The easy way out - The price of good health

“Easy now,” said a pair of big beady brown eyes. “Slowly.” Said the skinny paramedic as she helped her sit up. Faith was confused, she looked around. All she saw were green curtains and a hospital bed, she touched her head, then her chest, and looked down at her feet. Every time she’d woken up on a hospital bed, she’d be assaulted by the pain of some sort of injury. The injuries never surprised her, the person who inflicted them did.

He always apologized and promised to change. She’d forgive him and agree not to press charges, things would quiet down for a few weeks, and he would act the part of the loving husband. But, eventually, history would repeat itself. She’d discover yet another indiscretion, yet another desecration of their marriage vows. If it wasn’t secret text messages from Priska, it was nude images from Priscilla. It seemed as though Priska’s role was to listen to her husband bitching about her shortcomings, and Priscilla’s role was to offer the warmth of her thighs to cushion the burden of an unhappy marriage. But, what enraged her was when Petrina would call her house, always demanding to speak to her husband about some business deal. Who in the age of email communication calls a landline to discuss business after office hours? She’d confront him in a jealous rage, and he’d react with the raging fury of a coward’s fists. The result was always the same, she ended up on a hospital bed and he pleaded for forgiveness. The violent cycle had spun for 4 years, always in motion like the earth on its axis. Until the day she left, the day fate sent her speeding into Noah Endjala.

“I’ve heard of the things that men in uniform do to women, but you’re taking it a step too far.” Said the skinny paramedic, she stood still long enough for Faith to read her name tag. ‘Ndatega’, Faith said slowly, almost slurring her words. “That’s my name,” she replied. Ndatega asked faith how she was feeling. “Like I’ve gone one too many times on the merry go round.” Faith said. Ndatega swung a finger in front of Faith’s eyes, Faith’s eyes followed the strange looking long thin finger. “Clearly there’s no obvious brain injury,” Ndatega said with just the right sprinkling of sarcasm. Faith was curious to know what happened, she remembered the outside of the hospital, lights and a police car. “That depends,” Replied Ndatega. Faith looked at her inquisitively, expecting her to fill in the blanks. Ndatega continued, “Well, the short creepy one said you fainted. Apparently your knees gave way and gravity brought you down to earth. His words, not mine.”

Faith looked at her again with the same face, expecting her to continue. “The tall one said that you kind of just casually sat down, then you lay down on your side and passed out. He said that you did it quite gracefully,” Ndatega giggled, suffocating the bubbling fits of laughter. Faith asked, “So I fainted?” Ndatega nodded to confirm.  Faith felt laughter erupting out of her like hot lava from a volcano. She laughed partly at herself and partly because of Ndatega’s description of the incident. Ndatega told her that a doctor would come in to do a final check and ask some questions. Faith swung her legs, they hung of the bed, hovering centimetres from the floor. She pushed herself of the bed, she felt unsteady on her feet. She wasn’t sure if it was the shocking sensation of the cold floor or the heavy tightness she felt on her forehead. Her body heaved sideways as she attempted a step forward, Ndatega turned around just in time to catch her and prop her back onto the bed. “You and gravity really love each other hey. You shouldn’t walk unaided after fainting, it’s basic science.” Said Ndatega, with obvious sarcastic undertones. “Thank you,” Faith said. She saw unconstrained compassion in Ndatega’s eyes, they were the same shade of dark brown as her skin. Ndatega smiled, there was a glint in her eye that matched the shine of her sparsely distributed hair, there was barely enough hair on her head to pull into a ponytail. The smile told Faith all she needed to know, Ndatega didn’t have to say the words, they were written on her face, “you’re welcome.”

A sudden swishing sound startled both of them, one of the green curtains was suddenly drawn back. The two policemen appeared, they waltzed to Faith’s bedside, the short creepy one in front with the tall one behind him. The intoxicating sense of importance of being men of the law was evident. Bad cop and good cop certainly did not make good first impressions. “You can’t just barge in like that, don’t they teach you that at police school, its common sense.” Screamed Ndatega, bad cop grew agitated, his sense of self-importance was threatened, mostly by Ndatega’s height advantage. Good cop quickly diffused the situation, urging his short colleague to step outside and make sure no one entered. Ndatega accompanied bad cop outside, they left good cop and Faith alone, surrounded by the privacy of four green curtains.

“Good evening mam, I am Sergeant Kamati. Do you mind if I ask some questions.” Asked good cop. There was something familiar about his face, Faith had seen him somewhere before. “I am tired, can’t this wait,” Faith spoke with slight agitation in the tone of her voice. Kamati replied swiftly, “I am afraid it can’t mam.” He got straight to the point, “Mam, you left the scene of an accident. That’s quite suspicious.” Faith was not impressed, but she kept her emotions in check. “It’s not like I ran from the scene, I left my details with the tow truck operator. I gave him strict instructions not to touch anything till you guys arrived, it’s not my fault the police treats emergencies the same way politicians treat national problems.” The many purple notes she slipped the tow-truck driver surely would have insured that he follow her exact instructions. Sergeant Kamati wanted to know what happened, “Give me the exact details.” Faith told him how the traffic lights turned green when she approach the intersection, “Then he just came from nowhere, I couldn’t swerve, and I hit him.” The waterworks came on, Faith couldn’t explain the sudden stream of tears running down her face. 

Sergeant Kamati apologized for causing her any inconvenience, “I am sorry mam, and I know this must be hard for you.” He continued, “You’ll be glad to know that two witnesses corroborated your story. Two teenagers were standing across the road buying pizza, they say the young man you hit just walked into the intersection. They said he looked fearlessly suicidal, whatever that means” Faith was relieved, at least now she knew that she didn’t purposely run into Noah. Kamati spoke incredibly good English, for a policeman. Faith told the Sergeant how tired she was and requested that if there were no further questions, then he should leave and let her rest. Sergeant Kamati turned, he walked to the curtain, and Faith felt as though she had dodged a bullet. As he put a hand on the curtain, he suddenly turned around. “I know who you are.” He said, her heart started pounding, what did he mean by that?

“I know that you’re Faith Sankwasa, I know that you’re married to Sebastian Sankwasa.”

She suddenly felt afraid. That’s when she realised who Sergeant Kamati actually was. “You’re Priscilla’s boyfriend, the girl who is sleeping with my husband.” The Sergeant replied, “My ex-girlfriend, the day I found that she was spreading her legs for Sebastien, I ended things.” Faith sympathised with him, “You deserve better than that unfaithful Heifer.” “And you deserve better than that monster of man.” Replied Sergeant Kamati, his distaste for Sebastien was clear. 

“Look, I appreciate that you told me about Priscilla. Even if you did it out of spite.” 

“No I didn’t.” Faith shouted back.

“That doesn’t matter. You warned me and I am returning the favour. Sebastien is looking for you, he’s got friends on the force. Powerful friends. He’s a high court judge, some people fear him more than they fear god.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Asked Faith.

Sergeant Kamati replied, “I will delay my report. I won’t file it till Monday morning. So you have Saturday and Sunday to get far away from here.”

Faith didn’t know what to say, kindness was not something she’d grown accustomed to, all the police officers she knew were in bed with Sebastien, they always took his side. Sergeant Kamati pulled the curtain and headed outside, he returned with faith’s handbag and a brown messenger bag she have never seen before. “The tow truck operator said these were yours, your car will be held in our yard until Monday morning, I will sign it out for you and have it fixed. I have a friend who is a mechanic, he can fix the damage in a few hours.” Said Sergeant Kamati. “Thank you,” said Faith. He looked pleased by her expression of gratitude, he turned and left. The brown leather messenger bag intrigued her, she was smart enough not to tell Kamati that it wasn’t hers. She looked at the strap closely, there was stitching on the inside, “Noah Endjala.” So the bag was Noah’s, there were two envelopes inside the bag. Before she could look at the envelopes, a doctor came in. It was turning into an interesting night.

“Hi, I am Dr Coetzee. May I ask you a few questions?” Faith responded, “It’s fine, go ahead.” His blond hair and blue eyes made her forget that she was still married. Dr Coetzee looked like he was copied and pasted from an episode of Gray’s Anatomy.

“Are you on any medication?”

“No.” She lied, thinking that the anti-depressants really didn’t count, they were happy pills.

“Do you suffer from any illnesses? Say high blood pressure, anxiety disorders, diabetes or anything that might cause you to faint.”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Ahem! Are you pregnant?” He asked.

“No, that’s not possible.” She smiled as she replied.

“Not possible? What do you mean?” Asked the doctor.

“I mean that falling pregnant is not a possibility for me.”

“I am sorry to hear that.” Said the doctor.

She didn’t feel like explaining. It was a long and complicated story that she didn’t feel like going into. The doctor check her throat, “Open wide.” Her brain perverted his words, for once the phrase 'open wide'  wasn’t referring to her legs. He then checked her blood pressure and flashed her with his torch whilst feeling her neck. “Everything looks fine, If you don’t feel any better, please come back and we can run some tests.” She hated hospitals, but Dr Coetzee made her forget about all the horrors she’d experienced in hospital corridors. “You are good to go, take care. Reception will sort out your paperwork.” Said Dr Coetzee, his smile was tempting. He left, and for the first time, she was alone. She gathered her thoughts. She plotted a plan, she’d get her stuff, check out and find the next bus to the Ondangwa Airport.

As he signed her release form, she saw Ndatega and Johan. They were wheeling Noah towards the entrance. “What’s going on?” Ndatega didn’t answer, she looked disappointed. Johan responded, “This is a private hospital, his medical aid lapsed two weeks ago. So they can’t treat him. They stabilized him but they won’t fix his arm. So we’re going to have him transferred to Windhoek, to Katutura state.” Faith’s heart felt heavy, this was the reality of private healthcare. Ndatega pushed the door open, Faith felt an urge to do something. The imaginary angel on her left shoulder whispered into her ear, “Do something!” The imaginary devil on her left shoulder did not whisper, it shouted, “It’s none of your business. Walk away.” An internal conflict of morality and common sense raged inside her mind.  “I will pay for him.” She told the receptionist. “Bring him back in, please.” She said to Johan. She couldn’t let him go to Katutura state, that place was the arch angel of death, not to mention that it was at least 400 km’s from Otjiwarongo’s Medi park. 

As she filled out Noah’s paper work, the nurse told her, “There is a cash deposit payable.” As she pulled the notes out of her purse, she thought to herself. What was she going to do now? It was all the cash she could get without Sebastien suspecting something. She’d have to pay the rest with her credit card, and it wouldn’t take long before Sebastien tracked the activity on her card. But something inside her pushed her to do the right thing, what if he had inadvertently knocked her down? What would he have done if he was in her shoes? Sure, Ubuntu and humanity were lost on most people, but she couldn’t live with herself if something happened to him.

“Your signature please.” The nurse said as she handed back her credit card. She signed and the nurse handed her a receipt. The amount shocked her, good health did indeed have a price.