Cilka's Journey(75)
Katya settles somewhat, allowing Cilka to lift her nightdress and look at her stomach. She can see it is distended.
“Katya, I’m going to gently touch your stomach. Tell me when I hit the spot that hurts the most.”
Starting up beneath her rib cage Cilka gently pushes down, quickly moving her hands a few inches at a time. As she moves down to the lower abdomen, Katya cries out.
“What is it, what’s wrong with her?” Maria fusses. The room carries the deep, rich smell of her perfume, making Cilka’s nose twitch.
“I’m sorry, I can’t be sure, but if we get her into the ambulance and to the hospital, the doctors there will be able to diagnose and treat her. I’m going to give her an injection to help with the pain and then we will transport her in the ambulance.”
Cilka can feel how her knees sink into this soft, plush carpet. How nice it would be to lie down in here. To be cared for by a mother, worried over, in this pillow-laden bed.
“I’ve sent someone to tell my husband. He should be here soon. Maybe we should wait and take her in his car.”
“The sooner we get her to the hospital the better, if you don’t mind. I’ll ride in the back of the ambulance with her and look after her.”
“All right. I trusted you once before, I’ll trust you again. And I would like the doctor to be Yelena Georgiyevna again too.”
“Pavel,” Cilka calls out.
The door opens. Pavel and Kirill stand in the doorway.
“Bring me the medicine.”
Kirill hurries over, placing the drug box on the floor and ripping off the lid.
Cilka quickly locates the medication she wants, fills a syringe and gently injects Katya in the arm. She holds her arm while the pain medication takes effect and Katya settles.
“Get the stretcher, quick, and take the boxes back with you.”
The two return with the stretcher. Cilka and Maria lift Katya as the stretcher is placed on the bed. Gently they lower her onto it, wrapping her up in blankets from her bed.
“Let’s go,” she says to Pavel and Kirill. Turning to Maria, she says, “Do you want to come with us in the ambulance or can the guard bring you in a car?”
“I want to come with you.”
“You’ll need to ride up front. I will be in the back with Katya.”
The guard hands Maria her coat. Cilka grabs hers on the way out of the room as they follow Pavel and Kirill to the ambulance.
Cilka climbs in the back first and helps Pavel slide the stretcher toward her. Kirill has the engine running, shutting the back doors. Pavel hops into the front. The guard holds the door for Maria and helps her sit next to Pavel.
The drive to the hospital is silent, Maria’s perfume filling the truck.
Word has reached Yelena that the commandant’s daughter is en route. She is waiting for them.
Following a quick examination, she tells Maria she will need to take Katya to surgery straightaway. She is certain she has appendicitis, but won’t know for sure until she opens her up. If correct, Katya will be back on her feet within a couple of weeks.
“Can I come with you?” Maria asks.
“Well, no, not really, Maria Danilovna. I’ll leave Cilka here with you; she can tell you what we’re doing.”
“No, I’ll be fine while I wait for my husband; I’d rather she was with you.”
“Let’s go, Cilka, scrub up.” To the orderlies standing nearby she says, “Take the patient to the operating room, please. We’ll meet you there.”
As Yelena walks off, Cilka quickly speaks to Maria.
“She will be fine. We will have the two of you back together as quickly as possible.”
As Cilka walks from the room she hears the booming voice of the commandant. She takes a moment to watch as he wraps his wife in his arms and she tells him, in a voice thick with emotion, what she knows. Man, woman, child, and the luxury of caring only about one another.
* * *
Yelena tells Cilka she can go and get Maria and the commandant and bring them to Katya, who remains asleep, minus her appendix. Cilka stands at the back of the room while Yelena explains what the procedure involved, the recovery period, and offers to stay the night with her.
Maria thanks her, asking if it would be possible for Cilka instead to stay the night with Katya and her. She’s not leaving. The commandant wants his daughter brought home but agrees she can spend one night in her own room here, away from the prisoners. Chairs are brought into the operating room for Cilka and Maria. There will be no more operations today.
CHAPTER 24
Katya wakes several times during the night. Cilka checks on her, and administers further injections for the pain, while Maria reassures her daughter that she will be home soon.
After settling Katya once again, Cilka sits back down, aware that Maria is staring at her.
“Is everything all right?” she asks the wife of the commandant who imprisons her.
“I don’t know how to thank you for your kindness, your care. Watching you with Katya overwhelms me. I don’t know why you are here, I don’t want to know, but will you let me talk to my husband, ask him to help you?”
Cilka doesn’t know where to look.
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes, we owe you so much. If it was up to me, you wouldn’t spend another night here. Katya is very special to Alexei Demyanovich. Don’t tell anyone, particularly our sons, but I think he does have a favorite child, and it’s that young girl lying in the bed.”