That Melody

Chapter 29

Chai Pov

Uncle Vusumuzi catches Bunga as she passes out. "Chai, could you ask your mum to see if your school nurse is home?"

I immediately call Mae, "Chai Shinawatra! Why did I just I get a call from Auntie Aliya about you using her balcony as a climbing frame?!"

"Mae! Can you check if Auntie Jasmine is home?"

"Why?" she asks her angry tone immediately changing into concern, "Is something wrong?"

"Bunga's passed out and she's cut open her her scars."

"Dear God! I'll go check now."

Uncle Vusumuzi carries Bunga into her bedroom. "Chai go clean your cut," he says to me. "There's some Tea Tree oil on the toilet window sill, take it to the bathroom with some tissue."

"What for?" I ask.
"Fold the tissue then wet it with some hot water and then add a few drops of the oil onto the tissue the use it on the cut."

I follow his instructions and then clean the cut Bunga had given me. I've got to remind her to keep her nails short for these occasions. I didn't even notice she'd scratched me that hard until she pointed it out herself. Too high on adrenaline.

"Chai could you bring towel, the blood is falling onto the bed," Uncle Vusumuzi  calls. "She's going to kill me when she wakes up."

"Where are they?" I ask.
"There should be one hanging over my chair."

I'm not used to going in either of the Bonolo's rooms, I used to go in Bunga's when we younger but now we normally just stay in the living room.

I open the door spotting the chair straight away, despite the darkness of the room. I quickly grab it then head over to Bunga's room and lay it out beneath her as Uncle Vusumuzi lifts her up.

There's a knock on the door so I go to the passage and open it, Auntie Jasmine and Mae had arrived.

"Chai what happened to your face? Why are you covered in blood?!" Mae exclaims. "It's mostly Bunga's, she's in her room."

She rushes into Bunga's room, following after Auntie Jasmine who run straight in.

"How bad is it?" Uncle Vusumuzi asks Auntie Jasmine. "Is it a clean and dry up situation or a she needs stitches pronto situation?"

"Calm down, Vusumuzi," Auntie Jasmine says. "Yes, we need to clean her arms so I can see were she actually cut them, then I can bandage her up."

"I'll do it," Mae says. "I've got some baby wipes in my handbag."

She digs through her large 'Mary Poppins bag' -as Bunga calls it- then she and Uncle Vusumuzi  begin wiping the blood off Bunga's arms until Auntie Jasmin tells them to stop so she could disinfect the cut and then put the bandages on her.

"Should we use the smelling salts to wake her up?" I ask.
"Not yet," Auntie Jasmine says. "Let her wake up naturally if she doesn't wake up after an hour or so, use the smelling salts." She turns to Bunga, "She's mostly just tired," she continues, "that's why she passed out."

Uncle Vusumuzi turns to me, "You know I can't thank you enough my boy, you're always there when she needs you."

I just know my ears had turn bright pink as I look down, embarrassed, "I've just got good timing," I say shrugging it off.

"Oh god," Mae exclaims. "There's a trail of blood."
"Don't worry, Phueng," Uncle Vusumuzi says. "I'll clean..." Before he finishes his sentence, Mae gets up and fettches a mop from the bathroom.
"Go get Chai a shirt, Vusumuzi," Auntie Jasmine says. "He can't go round looking like he just got stabbed."

"Aye, aye, Capitana," he says getting up then heads to his bedroom. Auntie Jasmine ends up following him to scold him for his 'bad' decisions when it comes to Bunga's episodes.

A little known secret about Aunty Jasmine is that she actually likes Uncle Vusumuzi romantically but doesn't tell him because she knows that his still heart broken over Bunga's mum. "Doctor's can fix a lot of tings," she told me and Bunga one time. "A broken heart isn't one of them."

They start bickering until a t-shirt is thrown onto the bed.
"Change into that, Chai!" Uncle Vusumuzi calls.