"Who are you", I almost shouted.
The sight of a middle aged man in Smita's room in the wee hours of the morning had startled me. I was doing a double shift and had thought of dropping in and seeing how she is around 4 in the morning, when I saw him.
" Who are you..What you doing here", I repeated.
He slowly got up to his feet. He was looking tired and like a perfect candidate to be the inhabitant of the bed that he was leaning upon when I had walked in.
"I am Jayakumar, Smita's dad"
"Oh I didnt know you were coming. Her mom didnt inform me."
"She didnt know. I didnt know myself whether I would be able to come. But here I am."
We both stared at each other for an awkward moment before he asked, " How is she doing now"
I walked through her status, the treatment that we were giving her, how she was reacting to the treatment, the medications she was under..
"I dont understand most of what you just said. How is she doing...I mean how is she taking all this.", he interrupted.
"Oh she is fine..she is cooperative. She takes her medicine properly..."
" I didnt mean that. How is she taking this entire thing? It has been some time since I saw her. She looks so thin and frail now. How much is she weighing now? Is she eating properly? Will the medications do that to her? Is the treatment very painful? "
I was silent, not knowing which of the questions to answer from this continuous barrage. Was this concern true or was it a last minute effort to project some authority over us and his seemingly estranged family? I don't know and didn't really want to know what dynamics run in Smita's family. I glanced at her chart.
"She is 50. She was creating some problems earlier this week but now it is fine. She is eating properly. The medications are pretty much standardized now and have been in usage for some years now and are totally safe. Pain is on a case-to-case basis and cannot be accurately measured or quantified."
He must have noticed the change in my tone with my curt reply and looked up at me, alternating between his daughter and me when I spoke. He turned back to her and sat on the chair beside the bed with his hands on her arm.
I stood there for a while, looking at the father who didnt have time for his daughter during her best years, but rushing down during her worst, to spend some time..whatever time was left.
Day 11
6 comments:
i am wondering if he is a villain or a turning point in the story..
so, smita's dad has come... hope mom and dad doesn't fight before the kid. waiting!
a question... i ve learnt during my kindergarten days, a question should always end with a question mark.. isn't that true? why the fastrack, you always miss out on punctuation?
maybe her mom brought a rental dad, as in Tamil cinema... the child has seen her father before? suspense thaangala da... seekaram sollu.
@harsha no one ever is a hero or a villain in total...shades of both crop up in all.
@viji most of these posts are written way past my normal sleep time, so forgive my punctuation but i dont fastracking care :) sorry couldnt resist using fastrack
P.S rental dad? too much tamil movies i say...
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