shadowChild

Chapter Three - Closing Doors

Kuda was in her consulting-room when the door opened and Aaron came in. She could see at once that he had something to say to her. The lines on his face were deeper than usual and the mouth that was usually so quick to smile was drawn down in a frown. His thatch of hair, which had once been so thick, had receded slowly over the years, leaving behind a baldness that made him look as homely as a farmer on his ranch rather than the distinguished doctor he was. He pushed his glasses back onto the highest part on the bridge of his nose and then scratched his left ear distractedly.

She waited.

"Kuda," he began. "I know that you and I haven't ever been friends but I always hoped that we could be."

Kuda wanted to let him know how what he had said wasn't true. Once, a long time ago, they had been close. As close as any father and daughter could be but that had changed. So many things had changed. Too many for them to ever go back to the close relationship they had once shared. She wanted to say all these things to Aaron, but she kept quiet. It was too late now.

Aaron continued to speak. His voice was low and quiet. He spoke as though he was trying to force the words out of a throat which refused to co-operate with him.

"I know you don't like me and I know why. I also understand why but it's hard for me not to treat you like my daughter." Kuda looked away and as always Aaron knew nothing else he would say to her on this topic would get through to her. He sighed. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I'll come to work for another month before I hand the reins over to Jake. I'll stay in Jakalas for another three months, however, sorting out my things before I go back home."

"Home where?" Kuda asked as she turned to look back at him.

"I want to go back to America."

"Why now after all these years?"

Aaron smiled crookedly. It was a small, sad smile.

"I'm old, Kuda, and call me sentimental, but I want to be buried at home."

"At home, huh?" Kuda said softly, and Aaron knew he had said something she had taken the wrong way. Again. "And Botswana has never been your home," she continued just as softly. "I guess I always knew that but to hear you confirm it doesn't improve the way I look at you, Aaron."

"Kuda, you know that's not what I meant." It was a silent plea for her understanding. Kuda dropped her head and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't be angry at him anymore. She just couldn't. Aaron seemed to sense some of what she was feeling, perhaps because he was feeling some of it too. He wanted to reach out and console her but he knew her well enough to know that his gesture would add fuel rather than water to the fire. Instead he clasped his hands behind his back, as though they might reach out to her on their own volition.

"Anyway, I'll be under your feet for another month and you'll get more tired of me than you already are," he told her.

It was meant to be a joke but it came out all wrong and Kuda felt a tug of remorse in her heart.

"Aaron --" she began but the knock at the door cut into what she was about to say. Angelica put her head around the door without waiting for a response and Kuda wanted to throw something at her. Something heavy and hard that would cause permanent damage.

"Kuda, there are some patients here to see you," she informed her before closing the door again.

The tired old man looked at the young woman who sat before him and she looked back at him. For a moment the animosity that had existed between them for so long, breeding and expanding until it had become almost tangible, seemed to dissolve and disappear. For just a moment, they were once again father and daughter. For a moment, they were family again.