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A word instead of a medicine
#WritcoStoryPrompt12
The old woman was near death. I could hear her try to draw in painful gasps of breath. I felt helpless as a doctor in this remote part of the world. Was there nothing I could do? Her soul was about to leave her poor body. Her health dwindled day and night. Yet all tests we made were negative.
She had stayed for a week. None of her relatives appeared. It was very strange because I knew people as old as her needs special care and attention. They need someone to always be near them. "And now that she looked to be closer to Heaven than Earth, who will pick her body if it happened. " I asked myself praying it shouldn't be that way.
In the evening before I went home I checked her address and went up to her village. I discovered alot about her. She had been abandoned by all her children. Her children claimed that she was old but always acted childishly and she was overly embarrassing to friends. They all went to the City. A neighbour said to me that ever since they went away none came back to check on their beautiful mother. So it means she has been living there lonely.
I never knew that loneliness and desertion was a deadly disease. I knew I had to do something imminently. She may die tonight. My session ended but nonetheless, I went back to the hospital. This time not as a doctor but a daughter.
I went and sat beside her bed. She looked very weak but I knew she would hear my words though she may not speak.
"Mom, love is a gift from God. There are people whom we expect to be our shield but they end up abandoning us. This is because they don't possess the gift of love. You can't force them to love you, just let them go. "
I started seeing her absorbing the strength which has been evaporating. I continued telling her, "old age is a blessing. You're the blessing everyone delves. Be my mother and let me be your daughter. Stay in my home. " From her face I saw an affirmation.
Day by day I talked to her. She was getting better. Every other staff was surprised. "We all thought she would die. " I then realized how my words and presence became her medicine. I knew she would also be a medicine to make me forget my mother who died after giving birth to me. We all need each other.
© Isaac Ojok
The old woman was near death. I could hear her try to draw in painful gasps of breath. I felt helpless as a doctor in this remote part of the world. Was there nothing I could do? Her soul was about to leave her poor body. Her health dwindled day and night. Yet all tests we made were negative.
She had stayed for a week. None of her relatives appeared. It was very strange because I knew people as old as her needs special care and attention. They need someone to always be near them. "And now that she looked to be closer to Heaven than Earth, who will pick her body if it happened. " I asked myself praying it shouldn't be that way.
In the evening before I went home I checked her address and went up to her village. I discovered alot about her. She had been abandoned by all her children. Her children claimed that she was old but always acted childishly and she was overly embarrassing to friends. They all went to the City. A neighbour said to me that ever since they went away none came back to check on their beautiful mother. So it means she has been living there lonely.
I never knew that loneliness and desertion was a deadly disease. I knew I had to do something imminently. She may die tonight. My session ended but nonetheless, I went back to the hospital. This time not as a doctor but a daughter.
I went and sat beside her bed. She looked very weak but I knew she would hear my words though she may not speak.
"Mom, love is a gift from God. There are people whom we expect to be our shield but they end up abandoning us. This is because they don't possess the gift of love. You can't force them to love you, just let them go. "
I started seeing her absorbing the strength which has been evaporating. I continued telling her, "old age is a blessing. You're the blessing everyone delves. Be my mother and let me be your daughter. Stay in my home. " From her face I saw an affirmation.
Day by day I talked to her. She was getting better. Every other staff was surprised. "We all thought she would die. " I then realized how my words and presence became her medicine. I knew she would also be a medicine to make me forget my mother who died after giving birth to me. We all need each other.
© Isaac Ojok
