A few weeks later, we are in one of the dormitories where the brothel sex workers sleep. The room is packed with many triple bunk beds reminding of the tight space in submarine dormitories. The only large item in the room is a giant makeup table with a giant mirror and a couple of chairs in front of it. Missy is lying on her bed with her baby in her arm. Plumber with crying eyes is holding Missy’s hand.
On the other side of the room, Lady is arguing with a middle-aged, bearded doctor in a black suit. He, making an indifferent face, is holding a stethoscope in his hand and is casually swinging the tubing. The puppy is sitting next to Lady, eating from a bowl.
“I make sizable donations to your hospital every year,” Lady shouts at the doctor. “Now, go there and do what you are paid for.” The puppy supports Lady by barking at the doctor.
“I am afraid, we have already tried the strongest antibiotics on the market. The infection in the uterus has spread too widely. You know better than I the risks of abortion. You should have thought of it before ordering another one.” That slaps Lady in the face. She looks furious and leans forward a bit. The doctor feels threatened, stops swinging the tubing, swallows his spit, and takes a step back. “I… Forgive… Please accept my apology. I got carried away. Surely you can find a replacement.”
Lady notices the puppy cutely grunting at the doctor. She leans back. The doctor feels safer. Lady picks up the puppy and holds it in her arms. That calms her; it always did.
“Not as good as her,” Lady responds to the doctor as she is caressing the puppy. She turns her disappointed look at Starlet in Missy’s arms. “Not for another 18 years.”
“It’s gonna be OK, my dear,” Plumber says to Missy while holding her hands and looking intently into the eyes. Missy is all sweat and looks quite sick. She is taking labored breaths. “Is it?” she says while worryingly turning her look on her baby. Plumber leans forward to get a closer look at the baby. He notices that she has thrown up a bit of her milk, and the vomit has spread on her cheek. He uses the back of his fingers to clean up the vomit. The baby, as her eyes closed, raises her hand and tightly holds Plumber’s little finger. Plumber is very much touched by that. He gets emotional.
“Save her,” Missy says as she is watching the interaction between the two. Plumber swallows her spit and responds with a squeaky voice: “How?”
Lady takes Plumber by the collar and pulls him back. Plumber seems absolutely powerless against Lady. His little finger detaches from the baby’s hand. The baby starts crying.
“It’s gonna be OK, sugar,” Lady says to Missy while standing between her and Plumber. She picks up the baby, holds her in her arms, and looks at her peaceful face. Lady chuckles. “Have no worries. I will take care of the baby like she is my own daughter.” Missy’s cry bursts out. “Oh, don’t cry, sugar.”
Plumber gets really hurt when he hears Missy’s cry. Lady’s big butt is blocking his view. Disgusted by the view, he turns his back to it.
“Do something!” Missy begs. Plumber gets emotional and subconsciously turns back, leans forward to reach for the baby. But finds Lady’s big butt in his way. The old, familiar fear of Lady resurfaces on his face, and his teeth start chattering. He shamefully turns his back to them again.
“Like what?” Lady asks Missy assuming that she was talking to her. Missy looks aside but doesn’t see Plumber coming around. She takes a deep breath. “Do something!” She screams with all the strength that is left in her. The scream fills up the room. Plumber presses his palm against his ears. Shame is pouring down his face.
A baby sparrow has fallen on Missy’s grave, struggling to find her way back to the nest. Plumber picks up the baby sparrow from the grave, kisses it, and puts it on the nest above the grave.
Plumber throws a bucket of water on the top of the gravestone. He sits on the bottom and cleans the dirt off the grave with his bare hands. When reaching the word ‘Missy’, he lingers on it and caresses the word with the tip of his fingers. He notices the baby sparrow chirping, looks up, and takes an affectionate look on the baby sparrow. “Don’t worry, little fella,” he says, “Mommy will be back soon.”
“Do something!” Plumber hears Missy calling him from beyond the grave. He gets scared and pulls himself back a bit. He is staring at the grave. “I am trying,” he says to the grave. “My hands are tight.” The baby sparrow starts screeching, but Plumber does not notice that. “I’m a poor man with no land, no money, no power, no education, no nothing. I don’t even have a name anymore; they just call me Plumber. They even took my name away.”
“Do something!” Plumber hears Missy says that again beyond the grave. Plumber notices several sparrows flying above him, screeching in desperation. His eyes slowly fall on the nest, where he finds a crow as black as night with bloody sparrow feathers stuck to its peck. Plumber cannot believe his eyes. He takes a few seconds to digest the situation. As he does, he looks more and more outraged. His eyes roll back. “Sometimes you gotta take a life to save another,” He says like he is hypnotized.
The crow still proudly stands on the nest. As his eyes are on the crow, his hand reaches for a stone. He throws the stone at the crow. The sparrows who are flying above him hear the crow’s last screech.