My child should never cry

Chapter 10 - Life surely is cruel

Mary, Sam, and Angel are inside the waiting room of National Hospital of New York, Department of Infectious Diseases. They do not speak to each other. Angel doesn't understand why she had to come with them. Mary gets up from her seat every time she sees a nurse. Sam beckons her to sit quietly and wait to be invited inside the doctor's office.

Sam is quieter than Mary, probably because he believes the hospital discovered the mistake it made and found that everything is normal, so they all had to come to hospital to discuss this new information.

"They're probably trying to cover up that they made a mistake. They want to apologize to us and discuss what benefits or damages they'll give us for not disclosing this error to the press. I don't know that they proved they are incapable," Sam said a bit nervously.

Mary listens, but, unlike him, she is not so calm and it shows.

"How could they be so incompetent? Didn't they realize that Angel might receive some medication that would do her more harm than good? Even so, how come there are so many incompetent people at this center? I'll talk with the hospital's director, Robert. Something like this is unacceptable."

Mary was still agitated. The fact that a nurse asked her to go with Angel again to give another vial of blood, meant that the hospital was still making huge errors. She looked nervously at Sam, and then she returned to him with Angel. She observed Angel. The girl was calm. So calm that, when Mary looked into her eyes for a moment, she, herself, became calmer.

Finally, a nurse from the doctor's office invited the parents in. She took the girl into the playroom, where other children were waiting for their parents. The playroom was full of toys and all kinds of games.

Mary and Sam enter the office where a female doctor invites them to sit down. She is very serious. Her name is Miranda Gold. Sam honors the invitation and sits down, but Mary sighs and stands. It is obvious that she is still sad and unhappy.

"Sam, Mary, I'm doctor Miranda Gold. This is Doctor Alfred Johnson, a colleague of mine from the infectious diseases department, and this is Doctor Matt Thomson from the allergy and immunology department."

Sam greets all the doctors with respect. Mary only looks at them and nods her head a little in greeting.

"I called you to the hospital because it seems that the results of the girl . . . Stone, Angel—your daughter . . . were obtained from the analysis performed. So, Dr. Stone's accusations are unfounded. The same opinion is shared by these two doctors," Dr. Gold continued.

The two other doctors nodded their approvals.

"I noticed that Miss Angel Stone, according to the analysis, has problems with her immune system." She looks at the two parents and then continues to speak. "To understand, Mr. and Dr. Stone, I want to tell you that your daughter might be infected with HIV, which is why we took additional blood from Angel. We needed to give her the ELISA test. The result of this test confirmed that it is true. She is ill," said Miranda Gold.

Mary was destroyed. She sat down in the chair. "How is this possible? It's not possible. How . . .?"

"As a doctor of this hospital, I would take blood samples from both of you. As her parents, you are in constant contact with Angel. This is standard procedure. After that, we will discuss what you should do next. Please let us take the samples."

A nurse comes into the office to take the parents to the lab. The parents numbly follow the nurse; they are devastated.

***

It is a beautiful spring day. Everything is freshly green. Dark green encircles the entire park. The sun is easily warming everything around.

When Mary, Angel, and Sam arrive in Central Park, Sam takes off his jacket and sits on the bench with Mary. He is careless and angry. He does not seem to notice anything that is happening around him. Even when a baby almost cycled into his feet, he said nothing. The child apologized, but still Sam said nothing.

Angel ran towards some children playing. Two children were on the swings, three on a slide, and three others were playing with a ball.

Mary watches Angel. Mary is also thoughtful, but like any protective mother, she watches for her child. She sees Angel moving toward a swing that is empty. She climbs onto the swing and begins to pump hard.

Another child begins to swing higher, making a competition with Angel. Both children are laughing at the same time and each of them tries to be the winner of that contest.

Sam lights a cigarette. Almost all those children were Angels' friends.

"I told you not to smoke anymore," Mary said. "It's not good for you . . . or for us."

"And I told you to leave me alone. One cigarette sometime won't kill me. And anyway, these are my lungs."

"Yes, but our health is also affected by this smoke," Mary retorted.

"Honey, give me a break. I can't get my mind off of what I found out about Angel three days ago. I don't know how you even have time to watch me and bother me."

"You'll have to stop smoking. She'll be more sensitive than before," added Mary.

"I say, let's read the analysis and see what we'll do after," Sam offered.

"And if they are positive? Until they rebuild the analysis it might take six months. Until then, you will aggravate the situation further," said the caring Mary.

Sam stands up from the bench more nervous. He is still smoking. Mary lets him walk alone. She continues to watch her child. At one point Mary sees Angel coming toward her. The girl is very sad. But before that, she noticed that the three boys who were playing ball didn't want to play with her. The boys said something to Angel, but Mary couldn't hear what it was. After that, the boys laughed.

When Angel walks up to Mary, she takes her girl in her arms and says, "What happened, dear?"

"Kids do not want to play with me," answered Angel.

"How come, my dear? Let's talk to them."

Mary takes her little girl in her arms and heads slowly towards the boys.

"They said I am ill and that I will die," said the child.

Mary stops abruptly when she hears this. She easily lets her daughter slide down from her arms, and she kisses her on the forehead. When, with a trembling voice, she speaks, she says, "If they say such ugly things, then they do not deserve to play with you, darling. We'd better go home anyway and look at Spidy or watch a beautiful film. Leave the boys, because they are mean."

She looks at those kids. She glances over at some mothers sitting on a bench. Those mothers were discussing them, too. It was obvious.

Sam eventually notices that his daughter has tears in her eyes. When the girls come up next to him, he does not say anything. He simply takes his daughter in his arms and makes a sign to Mary to follow him. They are leaving for home.