Prophecy

Chapter Five

"Our world is indeed built on stones and water, darkness and light, life and death, angels and demons. The one cannot exist without the other, and so our world will die: by stone and water."

The Book of Rain

The pregnancy had not been easy for Dara. By her second trimester she'd become confined to staying in bed to not risk losing the baby. Going without her part of their income had been financially disastrous for the little family of two, soon to be three. Dara and Sothiya were not married. Few couples bothered with rituals as marriage these days in Cambodia, or Kampuchea as the country was also called. They'd lost their meaning to most people, even if most of the population still called themselves Buddhist. Buddhist rituals, such as marriage, was once again allowed, nothing prevented people from entering into marriage or performing any other religious acts either, for that matter. Still, people didn't get married. It would take many more years of trauma healing before the people who'd survived the years under the foot of Khmer Rouge dared engage in religious acts again. The temples were close to empty. Few sent their sons or daughters to become munks or nuns. The scars inflicted by Pol Pot's iron grip on the collective body of the Cambodian people would need time to fade.

Dara started bleeding that night. Sothiya ran to get his aunt, the only one they knew who had experience in delivering a child. Dara's parents were dead, and Sothiya had no reason to assume his wasn't as well. No one knew for sure but they'd been sent to to the labor camps outside the city and no one had ever heard from them since. Sothiya didn't entertain any illusions.

When Sothiya and Mama Fha stepped into the bedroom a horrible sight met them: blood everywhere. Dara, twisting and turning in complete and utter agony. Mama Fha immediately turned to Sothiya.

"Why haven't you taken her to the hospital, you fool?! Even an idiot can see this is more than an old crone like me can handle."

"Please help us, ming. We have no money to pay for the hospital. I had no choice, they would not have let us in."

Mama Fha sighed but didn't hesitate.

"Hot water, clean sheets and candles. I can't even see my hand in front of me, let alone what I'm doing in here."

The old woman knelt down next to her nephew's partner and leaned in close, her face so near Dara opened her eyes.

"Dara? Child, I'm here to help you. You are going to push through this and both you and your baby will be fine. Do you hear me? I need you to stop squirming like an eel and lay still so I can clean you up and take a look." Fha put her palm on the sheets underneath the shuddering woman. Soaked. This couldn't be just transpiration, no matter how terrified and stressed the mother-to-be was. Her water must have broke.

"Ming Fha, I'm bleeding. There's so much blood. I fear for my child. I'm so scared that something is wrong with my child."

Dara's words were uneven and came in quick breaths. Mama Fha patted her over the head.

"First you. Then your child. That is the way we shall go."

Fha took one of the sheets Sothiya came running with. and tore long strips of it. She soaked one of these strips in the boiling hot water, not even flinching. Her hands was worn and insensitive to the heat after working most her life in a hotel laundry. Fha washed Dara's face and chest, quite brusquely, but it seemed to calm Dara down a bit. Fha took the opportunity to roll her to the side so she could put a clean sheet under the woman and stripped her of her sweaty and bloody nightshirt.

Mama Fha proceeded with cleaning herself as best she could, and then lit more oil lamps around her and Dara – the electricity came and went and could not be relied on—and then sat by Dara to wait for the next contraction. She didn't have to wait long. With this contraction, she could glimpse a black haired little head, so Fha told Dara not to push too hard, to take it easy and try to wait for the next contraction. It was happening too fast for Dara's body to handle.