Doctor on the grid

34. Karma

I felt sorry for her but didn't ask anything – I thought she'd open up if she felt like it. The other doctor was Léon, a ridiculously good looking French doctor. I had no idea why he was here in the first place. I mean he was from a rich family, graduated with good grades, been admitted in a posh hospital in Paris, but after 10 years he threw everything away and travelled the world – and hasn't stopped since. He had endless stories from his adventures which he loved to share in some ladys' company. He was speaking Swahili – he was working here for over a year, and was desperate to teach me some words. The hospital staff was obsessed with our „couple" from the first time I was guided by him around the wards.

„Honey, do you have a husband?" One nurse asked me in the corridor. I've literally never spoken to her before. I blinked at her a couple times while her colleague was giggling childishly, half hiding behind her.

„No, why?" I frowned. I had no idea why was this suddenly that important.

„We think you'd make a cute couple with Doctor Léon," she giggled. I laughed after I heard their idea and continued my way to my operating room.

"He has beautiful eyes. Good for passing to babies!"

I heard their giggle after I tried to explain to Tamara what meds would I need.

„Good night, Wolfgang," I smiled at my assistant as we arrived back to our bungalows.

„You said morning already. Before this," he looked at me like I was some dumb person. But I wasn't in a way to get my mood ruined, so I shrugged.

„You see? Time flies in good company," I smiled at him, and stepped into my room.

Our accomodation were less than modest. My room consisted of a bed, a shelf over it and a chair. It didn't have flooring, only dust on the floor. And the self collapsed the first day after I put my clothes on it. There was no bathroom. It was only available inside the hospital building.

„At least we are close," Tamara told me on the first day with a shrug. She really looked like she didn't care.

I collapsed on my bed, still wearing my hospital scrubs. I perfected the method for catching sleep when I had the opportunity, not when I was sleepy or I normally would sleep. We could have been called in anytime of the day, so I was sleeping at the times I wasn't needed anywhere.

I maybe catched two hours of sleep when I was woken up by Tamara standing at my feet.

"It's not really safe, you know," she grimaced. "Sleeping with an open door."

"Oh, I may have left it open when we came back," I groaned, and turned to my other side.

"So, are we going?" She asked. "Bobo and Saleem are leaving now."

Of course.

Slowly, my half sleeping mind got the idea what was she talking about. She wanted to go to the city centre - quite strong word for that, honestly - and yesterday I may have said I'd accompany her. I often did - the first days I was worried sick about Pierre, so I wanted to know all the updates about his state.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any reception on mobile phones, only landlines, so simply calling from my phone wasn't an option. We had to travel an hour to go to the post office and call from a local paid phone booth. Since it was strongly advised to have a male accompanying a woman on travel, if anyone from the hospital staff left, they let us know so we could come.

This time, we hopped on the motorcycles and sat behind two local nurses, Bobo and Saleem. They were much, much younger than me and we've already shared some trips together.