Alex worked so hard that morning he had no time to feel sorry for himself. They set up some makeshift exam rooms with tables, chairs and some sheets strung up for privacy. Although Ma Mohlatsi had tried to arrange the people to come at staggered times, there were already about forty people waiting ten minutes after they opened the doors. This morning had been set aside for mothers to bring their babies and children under three. Jill and Nicky, with the help of Katlego, a local high school girl from the church, took down names and organised them into groups. Alex and Kelly weighed and measured, plotting results on growth charts, then sent any children who might be sick to a group waiting to see JP or Berenice. Often the mothers just had questions and needed answers and reassurance which Kelly could give them without sending them to the doctors. Most could speak English, but Alex relied heavily on a young man called Solomon, who had been assigned to him to translate. Alex watched Kelly as she and Katlego sat with mothers, smiled over the babies and carefully answered their questions. He tried to do the same. When the group had thinned out a little he switched over to playing pharmacist as well, taking the notes JP and Berenice gave him and finding medications in the boxes they had brought from home.
Near the end of the morning, Berenice poked her head out from behind her makeshift curtain and called him over. “Come, Alex,” she said. “Come and see this.”
He parted the curtain. A mother sat with her child on her lap, an interpreter beside her. The baby looked about six months old. “Listen,” said Berenice. “What can you hear?”
He crouched at the mother’s side and held his borrowed stethoscope over the child’s chest, remembering to smile reassuringly at the mother as he had seen Kelly do before doing anything to a child. He heard it very clearly. His eyes widened. “Is it an ejection systolic murmur?” he asked. “I think that’s what I heard.” “Yup,” said Berenice. “Anything else?”
“She looks very small,” he said. He picked up one of her tiny hands. “If she hasn't been growing normally that would indicate there's a problem. We should check her chart.”
“What do you think we should do?”
“Get her to a hospital. She needs an echo and a diagnosis. It could be a congenital heart defect.”
“Well done, Dr Palmer,” said Berenice, smiling. “Your first cardio consultation.”
“Thanks,” he said. “Can we get an ambulance here? I could drive them to Maseru.”
“I don’t think you’ll need to drive them,” she said. “I’ll talk to Pastor Isaac.”
Lunch time arrived, and the clinic team said good bye to the last patient and sat down gratefully to lunch prepared by Melissa. Brad and Dave came in dusty and cold after spending the morning looking at what needed to be done to the roof of the church, and James and Mark returned from Pastor Isaac’s tiny office where they had been working all morning. Lunch was vegetable soup with bread, and Alex was surprised at how hungry he was. He found Jill and sat next to her.
“Being cold makes me hungry,” she said, taking a bite of bread and margarine.
“Me too,” said Alex. “I’ve never liked food like this much before but today, it’s delicious.”
Jill smiled at him. “You were brave this morning,” she said.
“What? At the clinic?”
“No. Before. When James told everyone.”
“Thanks,” said Alex. “I didn’t feel brave. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more exposed and … I don’t know. Small.”
“It was brave. You’re not running away from it anymore.”
“I’m not exactly at home, facing it,” said Alex. He sighed. “I wish I could outrun it though.”
Just then Mark sat down opposite Alex with his bowl of soup. “Hi,” he said. “How was the clinic?” His question was directed at both of them.
“Great, I think,” said Jill. “It was really busy, but we got through all the moms and babies amazingly. Berenice found a baby with a heart murmur. Isaac is taking her and her mother to the hospital this afternoon.”
“Wow,” said Mark. “That’s great. I mean …” He blushed. “Not great that the baby has a problem. But great that Berenice found it.”
“Yeah,” said Alex. “It was really exciting for me. I’ve never heard a heart murmur before.”
“I wanted to say about this morning,” said Mark suddenly. “That
I’m sorry for what you are experiencing. With your dad.”
“Thanks Mark,” said Alex. “I appreciate your saying that.”
Mark tuned to Jill. “I couldn’t understand why you had him staying at your house, Jill,” he said. “It seemed so strange to me. But I understand now.” Now he turned to Alex. “Jill is such a caring person. She takes care of people any way she can. It’s one of the wonderful things about her.”
Alex glanced at Jill. She looked very uncomfortable and shifted in her seat.
“I agree,” said Alex. “She’s a wonderful girl. I always thought so myself.” He met Mark’s gaze straight on. It felt like one of the staring contests he used to have with his sister when he was a kid. Mark only lasted a few seconds before he looked down. He’s trying to figure out if I’m interested in her, thought Alex. Maybe he’s trying to hint that he knows her better than I do. That he has some kind of prior claim.
“How did it go with Pastor Isaac this morning?” asked Alex.
Changing the subject seemed the best thing to do.
“Good,” said Mark. “He has some material he is using to train Bible study leaders and pastors. He wanted some help editing it and getting it ready to be printed soon. It was interesting to go through the things he has put together.”
“I can help with that,” said Jill. “The editing part. If it’s in English.”
“Oh yes,” said Mark, as if he had forgotten that Jill had this useful skill. “I’ll tell him. James also asked if I’d look at some of the church and feeding scheme accounts. So, I’ve been doing that. It’s been a very productive morning.”
“Mark is an accountant,” said Jill to Alex, as Mark ate his soup. “He’s very good at it. He loves the detail and precision of numbers, he says.”
“Detail and precision,” said Alex. “I’m a fan myself. Very important for surgery.”
“Surgery,” said Mark. That was all he said. Jill and Alex sat, waiting for him to finish. But he never did, just gave them a smile that was more like a grimace and carried on eating his soup.
Alex looked at Jill and shrugged, as if to say – what more can I do? She shrugged back.