Two Years of Wonder - A Memoir

Chapter 10: Tabitha & the Hospital

The money was not very much, so Tabitha and her mother walked as far as they could to the hospital. Only when Tabitha's mother was too tired did they stop, sit down, and decide to catch a matatu. Because they had walked part of the way, it would not be as expensive.

When they arrived, Tabitha was very hungry. She told her mother even though she knew they did not have enough money to buy anything from the kiosks that were set up outside the hospital. Her mother began going up to the sellers anyway and in a very soft voice asking if there was anything they could give to her and her daughter. Most of the people said that they were poor themselves and could not be giving away food or else their husbands or wives or their children might not eat. But one man towards the end of the row of kiosks gave them two passion fruits. Tabitha ate hers right away. Her mother placed hers in her pocket. She thanked the man many times and made Tabitha say thank you as well. Her mother told him God would bless him.

The hospital was very crowded. It also smelled funny, like people, but also a smell Tabitha had never experienced before, an astringent smell that burned the inside of her nostrils. Tabitha and her mother sat down at the end of a row of chairs. Every few minutes everyone would get up and move one chair down. The person on the very end of the line would go inside an office where there was a doctor. There were many old people there as well as many children. Some were very sick, some very thin, some with their arms wrapped in bandages, but none had skin that was turning white like Tabitha's.

They had moved only a few times when Tabitha's mother had to go to the toilet. Tabitha hoped it was near because she knew when her mother had to go, there often was not much time to spare. Fortunately the door was just on the other side of the room. Her mother moved toward it as quickly as possible.

She remained in the toilet a long time. When the line moved again Tabitha was unsure if she should move without her mother, but the cucu beside her told her it would be all right. Time passed, the line moved again. Now Tabitha was excited because when her mother returned she would surprise her by calling out her name and showing her how far they had moved and how little time they had left.

The line moved two more times. The long waits in between moving seemed to take forever now that Tabitha was paying close attention. But eventually they moved again and again. They rounded the corner of the chairs and were moving in the opposite direction so Tabitha's back was to the toilet door and she had to keep looking over her shoulder.

The line moved two times in succession next. Now the cucu bent over and asked Tabitha where her mother was. Tabitha said she had not seen her come out of the toilet yet. This attracted the attention of the old man sitting behind the cucu. He said something in Kizungu. The cucu nodded and said that maybe Tabitha should go check on her mother. She promised to hold the seat for Tabitha.

Tabitha walked over to the door to the toilet and pushed it open. The room on the other side was quiet. The astringent smell was very strong inside but so was the smell of urine and excrement. Tabitha called out for her mother. Her own voice echoed. She called out again but heard nothing in response.

It was a large toilet. Instead of just a hole in the ground, there were walls constructed around what Tabitha thought were many holes. However, when she peered around a swinging door that led to where the hole would be, in place of a hole she saw a shiny white chair. It was a strange seat with no bottom. It had a hole in the middle and water floating inside. It was white and Tabitha thought maybe it was made of polished bone, maybe the bones of the people who had died in the hospital.

She was becoming scared. She called out for her mother again but there was no response. The walls between the seats did not reach the floor and Tabitha looked beneath them. A few feet down she saw her mother's skirt. She made her way down the room and pushed on the appropriate door.

She found her mother on the other side. She was sitting on one of the seats. Her skirt had been bunched about her but it was falling now. The smell of diarrhea was very strong and suddenly Tabitha felt terrible for intruding upon her mother.

Her mother did not seem upset though. She was leaning against the wall, her eyes partially closed. Tabitha moved closer. Her mother was breathing very softly, like she was sleeping. Tabitha called out her name. She whispered something, but her eyes did not move. Tabitha realized she was very tired. Then she noticed that her mother's passion fruit had fallen on the floor. She reached down to pick it up. As she did so, she noticed that diarrhea, blood, and urine were running down the side of the white seat.

She placed the fruit back in her mother's pocket. She told her mother that they were almost to the doctor now. There was a slight change in her breathing, which Tabitha thought meant she had heard her. But still her mother did not move. Tabitha decided to leave her so she could continue to rest.

She went back to her seat in the queue. It had moved one seat over but the cucu had kept it for her. She asked Tabitha how her mother was. Tabitha told her that she was resting.

Finally the queue had moved and Tabitha was at the front. She kept looking back over her shoulder. A few women went into the toilet. Each time the door opened, these same women would come out. Tabitha's mother was still resting. Finally the door to the doctor's office opened. A nurse came out and called for the next person. Tabitha did not know what to do. But then the cucu spoke, in Kizungu. The nurse then asked Tabitha if her mother was sick. Tabitha said yes. Then the nurse called over a second nurse and they went into the toilet together.

Tabitha waited. She did not want to lose her spot in the queue for when her mother came back. She watched as the door opened. But it was only one of the nurses. She ran away and when she returned, she had a man with her and between them they had a bed on wheels. At the sight of this, many people turned their heads. The cucu took a hold of Tabitha.

The door opened again. This time one of the nurses was holding it open as the other nurse and the man pushed the cart through with Tabitha's mother on top of it. Then they turned down the hallway and disappeared. The nurse that had held the door came over and told Tabitha to come with her. Tabitha asked if they would lose their place in queue. The nurse said they would be seeing a doctor right now.

She led Tabitha down a hallway. Tabitha kept looking for the bed with her mother on it, but she did not see it. The nurse made her sit down in a chair outside a room. When Tabitha looked inside the room, she could not see much because there was a curtain in the way. She waited there a long time. Finally the nurse came back. She seemed upset. She asked what Tabitha's surname was. Tabitha did not know. She asked what her mother's surname was. Tabitha did not know that either, but she suggested that the nurse ask her mother.

The nurse said that she could not because Tabitha's mother was now with the Lord.

Tabitha knew what this meant. Her brother that they had buried had gone to be with the Lord. It meant that he would not come back and neither would her mother.