Three is a crowd: It is showtime at the hospital!

(Continued from last issue)

David and Diane have been married for years; then there is Julie, the young secretary whose axis collides with the couple’s in ways none of them saw coming.

JULIE

David’s mother woke up as we pulled up chairs beside his father’s bedside, and that provided a temporary distraction from the discomfort of the moment, as we exchanged greetings and she cooed over Junior and exclaimed at the baskets of refreshments we had brought.

“Thanks for coming,” his father spoke in little more than a whisper, once the pleasantries were done. Before I could respond, David’s mother inserted herself into the conversation: “I told you this is a good one; you see that wife of his…” she motioned at David with her mouth, “…she hasn’t even come to see you. What kind of daughter-in-law doesn’t immediately go to visit her father-in-law when she hears he’s admitted?”

“Mum, please don’t start,” David groaned, raising his palm to his forehead in embarrassment.

“Don’t start what? Isn’t it the truth? Doesn’t she know your father is sick?” she challenged.

“Why don’t you two go and argue from outside? Leave Julie and I to talk,” David’s father ordered them, his tone a sharp rebuke. His wife held her hands up in mock surrender.

“Fine, I’ve stopped.” “Good, but go take a walk anyway; I want to talk to Julie alone,” he insisted, and after a moment’s delay, she got up with an exaggerated sigh, took Junior from me, and then pointedly looked down at David, waiting for him to get up as well, before she led the way out.

David followed even more reluctantly, his expression nervous, like he was unsure about leaving me alone with his father. Once they were both gone, with the door closed behind them, David’s father turned to me.

“Finally some peace and quiet,” he smiled, with a sigh of relief, then went on more seriously: “Now, we can talk.”

DAVID

I was nervous about leaving Julie alone with my father, not just because I did not know what he was planning to tell her, but also because I was unsure of what she would tell him in response, and what effect it would have on my relationship with her.

From our brief conversation the previous day, I knew he wanted to make amends with her, but how far he would go with those ‘amends’ is what made me nervous.

I was happy with the relationship Julie and I currently had; she was meek, respectful, eager to please and undemanding, and even though I had no doubt that my father had the best of intentions, I worried that in his attempt to ‘make amends’ with her, he would end up going overboard, and change the dynamics of our relationship – and her.

“Sometimes you bring up things that you really have no business bringing up,” I grumbled at my mother.

I needed to vent my frustration, and she had just provided the perfect opportunity for me to do so.

“What do you mean that ‘I have no business bringing up’? If I see something wrong, I have to say it’s wrong!” “No, you don’t have to say anything! Some things can be left unsaid!” I argued.

“I don’t understand why you are always defending her.”

“I’m not defending anyone; I’m just saying that not everything needs to be said, especially when it doesn’t benefit anyone to say it! In any case, there is a time and a….” I began, and then tapered off, when I realized that I had lost her attention to something behind me, as looking past me, her eyes widened, her nostrils flared, and her chest heaved.

Turning around to see what had distracted her, my heart dropped, and my blood froze; I saw Diane only a few metres away, striding purposefully towards us.

DIANE

When I first saw David and his mother standing down the corridor on the floor I had been directed to, I did not immediately notice the infant in her arms, as David was obscuring part of my view, but then he moved slightly, and I saw him, and was immediately filled with a sense of rage and betrayal; if his bastard was here, that meant its mother was here too.

“Diane! What are you doing here?” David demanded, as he moved forward to meet me, before I got to where his mother was standing.

“I came to see your father and offer my support – but I see you’ve already got someone else doing that,” I sneered sarcastically.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

“Why not? So that I wouldn’t know you had your whore here?” He thankfully had the grace to look embarrassed at being caught red-handed, but before he could try to mount either a defense or a denial, his mother, who could never mind her own business, joined us.

“What has brought you? You are not welcome here,” she practically spat at me.

“Mum, please!” David exclaimed in a mixture of anger and exasperation.

“You better leave before I have you thrown out,” she threatened, as she glared at me, and totally ignored her son.

“It’s not you I’ve come to see,” I answered coldly, refusing to be fazed by her threats.

“My husband doesn’t want to see you either,” she said confidently.

“Then he can tell me that himself,” I held my ground – and her glare. For a second, she did not respond, but then a slow, cruel smile, spread across her face.

“He would, but he’s busy with a visitor – David brought our grandson’s mother to see him,” she announced cruelly.

Her words were clearly intended to hurt, and she had succeeded, though I would be damned before I let her see that. “No problem; I’ll wait,” I answered icily.

margaretwamanga@yahoo.com

Related