Revenge Ch. 05

"Ah, there you are Mrs Wilson, now if the financials have been taken care off, we'll then have these papers done with in a jiffy and then the medical formalities for the transplant can commence."

Alice's mother took in a deep breath, despair and weariness written all over her face.

'The bastard,' thought Brad angrily. He realised the game he was playing. What he wanted to know was whether the money arrangements had been made. If not then the hospital would be discharging Alice soon, very soon.

"The arrangements have been made but she's not going to be operated upon in this stinky shit hole," hissed Brad.

"Oh I say that's unwarranted for ..."

"Just get the ambulance ready to take Alice to the hospital across the town. And make your bill fast. I don't have time."

Alice's mother stared at him, completely at loss for words.

"Trust me, just trust me," said Brad. And he wasn't lying for a change.

He could sympathise with the accounts guy for looking so surprised. The hospital across the town was a state of the art set up while this one ran on government grants and the patient certainly didn't look the moneyed type. 'Well tough shit fella, looks can be deceiving,' thought Brad as he punched numbers in his cell.

By the time the ambulance carrying Alice reached the hospital, her private room in the ICU was already ready for her with the doctors all set to run their tests and prepare for the transplant.

The fact that one of the senior faculty members was a closet writer whose stories Brad had sold to serial makers under a pseudonym had helped.

The next few days were a blur. The doctors ran their tests and then arranged for the transplant. While Alice's mother stayed with her daughter, taking care of her needs, Amanda more or less became inseparable from Brad. Perhaps she was terrified about losing her mother and in Brad she somehow saw her father figure, her father who would have been there for her and her mother in times of their need.

Brad had been in a shock too after seeing Alice bundled up in hospital clothing's with tubes running into her. Her face, the only part of her that was visible, had turned a ghostly white, just like Rosie's. The parallelism of the situation turned him even bitterer.

But he held on to the little girl, never letting her out of his sight. He was there at the school bus stop in the morning and he was there for her when she returned home. Her school projects were a challenge for him and he would return to his home with armful of school assignments. The bottles of alcohol once again lay gathering dust.

The Church had been one of the places he had let go from his list of favourite places. But now he was back or rather Amanda had let it be known in her Sunday's list of things to do and so he was back at the Lords Adobe at the ordained hour. Funnily though, he didn't feel unhappy or morose.

He prayed for Alice, he prayed for Lisa and he prayed for Amanda. He was not sure whether he had asked for anything for himself, but he reasoned that if those around him were happy then he had little else to ask for. Anyway, for reasons best known to the Lord, he was a born loser.

After over a week of post operation care, Alice began showing signs of recovery. Her body was showing signs of having successfully accepted the new organ. Soon she was talking with her daughter and mother. Watching her talk haltingly with her relations made Brad feel happy. For once his lying and cheating ways had gone on to help somebody other than his own physical gratification and greed for wealth.

This was also the time when he began to feel uncomfortable around them. He couldn't even dream of talking to Alice on her hospital bed. She had been informed that her money had come thru. What if she were to ask him whether the production house had finalised the star cast? Did they want any more corrections to suit viewer taste?

Hell man, if he were to tell her that her payment was yet to come thru and when it did, it would be a direct electronic transfer to her account and that all her hospital expenses had been a largesse on his part, what would she think? A woman of high moral standards and dignity would come to just one conclusion ... he wanted something in return, perhaps her body.

So he began to excuse himself from visiting her in the hospital. He lied. He lied that he had ignored his work and was behind schedule. But what really hurt most was not able to see Amanda and help her do her school projects. Many a nights he would sit in the room he had set aside for his daughter and stare at the crayons and other drawing material strewn all over the study table.

He relived the many hours he spent making the projects for Amanda and then carefully wrapping them up and taking them over to Alice's place. Finally one evening he gathered all the drawing materials and packed them in a box and left the box in a corner.

The thing was once again moving about inside him. Surprisingly it seemed to have weakened considerable these last few days as it no longer showered insults on him. Instead the thing seemed to be skulking around, time and again looking at his soul with a suspicious stare.

Yes, his soul was alive and seemed healthier now, perhaps he still had some more to live ... in anguish and pain.

The bottles of alcohol were now no longer gathering dust.

To Be Continued ...

alex_lover