Chapter six

   Jamal was pacing the waiting room in Atlanta general hospital, while his wife sat on one of the chairs sobbing quietly.

Their six years old daughter, Mia had complained of sharp pains in her abdomen during dinner before she lost consciousness during their family movie night. 

He had dialed 911 immediately, and tried resuscitating her as she wasn’t breathing. Few minutes later, the ambulance arrived, placed her on oxygen and took her to the hospital.

The nurses scrambling about did nothing to ease his tension since they arrived two hours earlier.

“Mr West?”

A doctor asked him.

“Yes.”

“Please follow me.”

             The doctor led the way through a corridor, while his wife followed them closely behind till they got to his office.

“You may have your seats.”

The doctor pointed to two chairs in front of the table opposite his.

“After several tests, your daughter was diagnosed of renal failure. We’re lucky to have caught it early before it progressed to terminal stage but we are not out of the woods yet. 

We shall place her on medications to manage her condition for the meantime, but that is only a temporary solution. She will be placed on a waiting list till we get a donor that matches hers, then we shall proceed with surgery.”

The couple were quiet for a while as they struggled to come to terms with what they had just heard.

Jamal finally spoke up.

“How long will it take till we get a donor?”

“Anytime between two weeks and three months. I can’t say for sure.”

“And how much will it cost?”

“About four hundred thousand dollars.”

His wife burst into sobs again before she excused herself from the doctor’s office.

‘My health insurance can’t cover that. Even my pension is not up to half of that. I’ll probably have to rob a bank.’

“Can i see her now?”

“Yes you can.”

The doctor pressed a button on his intercom and a nurse came in.

“Please show Mr West to his daughter’s ward.”

Jamal stood up, thanked the doctor and followed the nurse to another wing of the hospital where he saw his daughter sleeping peacefully. 

         She had a breathing tube connected to her nostrils and a bag of fluids hung above her which dripped slowly through a tiny tube into her vein. A machine beside her bed which displayed her heart rate and other vitals beeped rhythmically which was a good sign.

Jamal watched his baby girl and remembered the day she was born just like yesterday.

He remembered holding her pink little self in his hands, while feeling like the happiest man in the world that day. He never knew how intoxicating the joy of fatherhood could be till then.

Realizing the current situation at hand, he could not help it when a drop of tear rolled down his face despite all he did to try and keep his emotions at check.

He vowed at that moment that he would do anything it took to save his little angel.

!     !      !      !      !       !       !        !      !       !        !

            Kimberly released Rex from his chain the moment they arrived at the dog park and started their ritual of playing fetch. About five minutes later, Bryan strolled in with Jack. He waved at her from her afar and walked briskly to where she was.

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

“Aren’t you a little overdressed for the dog park?”

She asked after making a quick observation.

He wore a white shirt on black pants and jacket.

“I did not have time to change when I got back from work. Decided not to keep you waiting.”

“Cool. So what do you do?”

“I’m a DEA agent.”

“Interesting.”

‘Here I was racking my brains on how to get a law enforcement officer to carry out Luis’ request.’

“What about you?”

He asked.

“I work at a bakery down town.”

They watched their dogs chasing each other around the park for a while before she spoke.

“What’s it like being a DEA agent?”

“Nothing really interesting. We catch the bad guys, but what we do majorly is to sit and wait patiently on the sidelines. 

Criminals in the drug trade like their surroundings being quiet and will disappear if they are spooked.”

“Sounds interesting to me. It’s better than doing the same thing over and over again each day at work.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I’ll hate to bore you to death.”

“Do you have any family in the city?”

Bryan asked.

“Nope. My old man lives in an elderly home up in Boston. He’s a retired police officer.”

She replied.

“I was also in the police force before I transferred out.”

“I see you Mr Law and Order.”

They both laughed at her joke.

“So what about you?”

She asked.

“I have a brother in New York. He’s one of those stock traders on Wall Street.”

        There was a gust of wind blowing, which made most of the people to start leaving the park for their homes.”

“It’s about to rain. It’s was nice talking with you. Let’s do this some other time. I mean as a proper date.”

Bryan said.

“Yeah, sure.”

They exchanged contacts and left the park as it started drizzling.