Doctored

by K'Anne Meinel

  “She wants to know what your first name is, your Christian name. She would like to honor you and her baby by giving it a second name.”

  Deanna smiled, knowing this was indeed an honor. It denoted high status to have a child named after you in a lot of cultures. She knew of several babies in both Africa and in South America that had her name as their first or second. Sometimes they used Cooper, especially for boys when they learned that it was an acceptable male name, and sometimes they used Deanna, a hard name to get around some of their tongues. She told the interpreter and explained about the male surname. The translation made the new mother smile as she repeated the name Cooper back.

  Deanna gave orders about their patient and the mother was soon installed in the hospital in a corner they called the maternity ward, away from the other patients. The cries of babies kept people up, but it was the infectious diseases that worried the doctors the most.

  “We should use the meeting house for these cases,” Deanna muttered to Maddie as she checked on her patients, the ones that weren’t infectious.

  “What about this building?” Maddie asked. She had heard Deanna state this before.

  “It needs to be cleansed: the windows need to be opened and mosquito netting put on them, air out the place, and have the witch doctor do a cleansing,” she ascertained.

  “Surely you don’t believe in all that?” she asked, wide-eyed.

  “Medicine can prove a lot of that wrong, but I’ve seen some things that there is no scientific explanation for. People can believe and they can will themselves better sometimes. Having a blessing from the locals is all well and good, but, if you don’t accept them and at least accommodate them, places like this will never work,” she answered sadly as she finished.

  She was as good as her word. Having thought about it, argued with Burton about it, she approached Wilson with her idea. She had the village elders come forward with Hamishish and with an interpreter, although she knew Hamishish and a few of the elders understood French. She formally asked them to bless the meeting house so they could turn it into a general ward. The more serious cases were left in the old clinic and were surprised to see Hamishish and others coming into the clinic in full dress, paint on their whole bodies, chanting and with smoke issuing from their smudges. The combination did more for the patients than any medicine.

  Watching cynically, Doctor Burton and others shook their heads at the display, much less the waste of time and effort. By having two buildings instead of one, they now had to divide their time and efforts. Some simply didn’t like change, others thought it all foolishness. Still, Doctor Wilson thought it had some merit and was amused to find an improvement on their never-ending stream of patients. Word of mouth told of the blessed clinics. A decrease in cases of death, whether a coincidence or not, helped immeasurably.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Do you ever go into Lamish or one of the other smaller towns to get away?” Deanna asked Lakesh.

  Leida perked up. They had been working non-stop for weeks. She needed some downtime, and while they had assigned days off, they rarely took them since there was really nothing else to do.

  Three of them were sitting around the fire—Leida, Maddie, and the doctor—after a long day and a beautiful sunset. Deanna was poking the fire with a stick when Lakesh walked by.

  “Yes, Missy, we go and get supplies,” he answered automatically, and then realizing it was the doctor who had asked, corrected himself with a distinct twang of ‘Doktor.’

  “Would there be room for passengers?” she asked as she looked up and smiled at his mistake.

  “Yes, Doktor,” he bowed slightly out of respect to her profession. Having a female doctor was a novelty in this male-dominated country.

  “I’d like to go with you next time you go,” she stated to let him know there were no hard feelings and to make herself clear.

  “I go tomorrow,” he assured her.

  “May I go?” Leida asked. She desperately wanted to get out of the village for some time away.

  “Me too?” Maddie asked.

  “We will have to ask Doctor Wilson and let Alex know we will be unavailable,” Deanna answered.

  In no time at all, Doctor Wilson gave them the well-deserved time off and Alex was informed in case anything else came up. The three women were scheduled to leave with Lakesh. He hadn’t really planned to go the next day, but was accommodating them. Only Doctor Wilson and Alex knew that the guide hadn’t originally planned to go the next day, but the three women were thrilled to be getting some well-deserved time off and to see some more of the country.

  “How did you get involved with Doctors Without Borders?” Maddie asked Deanna over the noise of the engine.

  “Ah, they held a seminar/recruitment off-campus at one of the libraries in Boston. I was curious so I went. I’d just come back from Switzerland and an intense course on tropical diseases. I wanted to be where the action was, not where they brought the patients. I felt I could help them more on site, you know?” she shouted. Leida, turning around to join in the conversation, nodded.

  “How long did you sign up for?” the Australian asked and then hit her chin on the back of the seat from the uneven road. Rubbing it ruefully, she looked on inquiringly at the young doctor.

  “At first they only let me sign up for six months. They sent me to the Amazon. God, I loved it despite the bugs, the heat, and the dysentery,” she answered nostalgically. “I felt I was really doing something. It was such a challenge!”

  “How long ago was that?” Maddie asked, fascinated by the enthusiastic doctor. She had such adventures to share. Getting time alone with her was becoming increasingly hard as everyone except for Harlan and Doctor Burton loved her.

  “Over two years ago, I don’t know. The time seems to blend after a while with all the work. I just want to make a difference, to help them,” she said sadly, remembering the mass of humanity that came through these war-torn areas. One of the reasons she was heading into Lamish was to send a message herself asking why the other doctors from MSF hadn’t arrived. She had been in Mamadu too long for them not to have come to get her and send her on to another location. She also wondered if her other messages had gone astray. “How about you?” she asked Maddie first and then glanced at Leida to include her in the question.

  “I was in New York finishing up my nursing degree, but I wanted more. I knew that working in New York I’d see everything,” she answered with a tone that implied that gunshots and other emergency calls were not what she wanted. “I think we probably had the same recruiter. I wanted to make a difference and learn triage in the field.”

  “You wanted to be a triage nurse?”

  “Yes and no. I’m young enough that I have a lot to learn.”

  She was impressed with the nurse’s dedication. “What about you?” she asked, including Leida once again.

  “I needed to get away. I’d been in Sydney and they sent me to work in the bush. I liked it too much and I think they thought I was going off my head.” She grinned ruefully at her confession. “I don’t know if I was, but I’m damned good at what I do and I like helping. Some of this is a bit much,” she gestured at the African countryside they were driving through, but they all knew she meant the people that came through their clinic. “Making a difference, that’s what is important.”

  They all agreed on that and the conversation moved on to what Lenny was doing as a teacher. Fluent in both the local dialect as well as Afrikaans, French, and English, she was well-prepared to help out in the clinic as well as teach. She had worked hard with Deanna to educate on more than the three ‘Rs’, which would help both the next generation and those women who were attending her classes.

  “What do you think of Alex?” Leida asked as she smiled shyly. It was obvious that the Australian had a crush on the administrator who would soon be leaving—once he had fully trained Thomas, who had a lot to learn.

  They laughed and openly discussed Alex and Thomas and their potential as
mates, even dates. Neither of the nurses realized that Deanna didn’t participate in the conversation other than to smile and nod. She seemed to look at the scenery frequently as the two women laughed like school girls over the attributes of the two men.

  “No, I wouldn’t date him,” Maddie disagreed with Leida about Thomas. She knew not to put Alex down as the other woman had staked an artificial claim to him, even if he wasn’t aware of it.

  “Why not? Have a fling while you are here,” the Aussie encouraged. Even Lakesh smiled at that and laughed at the women. He had learned long ago that these Westerners were a lot different from the African people.

  “I don’t see anyone else having a fling except for Hamishish,” she answered tartly.

  At the mention of their friend, Deanna finally contributed. “For her, it’s a duty,” she commented.

  “Isn’t she more like a prostitute then?”

  Deanna shook her head. “You need to open up your mind more. Stop thinking with your American values and morals. It’s an honor to sleep with Hamishish,” she tried explaining.

  “But they give her things in exchange for her honors,” she pointed out with a chuckle.

  Deanna shook her head again. “You have to understand it from their point of view. She helps out with their spiritual well-being. She is almost as important, if not more so, than their elders or leaders of the tribe. All the different tribes that come through here,” she indicated Lakesh, where they had come from, “have different ideals, and despite cultural differences, they understand a medicine woman such as she.”

  “I thought she was magic?” Leida asked.

  “She is, but not in the way that a Western-raised person would think. Remember when I had the leaders and Hamishish clean out the wards?” As both of the women nodded, she continued, “The patients believed it was spiritually cleaned so they healed better, faster even, because it’s in their mindset. If we didn’t believe in ourselves or what we were raised to believe, we would lose more than our faith. It’s in the body and mind that the healing begins.”

  Both women looked at the doctor thoughtfully. It was Maddie who asked, “Do you think you are a medicine woman? Do they?”

  Deanna nodded. “Some do. I don’t claim the title. If they choose to bestow it on me, who am I to argue if it helps them get better?”

  The conversation continued until they arrived in Mamadu some two hours later. In rapid French, Deanna asked for directions to specific locations. “I’m going to be a couple of hours if you two want to explore. Stay together though, as you are Western women and white. Do not go anywhere alone,” she warned.

  “What about you?” Leida asked, curious as to why the doctor was ditching them. She already saw some open markets she wanted to explore and spend some money in.

  “I’m taking Lakesh,” she said brightly.

  They agreed to check in two hours later at the Rover. Maddie saw Deanna talking to Lakesh and then they went their separate ways. She was suspicious, but had gone off willingly with Leida; she too wanted to see the markets. She wondered the whole two hours where the doctor had gone off to.

  Deanna made her way first to a hotel where, for a fee, she was able to take a hot shower. She changed into clothes she had brought and for the first time in weeks felt clean from the dust and bugs that were a constant around Mamadu. No matter how many cold showers she took, a hot shower made all the difference. After a surgery, they washed with antiseptic. Unfortunately, that frequently dried out their skin. One of the things she bought in Lamish was, bottles of lotion without alcohol in them to soothe her skin. She made a few phone calls from the hotel room she had rented. It was a nice room, better than what the prostitutes rented by the hour. She had seen the look on the desk clerk’s face when she asked about renting it for so short a time. The speculation had been immediate. Her money was taken easily enough, but she knew if they wanted they could throw her out and keep the funds. She went out to do some of her own shopping and easily met up with the others at the two-hour mark. All of them had many bags and boxes in their hands.

  “Let’s pack these in here,” she suggested and then asked Lakesh to sit in the Rover to keep sticky hands from pilfering their purchases. “If you two want to take showers, I took a room upstairs,” she indicated the hotel down the block. “I got a hot shower and can do some more shopping if you two want a turn.”

  A hot shower sounded good to the two of them. Leida reached back into one of the bags and took out a colorful dress to change into as Maddie was handed the key to the room. It was an old-fashioned iron key on a large fob so it was likely the original key to the door of the room and less likely to be stolen.

  “You want me come with you?” Lakesh asked the doctor as the other two began to leave.

  “No, please stay here and watch the Rover. We don’t want things taken,” she repeated, hoping her voice didn’t sound exasperated at having to repeat herself to their guide. He was a nice guy, just tended to want to be a little too helpful now and then, forgetting what they had just said. He ran errands all over the camp and probably made a trip into the port at least once or twice a week to fetch packages or supplies. He also had a nice little side business on the black market he thought no one in camp knew about. All the doctors and nurses knew and kept him away from their supplies, just in case. He did, however, find them some rare medicines and supplies from time to time.

  He watched as the doctor went into another alleyway and almost got out to warn her not to go in there, but she obviously knew where she was going. She didn’t notice that Maddie was watching where she went too. They all returned to the Rover some time later and waited for the good doctor to show up. She returned with some more bags and boxes and took the key back to the hotel to check out, not saying a word about where she had been. Maddie, who had showered first and come back downstairs, had seen her in the market—an arm around a woman, talking earnestly to her—but she had disappeared in the crowds of shoppers down one of the aisles and Maddie hadn’t wanted to follow. She wondered about it though.

  As they drove slowly back towards Mamadu they resumed their conversation about dating and Harlan’s name came up. “He’s a nice enough bloke if you don’t mind never expressing your own opinion,” Leida commented and the women laughed.

  “What about Lenny?” Maddie asked thoughtfully.

  “Lenny and Harlan?”

  “No, I mean, who would you see her paired off with?”

  “I’d say Hamishish, but I don’t think Hamishish is into gals,” Leida said with a grin.

  “You mean Lenny is...” gasped the redhead.

  “Well, there are certain signs,” the Aussie replied.

  Imperceptibly, Deanna stiffened in the front seat. She had been listening in case she wanted to turn around and contribute, but the turn the conversation had taken meant she was staring out the cracked and spider-webbed windshield firmly.

  “You really think she’s into...?” Maddie asked, not sounding as shocked as she had the moment before.

  “Well, you know...I just sense she isn’t into guys,” her voice lowered conspiratorially.

  The two of them continued their conversation, never noticing that Deanna didn’t join in from the front seat. Later as the ebb and flow of it continued, Maddie noticed that Deanna must have fallen asleep in the front seat; her eyes were closed and she seemed relaxed.

  They arrived back in Mamadu to find the place in an uproar with new patients arriving. Apparently some skirmish or another had broken out west of the camp and they were bringing the casualties here into their village and camp. Word of mouth had spread and the three doctors were needed and so were the nurses. Lakesh promised to unload the Rover into their tent while the three medical personnel hurried off into the clinic to help.

  Later, much later, a blood-spattered and sweating Deanna made her way back to the tent to find all the boxes and bags stacked neatly inside the door. She was grateful that Lakesh had done what he promised. She pretended not to notice tha
t one or two boxes of what she had purchased had gone missing. She separated her purchases from Maddie’s and Leida’s.

  “You okay?” Maddie asked from the doorway as Deanna finished straightening up her things.

  “Yeah,” she sighed gustily. “I just need a shower. You pour, I pour?” she asked with a grin. It was a common enough practice that two would go to the showers and pour for the other.

  Maddie nodded with a grin as she went to get some clean clothes.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Some of the boxes that Deanna had brought back contained athletic shoes. She gifted them to specific people within the tribe. A luxury that few, if any, had seen. She’d been appalled to see them wearing plastic bottles on their feet to protect them from the rocks and thorns that abounded throughout the landscape. Guessing at sizes, she’d been pretty fortunate that most of the shoes she had bought fit those she bestowed them on. It was a matter of prestige to ceremoniously give away their footwear to others who used the plastic bottles tied to their feet as foot coverings. The athletic shoes were a novelty. They might not last, but for now it made those wearing them look impressive.

  It was as she distributed the shoes that others realized that Christmas was not too far away. It was hot and sweltering and those from northern climes were used to having snow. It was Deanna who had the idea of showing the school children the Christian practice of having a Christmas tree. Since pine trees were non-existent on these plains, she made one out of surgical gloves. Getting others to help her blow up the gloves, they attached them to a short pole. The fingers pointing out provided great ‘branches’ to hang ornaments from. They weren’t exactly ornaments like you would find on a Christmas tree, but the students enthusiastically helped with the idea, using their imagination and the pictures in Lenny’s books, which showed snow and decorated pine trees. A bit of cotton around the base provided the snow. They laughed together when the gloves slowly lost air and deflated. It was a challenge to keep it looking ‘Christmassy.’