Lind’s Diary: Entry 18

Sunday, 2nd March 2014

11:00PM

Dear Jennifer,

I thought Georgie would return early so I could find time with him to tackle this impasse around Tiger, but he has not yet appeared, as usual. Faith called in the evening to say that the police have been looking for Tiger since the attack occurred.

When I left Moderncare without answers regarding the whereabouts of Pastor Anthony, I took a motorbike ride to Star Mortuary where I heard most of the bodies were being transmitted. As I walked into the building, however, my phone began ringing, and when I checked, I saw that it was a landline telephone number. I decided to pick the call.

“Hello… who’s on the line, please?” I inquired.

“Am I speaking to Mrs Linda Argwins?” asked a slim feminine voice.

“Yes, you are. And who are you, please?” I responded.

“Come to Port Victoria Private Hospital right now, Your Excellency.”

“What is this about?” I asked, but she hanged up immediately. I wondered whether I was standing on the crag of another trouble altogether. I turned and walked out of the area to hire a cab to Port Victoria.

When I reached the hospital, I called the landline number and informed the woman that I had arrived. She came out of the building to meet and escort me in. She was a tall lean woman, evidently in her fifties.

“Good evening, Your Excellency,” she greeted.

“Good evening.”

“I’m glad you came. Sorry for bothering you, but your patient has been admitted here.”

My heart jumped. My patient?! I swallowed a ball of saliva as a way of bracing myself for any uncertainty that might dawn, and then asked, “Who are you talking about, please?”

“Thought you had a patient at Moderncare? He goes by the name Anthony Mckenzie.”

I took a deep sigh of relief and afforded a weak smile. “Show me in to him please,” I requested.

The nurse took me into the building that was partitioned into several cabins and directed me to Pastor Anthony’s room. I found him lying awake on his bed, a piece of bandage tied around his left knee.

“Ermahgerd, Mrs Argwins!” he exclaimed upon seeing me.

“Pastor!” I called back. “Oh, thank God you’re here alive. What happened?”

I sat on the stool beside his bed. He hoisted himself up effortfully and sat in the bed, his bandaged knee seeming to pain a lot.

“Tiger came with a group of people,” he explained. “I saw him searching about. Seems he was looking for me, maybe to abduct me. When he did not see me, he moved upstairs. That’s when I jumped out of my bed, rushed out of the room and began racing downstairs. Some surprised nurses come swiftly after me. I toppled down at the stairway, towards the entrance, and broke my knee. The nurses, and a few workers I guess, were holding me up to take me back into the building when we heard loud screams from the upper floors. And soon afterward, the gang rushed out, followed by a few sick people. I think I heard someone saying the doors had been closed, petrol poured all about and the building set on fire. The nurses put the other survivors and I into a vehicle and rushed us here. I think we’re about a dozen patients, and a few workers.”

When he finished explaining, I remained absentminded for a while. I was thinking about what Tiger told me yesterday and how scared I was when I heard of the attack. 

“Mrs Argwins. Are you with me?” I heard Pastor Anthony ask. I quickly turned to him and responded, “Yes, yes pastor, I am. I’m just… I’m just beginning to understand that we are dealing with a more complex situation here than I can imagine. I just hope Tiger Kamilio does not know we are here.”

“He is a ghost. He might be knowing,” replied Pastor Anthony.

“I see, but that’s unverified yet.”

“You just don’t get it yet, but soon you will.”

“We’ll see about that. Where’s Pennina, by the way?” I asked to sidestep the discussion about ghosts as I was still scared.

“She returned home yesterday. She’s married, and you know women with their children.”

“Oh, I understand. Have you let her know that you’re here, safe?”

“Yes, I gave the old nurse your contact and hers. I hope she called her too.”

“It astonishes me how you have a clear memory. Won’t you allow me to call her myself? That nurse almost drove me crazy by calling and leaving me on suspense about why she needed me here. Spoke straightforwardly and didn’t even identify herself. I think that’s uncourteous and unprofessional.”

“Do these ‘sober’ nurses follow their work ethics and code of conduct these days?”

He gave me Pennina’s number and I called her straight away. I found out that the nurse had not yet spoken to her, and she was planning to travel after she heard the news about the hospital’s attack on radio. I informed her that she needed not to worry as Pastor Anthony was among the few survivors and was back on treatment at Port Victoria.

As I go to bed tonight, dear sister, I feel like a ball thrown in the middle of a burning flame. Tiger’s violent actions and perceived threats are pulling me to pieces. And my husband seems least bothered, not even wanting to respond at all. Perchance you were right, that I needed not to trouble myself with issues that did not concern me. But this one has thrown my marriage into a bind. How can I just stop now? 

***

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