Chapter 11 Father's illness
1013 Words
- Papa! Mary exclaimed.
She had taken a taxi to the hospital and the receptionist had told her where her father was.
- Mary, baby I am fine. Said her father.
They knew she had changed her name and why. She had been scared when she told them her marriage had failed. She was blaming herself, but they had told her it was not the end.
- Life gives us lots of lemons. It is up to us to turn those lemones into a lemonade.
She had cried in her mother’s arms while her father had made her favorite dish, peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk. She loved them, they were the best parents in the whole world.
- how can you say that when you are lying in a hospital bed?
- Your mother worries about the smallest thing
- Mom, what happened? She asked, knowing her father would always downplay the gravity of the situation to make them feel good.
- I am sorry darling, your father has some cardiac problems.
- what? Why are you telling me this just now?
- we didn’t want to worry you. And the doctor thinks the surgery will resolve most of the problem.
- Surgery? Papa! She exclaimed.
Mary couldn’t believe it. Her father needed surgery, and she had just heard that now.
- why didn’t you tell me? When is it?
- I won’t have that surgery, the doctor just wants to cut me open and study me.
- Papa! It really is not the moment to joke about that.
Her father was an avid fan of science fiction movies and was always driving her mother and her crazy. Or he used to, when she was a child.
- alright baby. Don’t worry, I will do the surgery.
- you promise?
- I promise.
Mary sighted, comforted. Her father had never once broken a promise he had given to her.
When she was a child she just thought it was normal, but now an adult, she knows how hard it can be to be loyal to one’s word. Nonetheless, her father had never broken a promise he had made to her. She once told him she would not be mad at him if he did. She understood that human beings could be weak. But he had just smiled and said,
- Human beings may be weak, but your mother, and you make me stronger. I can do anything if it is for you both.
And she wanted that. She wanted to be like him, to have a life where you only had one word, like him.
She left her parents for a moment and went to the receptionist's desk.
- Could you please tell me when my father’s surgery is scheduled?
- Tomorrow afternoon. Do you want to settle the surgery fee now?
- Yes please.
She check the bills then frowned.
- What do those lines mean? She asked, pointing at the lines.
- there are previous bills the patient still hasn’t settled.
Her father hadn’t settled his bills? He hated owning money to anyone, even less the state.
She paid for everything and decided to ask later what was going on. He may have forgotten.
She had arrived at the door, and it was slightly open.
- Maybe we should tell her? Her mother was saying.
- no, let’s handle that by ourselves. They are divorce now.
Were they talking about her and Mattew?
- What about the house?
- We will ask a bank for a loan.
- papa, maybe we should talk to Mattew. What they did wasn’t law-abiding.
- I don’t want our daughter to have to bow her head in front of anyone. And certainly not for me?
Her mother stood silent for a moment.
- I understand. Neither do I.
She pushed the door.
- Papa, Mama, what are you hiding from me?
- Mary…
- If you don’t start talking, I will go to Mattew now and ask him myself!
They looked at each other.
- Stop doing that. I can hear you even if you are not talking, you know.
- It really isn’t a big deal baby.
- No. I know something is really wrong. Papa is the one who always tells me not to worry.
Mary gave the bills to her mother. They both looked at it for a moment, then raised their eyes toward her.
- Now, start talking. What is going on with those bills? Why take a loan?
Her mother sighted.
- When we bought the house, we thought we were buying the land on which it is built too. But someone else own the land.
- how come? Didn’t you ask for the land too?
- There was a problem with the paper that able the homeowner to sell the land separately.
- What?! That is illegal!
- Yes, but to take him to court we need money and…
- And what mama?
- The people who bought the land want us to vacate it sooner rather than later.
- How can that be possible? They have to at least reimburse you back your house.
- The contract they signed didn’t stipulate that the land was occupied. So it just looks like we built a house there without authorization.
Mary walked to the windows trying to think.
- Did you contact the new homeowner, try to explain?
- We tried, but couldn’t reach the person responsible.
- Why? Who is he?
They looked at each other again. That was weird. It shouldn’t be a hard question to answer, it wasn’t like she knew him. Or.
- Mama, who is he?
- Darling, I am sure it is a misunderstanding. Everything will be resolved as soon as we talk to him.
She just looked at her parents. She was sure she knew who they were talking about, but she still waited.
- It is Mattew. He is the one who signed the order of expulsion.
Yeah! Mattew. This ex-husband was quickly turning into her nemesis.
- Writer
