Samuel
It drizzled the whole day and now as evening approached with its gloomy blanket of darkness, it started pouring cats and dogs. The tin roof over the verandah started making upsetting noise. Soon hail storm joined the rain, destroying all the beautiful flowers in the front garden and the vegetables in the backyard. In no time the ground got covered with white hail that looked like snow. After nearly half an hour the hail storm finally stopped creating a thick white blanket on the earth.
Mary was feeling uneasy since morning and as afternoon started fading her big stomach started aching in intervals. Her due date is yet a week ahead, so she is thinking it could not be time but just a false alarm. Her husband, Thomas has not come back from work yet. Usually by this time he would be home but maybe due to the heavy rain and hail storm he got stuck somewhere. She dragged herself to the bedroom, laid on the bed but in few minutes she was up and walking around anxiously. She is feeling uncomfortable, restless and uneasy and did not know what to do! She called on her elder daughter Miriam but she did not respond to her call. She thought maybe she is busy doing her home work, hence, she called her second daughter Rose. As usual she came as soon as she heard her mother’s call.
“Rose, I am not feeling well and your father is not back yet, but I need help so can you go and call auntie Tara?”
Saying Mary looked at Rose pleadingly. Rose looked at her mother who was holding her round big belly and standing in an awkward position. Without saying a word, nodding she ran out and went to their neighbor’s house that was about fifty meters away. Luckily Tara was home so as soon as Rose told her about her mother's condition, she came running with Rose.
When Rose and Tara reached, Mary was sitting on the floor her back on the wall and gasping for breath. Her eyes looked bigger and filled with tears due to unbearable pain. She was trembling like a leaf in a storm and she was holding her belly with her weak shaky hands. Rose got terrified looking at her mother’s condition. She ran towards their bedroom, she and Miriam shared. Miriam was on her bed, flat on her stomach with her legs high up shaking in the rhythm of the song she was listening on her little transistor. Rose started telling her about their mother’s condition without pausing and in between breathing profoundly. Miriam looked at her worriedly and holding her by her shoulder said,
“Hold on, hold on Rose, what are you saying? I did not get a single word of what you just blabbered.”
Miriam felt Rose was trembling. She made her sit on her bed and caressing her soft hair asked.
“Rose, what happened? Why are you trembling and what were you saying about mother?”
Tears rolled down from Rose’s naive eyes. Sobbing she told Miriam how mother called her and asked her to go fetch auntie Tara. Sobbing, Rose again said,
“Our mother is dying; she is on the floor all gasping for breath, trembling and moaning in pain.”
Miriam instantly regretted ignoring her mother’s call and not responding to it. She got up quickly and ran to her mother’s bedroom. Auntie Tara had already put Mary in bed and massaging her back. Tara saw Miriam and asked her to get a bowl of hot water. Miriam hurried to the kitchen and looked for the flask where their mother always kept hot water. It was next to the gas stove. She poured hot water in a bowl, took and handed it to Tara.
Mary and Thomas moved to this tiny town sixteen years ago after they got married. Theirs was love marriage that none of their families agreed to. After marriage it became intolerable to stay with his family and be close by their relatives. So Thomas asked for a transfer to this small town on a hill station. Though small, it was a beautiful place with lots of greenery, fresh running water and lots of rain. They started their life in the tranquility of this place. People here were very friendly, kind-hearted and supportive to each other. Within two years time they were blessed with a beautiful daughter Miriam, then in a gap of four years another cute daughter Rose. Miriam is now fourteen years old and Rose is ten. They both go to the only girl’s high school in that town run by Catholic nuns.
As Tara was attending to Mary, Thomas arrived. When Thomas saw the condition of Mary he asked Tara in a worried voice,
“Is she in labour pain already?”
“No, she is not having contraction” shaking her head Tara said.
“What is it then?” Thomas asked in worried voice.
Tara said, “I don’t know, but something is wrong and we need to take her to the hospital.”
That moment Mary spoke in a very weak voice,
“I had never experienced such pain during the birthing time of Miriam and Rose. This is something different and so unbearable.”
Thomas kissed her forehead and said, “Don’t worry honey, we will soon go to the hospital and doctors will take care of it. Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you and baby.”
He went out got the car from the parking lot and brought it to the entrance. He went inside, by this time Tara had Mary ready. Tara phoned her husband, relayed the situation and told him she will go to the hospital with Mary and Thomas. Thomas phoned another neighbor Ruby to have an eye on his house with two kids alone. Ruby told him that after finishing some chores she will come and stay with Miriam and Rose.
Hospital was twenty minutes drive away from the place. They managed to reach quickly as there was hardly any traffic.
As soon as the doctor examined her, they admitted Mary in ICU. There was complication that could be dangerous for both the mother and baby. They did some tests and ultrasound. The ultrasound report showed ‘baby’s face is bounded by umbilical cord’. Until last visit, a week back, everything looked normal, suddenly what happened doctor did not have any clue. They tried different alternatives that were necessary but nothing seemed working, therefore, the attending doctor decided to operate and take the baby out. Thankfully the operation went well and baby was out without any harm. It was a baby boy. However, due to lack of oxygen he was blue and cold, so immediately he was put in an incubator.
Mary lost quite a lot of blood, subsequently, it was another nightmare to find her blood group which was AB negative, a rarest blood group. Thomas called his friends from the telephone booth of the hospital but none had that group. So hesitantly he called the priest of the parish church where he and his family go every Sunday for church service. It was an amazing coincidence that the blood group of the priest matched. He came all the way to the hospital and gave his blood. After ten days both baby and mother got little better so they were released from the hospital.
Mary and Thomas forgot all the pain and suffering they had to go through during this period as finally their prayer has been answered. They had been praying for a baby boy and there he came as a bundle of love, though his arrival on this earth was quite perilous and agonizing. Both mother and baby nearly lost their lives.
Miriam and Rose just adored their little brother and would fight to take him in their laps. He was cute with chubby cheeks and sea green eyes. His smile could melt anyone’s heart.
A week later when Mary became bit stable on her feet, and gained her strength back, they all dressed up in their best clothes and went to church. Baby boy was dressed in white clothe and wrapped in a soft white blanket. It was his baptism. He got baptized and they named him ’Samuel’ meaning ’God has heard’. Though his name was Samuel they called him Sam.
~~~~~~******~~~~~~
