Chapter 3

The sun broke announcing the birth of a new day, the raging wind of the previous afternoon quickly erased from the surface of the village. Nature had a way of driving people’s mind to the worst possible thing happening to them, and in a flick of the eye bring comfort just as you notice the way it sometimes warms up on a cold day or the opposite of experiencing cool afternoons on a hot African’s summer day under the glaring heat tilling the fields in a bid to irk the small offering of the exhausted soil. The calm that made itself prevail after a horrible afternoon which easily escalated to a terror filled evening was the perfect condition to mask the horrors of a day gone past.
Noluthando woke up to the sweet melodies of the African Savannah birds the event of the previous day firmly buried and forgotten in her mind. It was as if her conscious had dismissed the notion of that the events that preceded this day ever occurred, it consoled itself and that made Noluthando numb to any sense of feeling in the physical and the emotional realm. The day called yesterday simple did not happen and could never be allowed to happen ever again. She simply found comfort in denial and embraced this brand new day with the vigor of well cultured and learned African Princess carrying out her day’s chores resulting in praise from ‘Mama’ which she really thought was not necessary as she was only doing what was expected of a African girl child ground in her cultural traditions and norms.
But that was 10 years ago…
As she waited for her next patient Noluthando mind drifted to the evening lying in wait for her as soon her 36 hour shift came to an end. She had loads to do before collapsing on her cosy two bedroomed apartment in the leafy Suburb she resided in. Top of the list was to grab a few items of clothing before stocking up on her groceries before having a hearty lunch with her friends and then off to bed. She could not believe though at how fast she had grown from being a shy doctor to the confident lady she was this day. “Please sit down and make yourself comfortable”, She softly spoke to the golden aged lady who came to her office. She could not believe that this lady in front of her could reach such an age and be still to walk without any assistance. “Thank you!” The granny replied with a smile as she took her seat.
The patient she was about to attend to was one of the many thousands she had helped along her journey of realizing her dream of being a doctor well acclaimed within her field and a rising star in medicine. She already boasted a Doctor of the Month in the local medicine tribune published for the province. The smile on her face warmed her and she fell more in love with her patient, the medicine gods had blessed her with the perfect patient to round up her marathon shift.