Arranged by the Stars (4 page)

“
Don’t be
stupid. Everyone knows you get the coffee maker person to make it
really hot. Have you never ordered coffee to go?” she gave him that
gaze that made him appear dense.

“
I don’t
think I have.” He always had someone order it for him. Or he sat
down, in a café.

Her arms folded across
her chest. “Must be nice to be you. Even for a day.”

The knock on the door was
a prayer answered. “Dr Kanna, your next patient is here.” Jessie’s
gaze went to Ash and narrowed.

“
Thank you
Jessie.” Kieran focused on Ash, “Shouldn’t you be getting back to
work?”

She stood, shook out the
wrinkles in the skirt that fell short of her knee. “Yes,
sir.”

He watched her walk to
the door. “Ash?”

She took her time
turning, giving him ample time to catch his breath, if he needed
to. Beauty school probably came with a free course in flirtation.
“Yes, boss?”

“
Thank you.”
He wouldn’t be able to walk into this building and face any of this
without this odd stranger at his side. Something he couldn’t
explain.

“
You’re
welcome.” Her lips turned up at the corners and those perfect white
teeth gleamed. He totally understood why she had made it as Miss
India.

“
Kieran, are
you ready for your patient?” Jessie’s foot tapped impatiently on
the floor as she placed her hand on her hip.

As a senior receptionist,
he should have consulted Jessie before offering Ash the job.
“Jessie, I really am sorry I didn’t have time to consult you before
hiring Ash. Normally I would have left the decision to you, but
she’s been my assistant for some time,” he lied.

Her gaze narrowed and she
lifted her glasses so they sat up higher on the bridge of her nose.
“Mrs Rana is here with her five-month old daughter who has been
vomiting since last night.”

Kieran smiled at Jessie
who had been with his father for fifteen years. “I’ll make it up to
you Jess. Promise.”

She ushered the mother
and child into the room. “Child has a fever and is
restless.”

Kieran focused on the
child the mother carried. His eyesight blurred and then cleared. He
passed a hand over the micro beads of sweat on his brow, as his
gaze found Ash’s in a plea for help before closing the door. He
could do this, but it didn’t mean his heart didn’t shift into
second gear.

“
I’m Kieran,”
he said to the mother who was dressed in a stained cotton orange
outfit. Although the family file had her at thirty years, the rings
around her eyes made her appear forty-five at least.

The mother brought the
child forward and with slumped shoulders, she handed her over with
a heavy sigh. Kieran held the crying child, frozen in place,
standing in front of her. For a moment his mind was blank. He
didn’t have a clue what he was meant to look for, or what his next
step was.

“
I’m Sandy.
She’s been like that for two days now and I don’t know what to do.
I haven’t had any sleep.” She collapsed on the chair in front of
him.

He looked down at the
child and waited for something in his memory to make
sense.

At the first knock on the
door he called, “come in.”

Ash walked past Sandy and
took the child from his arms. She rocked her gently and looked
around the room. Walking past him she placed her on the examination
bed.

His arm was numb, and
still buzzed, but was now lighter. Of course it was, the baby
wasn’t in them anymore.

“
Kieran,
she’s still crying.” Ash stated the obvious.

There were so many
reasons he shouldn’t be here doing this type of work. One reason is
he could fail and cost someone his or her life. Someone like this
child.

“
They taught
us first aid once when we went on this ship. I had to remember all
the steps. This instructor told me to remember my A,B,C,D.” Ash
turned to Sandy. “Isn’t it funny how you remember the oddest things
at times like these?”

He watched her and
wondered if she was for real, or an imagined version of a person he
dreamed up. Because surely no one could be that brilliant or naïve
all in one go. In her own quirky way, she was helping him remember.
Helping the information creep back to where it should be. In the
present.

In seconds he was at the
baby’s side. A quick assessment gave him all the information he
needed. “Ash, can you get Jessie to come in here and call an
ambulance for me. We need a transfer to the hospital as soon as
possible.”

Sandy who had been
watching them quietly, stood when the word hospital was mentioned.
“What’s wrong with her? I knew I should have brought her in sooner
but Dr Anil was not available.”

He wasn’t about to ask
this mother why she didn’t seek medical help when this child needed
it and waited for his father. Instead he focused on the hot,
squirming child. When the door opened he instructed Jessie to set
up for intravenous fluids.

“
Sandy, your
baby is very dehydrated. She hasn’t been getting enough fluids so
we need to get a drip into her arm and deliver some fluids that
way.” He wasn’t sure she was listening to what he was
saying.

Jessie was already
preparing for the infusion. “Does she have anyone we can call?” he
asked Jessie who would have read the file.

Jessie shook her head.
“Her husband works overseas and her mother works as well. It will
be a while before we get word to her.”

Sandy wrapped her hands
around her shoulders and rocked back and forth. “My mother was away
for a few days and I didn’t know what to do. I knew Dr Anil was
away so I thought I would wait for the clinic to open.”

Jessie took Sandy over to
the chair and made her comfortable. The fear in her eyes was
mirrored in his own. What if he couldn’t save this baby? It would
be the past all over again.

The child gave a small
cry. This was different. He wasn’t in the middle of nowhere with no
medical resources and no help on the way. He had options this time.
Five-month-old, dehydrated. Abdomen distended and tender. Eyes
sunken. Fontanels sunken. All signs of dehydration.

“
Did you
change the way you do things in the last few days?” he asked as he
looked for a suitable vein to site the drip.

Sandy shook her head.
“No, I haven’t changed a thing. Like I said my mother has been away
for a few days. I don’t know why this is happening.” She placed her
head in her hands and sobbed until her shoulders shook.

There were many causes of
vomiting. He was missing something. “Is there something that your
mother normally did that you have taken over doing for the baby
while she has been away?” Paediatrics was never his strong
suit.

Sandy shook her head.
Then she lifted her chin. “Well, there is one thing, but I don’t
think it’s that. It’s not a new thing. I stopped breastfeeding
fully a few weeks ago as my milk has been drying up. We have been
bottle feeding her.” Sandy came closer to the bed.

Kieran secured the IV
line and Jessie helped him connect the fluids. “So, you and your
mum have been bottle feeding her?”

Sandy nodded. “Well, mum
has been making up the bottles and stuff. We didn’t want to confuse
her but with mum away, I have been making up the bottle
feeds.”

Kieran and Jessie nodded,
both coming to the same conclusion. Many parents didn’t realise the
danger of not mixing formula feeds properly can lead to vomiting in
an infant.

The siren of the
approaching ambulance could be heard in the distance. Jessie
brought Sandy closer and pulled her chair so that she could sit
next to the bed and hold her baby’s hand.

Kieran watched the mother
and child and felt the numbness in his arm wane. He could see the
rewards of practicing medicine and at times like this he was
reminded of the passion his father had for the profession. At times
like this he was reminded of the love he had for it.
Once.

*****

Jessie poked her head
into the kitchen. “Ash, that filing still needs to be
done.”

Yes, filing. That’s the
reason she was here. Be Kieran’s girlfriend and do the filing. She
let out a half-hysterical laugh as she realised the irony in the
situation. She was best suited for the filing of her manicured
nails, not those dusty files that were sitting at the edge of her
small desk of a dinky corner of the office.

Ash was fanning herself
with a file as she leaned across the metal filing cabinet when the
door to the doctors’ clinic flew open and an elderly couple came
in. The older woman, whose face was covered by one of those droopy
straw hats, was pulling her husband along. Ash heard gravelly
breathing and alarm bells went off in her head. Surely this wasn’t
good.

The middle-aged man
looked a blotchy red colour, and the salmon coloured shirt he had
on didn’t do much for his colour. Somehow this seemed more than a
fashion faux pas.

Sounding out of breath
herself, the pale, red-faced woman with perfect English accent
pointed to her husband. “My husband is having trouble
breathing.”

Ash left her filing and
joined the pair. She wasn’t sure if rewarding the nice woman for
stating the obvious was the right thing to do, but she did give her
some help in getting her husband to the consulting room.

Jessie rushed across to
join her. “Get Kieran.”

Stunned for a second, Ash
looked from Jessie to the man she was supporting, wondering if she
should let go and let him fall, or just run out the door. Then like
she’d been given a jolt of adrenaline, she grabbed Jessie’s hand
and placed it where her own was, before she bolted towards Kieran’s
office and banged into the draw she’d left opened. A colourful,
silent curse, then she limped towards Kieran’s office. After one
knock, she stumbled into the room, only to see a startled Kieran
look up from his paperwork.

In three strides he was
beside her. “Ash, are you okay?” His hand went instantly to her
knee. In a space of seconds there was a small pooling of blood,
which was now slowly trickling down her leg in a very unfashionable
way. She wiped at it and pushed his hand away.

“
Nothing, I
am fine. Office. Man. Breathing.” Ash pointed to the
door.

His gaze followed her
hand, and he stood in confusion. “Someone is bleeding?”

Jessie’s voice was more
of a scream from beyond his room. “Kieran, bring the oxygen and
crash cart.”

The darkness in his gaze
looked a lot like fear. She’d tasted it before a contest, but she’d
never seen it so stark and alive in someone else before. So real.
“Kieran, go.”

It seemed like eternity
that his gaze kept hers, but she knew it couldn’t have been more
than a few seconds. She wasn’t sure what had gone on within those
seconds except that when it was over, Kieran reeled back, and then
rushed out of the room like he was being chased by a
storm.

Righting herself she
followed his path, all the while hearing him give orders to Jessie.
The instant she entered the office, his eyes locked with hers.
“Ash. Call the ambulance.”

She wasn’t sure what she
said, or how she got through the conversation, all she knew was
that Jessie helped when the operator needed more details. When she
placed the receiver back in its place she looked around and saw the
frightened woman standing in the corner of the open office,
watching as they attached tubes and monitors to her
husband.

She almost resorted to
speaking in the language that gave her comfort. The anxious woman
watching their every move would be confused. “My name is Ash, I
work here. What is your name?”

“
Mandy. My
name is Mandy and that is Stuart. He was fine. Then he started
swelling up and saying he couldn’t breathe. I don’t know what
happened.” Ash handed Mandy a box of tissues and she took a few and
blew her nose before taking a few more. She wiped her
eyes.

“
He is in
good hands. Dr Kanna is a good doctor.” Ash kept her hand on the
woman’s shoulder wondering if the man who looked like a red balloon
on the couch was going to recover. He looked like he was about to
explode. His skin was blotchy. A quick look at Kieran made her
pause. That fear was a thick cloak around him. Why was he scared of
practicing medicine? It should be like walking down a runway. Even
if you hadn’t done it in a while, it came back. Didn’t
it?

*****

Adrenaline coursed
through Kieran’s veins with such force his heart lurched against
his chest in protest. Whether he could do this task or not was not
up for debate. The man in front of him was losing consciousness.
His skin was pale and taking on the grey ugly colour that spelt
death. He could hear Ash’s voice, her sweet lilting voice as she
spoke to Mandy, this man’s wife.

“
I’m so glad
we found a doctor who speaks English.” Mandy sniffed into her
tissue. “He never gets sick. He’s fit and healthy. Always eat
organic food.”

He took the oxygen mask
and placed it over Stuart’s face. He’d already been reminded once
today of the steps he had to remember. They were like words to a
favourite song he hadn’t sung in years. A for Airway.