BRAIN TUMOR

Malik moves closer to his son and whispers. "That is the only way I can punish you. All medical fees should be foot by you until she gets better, you should be the one staying with her here at the hospital and take care of her." He pauses and continues. "And if something should go wrong, prepare to live the rest your life without your sister."

"Nothing will go wrong." Shamim says whispering with a bit of hope.

"You had better pray for that, the surgery will be performed this evening, I guess you will have enough time to pray."

"Mr Malik." A nurse with her babyish look and body calls and points a small paper to him. "Here is the list of what we need for her."

"Give it to him." Malik says pointing to his son. "He would handle everything concerning Ella from now on."

"Alright." The nurse points the small paper to him. "Please get these things on time, we need it as soon as possible."

Shamim collects the sheet of paper gently and nods. "I will do that now." He walks out of their midst and head down to the hospital's pharmaceutical shop and is forced to stop when he sees the long queue of people who wants to get drugs too. He braces himself and joins the line then he taps the old woman before him. "Hello ma'am."

The old woman turns to see who is greeting her, she gives a warm smile and replies. "Hi, young man. How can I help you?"

"Are you the last person on the queue?" He asks politely.

"Yes, I am." The woman replies with a nod.

"Oh! I see!" He exclaims calmly. "But how come there is a lot of people here?" He looks round at the people on the queue and those lingering around too. "We should be up to a hundred, not so?"

"You call this a lot people?" she chuckles. "I have been wondering why people are so few today anyways."

"You call this few?" Shamim asks again looking at the people.

"The hospital is a government hospital, thus medical expenses are free except the drugs and some injections. People will always prefer a government hospital to a private one." she pauses and looks at him. "You know why?"

"Because it is free?" Shamim says practically asking a question too.

"You can say that, but there are some facilities that can only be found in government hospitals, not that you can't see them in private hospitals, but the medical expenses are so expensive. Expensive enough to buy a house." The old lady sighs. "If my dear daughter survives, I will make sure I help her in becoming successful and build one hospital for the less privilege."

"Your daughter is really sick?" Shamim asks pitifully.

The old woman nods gently. "she has brain tumor."

As if he had not heard that type of illness before, he opens his eyes and mouth widely. "What did you just say?"

"Brain tumor." she repeats.

"Has she been operated on?" He asks again.

"No." The woman shakes her head. "Even though this place is a government hospital, I still have to pay some money for my daughter to get treated."

"You do not have the money to do that?"

The old woman laughs gently. "If I had the money, I wouldn't be here in the first place. These drugs I came to buy are her pain killers."

"Pain killers will only get rid of the pains for a while, practically making her condition worse." He stops and continues. "You are killing her." He whispers.

"I know, but that is the best I can do as a mother, I can't stand and watch my mother cry in severe pains."

"I know how that feels too, watching your loved ones fight for their lives all by themselves or even be in pains and you are completely powerless." Shamim whispers getting into his own emotions. "It can be so painful."

"Is any of your family member sick?" asks the old woman.

"Yes." He nods. "My sister is very sick, the doctor said he can't guarantee anything for now."

"I am so sorry about that, I hope she gets better soon."

Shamim manages to force out a smile. "Thank you, by the way, is your daughter the one sick or your grand daughter?"

"My daughter."

"She is how old?" He asks again.

"Just twenty years of age." The old woman smiles. "You might be thinking how an old woman like me still have a daughter of that age. I was deserted by my husband at the age of forty five because I couldn't bore him a child on time, but unfortunately for both of us, I was already pregnant with my daughter when he took that action."

"Did you try to reach out to him? When you found out about the pregnancy?"

"I did, but he insisted the pregnancy wasn't his." She sighs heavily. "I feel a lot relieved talking to you, no one wants to make friends in the hospital. Most especially an old woman like me."

"What is your daughter's name?" Shamim asks gently.

"Gold." She replies with smiles.