Hush
“The baby is crying again…” he muttered sleepily to his wife (who laid sleeping next to him.)
The woman groaned and got up. She slumped to the crying child’s room and pulled her out of the crib. The mother rocked her back and forth patting her back softly. “Shush sweetie… shhh…” she whispered quietly.
The baby hiccuped and snuffled. Her face was beat red and her tiny body was hot. The mother held her in her arms close and tight. She placed her palm on the child’s forehead, feeling a fever.
“Oh… you have a fever.” The mother cradled the child in her arms and walked to the bathroom searching for some medicine. She couldn’t find anything. Her one year old child was sick and she had nothing to treat her with. So, the woman grabbed a washcloth, got it wet with cold water and draped the child’s head and neck. The baby’s fever went down thankfully.
After walking back into the child’s bedroom the mother sat down in a rocking chair, holding her baby girl close to her. She starting to sing softly in her ear.
"Hush my lovely don’t you cry.
Everything will be alright.
Close your eyes and drift to sleep.
Rest in peaceful sleep."
The child calmed down and fell asleep in her mother’s arms. Rocking back and forth, the mother kept her sick little baby close, humming that little tune softly.
But the coughing and sneezing and fever kept up. Having no money to buy medicine, the mother had to take her to the emergency room.
“I have no money to buy aspirin or anything else.” she told the nurse while holding the sleeping baby.
“Well, let’s take a look at her.” The nurse placed a thermometer in the baby’s mouth. One-hundred and three. She cheeked the child’s ears. An ear infection. “She has an ear infection and a high fever of one o three. Take this prescription for that and buy it at your local pharmacy.” The nurse scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to the mother. The mom stared blankly at the blasted nurse for doing nothing else. But, instead of causing a fuss (thinking of her child’s state) she walked out of the E.R. to her car and drove back home.
All day, the mother tried keeping her baby’s fever down but nothing really helped. Finally, late that evening she talked to her husband.
“Honey, I don’t like the way she looks.”
“Do what you want with her.” he replied. With that, the woman took her child back to the emergency room.
“My baby still has that fever and it has not gone down all day. Please let me see the doctor.” the mother pleaded the nurse once again.
“Alright. Wait in the waiting room please.” the nurse told her.
Still holding her baby close, she sat down next to a man in the waiting room. The man smiled at the child’s cute curious but red face.
“She’s a cutie.” he commented.
“Oh, uh thank you.” the mom replied.
“What’s her name?” he asked.
“Christina.” the mom told him.
“That’s a pretty name. Is she okay?” he asked in a concerned voice.
“No. She has a high fever and an ear infection. I came with her earlier this morning but they didn’t do anything to help me.”
“Ah… so you came back with her worse than she was this morning?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry to hear that. I hope she gets better.” the man gave a small smile and tickled the baby’s stomach. The child giggled very softly and wiggled around in her mother’s arms. “You hear that Miss Christina. Get better and stop worrying your mother to death.” He said to the child. Christina’s mom chuckled and the two got into a conversation.
While talking to the man, the child became hot. Suddenly, a twitch came from her small body and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. The mom felt the twitch and looked at her. “Christina?” She called out to her baby. Nothing. Drool came from those tiny pink lips. Once again the mom called out and no reply. Frightened and bewildered, the woman ran up to the nurse.
“My baby. I can’t get her to respond.” she told the nurse. The nurse’s eyes widened and she literally grabbed the child from her mother’s arms and ran through the doors. all the woman did was stare at the closing doors. A fear striked her heart like a cold sharp knife. Tears built up in her eyes. She couldn’t seem to gather the courage to walk through those doors…
But she had to. The mother walked through the doors and found her her baby was at. The tears came running down her cheeks when she saw her precious child. The doctor sat beside her child’s bed monitoring her. Tubes her stuck into her baby’s arms and legs. Some in her chest. Two oxygen givers were forced into her nose. The doctor looked at the mom.
“You’re child is having a seizer. She has meningitis. We need to take her to the fifth floor for a spinal tap.” he told her.
Her heart skipped a beat. Her baby was very sick. Her little girl was laying there with tubes inside her body and she couldn’t do a thing. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She couldn’t think, couldn’t believe this.
Before she knew it, the doctors took her child away to the fifth floor. She was not allowed there. Crying, the mother waited outside the room where her baby was screaming. “please… please don’t cry my baby. Hush… it’s… okay…” she whispered into the air. Her muttering became softer and mixed in with her sobbing.
“Hush my lovely… don’t… you…” she couldn’t finish the song.
The crying and screaming became louder from within that room.
“Please…”
-I wrote this for a contest. I had my mom read it and I saw a single tear roll from her cheek… :too bad;