AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Yeah," I sniffed. "Maybe I should. Thanks, guys. For always being there for me."
"That's what friends are for," they both said, then burst into laughter.
"Now let's polish off that wine bottle, shall we?" Cassie suggested. We split the remainder of the wine between us.
As we drank the wine, I heard a thud at the front door.
"Hold on. What was that?"
I got up to check, slowly opening the door to see if there was anyone on the other side. No one was there. I poked my head out to look up and down the hallway. Looking down, I saw a little package wrapped in brown paper.
Picking it up, I brought it inside.
"What was it?" Ava called out.
"I don't know. A package of some sort." I brought the package into the kitchen and opened it on the island.
"It's sausage!" I laughed. Mr. Kruger.
And on the inside of the paper, he had written with black marker:
Open up. Take a chance.
What a man, I chuckled. I think I'm getting the hint.
Chapter 31
Dominic
We worked hard to set up the operating room just the way it needed to be. Tomorrow we would start the marathon of surgeries. Karen and I were working hard, jet lag unable to set in with our adrenaline running. We knew we had limited time, and we had to make the most of it.
Dr. Al-Sawi came into the room, fully gowned, as were we, in accordance to infection prevention protocols. We had to keep the operating room as clean as possible. We only allowed specific people to enter, and at the moment, it was just me and Karen. The fewer people, the better. "How are you doing in the setup, Dr. Harrington, Nurse Pritchard?"
Karen piped up, "Everything is coming together. Please thank the staff for organizing everything so well. It makes my job a lot easier."
"Will do, will do. Dr. Harrington, the patients are starting to arrive for tomorrow's surgeries. I suggest we start some pre-surgery examinations when you have a moment."
"That sounds like a fine idea, Dr. Al-Sawi. Karen, can you handle the rest?" Karen nodded. "Just cross-check between the surgery requirements and make sure we have the right supplies in the right amounts for tomorrow's surgeries. Ensure that the child-sized equipment is held separately. All the children will be operated on in two days, so you can just stash them in a protected place for now. And, I apologize in advance because I know we are going to be exhausted after tomorrow's work, but we will have to do the inventory for the next day after surgeries are done."
"No problem, Dr. Harrington. I've got it covered." It was confirmed. She was a gem.
Dr. Al-Sawi motioned outside the operating room for someone to come in. A tall, sturdy woman walked in, fully gowned and ready to work. "Nurse Pritchard. Maybe Introduce to you my head nurse from Kenya. This is Nurse Khadija." They nodded, so as not to shake hands and cause possible contamination.
"Nice to meet you, Khadija. Please, call me Karen."
"Nice to meet you as well, Karen. I'm honored to be able to assist you."
"I will leave you two to sort things out." Dr. Al-Sawi bowed slightly as he headed toward the door.
I stepped outside with Dr. Al-Sawi. He led me to a room where about 14 people were sitting. I recognized some from the patient files I had seen. They all looked to be a mixture of being excited and tentative. I could understand their mix of emotions.
I heard a murmur run through them and realized they had seen my scarf. It seemed they all knew exactly what it meant, as they nodded and smiled. I still didn't know what I thought about all of this. It was totally surreal, but I had to accept what people were telling me; I had no other source of information.
The pre-surgery appointments went well. I didn't understand what was being said, but Dr. Al-Sawi appeared to be doing a fine job in translating their questions and, in turn, my answers. The people were beautiful. Such elegant faces. I was captivated and suddenly humbled that these people trusted me with their lives. Although we had lined up some risky surgeries, it was important to communicate the risks. They were all seemingly willing to accept the risks; some of them had been living a difficult life. All I could do was promise them I would do my best and I assure them I had the best team on hand to support me and their recovery.
As we finalized our preparations, patients prepared themselves and Karen and I made ourselves comfortable in a hospital room that was allocated for us. We had hospital curtains separating our beds so we could have some privacy. This would be our refuge for the next few days, and I could only hope that our surgeries would be successful.
The next day was full. We ate a hearty breakfast provided by the hospital. The mango was some of the best fruit I had ever tasted. This was life in mango-land, I guess.
