They both followed Chinaza up to his room. Stephanie looked around the room and she felt bad that he had to sleep in such a place.
There was barely foam on the bed Chinaza slept on, he was laying more on the bunk. She decided she would discuss it with the Sister later. She noticed a sister had already brought in a bowl of cold water and a towel to wipe Chinaza's body, so that they could bring down his temperature.
"He'll be fine, it's just a cold." Sister Amanda tried to reassure Stephanie, but she wasn't having any of it.
"I'm taking him to the hospital." Stephanie told her.
"There's no need for that, he would better by morning. Also, we would say the Rosary for him." Sister Amanda said.
"I'm taking him to the hospital." Stephanie said, with finality in her voice.
"Tell the older boys to carry him into my car, I need to call my doctor." Stephanie told Sister Amanda and walked downstairs while she called her doctor.
She drove Chinaza to the hospital with Sister Amanda in the car. By the time they arrived, Stephanie's doctor was already waiting with a stretcher. She was impressed and made a mental note to donate to the hospital again. Chinaza was transferred on to the stretcher and taken into the hospital.
Stephanie saw her doctor walking towards her and she resisted the urge to shout at him from afar to go do his job and not try kissing her ass.
"Don't worry Ma, he's in able hands." The doctor assured her.
"How would you know that since you are here with me?" Stephanie asked, her voice dripping with rudeness.
"Well, madam, you see..."He tried explaining when Stephanie cut him off.
"Stop all this talking and go do your job!!"
She walked into the hospital reception with Sister Amanda saying the Rosary. Stephanie was praying to God, she promised Him that if Chinaza got better, they would both go to church on Sunday. After her prayer, she shook her head, doing things for someone she barely knew. She saw her doctor coming and she hoped he had good news and had not come to gossip. It always amazed her that a man could gossip like her doctor did. She always thought of changing hospitals but the man knew his job so she stayed.
"It's just malaria Ma, he'll be fine." Doctor Paul said.
"Oh, can I go see him?" Stephanie asked.
"I didn't know you have a child." Doctor Paul said.
Stephanie just rolled her eyes and walked with him to Chinaza's room, with Sister Amanda following behind. They got into the room and she stood a little distance away, watching Chinaza as Sister Amanda kept asking him questions. After about 10 mins, she left the room. It was getting late and she needed to get to an eatery to buy food for Chinaza and Sister Amanda who she guessed would sleep at the hospital. She got the food and asked a nurse at the reception to take it into the room, it was late and she was exhausted.
Waking up to bright lights, hospitals scents and wires all over his body wasn't exciting to Chinaza. He didn't have time to be sick and he probably wouldn't have been if not for the kid that took his sweater. He hated hospitals because he was confined to one place and the doctors decided what he could or could not do.
He stood up to go pee in the bathroom outside the halls but was amazed to find out that he had a bathroom in the room he stayed and he was the only one there. He wasn't being treated in a hall, he was in a room. He wondered how much it cost the Orphanage to get him a personal room, he had seen Sister Amanda sleeping across the room. She always overstressed herself, he knew this wasn't what she wanted to do.
He remembered the call he overhead, he didn't know who she was talking to but she kept saying she believes she had paid the debts enough. He came back from the bathroom and woke Sister Amanda up.
She hugged him so tight and made him promise not to hide his sickness again.
"Is the food for us?" Chinaza asked.
"I guess so. Eziaku probably dropped it off." Sister Amanda replied.
"Miss Eziaku! She's here?" Chinaza asked.
"Yes, that's the only reason you're in a room. She came to see you last night at the Orphanage." Sister Amanda explained.
"I didn't see her." Chinaza said.
"That's understandable, you were sick." Sister Amanda answered.
"Can we eat now?" Chinaza asked.
"Sure." Sister Amanda answered and stood to give him his food.
Chinaza was nearly done with his food when Sister Amanda picked up hers to eat and spat it out after taking a spoon.
She turned to look at Chinaza, wondering how he had almost finished the food.
"Why did you keep eating the food?" Sister Amanda asked.
"What do you mean?" Chinaza asked, clearly confused.
"The food is spoilt. How did you keep eating it?" Sister Amanda asked again.
"Oh! It's spoilt? I didn't know." Chinaza answered and kept eating the food.
Sister Amanda stood up and took the food away from him. She was bothered already but she didn't want to frighten the boy, he didn't even think it was a big deal. She would tell the doctor when they come for ward rounds, she hoped Eziaku came back early because she needed to return to the orphanage.
Stephanie came at past 1, Chinaza was sleeping already. He was exhausted from watching TV and playing games with the Laptop Stephanie had sent earlier through her driver.
"Good afternoon." Stephanie greeted.
"Good afternoon, Ma." Sister Amanda replied.
"You don't have to call me "Ma", my name is Stephanie." Stephanie said.
"Oh! But you said Eziaku at the home yesterday." Sister Amanda answered her, looking a bit confused.
"Yeah, it's my Igbo name. You can call me any though." Stephanie explained. "By the way, how is Chinaza doing?"
"He's better. Been playing games ever since the laptop arrived. Thank you." Sister Amanda said.
"I'm glad I could help, honestly. Has the doctor said when he would be discharged yet?" Stephanie asked.
"About that, this morning Chinaza ate a spoilt food without knowing. I mentioned it to the doctor today and he said since this is the first time it's occuring, he might have temporary Aguesia." Sister Amanda explained.
"So are they keeping him longer to watch him?" Stephanie asked.
"No, they aren't. They said we can leave this evening when you arrive. They would just give him drugs." Sister Amanda answered.
"Okay, that's good. I will just stay till it's evening then." Stephanie said.
"Actually, I was hoping you would bring him back because I have to return to the orphanage now." Sister Amanda told Stephanie.
"Okay, no problem. I will stay with him and my driver can drop you off." Stephanie offered.
"Yes, thank you. Your driver is hilarious." Sister Amanda said, smiling.
"What did he do this time?" Stephanie asked.
"Nothing serious. He made Chinaza laugh a lot." Sister Amanda replied.
"Explains why he came back late." Stephanie muttered.
"See you in the evening. Thank you once again." Sister Amanda said as she left the room.
Hunger was the reason Chinaza's sleep was brought to an abrupt end. It'd been over 5 hours since he last ate. He woke up to meet Stephanie working on a chair across the room. He decided he wouldn't tell her he was hungry, he'd wait till Sister Amanda returned but his tummy gave him away.
"I'm sorry, I forgot. I should have brought food. My driver will go and get you something to eat now, okay?" Stephanie said.
"Yes, thank you." Chinaza answered.
"Is there any specific food you want?" Stephanie asked.
"Eba and egusi soup." Chinaza answered shyly.
"Of course. He would buy just that." Stephanie said and took her phone to call Iheanyi.
After the call, Stephanie closed her laptop and decided to take a nap before Iheanyi came back.
Hey guys..
It's been 4 chapters and I've been writing really slow...
It's 3:27Pm.
What are you doing now?
I'm watching Charlie's Angels and writing my book.
Yes,I know Charlie's Angels is old but I love it,can't count how many times I've rewatched it.
Don't forget to vote and comment.
Thank you.