Page 133 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

13 THE REFERRAL TO THE AMRI HOSPITAL

I joined Babesa Primary School, on August 1, 2008, and commuted from Demtshe’s place. It was hard to
find an apartment around the school.
“I am looking for an apartment around here,” I said to Mr. Lhagey Tshering, the then the principal of
Babesa Primary School. “Could you help me, please?”
“Um, let me ask madams,” he said. “Most of the madams here have buildings around here.”
The next day, the principal said, “Madam Dordem agreed to rent you her ground-floor apartment.”
“How much is the rent, sir?”
“I have no idea,” he said. “Come, let me introduce you to her.” In the staffroom, he looked around for
her. “Ma’am Dordem. Mr. Dorji Wangdi here.” He turned to me. “Sir, you can talk to her about the rent.”
I bit my bottom lip. “What’s the rent, madam?”
She thought for a while. “It’s four thousand. I didn’t want to rent it, but the principal told me your
problem.”
I scratched my head and grinned. “Very kind of you, madam. It’s rare to get one around here.”
She nodded. “You stay there until you find one.”
On the way back home, I did a quick mental calculation. “My monthly salary is Nu 10,000.
Rent…Nu.4000. So, 10,000 minus 4,000 is Nu. 6,000.” I gaped. “Only six thousand ngultrums? Would
that suffice my family? Um, hope we don’t have to scrimp on meals?”
My family joined me the next day. And a few weeks later, baby Rinchen had diarrhea. We showed him
to Dr. John. He prescribed the baby X-ray.
“Ops, it’s a rectal prolapse,” he said, looking at the result. “We must operate on him.”
I gaped. “Another operation, doctor?”
“Yes, there’s no other way. Admit him in the evening. We’ll operate on him tomorrow.”
The horror of darkness fell upon me. Everything seemed hollow. Choki sniffled, “Oh, I can’t believe
it.”
I embraced her. “Let’s be strong. There’s nothing we can do.”
In the evening, a nurse came and said, “Don’t feed the baby after 10:00 pm.”
We both nodded.
The entire night, I attended to my baby, muttering prayers. On the first morning, the nurse came to the
ward. “Ambulance is waiting.”
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