2023-10-02 22:27:33The doctor informs Matthew what happened in a normal tone, “Your mother is medicated, under control. She stopped coughing and is now sleeping.”
“What’s wrong with her, doctor?” Matthew is a little relieved to know that his mother’s life is not in danger.
“We still don’t know for sure. When she showed up, paramedics said they found her coughing violently, with her hands on her neck.” The doctor states, “Does she have any allergies?”
Matthew swallows hard, understanding why, “No, doctor, but we’re residents of Lion’s Den. Our house isn’t the best example of cleanliness.”
“It’s necessary to maintain a certain standard of cleanliness even if you don’t live in a mansion.” The doctor patiently advises him, “Your mother probably has pneumonia or tuberculosis. With the definitive diagnosis coming out, we will know how to treat her.”
“Thank you, doctor.” Matthew smiles yellowly.
“She won’t wake up for now. If you don’t want to stay here overnight, you can come back early in the morning.” The doctor informs this and leaves to attend to other patients.
Matthew turns to Walter, “I’m staying. You can leave if you want, buddy.”
“Are you sure, Matt?” Walter becomes suspicious, “I’m sad that I can’t do anything more effective. Allow me to call—”
“Walter Andrade, you still don’t understand?” Matthew shakes his hands, “I don’t want to repeat the cliché of the poor friend abusing his rich friend’s money.”
“You’re not abused or maliciously taken advantage of. I’m the one offering help. I can’t believe your mother is pretending to have tuberculosis in there like they do in the movies just to get money from my family.” Walter reasons with his friend.
Matthew pats his friend’s shoulder, “I understand, Walt. But as the doctor said, it’s probably pneumonia. My Mom will be treated and go home. And when she comes back, we’ll both have to do some heavy cleaning of that house, throwing away everything that is moldy and dirty.”
Walter laughs, “That’s how you say it.” A message notification ring rocks Walter’s cell phone, “It must be my family wondering why I didn’t come back.”
Matthew looks through the hospital entrance and is amazed, “Wow, it’s already night! You can go, Walt, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Walter and Matthew say goodbye and the rich friend leaves for home.
Matthew decides to go to the room where Sheila is.
As it is a public hospital, Sheila’s hospital bed is in the middle of other beds with other patients and their companions. It wasn’t a private room like in private hospitals. If someone wanted more privacy, they could pull back a screen curtain.
Matthew pulled the curtains on the left and right, thinking that this way no one would be bothered if Sheila coughed again. He found a plastic chair and sat down.
He watches his mother sleeping peacefully and can’t help but think how unfair life has been to her. Her father died early and she had to care for Matthew alone, never thinking about getting married again. The photos of her past she showed to him displayed that she was a lovely and stunning woman, someone worthy of being in high society.
What happened that no one noticed her missing after his father’s death?
Sheila begins to slowly open her eyes. Matthew is pleasantly surprised.
“Mom! The doctor told me you wouldn’t wake up by now.”
“Son...” Sheila’s voice comes out weak and rough, “I thought... I wouldn’t see you again...”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Mother. You’ll live for many years to see me graduate.”
Matthew strokes his mother’s hair, “The doctor gave me a slight reprimand. She believes you had an allergic attack due to our house. When we get back, we’re going to have to do some heavy cleaning. That sofa cover will be the first thing I’ll burn.”
“It’s such a beautiful cover...” Sheila laments.
“It’s a cover full of mold that won’t clean in the washing machine.” Matthew lightly pinches her arm, like a father scolding his naughty daughter.
“OK, son, but we’ll do it... Later.” Sheila feels like she’s going to cough, but holds back, “I... I want you not to neglect your studies.”
“No way, Mom! I ain’t gonna to class tomorrow.” Matthew drops his smile.
Sheila shakes her head, “No... Your studies are... Important. I’m better.”
Matthew then remembers the meeting he had with Mr. Sterling, “Mom, I didn’t even have time to tell you. I thought I was going to get kicked out of college today because of an altercation I had with David Rocha, you know who he is.”
Sheila gapes, “What?”
“Yes, but that didn’t happen. A guy who seemed to be new to the university working as an inspector took me to the rectory, but instead of meeting with Mr. Meirelles, I talked directly to the boss, Abner Sterling!”
Sheila has an expression on her face that doesn’t indicate joy, but rather shock.
Matthew thinks Sheila is enjoying the story and continues excitedly, “That’s right, Mom! Your useless son talked to the Mighty Mr. Sterling. He had my academic record, praised my grades and my impeccable class attendance, and encouraged me to keep it up. Story summary: I didn’t get expelled!”
Sheila clears her throat, not because of the cough. She comments, “So, son... Now I need you... Don’t miss class tomorrow... Always be studious... Listen to Mr. Sterling’s advice...”
Sheila can’t hold it in any longer and starts coughing.
A companion of a patient who was on Sheila’s left side pulled the curtain and complained, “Hey, has this woman COVID in the middle of all of us? She’s going to infect us all!”
Matthew fumes, “Don’t be dramatic! My Mom just had an allergy attack!”
Matthew grabs the curtain and pulls it back, isolating Sheila from the complainers.
Sheila controls her cough, “Son... You better go home... I’m talking too much, I need to rest.”
Matthew kisses his mother’s forehead, “You’re right, mother. Don’t worry, I’m going to university tomorrow, but I’ll see you as soon as possible. I’ll ask Mr. Saldanha for the day off.”
Sheila nods and smiles when she sees how her son is so dedicated to her. Matthew says goodbye to her with filial love and goes home.
******
The next day, Matthew is just in boxer shorts at the kitchen table, unable to eat the dry bread with margarine. He can’t get the fact that Sheila deserves better treatment out of his mind. The public hospital has limitations that he doesn’t like.
That companion, despite being annoying, had a point: if Sheila was coughing, she deserved to be in an isolated ward, and not among other patients. Those thin curtains wouldn’t isolate any viruses or bacteria.
Shaking his head, he drinks his coffee and gets up to get dressed and go to university.
There, Matthew is walking through the halls with dark circles under his eyes and tiredness. Some university students watch him, but shrug their shoulders, little worried about the young man’s misfortune. Some even laughed derisively.
Upon entering the classroom, the giggles increased in number. Matthew finally decided to pay attention to this event: why are they laughing at him?
Walter meets him with a serious expression, “Buddy, are you okay?”
“Don’t worry, Walt. My mother has been treated and is resting in the hospital.” Matthew smiles, “She insisted that I not miss class today after I told her about my encounter with Mr. Sterling.”
“I’m happy for your mother, but I wasn’t referring to that.” Walter takes his cell phone and opens it to a university Zap group, “They’re saying something nasty about you.”
Matthew makes a face and says ‘no’ with his right hand, “Walt, you know I’ve never been interested in participating in these supposed study groups where people just gossip and talk bad about each other. They say things they wouldn’t have the courage to do face to face.”
“Perhaps that is true, in any case, what they say about you truly happened.”
Walter shows the cell phone screen to Matthew, who squints to read it.
There is a photo of Cindy leaving a hotel with Ricardo Montegrande. They both look like they’re trying to go out secretly and discreetly, but Ricardo’s arm around Cindy’s back reveals all the romance between the two.
Matthew takes Walter’s cell phone and browses through the countless messages from his classmates. 90% of profile names are ‘nicknames’, and avatars are either anonymous or photos of anime characters, which makes it difficult to identify who is who.
User 1: “Wasn’t that the grill cook’s girlfriend from that smelly kiosk?”
User 2: “Don’t say anything bad about the kiosk, the fries come out firm and dry!”
User 3: “But the question remains: wasn’t she dating that loser?”
User 2: “Well, it seems they forgot to tell us. Yesterday, David Rocha had to drag her to the kiosk and he defended her as if he were still her man.”
User 1: “This was coming, only the idiot didn’t see it. Cindy Cardoso comes from a rich family and she’ll be an excellent journalist. Her being with Ricardo Montegrande is deliverance for her. The grill cook was never worthy of her!”
User 4: “Was she fulfilling a bet?”
Matthew couldn’t go on. There were hundreds of nasty messages equal to or worse than the ones he could bear to read. He passed the cell phone back to Walter and took a good look at the classroom.
His ‘classmates’ were giggling and whispering, but no one had the guts to tell in his face. As Matthew said, they are brave behind a keyboard or cell phone.
“Well, Cindy wanted everyone to know, and she should have known that a photo like that was inevitable.” Matthew shrugs and sits down.
Walter swallows hard. He can tell how hurt and broken Matthew is. However... Walter has never seen Matthew and Cindy act like any dating couple he has ever seen. Cindy was always distant... rarely did Walter see his friend and Cindy showing affection in public.
******
In the university courtyard, Cindy walks with long strides with fury in her eyes. She clutched the cell phone she bought in New York during her vacation.
Finding David and his minions laughing and equally eyeing their cell phones, she bursts in and thunders, “WAS IT YOU WHO DID SOMETHING LIKE THAT?”
David looks at her nonchalantly, “What were you talking about?”
Cindy can’t handle so much cynicism, “Yesterday, you were pretty insistent on knowing about my relationship with Matt. Now this photo has been leaked on cell phones throughout the university! I bet Mr. Meirelles must have received it too!”
“Cindy, what’s wrong?” Bryce, David’s right-hand man, retorts, “You sound like you actually care or love the grill cook. What does this photo mean, then? Fake News?”
Cindy chokes on swearing. She shakes with anger and humiliation.
David grins, “No, Bryce, it’s not fake news. The photo is real. Miss Cardoso is angry because she was caught, that’s all. She doesn’t care one bit about her boyfriend’s broken heart.”
“You don’t care either!” Cindy screams.
“Not really, I just want to humiliate that idiot who keeps crossing my path.”
“And so I must be ruined in the process?” Cindy screams until she’s hoarse.
“Some sacrifices are necessary,” David says sarcastically.
Cindy turns on her heel and walks away, trying hard not to cry. What a bastard!
As she does this, she lowers her head and swears under her breath. That’s why she doesn’t realize that she bumped into someone.
“OUCH!” She lifts her head, “Forgive me... YOU?”
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