Counting Blessing

Chapter 5

Settling down

Things had been settling pretty well for Seth. Joe took him to one of the houses he owned; or one of his properties he inherited from his father. It was an imposing detached house with six bedrooms and four ensuite bathrooms. The sitting room had a double glazed patio doors that leads to the rear garden. Next to the sitting room was a designer kitchen which extended to an orangery with roof light windows. According to Joe, the sixty year old house had just been recently refurbished.

“Pretty impressive for an old house,” Seth complimented as they sat down for teas in the kitchen. “What are you going to do with this house?”

“Rent it, or maybe sell it. Well it is nothing compared to your 7 million Hollywood Hill’s dwelling,” Joe quipped jokingly.

Seth raised an eyebrow. “Ah… I see you have been reading junkie tabloid about me.”

“To be honest, I don’t read tripe. But if it is about you, I’d pay extra attention.” Joe took a sip at his tea. “They know all about you. They have pictures of all the girls you have dated. I’m impressed.”

“Come one, Joe,” Seth said, giving a disapproving expression. “Some of the rumours were fabricated.”

“How many girls have you dated exactly? Twenty? Thirty? Fifty?”

It was true that Seth never did the counting. The point is, he didn’t even need to make an effort to get a girl. When you are rich, hot and famous, they threw themselves at you. “Do numbers matter?”

“No.” Joe looked at Seth with a serious face. “A cliché question that I’ve been wanting to ask you. Honestly, Seth. Have you ever thought of settling down? I mean getting married and have children of your own. Or do you still enjoy being single, at the age of thirty five?”

“Yes, of course I have. It’s just that I haven’t met a girl that I would like to settle down with, yet.”

“Well maybe you will find one here, who knows?” Joe joked. “You know you always have no problem with that looks of yours. How I wish I could look half as good as you.”

Seth sighed and stared at the ceiling. Woman? Date? Now? “I am not in a mood to please any lady at this point of my life.”

“I know a couple of nice girls at church.”

“Thanks, but no thanks, Joe. Not now. Can’t you see I’m all screwed-up?”

“Sorry. I thought a nice lady will make you feel better.” Joe pressed his lips and formed into a thin line. “But hey, it’s not the end of the world, Seth. You are here to obtain some time for healing.”

Seth wished he could get one of those healing potions from the games he used to play. He ran his hand through his hair, looked at the garden through the glass window, expressionless.

Joe couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. That blithesome American guy he once knew had lost his cheerful spirit. “Listen, all you need is time, Seth. They won’t remember all those things they wrote about you after some time. Besides, you really need to have time to just ponder over things in your life. Start planning, start searching and find a meaningful goal to achieve rather than harking back to the past. Just let it past, Seth.”

“Yeah,” Seth said quietly to agree. “Do you sell healing waters, Pastor Joe?”

“Cut it out. There’s no such thing as healing waters at our church.” Joe slapped his hands on his lap and got up from the chair. “Right, is there anything else you need before I leave for home?”

Joe lived just a few houses away, he told Seth he could just walk over and bang on his door if he needs anything. At the moment everything seemed completed for a long vacation. They had already stopped by the retail shops to get everything Seth needed.

“One more thing. I need a car.”

An adherent or admirer

           With quick steps Jenna trod to the kitchen and snarfed up some digestive biscuits she had in her cupboard. She was running late. She was supposed to be at the hospital in 20 minute time. Artfully, she tied her hair in a bun, donned her white coat and went out in no time.

           Jenna had volunteered as teaching assistant at a hospital nearby. This week she was scheduled to be in the nursery at the second week. So today she would be reading stories for the children and play some simple games.

Dr. Andrew, the pediatrician in charge of the children recovery department tends to mumble at times. Alexis, the young woman who was signing to a deaf girl was having a little trouble every time Dr. Andrew mumbles or speaks too fast. Jenna caught her frowning helplessly, and the deaf girl giggled. Basically, Dr. Andrew was just trying to communicate with the little deaf girl, telling her that she has been coping quite well with her new hearing aid, and will slowly adapt to using it. The little girl smiled like an angel, and touched her hearing aid. Then she signed a ‘thank you’ to Dr. Andrew.

           The reading session ended at half past ten as usual, and the children slowly dwindled, back to their wards one by one. They hugged and said goodbye to each other. Some would be discharged out of the hospital in couple of days’ time, some would have to stay a little longer. Some were nowhere to be seen. It feels sad to know that some have left for good, to a faraway place. Therefore, Jenna did her best in making the children feel good, to cling on the hope of being fully recovered, and be normal, healthy kids.

“Bye, Miss Jenna.” a little red-haired girl said to Jenna. She had an operation to remove a tumor in her brain. The operation was successful, and now she is on her second week of recovery.

Jenna stoked her red hair. “Take care, Agnes.”

Jenna was about to leave after a short chat with some of the women. A voice calling her name from behind. It was Tim, or Dr. Tim.

           “Hi Tim,” Jenna greeted. Tim was a doctor, tall and lean. He was an amiable fellow, a little too friendly to her. Sometimes he makes fawning remarks which made Jenna feels a little uneasy. Jenna had a strange feeling that Tim was fond of her. 

“Hi Jenna. Great to see you here. We missed you at the buffet last week,” Tim said.

           There he goes again, reminding my sin, Jenna thought. The organizer had invited all the volunteers at the hospital for a buffet as a gesture of appreciation for their time and effort. But Jenna did not fancy such formal function. After all, all she did was for the children. Since she was a kindergarten teacher, she thought she could utilize her expertise in helping those need her.

“Sorry I couldn’t make it.” Actually she could have made it. But last Saturday was one of her inactive days, where lassitude and apathy prevailed over her. She just wanted to lie on bed, read a book and be lazy once in a while. Too much activity ruffles her feathers.

“How’s everything recently? How’s work?” Tim asked.

“Everything is… pretty normal, actually,” Jenna said, and gave a casual shrug.

“I heard you volunteered to help out at the children’s home. That’s very nice of you. You know, the community really needs more people like you.”

Haha. Now he makes her feel like a saint. “Thanks,” Jenna said with a mild grin.

Actually, she started the volunteer job at the children’s home much earlier than the one at the hospital. She promised Dr. Andrew that she’d come to the hospital once every week, for she had to go help out at the children’s home occasionally. Dr. Andrew couldn’t be happier. He had been searching for volunteers for the past few weeks and had finally got Jenna and Alexis, the deaf interpreter to come over to relief the speech-language pathologist, who is currently on her honeymoon vacation. So they had to reschedule the calendar for the time being

“Listen. The Leo Club is having a special gathering this coming Saturday at 6pm, my place. There will be food and nibbles and games. And you are welcome to bring your friends over, and…” Tim began to promote enthusiastically about the coming activity. He had been an active member of the club for years, as he had said before. But Jenna was too hungry to catch every word he said. Her stomach was already crying out for food.

“Okay. I’ll let you know if I’m going,” Jenna responded as soon as Tim stopped talking.

Tim nodded with a wide smile. “Looking forward for you to join us. You’ll get to meet a lot new friends, they are nice people. Hope you can make it.”

“I don’t know… I’m just pretty occupied with stuffs lately.”

“Maybe you could try sparing a Saturday?” Tim said, more like coaxed.

“Maybe I will. Let you know soon. I have to go. See you.”

“Hope you see you on Saturday.”