AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Still, as she dried off and returned to their hut, Oti found herself hoping that he would be back there. But he wasn’t.
Eventually, she headed over to check on Shangok, relieved to discover that, whilst there wasn’t yet any improvement, he hadn’t significantly deteriorated. That, at least, was the best she could hope for at this stage.
By his bedside, the baby’s mother could only watch on, her face impassive. And, not for the first time, Oti’s chest pulled tight. Death was such a part of life out here, with mothers forced to watch so many sick, dying children that their attitudes were far more stoic than Oti wished they had to be, but that didn’t mean they felt the loss any less acutely. Here, the mothers seemed to permanently hold and cradle their babies, which only made tetanus all the more cruel. And it never got easier, trying to explain why—with this particular infection—cradling their suffering babies made it worse, not better.
Offering the mother a small smile and a brief word, Oti made her way from the tetanus hut to the main medical tent and began to familiarise herself with the new cases that had come in during the couple of weeks since she’d left. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn’t notice Amelia join her until she felt herself embraced in a huge hug.
‘You dark horse.’ Her friend laughed. ‘You never said anything about getting married. Congratulations!’
Delight swept through Oti, though it was swiftly followed by a stab of guilt.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t say anything,’ she began, returning the embrace. ‘I just...’
‘I get it—you didn’t want to jinx it.’
‘Something like that,’ Oti lied, feeling another jab of shame, especially when Amelia linked her arm.
‘What did they tell me his name is—Luke?’
‘Lukas,’ Oti clarified, waiting for her friend to connect the dots. But Amelia was already focusing on her patients. ‘I’ll introduce you later. Maybe at lunch, if there isn’t a sudden influx.’
She didn’t know why she’d said that. More for something to say than anything else, but her colleague looked up in surprise.
‘There’s a supply drop coming in at lunchtime. Your husband went with the loggies to collect it. They left a few hours ago. You didn’t know?’
Lukas had already joined the logisticians on a supply run? And notably one that would keep them away from camp for a few days.
Oti plastered a smile on her face. ‘Ah, well, I can introduce you when they get back. By the look of all these new cases, we won’t be getting out of here for a couple of days, anyway.’
‘I hear you.’ Amelia offered a wry smile. ‘Come on, let me introduce you to Jalka. She was admitted a few days ago after suffering from a miscarriage at fifteen weeks and after carrying out tests we discovered she’s suffering from malaria.’
Oti nodded grimly. Out here malaria accounted for just under half the miscarriages and stillbirths that their medical camp saw.
‘Haemoglobin levels?’
‘Investigative screening showed a level of around half normal levels, at four point eight,’ Amelia confirmed. ‘We were lucky that her mother was a safe match and prepared to donate blood for her.’
‘Great.’ It was good to hear that she had a relative.
Superstition often prevented blood donations, and certainly not to a stranger. If the patient didn’t have a relative who was a match and cleared by the lab technicians as a safe donor, it was often hard to find any blood to donate.
Consequently, Oti had known the volunteer doctors and nurses come off twenty-hour shifts, only to donate their own blood, in the hope that it might save a life.
‘And this was a few days ago?’ Oti confirmed.
‘Yep, your task today is a relatively pleasant one to get you back into the swing of it.’ Her colleague grinned. ‘Carry out a final test on Jalka and, hopefully, discharge her with iron tablets. She should be free to return home.’
‘Great.’ Oti smiled. ‘If only they were all that pleasant.’
* * *
‘À gauche...à gauche,’ Lukas relayed to the driver, Jean-Christophe, as he received instructions over the walkie-talkie from the vehicle that had gone ahead of them.
It had been several days of bumpy driving and the recent rains meant it was all only just passable. Even so, they had finally managed to reach the airstrip to collect the supplies and were finally on their way back to camp. To Oti.
He thrust the thought from his mind.
Had it not been for the skill of their drivers, Lukas was fairly certain they’d have been bogged down in mud more than just the once so far.
