Chapter 8: Farewell Auntie

Throughout the period of reintegration into her new single life, Aunt Mélanie was there and supported her as best she could.

To help her aunt with the daily expenses, Bea had found a job in a small pastry shop. As the owner was very old, she was in charge of making the cakes.

Every day, Bea got up early, did the household chores and went to her new job. In the evenings, she came home early, cooked and went to bed. On Sundays, they went to visit her brother Marcel who lived two hours away from her aunt.

One morning while she was at work, Bea received a call from the neighbor telling her that her aunt had a stroke and that she was currently at the neighborhood hospital.

Béa left what she was doing and took a taxi to get there.

Once in hospital, she first went to her aunt's bedside, there she found her sound asleep. After checking that everything was fine, she went to see the doctor to find out about her aunt's condition.

Béa: Hello doctor, I am Béa, the niece of the patient who arrived this morning following a stroke.

Doctor: Hello ma'am. I was going to ask you to come anyway. I wanted to talk to you about your aunt's health.

Bea: Tell me how she is. Will she make it out

Doctor: I'm not going to lie to you, his condition is not stable. She was very lucky to have been taken to the hospital quickly, otherwise it would have been too late. The truth is that the fragility of his health lately has weakened him a lot, so I fear the worst. We'll wait for him to wake up and then I'll give my final opinion. But let me warn you that she will be paralyzed. Rest assured, we can remedy this with rehabilitation sessions.

Béa: His awakening will take time, doctor?

Doctor: No ma'am, she should wake up soon. You can go see her if you want.

Bea: Thank you doctor.

Doctor: Come see me again if you have any concerns.

Bea: I wouldn't miss it doctor

Once out, Béa dials Yolande's number and informs her of Aunt Mélanie's situation.

The latter asks him to take care of her and that she was about to take the road to join them.

As Yolande lived in the capital, it would take time before she arrived. Béa therefore asked him to go directly to the house.

She waited an hour for Aunt Melanie to wake up. But she couldn't speak or move so Bea had to call the doctor to examine her.

After the few examinations, the doctor said:

Doctor: As I told you earlier, your aunt has paralysis of the entire left side of her body. But that can be fixed with rehabilitation. She will need your full attention during this time. You will have to take care of her constantly until she finds use for her limbs.

Béa: I'm aware of that, doctor. Can we go home now?

Doctor: I'll watch it for another hour and then you can go home. During this time I will ask the nurse to give you the diet she must follow. Your aunt's health is really fragile, so it won't be worth her having strong emotions. It is also necessary to follow it well because a new attack would be fatal to it.

Béa: I understood doctor thank you

In the evening when they returned, they found the house tidy by Yolande and even cooked. The two young women gave the old lady a bath, fed her and put her to bed.

Once alone, Bea kept her cousin informed of her aunt's condition.

Yolande: Bea, I want to ask you to take care of mom please. I saw it and there I am reassured. I will have to come home tomorrow because I have to work the day after tomorrow. I take care of the household expenses. Please do it for her you know she loves you like her own daughter plus you get along great.

Bea: You don't have to ask me. You know she's like my mother.

The two women chatted for a while then left to see Aunt Melanie before going to bed. This morning, when Bea woke up, she found the house clean and tidy with breakfast on the table.

Béa: Oh my love Yoyo how I would have liked to keep you here forever.

Yolande: Fat lazy. Do you want to keep me to enslave me? Get ready, we have to take care of mom.

But when they went into Aunt Melanie's room to wake her up, she was inert. They called her and shook her but she didn't move. Yolande called an ambulance and they went to the hospital crying.

Béa: Doctor tell me what's wrong with her please. Yesterday you told me that as long as we followed the instructions she would be better. But why did his condition worsen in just one night?

Doctor: I'm sorry to break it to you ladies but you're a little too late. The patient was already dead before he arrived.

Béa and Yolande: WHAT?

Bea: How is that possible? If you knew she was in danger of dying, why did you release her yesterday?

Doctor: Yesterday everything was fine, that's why I released you. Everything indicates that she had a stroke around one o'clock in the morning and since there was no one to call for help, then you know the rest.

Yolande: But it was my shift at that hour. When I got home I saw her asleep so I went out so as not to wake her. My God why didn't I go and touch her to see?

Doctor: Don't blame yourself, your mother suffered a lot these days. She had attacks very frequently. She already knew that she had little left to live.

Béa: How come I don't know about this detail?

Doctor: She didn't want to worry you. She told me once that her daughter had just given birth and her niece was going through a tough time so she didn't want me to tell you. You can go see her one last time while we send her to the morgue.

Once in front of Aunt Melanie's pale body, the two women were inconsolable.

Béa: Auntie why did you do this to me? You said we had to keep our promises so why didn't you keep yours? You said we were going to watch over each other but you left without even saying goodbye to me, without a word. Why Auntie? Why ? Tell me who will watch over me. Where will I go to cry when I feel sad? I'm in so much pain but I still have to say goodbye to you auntie. How I want to be able to wake up and realize that this is a bad dream. Why? Why my auntie?