The door bell kept persistently ringing. The sound has woken Serenity up. It was a hot, sunny summer day.
"What a stubborn person: if nobody is answering, then this means that nobody is home."
Her entire body was aching from having slept on the floor for almost twenty-four hours.
I need to take a salt and herbal bath in order to relax my aching muscles.
She opened the tap and let the water start filling the tub. The doorbell continued ringing. Serenity went to check the doorbell camera and find out who the insistent person was outside the social housing building. It was Auntie, parents' neighbor, holding A4 piece of paper saying: "Emergency".
Can there be a day without some kind of emergency in my life?
She went to turn off the tap in the bathroom and slowly descended down the stairs to the ground floor.
"My apologies, Auntie. I was taking a bath and that's why it took me some time to answer the door."
"It's alright. Just wanted to ask what happened to your phone? Your mother couldn't reach you, so she reached out to me instead requesting me to pass an urgent message to you."
"What is the urgent message?"
"Your grandma has been taken to the City's University Hospital this morning. Mother cannot make her choice between the two courses of treatment. Hence, she wants you there."
"Alright, I will get ready and go. Thank you for letting me know and apologies for having inconvenienced you."
"I am very glad to be of service in return for the service your parents did in order to unblock the underground drainage pipe the other day. Hoping your grandma gets well soon."
I think I know why my mother cannot make her choice between the two proposed treatment plans. That is because I have noticed that she typically chooses the exact opposite of what I recommend.
It's not that she is genuinely interested in my opinion. She only wants to discover which side my opinion lies on and that's why my presence has been requested. It's not that I am being bitter and cynical about the general situation. It's how things have been between us for some unknown reason.
At the City's University Hospital.
"Why has your phone been off?"
"I am very sorry, mom: the phone's battery has died and I haven't noticed it."
"Never mind. You are here now. Grandmother has been stung by a number of wasps this morning and developed a very severe allergic reaction. She is at the Intensive Care Unit ward at the moment. In addition to that, doctors have discovered a serious cardiovascular situation. Now they want us to make a choice between a conservative and surgical treatments both of which carry a fifty-fifty chance of success."
"What do they mean by "fifty-fifty chance of success"? Are things that serious?"
Serenity and her mother spent a few hours sitting in the hospital corridor waiting area and watching the medical staff running around in anticipation of hearing the news that grandmother's situation has improved and that there was no longer a need to make the "unbearable choice".
"Mom, I need to go home because this situation has been weighing way too much on me and I need to calm down."
While passing by the Residents' Room I accidentally overheard their conversation.
Voice of male Surgical Resident 1: "You are lucky (calling male Surgical Resident 2 by name). You have already performed the necessary number of surgeries in order to qualify for a research grant. The deadline is looming. As for me, I only need to perform one more surgery in order to qualify for the grant. I hope that the relatives of the latest patient in the Intensive Care Unit will opt for the surgical treatment so that I can get a chance of performing a surgery."
Female Surgical Student 3: " In my view, such a wishful thinking is somehow not acceptable. All these rules and procedures and other unexpected circumstances are there to guide our timely development. It should be neither rushed nor forced by one's uncontrollable ambition."
Male Surgical Resident 2: "You sound so dogmatic and make the atmosphere heavy right before my departure on holidays with my father (the University Hospital's Director) to the very remote islands "at the end of the world". I promise you, guys, loads of fun pictures on social media."
The empty suburban streets were lit by the Scorpio full Moon. Serenity kept slowly walking home to her flat. Once there: "I am so tired from these everyday problems. So exhausted from being presented with constant challenges where I barely have a clue or have no clue at all as far as the course of action is concerned. Given my current level of understanding I keep running out of solutions. The only small thing that I can do right at this moment is to continue the cultivation of my artistic sight."
The second task in the Drawing Manual (prior received in the mail) was to draw one's own profile from the upside down picture.
Why is an inverted image so disorienting to look at?
The Ghostly Apparition manifested again. Upside down this time.
"Your circumstances are challenging but you can make a deal."
"What would that deal be like?"
"You can go with the conservative treatment for your grandmother (and it will work) in exchange for the seven years of your life. The shortened lifespan will manifest immediately as an additional health condition: a hormonal and mineral imbalance in your body with all the ensuing consequences."
"And this somehow sounds like a very fair deal to you?"
"Everything has a cost. Whether it's fair or not, you decide."
"I know that everything has a cost but I don't know about the fair cost of deals. Alright, I will make it."
The following day the two Surgical Residents approached Serenity and her mother in order to find out their decision about the course of treatment. The conservative treatment course was chosen.
Back at the Residents' Room.
Male Surgical Resident 2: "How can somebody without respective qualifications make such a difficult life choice with so much ease? Do you know?"
Female Surgical Resident 3: "I don't know how the patient's granddaughter could make that choice with so much confidence. By the looks of it, I mean, the pitiful state of her hair, her skin, her nails indicate towards hormonal and mineral imbalance. How can somebody who can't help themselves make a difficult decision for somebody else?"
The next day grandmother was moved from the ICU to the general ward and dispatched from the hospital a week later. All three of them: mother, grandmother, father hadn't given the hospital experience much transformative thought.
One week later in the Residents' Room.
Female Surgical Resident 3: " Looks like you and your father had an amazing time together during holidays."
Male Surgical Resident 2: "We did for sure. By the way, do you believe in prophetic dreams?"
Female Surgical Resident 3: "Has something supernatural affected you on those remote islands? Honestly, I don't have an opinion about it. Why?"
Male Surgical Resident 2: "The night before my return flight I dreamed about my Estranged Uncle who owns a chain of Wellness Resorts abroad. He is a bit eccentric. Despite his wealth, he leads a very ordinary existence and gets his treatments at the university hospitals. There has been a very serious feud of over twenty years between him and my father. Details of which I don't know. He doesn't have children nor a wife. Thus, I have high hopes of getting into his good graces in order to prove to him the suitability of my candidacy to inherit his Wellness Resorts Empire. For some reason he visited me in a dream yesterday. By the way, where is our friend (male Surgical Resident 1)?"
Female Surgical Resident 3: "He is feeling a bit down today. There was an emergency surgery yesterday. Not a complicated one. Hence, he was allowed to perform the surgery. During the surgery the unexpected turn of events took place: the blood in patient's upper body started oozing under the skin and into the body cavities. The blood in the lower parts of the body started coagulating at the same time. All of us did our best to contain the situation but..."
Male Surgical Resident 2: "Such situations are very challenging. Hopefully, he can recover soon."
Female Surgical Resident 3: "Despite all this, he has qualified for the research grant."
Male Surgical Resident 2 and his father (the University Hospital's Director) were having a conversation in the drawing room.
"Son, we have received some sad news this morning. Your Estranged Uncle was visiting from abroad unannounced and had a health emergency yesterday. He was taken to our University Hospital. I am sure, you have heard the rest from your groupmates..."
Male Surgical Resident 2: "This is very unexpected (My chance of inheriting the Wellness Resorts Empire has just evaporated). We need to get to the bottom of this matter."
Father: "I have already done that. It was one of your batchmates who performed the surgery."
Male Surgical Resident 2: " Dad, do everything in your power in order to remove this person from our profession. Me and another Surgical Resident have cautioned him of reigning his ambition in prior to my departure on holiday. However, he continued to insist on obtaining the untimely for his level of skill research grant and look what happened."
Father: "This can happen to anybody. So long as one follows the correct protocol and procedure... "
Male Surgical Resident 2: "Father, and how do you know that this person is in their place? They might thank us later for having redirected them onto the more suitable route for them?"
Father: "I do not wish to be the one making such decision. End of conversation."