The White Rose - Part 1

“Dr. Thomas, there’s a call for you in your consulting room.Dr Mathew is on the line. He says it is urgent.”

Thomas woke up with a start and looked around. He was in his wife, Jennifer’s room. She was on the bed, sleeping peacefully.  Their three-year old son Daniel  was with his nanny at home.

Sheila, the head nurse on duty, was at the door, waiting for his response.  She  looked  as fresh as a rose, though he knew she had been on duty for more than 12 hours now.  He didn’t know when he had dozed off.  Trying to shake off the sleepiness from his tired eyes, he got up and walked to the door.

Sheila sensed his discomfort at his sleep being disturbed. “ Shall I ask him to call you back in some time, Sir? “, she asked.

“ No, no. I shall attend the call right now. He wouldn’t call if it wasn’t really urgent. Could you please stay here and take care of Jenni while I am away?  I shan’t take more than a few minutes.”

“Sure, Sir. Take your time. I shall be here. Sister  Diana is there on the floor for other urgent cases.”

Thomas thanked Sheila and walked out of the room, to the far end of the rather long corridor, wrestling with thoughts in his mind.

Why would Dr Mathew call at this time? He had been asked to go to Paris on an urgent consultation and had to leave at a very short notice. He was currently at Delhi, waiting for his evening flight to Paris. He was one of the best  surgeons  in the country at present, and  had waited patiently to complete Jenni’s  eye-transplantation successfully, before leaving for Delhi.  Thomas was grateful that Mathew took special interest in his wife’s case; Mathew had personally attended to her and even before his journey, had given thorough instructions to Thomas, a Cardiac Surgeon himself, on how to take care of her. Thomas couldn’t help but marvel at the man’s professionalism. 

“ I wonder, what makes Dr Mathew ring me up at this time….he is a man of method; he wouldn’t waste a call for nothing,” thought Thomas to himself as he picked up the receiver.

“ Hello, Dr Mathew ? Thomas here. Is anything wrong ? Are you alright? “

“ Hello Thomas. Nothing wrong here. I just rang you up to tell you that there’s a  pink envelope addressed to you in the top right hand corner of the book-shelf in my consulting room. Sheila has the key. It arrived this morning, you weren’t there and I thought of giving it to you before leaving, but forgot. I am so sorry for that. Just got reminded of it now, so called immediately. Please take it, is that ok? “

Thomas couldn’t help appreciating the care Mathew bestowed on him. He said, “ Yes, Dr Mathew. No worries. Shall take it. Wish you a safe journey, Sir. Take care. “

“ Thanks a lot, Thomas.  I feel relieved now. It’s time for me to check in now. See you all soon. Take good care of Jenni too….. . Bye.” And the call got disconnected.

Thomas couldn’t repress a smile as he thought of how Mathew had described the envelope. A Pink envelope. He knew who that came from. He had asked Sheila to fetch it and as she brought it to him, he could almost hear his heart speak out the name of the sender.


To be contd.....