not sure how he would continue life without them; his wife especially.
‘Babe.’ She says handing out the baby
The medicine she had been injected with is now beginning to stop effecting and the pain of the cesarean cut is beginning to be felt
‘Take it easy.’ He says getting the baby from her
Tears instantly drop from his eyes when he looks at her, she is the most beautiful girl he has laid eyes on and he can’t believe that she is his.
‘We make beautiful babies.’ Chileshe teases causing him to laugh
‘You have made me the happiest man alive.’ He confesses honestly allowing more tears to fall
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‘I need a new car.’
‘What?’
‘Babe twelve hours of labor is not a joke, get me a car.’
He laughs
‘Anything for you my love.’
She smiles like a child.
‘What shall we call her?’ She asks
‘I don’t know, what do you think.’
‘Babe?’
‘I was so sure it would be a boy, I didn’t think that we were carrying a girl so you name her.’
‘But babe it is the duty of the man to name the first child.’
‘I am giving you that duty.’
‘Let us call her Nella.’
‘Why Nella?’
‘I will tell you about it someday.’ She responds
‘Nella it is then.’
The two smile at each other, Chileshe doesn’t even know if she will ever tell her husband about the ‘vision’ she had whilst unconscious but she is glad it was just that. Everything felt so real, being told that she had lost her baby, buying another one. Losing her husband, not knowing how to love her daughter, finding her
biological child at the orphanage. Then losing her life and her girls fighting, her nephew having an affair with one of them; everything was just too much to take in and she doesn’t even know if she should talk to anyone about it but she is just glad it was a dream and she prays it remains that way.
The two are startled with the sound of a wailing woman from the next ward.
‘Is everything okay?’ Chileshe asks the nurse in charge of her
‘A mother has just lost her child.’
‘Mrs. Nakamba?’
‘Yes, you know her?’
She shakes her head realizing that maybe what she had was not just an illusion but a vision showing her better ways of living her life
‘No I don’t.’
‘But how did you?’
‘Never mind.’ The nurse says
Her husband looks at her as if she has grown an extra head.
‘Babe is there something you are not telling me?’
‘No.’
‘Yes.’ She adds quickly
He eyes her
‘Let us adopt a child.’
‘Chileshe are you sure you are okay.’
‘Babe trust me on this one.’
‘This is not up for discussion, we just had a child why would you want to adopt another one?’
‘Babe I don’t know how to explain this to you, I don’t even know if it will make sense but all I am certain of is that, the little girl belongs to us.’
‘What little girl.’
She turns to look at the nurse
‘There is a young mother that has just died during childbirth leaving behind a little girl, can we adopt her?’
‘Ma’am standard procedure is that we need to wait if anyone will come forward to claim the little girl.’
‘No one will come, that girl wasn’t even a citizen of this country and has no trace of her family.’ Chileshe argues
‘How do you know all this?’
‘Can we adopt her or not?’ She says almost screaming but the pain from the cut is making her hold back
‘I will have to talk to the doctor ma’am.’
The nurse goes to see the doctor and explains what Mrs. Chanda is requesting, it’s true that the little baby has no one to
claim her and in a case like this they would have taken her to the orphanage and see if anyone could adopt her. But now that someone was willing to do that then it would work in their favor.
The doctor goes to see the Chandas and requests that he talks to Mr. Chanda in his office.
‘I am guessing you know why I asked you to come here.’ The doctor begins
‘I should believe it’s because of the adoption.’
‘Yes Sir, I called you separately because I know women tend to be emotional beings after labor and they do things that can be rather termed out of this world. She has felt the pain of child birth and my guess is she would never want a child to grow up without a proper home considering the pain she has passed through.’
‘Your point is?’
‘My point is right now your wife is not in the right mind to make such a decision and I would rather you help her see that.’
‘What makes you think she is not in the right mind? And I thought as a health practitioner you are supposed to understand your patients better? Because how does one understand a path they have never walked on? It’s because my wife has experienced child birth that she knows that children should be raised in a stable home and if she says we are adopting then we are.’
‘Are there papers that we need to sign?’ He adds angrily
The doctor sighs in defeat
‘Yes please.’ He responds getting up and bringing them from his cabinet
It takes Mr. Chanda twenty minutes to go through the whole document and sign the necessary parts, he takes it to his wife to sign the remaining parts.
‘You are good to go.’ The doctor says as one of the nurses hands them the little girl
‘What do you want to name her?’ Her husband asks
‘Chanda.’ She says tears falling
‘She will be hard working, she will be head strong, with a good head above her shoulders. She will protect Nella and they will love each other not just as sisters but best friends, I am content that my life is complete. I will never be alone if I have you. All of you.’ She says tears falling
‘I don’t know why you have chosen that we adopt this child, I don’t even know why we have picked these names but what I know for sure is that you are rarely wrong. If this is what you want then we will have it, I don’t know what the future holds for us but what I know for sure is that as long as I have you and the girls I am not alone.’
‘I love you Edward.’
‘I love you Chileshe.’
..
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