Living in a Mirage

Chapter Nine

"If only we could see in advance all the harm that can come from the good we think we are doing."

Luigi Pirandello

Six Characters in Search of an Author

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Dedicated to my Doctor-ni Sahiba, RibelleDelCuore & my reading beta/the hardworking medical student EphemeralEntity...

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"You want to do what?" Aparna Mishra asked.

Shocked beyond belief, she couldn't understand what was happening around her ever since the mysterious case came her way.

"I want to move him to London," the old man sitting in front of her repeated his words to the young doctor.

"Sir, do you even understand how many injuries he has suffered? I know, you want better medical facilities for him, but I can't let you move him anywhere when he is the state he is right now, forget to London," Aparna declared, angry at the inability of the man to comprehend that the patient they were talking about was still in the danger zone.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to think of a way in which she could explain the old man the situation they were dealing with.

"The swelling in his head has me worried - it is the reason why he is in the medical coma now. He has suffered a lot of trauma; his legs have comminuted fractures, his left arm has multiple fractures while his right shoulder had been dislocated and the joint has still not completely healed, it's in quite a bad shape. His back is brutally bruised, thankfully the vertebral column has not suffered any fracture, also..." She informed and would have continued if the man sitting in front of her not have interrupted her.

"Dr. Mishra, can you talk in simple English? These medical terms are beyond my grasp. Just tell me, why can't I take him to London?" He asked her after impatiently listening to her talk passionately in the medical language.

Aparna looked at the old man, incredulous. Controlling her anger, she reminded herself that she was talking with a trustee of the hospital and not to just anyone. She has always disliked how the rich ones got better facilities, better treatment, than the rest of the patients. But ever since she met the old man now sitting in front of her, she has started to despise the privilege the rich ones had. The second he had entered in the hospital, he had made the people of hospital break and bend all the rules they had, till he was satisfied with his exaggerated demands.

Shaking her head, with a deep sigh, she again looked up at him. He was someone who had her confused ever since she met him, almost two days ago. Even though he was the trustee of the hospital she has been working from the past three years, she has never seen him until the night the patient they were talking about was brought in. Before that, he was thought of as the fair one by everyone in the hospital, the one who never misused the power he had over the hospital.

At first, she had mistaken him for a relative, as the way he behaved around the patient showed they were related, even though the name of the patient, for some strange reason, was kept a secret. But as she observed and analyzed, she realized he must be the grandfather of her young patient. She may be the only one who has figured that out, she could tell. The rest of her team-mates were still confused about the involvement of their rich trustee with the secret case they were working on.