Make it Work

Exposed

4 July 2019

A new day begins, and boy am I not feeling bad but good today but seems like I woke up late and everything seems feel bright walking down the stairs for a quick refreshment and maybe a quick ice-cream. I did not even bother to check whether she was by my side or not but she is already up maybe slightly late or early. Does not matter anyway.

Get up from the bed and straight for the kitchen clearing my eyes getting at the door, I see the two talking and laughing. I get behind the wall to listen to what they are saying.

“Your brother has been cold to me lately but he still looks at me like I am the only woman in the world!” she sounds happy saying it.

Tanyaradzwa laughs, “He is like a high school kid, right?” rubs her hair with her hand, “Growing up with everything that happened to him I never thought he would be like this for this long!”

Vimbai laughs and I hear the chair moving, “I am glad he did not change because the way he looks at me makes me feel like am the only thing that matters in the world and that is hard to find!” Vimbai breathes heavily, “I just hope he just let’s go of everything and let us move on with our lives.”

“Do not worry, sister-in-law, he will get over everything in time,” she continues to strengthen her hope, “And this is so unusual of my brother, it is already 10 AM and still he has not shown any sign of waking up!”

“After I am done here, I will go up and wake him up!” she replies.

“Ohh, do not do that! We have to elongate this girl time we are having before he drops his current grumpiness on us and darkens the mood.”

None of them speak for a while or even make a sound, “Well, I guess you are right!” she continues cooking.

I return back to my room and check my phone only to find missed calls and messages from Davidzo and I immediately call her.

She quickly answers, “Michael, Anaishe has fallen ill! She is having trouble breathing and is blacking out and today it took her a while to wake up, I mean to fully wake up. What do I do?” she does not even greet me and heads straight into the issue at hand.

“Meet me at Makurira hospital in,” I look at the time, “As fast as you can!” I do not relay the time anymore.

“Alright, alright I will be there!”

“Good!” end the call and quickly prepare to leave.

Done, I head downstairs and head out through the kitchen where the two ladies are talking.

“Wait, Mr! Where are you going in a hurry?” Tanyaradzwa asks looking at my careworn face.

“Just out!” I reply placing my hands on the door.

“You can.t just say out with your face looking so worried and expect us to just let you leave!” at this point her asking questions is just annoying me.

“I am going to the hospital! Does that answer suffice?” I reply her with a harsh tone.

“Heyy, do not use that tone with me young man! What is wrong?”

“I do not have time for this right now, Tanyaradzwa!”

Really though, I do not have the time for this. I open up the door and leave the house. Open up the garage and get into the car and they both get in the backseat.

Sigh out of annoyance, “And where do you think both of you are going?”

“Ohh we are coming with you and do not think that we are going to get out of the car!” Tanyaradzwa asserts her stubbornness.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Your face said there is an emergency, now, chop-chop drive time is running out!” she is now commanding me, wow.

If I take them, it is inevitable they will learn about Davidzo and Anaishe. This will result in a lot of problems being presented but this is not the time for me to over think this. My daughter needs me and I will have to just roll with them.

I drive out and heard to the hospital with them in the car.

“Since we left in a hurry, we did not get a chance to eat breakfast so can we make a quick stop so we can grab something to eat?” Tanyaradzwa seems to be the only one speaking and Vimbai is just there silent.

“No! If you wanted to eat breakfast you should have stayed home and had your breakfast, stop annoying me. I am not in the mood!” I can feel the coldness in my tone.

“Okay Michael, what is going on?” Vimbai finally has decided to open up her mouth and it is to ask me what is wrong.

“Nothing is wrong! I will drop you at a supermarket and head to my destination.” I agree to their quick snack stop but will they accept my condition?

They are silent and I can feel their eyes glaring at me from behind or is it just my imagination.

“Since you both are silent, I presume you accept my proposal and I will drop you off and continue!”

“Okay, tell us which hospital you are going to so we can join you after we have bought the fast food?” Vimbai asks but should I tell them? Or just lead them to the wrong hospital?

No, that is a bad idea. I will just tell them where I am going and head there fast. By now Davidzo must be close or at the hospital.

“I will be at Makurira!” I tell them the exact location.

“Alright, do you want us to get you anything?”

What is this now? I never said I would like to eat and they want to include me. How can I eat with knowing my daughter is having a hard time? But they do not know that I am going to make sure my daughter gets treated but still I cannot think about any thing else and yet they are annoying me already.

“Nothing, I will eat after I am done with what I am going to do!” I reject the quick food offer.

“Okay then, tell me when you need some food and I will go get it for you,” she offers just in case I change my mind and it seems the two have exchanged the roles of the silent one and the talker.

“I will!”

She goes back to being silent, finally, I can focus my mind on my daughter without any annoyances. Still, I can feel their eyes glaring at me from behind but does not matter though. Soon I will drop them at the supermarket and disappear.

“We are here now! You can go and get your quick breakfast.” I stop at the side of the OK supermarket.

“Thank you, but you could have just dropped us at the Pick n Pay supermarket!” Vimbai expresses her thoughts.

“Look I said I would drop you off at the supermarket, but I did not say which one so if you will please get off so I can get on with my journey!”

“Why are you being so rude?” Tanyaradzwa bursts out in anger, “All you have done so far is being grumpy and rude to us, why?”

I remain silent and they both move out quietly but I am sure as soon as they I am gone; they are going to express their displeasure towards my behaviour to each other. Does not matter at the moment I just need to get to the hospital and make sure that Anaishe is good.

Drive off and head to the hospital, get there and with haste head straight for the reception.

“Good morning!” I greet the receptionist, “By any chance did you see a young woman in her early twenties walk in with a little baby girl who is sick?”

“Morning, yes she walked in some time ago and she seem in distress, follow me and I will take you to the room where she is.” The receptionist takes the lead and I follow with searchful eyes.

We get to the room and there she is standing with her hands covering her mouth and tears flowing from her eyes.

“Davidzo!” I call her and she quickly turns to look at me and jumps right into my arms and I embrace her.

“I do not want to lose our daughter, Michael! Please do something so she will not die!” fear and pain are engraved in her eyes and voice and me too I have them but I have to keep calm and be strong so that we can all make it through this.

“Nothing will happen to her, I promise! She will be alright we have to be strong for her,” I remove her from my arms and hold her shoulders, “Where is the doctor? Did he take a look at Anaishe yet?”

She holds his arms, “He said he is still examining her and that he will tell me as soon as he gets the results,” she relays to me what the doctor had said.

I put my hands on her cheeks, “Then let us wait for the doctor to return and when he returns with the results, we start from there! Alright?”

She nods in agreement rubbing on her own shoulders and I look around for a place to sit and there is a chair at the side of the door. Drag her there and sit her down.

Squat down and look at her in the face, “You wait here while I go to the reception and handle some things, okay?”

She nods her head again, “Okay!” she agrees and she keeps looking down.

Leave the room and go straight to the reception.

With haste I set myself and I ask the receptionist, “Excuse me! May I ask if the lady I asked you about did any procedures before going into the room with the baby?”

She cogitates, “Hmmmm, no she did not.” she denies, “Actually, when she came in the doctor attended to her personally so she did not sign anything or pay any bills.”

I set myself straight, “Okay, I will be doing that now,” I look around her desk, “What do I have to do?”

She searches around her table as I wait looking around looking impatient. She brings out some papers from the drawers and hands them over to me and I read them.

She points at the empty spaces, “You need to fill in here and here and there and ummm, here and there. Then you sign here!” she concludes.

I look at her, “Is that all now?” I inquire.

“Yes, for now and umm tell me how you are going to pay the bills?” she questions me.

I begin signing the documents, “With cash.” I disclose how I am going to pay.

For a while she remains silent and then she decides to clarify, “Ohh before you finish may I clarify your relationship with the patient, sir?”

I stop filling in the spaces, “Ohh that is okay, I am her father!” I clarify for her and continue writing.

A voice comes from behind me, “What do you mean father, Michael?” the voice sounds confused but my mind is blocked from recognising because I am careworn.

I slowly turn, “How is that any of your business!” I answer impudently and I come face to face with Vimbai who seems to be shocked and disappointed.

She is walking closer to me and I cannot move at the moment, “So that is why you did not want us to tag along because you did not want us to find out about this?” she concludes on her own.

Of course, I did not want them to find out yet. But they insisted on coming so there was nothing to be done to prevent this. All I need now is a way to tell them how she came into existence. I doubt if they are going to believe me though.

She is glaring straight into my eyes and I can feel my heart pounding loud, “What are you thinking about, Michael? I asked you a question and you should answer it!”

“I heard you the first time, Vimbai!” at this moment I can feel my emotions riling up, “Yes, I did not want you to come and find out but you came right? You are here!” I spread my arms out, “Since you came, I knew you were going to find out and I was not going to lie to you any longer because this was heavy to carry now that you know it feels lighter!” I shout back at her, “So, if you please just calm down and we will talk about this at home.”

She scoffs, “How hypocritical! All this time I have suffered while you hold the same dirt with you!”

Put down my arms hearing her say this. What the hell? Same dirt? She has the nerve to say this? I never lied to her. I am a what I said I am I just withheld this truth from her and she thinks I screwed around and got someone pregnant?

I laugh, “Maybe, but what you did and what I did are two different things. I just have a hard time expressing it because it is considered unethical by some.” I explain to her why I did not say anything about.

She takes her eyes off me, “Okay then, what did you do that is so shameless that you cannot even tell anyone?”

I turn my gaze back to the receptionist, “Is there anything else that requires my attention?”

“No, sir!” she answers.

“Thank you, I will be off now!” I leave the reception, back to the room where Davidzo is and she follows.

I do not know if it is a good idea to go to the room with her here. She might cause a commotion there and I do not want that. I will not be leaving until the doctor affirms that my daughter is going to be alright!

I get into the room and she follows in and closes the door. Davidzo gets up from the chair to meet me.

She drops in my arms crying, “Is the doctor coming? Did he say anything to you?” she catechizes me.

My eyes turn to look at Vimbai who seems to be glaring at me. Maybe, I am being ignoramus and not considering everything. When all this is done, I will talk to her at home and not here.

Return my attention to Davidzo and in a low voice I reply, “I did not see him, I was at the reception and it seems like you forgot to sign the paperwork.”

“Ohh yes, I was in a rush. Let me go and look for the doctor now!” she leaves immediately to search for him.

Wait a second, I have not yet seen Anaishe ever since I came in and I went to the reception and still I have not seen her yet. Where is she really?

“So, is that her? The woman who you are getting up in her loins?” she shoots a question at me.

And I wonder if she can hear herself right now. What the hell has gotten into her? Should I answer her? Look at her for a second and she is contorting her face like those girls who thing they own the world.

“I told you that we will talk about it when we get home!” I am not concurring with her about discussing this matter at the hospital.

I can hear her move, “Alright then, Tanyaradzwa is coming and I hope you will be able to tell her what is going on and as for me? I will be heading home now!”

Direct my eyes at her, “Okay, if you say so!” I agree with her decision to leave because for real though, I need to focus on one thing at a time.

She scoffs, opens the door and bangs it behind her. Well, that was expected and right now she is furious at me.

Davidzo returns sometime after Vimbai left with the doctor and Anaishe in her hands. But where was Anaishe? Was she with the doctor or somewhere different?

The doctor puts his hand forward and I meet his with mine, “Mr Zimuto!” he is cheerful and happy to see me but wait does he know me?

“I am a big fan of your work!” he continues with the same energy and my hand is now starting to feel weak.

I smile, “Thank you!”

“Yes, yes please be comfortable!” he points at the chair and I get seated.

He clears his throat, “Wow, this place is graced today!” he is jocund still and my daughter is sick.

He looks at me, “Well, let me give you the results of the examination. It seems you are not in the mood to be chatty.”

I sit up straight and give the doctor the full attention of my ears. And still I had not checked my little daughter yet.

“What your daughter is suffering from is called Febrile convulsion or fever fit!” he says looking at his papers.

Davidzo moves closer to him looking at the paper with Anaishe in her arms, “I am sorry but what is that? And how serious is this fever fit or Ferile convu thing?” she is eager to know more about it and I can feel the fear in her voice.

But the way she repeated Febrile convulsion though. I feel compelled to laugh but I have to hold it.

The doctor closes the file, “Ohh yes! Febrile convulsion is a seizure associated with a high body temperature but without any underlying health issues that are serious. Common among the children between the ages of 6 months and 5years. It involves the loss of consciousness where by a child or baby blacks out, spasm or jerking of legs and arms, foaming at the mouth, going pale or bluish in skin colour oh her as you can see there on her shoulder and your child may take 10 – 15 minutes to wake up properly afterwards.

He hands over a paper to Davidzo and she takes it, “So, what needs to be done in order for her to become better again and make this disappear?”

“That paper contains everything about the condition and how to treat the fever which includes keeping them cool by not overdressing them or having their room too hot and also giving them plenty to drink and more but you should be able to handle it.”

“Okay, thank you doctor!” she answers and I feel like I am not doing anything now.

He moves closer to Davidzo and points at the paper, “And here are some medications to help stop the fits and if it continues, come back with her so that I can check her out!”

Rise from the chair, “Thank you, doctor, I appreciate your help!” chipped in to thank him and turned to leave.