A MIDNIGHT CALL

Srijani Ray

Class 8 Sec A

It had been quite a tiring journey. It had not been more than an hour that I had returned from my patient’s house. After some time, I took a relaxing bath, had some food and sat on the couch thinking of the patient’s condition at this moment. Her name is Sharmila Jain, a renowned retired teacher at St. Lawrence. She had suddenly developed symptoms of severe headaches and frequent vomiting. At first she did not pay heed to the matter but as the days passed the pain crossed bearable limits. I am a neurosurgeon at ‘Woodlands’. Later, a malignant growth was diagnosed in her internal brain, which was growing rapidly. I feared revealing the horrific truth. But I did. And the way I thought that she would react was not actually the case. With a wide smile on her wrinkled face resulting in a lot more wrinkles she said, “A tumour, and well. I had put a lot of pressure during my early days on my brains. May be this is the reason. Never mind, man is mortal, I had to die some day, so what if it is a little early?” as if death was something to play with. Now, by God’s grace she had earned enough  to bear the medical expenses as well as her regular needs, rather she was quite prosper though she never made a show of it. She had a daughter who had married and migrated away to England with her foreigner husband. Initially, she used to send an amount monthly, but it had ceased a long ago.

  However, it did not affect the lifestyle of the woman. Her husband had died 12 years ago and she lived all alone in her big house. As she had no son, she developed a liking towards me. And here, in my case, my mother had passed away too. Therefore I gave her a bit of my mother’s place which was enough for her. I visited her at regular intervals of two days. She had noted down my name, address, phone number and all my details. However, I was ignorant of the reason. She waited for my arrival and even recognized the hum of my car.

She prepared meals for me though I repeatedly requested her not to, many times. But it seemed to make her very happy when she saw me having the food and praising her for her cooking skills. So I thought, “Let her be happy………..these are her last days…….let her enjoy.” I did all and everything that could make her smile. Meanwhile, another important patient had appeared in the queue. He was a colleague of my college mate. Thus, I could not ignore him even for a while. He had a sudden heart attack probably due to stress or anxiety. However, he was going to take quite some time to recover. I wished to pay more attention towards the lady but my new patient was having greater span of my attention as there was a good chance of his recovery unlike the lady, whose fate held nothing but death. It had been three weeks that I did not visit her, even for once. She must have thought that I got busy with my toil and forgot about her. But actually every day 5’o clock her face was held before my mind’s eye as that was exactly the time when I used to visit her. On the other hand, the next day my friend’s colleague was going to get released from the hospital after a bypass surgery.

That night I lit up my cigarette and took a stimulating puff. The lady haunted my mind. The clock stroke 12. I counted. The phone rang. I picked up the receiver a little irritated. -”It’s Dr. Sanyal speaking. What is the matter?”

-“Hello ‘beta’ I need you just now! Please come, it’s urgent!” -“Hello, aunty, hello!!”

 No one replied. I put on my blazer and rushed to my car. I reached there in no time as the streets were almost empty at that hour of night.

I rang the door-bell several times.

 I was relieved for sure but even annoyed a great deal. “Why did you call me so late? Do you know what all things I thought of?”I shouted at her. She said nothing. She just took me to the dining table and oh! What not on earth was there? All types of curries, dals, rotties and a lot more. It seemed that the table would collapse by their weight. I asked her if there was any party to be held. She simply said, “All this is for you my ‘son.’ But before that you have to sign these papers.” She handed me a bundle of official papers. I signed all of them as if I was controlled by some unknown power. Then she served me all the food until I was stuffed. She asked me to stay back that night. I hesitated, but couldn't deny. I slept in a big room opposite to hers. Wishing me a good night she said “Thank you for coming today ‘son’. Sorry to disturb you, but it was very important.” She said those words as if it was the last and final time that we were meeting each other.

 The next day I was woken by a crying sound just opposite to the room that I was staying. I rushed. A lady of about 30-35 was sitting beside Mrs. Jain and crying with all her might. I was puzzled. Moreover, Mrs. Jain was not even breathing, her body still as wood. I approached the lady. I asked her what was actually going on. She said– “M-my mother is dead…..dead…..the neighbour hood people called me and informed…… ”

 Then I asked her how the neighbours’ knew when I myself staying in the house was ignorant about it. Then she said that the maid of this house who was also the maid of the neighbour's had informed them of the event. They searched Mrs. Jain’s phone directory and found her number. After hearing all this I showed the papers to her.

She glanced through them and looked at me. Her eyes met with mine. Again and again. I didn't even read those papers. Then she gave it to me asked me to go through. It stated – “I Mrs. Sharmila Jain readily hand over all of my property and belongings amounting to a total of 1 crore 15lacs to doctor Siddhartha Sanyal.”I was absolutely numb. My eyes did not blink. My muscles did not move. I stood still. I think it was the greatest shock I ever got in my entire life of 29 years. After some time, I recovered and sat beside her. I checked her pulse……… there was no movement. I leaned down towards her chest…… no heart-beat. She was absolutely cold and stiff. My experience said that it had been a minimum of 16 hours before she died. But last night... All the food? The papers. And everything else. All was confused. I never believed in spirits. But now I do. All night I walked, ate and slept with a ghost. I understood that she needed someone appropriate to have her money and her daughter was not the one. She chose me to give that 1 crore 15 lacs that she had secured. I planned to donate it to my hospital and help it develop. A month later she came in my dreams and smiled.

Smiled, as if she was contended and happy.

I never saw her again. But thought of her always the little place that I had given her had pulled her back to me even after death.