Perpetual

I get to the hospital and a nurse directs me where Pearl is being kept. I am shocked to find that she has been given a bed and is laying down.

‘Hey you.’ I say going to kiss her forehead.

‘Hey babe.’

‘What is going on? Why are you on this bed? Are you okay?’

She sighs deeply and sits upright.

‘I am fine babe, honestly I don’t even see the reason why I am being held here and no one is telling me what exactly is going on.’

‘But you took some pain killers last night didn’t you?’

‘I did babe but when the headache persisted this morning I didn’t want to self medicate, so I decided to come and see the doctor. Unfortunately he wasn’t here but another doctor saw me. I explained what happened and he examined me, before I knew it I was being taken in for a scan and here I am.’

‘Scan? Didn’t we do those already? Don’t your records show? What did this doctor say and why was he examining you when we already have a doctor that is supposed to attend to us any time?’

‘It is also shocking to me ife babe.’

‘Let me see if I can talk to someone.’

‘Alright babe.’

I go to the nurses’ station and find them laughing at something on someone’s phone. I stand there for a good minute before one of them looks in my direction and asks a dry ‘Yes?’.

‘My girlfriend has been admitted here and no one has told us what the problem is.’

‘Who is your girlfriend?’ the second nurse asks. They are five in total

I tell her the ward and bed number and now all of them look at me.

‘The specialist doctor will be back in a few hours and he will give you all the details. For now you just have to wait.’

‘Wait? Where is her doctor? We have a file here and if only we can see her doctor all this will be avoided. I don’t see the reason why she has to be held here when simple medication can be prescribed. Besides if she is going to be kept here we need to know why.’

‘Sir as my colleague has explained we can’t tell you anything. The doctor will come and explain.’

I bring my brows together trying to suppress the anger that is about to come even though I know I can’t brush off the irritation on my face.

‘So you are telling me that we are going to be kept here for God knows how long just so the doctor can come from I don’t know where to come and give us the results?’

None of them responds.

‘Here is the thing, we are leaving. When you people and the entire staff finally decide to give us the news we will have our phones close by. You can reach us there.’

I walk away before they can respond. Honestly this is just getting on my nerves, I don’t even want to think of what is wrong. Pearl has been kept here for hours without anyone telling us the truth and that alone is not sitting well with either of us.

‘Anything?’ Pearl asks. She looks tired.

‘We are going home.’

‘They discharged us?’

‘No babe, but no one is going to hold us against our will.’

‘Are you sure that’s a good idea babe? What if the results from the scan require that I stay in hospital for a while?’

‘There is nothing scary in those results. Your doctor already told us what is wrong, there is no need trying to get another opinion. They are just being unprofessional.’

‘Alright.’ She says getting out of the bed. I help her into her shoes and since she didn’t even come with anything except her handbag, I carry it.

‘Babe are you sure?’

‘Never been surer.’

I hold her hand and we walk out of the ward hand in hand.

‘Sir this is a bad idea.’ A nurse says. I recognize her as one of the ladies from the nurse’s station earlier.

‘You either give us the results or you can watch as walk out of here in peace.’

‘The specialist will be here soon, you just need to be patient.’

‘Tell that specialist doctor to follow us if he has to but we are not staying in here another minute.’

We walk past her when a team of doctors walk in.

‘Those are the doctors that were attending to me.’

I look at the group of men, they are close to seven.

‘Ma’am who discharged you?’ one of them asks.

‘Doctor Ozur.’ I say reading the tag on his coat.

‘Yes and you must be Mr. Mweemba right?’

‘Call me Leo.’

‘We haven’t been discharged, but we were not going to spend another minute of ignorance in here. My girlfriend came here to see her doctor over the headache she has been having only to be kept without any information for many hours, why?’

‘I am really sorry Leo, but we needed to be sure of what we are looking at before talking to Ms. Pearl here.’

I swallow hard.

‘I need to sit.’ Pearl says.

‘Are you okay babe?’

‘It hurts.’ She says holding on tightly to me.

I walk us to the nearest bench and sit down but she continues to hold her head.

‘Babe it really hurts.’ She says rocking her body back and forth.

…

Kwenje’s Girl

Winnie

🙇🏾‍♀️