{"id":7676,"date":"2011-09-30T19:06:32","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T17:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=7676"},"modified":"2011-10-04T06:36:37","modified_gmt":"2011-10-04T04:36:37","slug":"the-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=7676","title":{"rendered":"The disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mihai Batea [Romania]
\ntranslated from Romanian by: Maria Jastrzebska & Monica \u0162one [MTTLC student]
\nclick aici<\/a> pentru versiunea rom\u00e2n\u0103<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe little boy whines. He is not hungry, he doesn\u2019t like anything and has no appetite. George Hencoop is annoyed, he shouts at him: \u2018Don\u2019t be picky, tuck in and go to bed!\u2019. Mother stops knitting, gives the food to the child. \u2018He is running a fever\u2019. The man calms down; he also checks the forehead of the little boy. \u2018It\u2019s nothing\u2019. Tea is made, an aspirin is found. It is broken in half and given to the sick boy who breaks it into little pieces with his teeth. He doesn\u2019t yet know how to take medicines. He is taken into his bed together with his teddy bear. His father tells him a quick story. He doesn\u2019t have the time for a long one; there\u2019s a football match on channel two.
\n\tThe match is so exciting; Hencoop is living it to the full. He smacks his right fist into his other palm. This annoys his wife who rises and goes to the bathroom cursing all footballers. Right now a penalty is about to be played. The wife returns, agitated. \u2018The child is burning up!\u2019. He says nothing, the match has gone into extra time. She is getting annoyed \u2018Didn\u2019t you hear me?\u2019.Yes, he heard, he rises, goes to the other room and sees for himself. They talk it over and decide to let the child sleep with them in their bed. The mother prepares a wet handkerchief, the father searches for the thermometer through the drawers. He remembers that he had lost it, starts cursing. He has another one, a half meter long one, for the laboratories.
\n\tIt shows 41 degrees, neither of them believes it. He always finds an explanation \u2018It\u2019s a technical thermometer, it has an error margin of 5 percent. Look, it says so on it!\u2019. The mother is still not convinced, the child is panting, his heartbeat is fast, and his hair is wet. The TV is still on.
\n\t\u2018Let\u2019s call a doctor\u2019, she says. Hencoop already has the phonebook in his hand. \u2018I\u2019ll call Titi, he told me I can call him anytime night or day!\u2019 His wife searches the wallet. The man shouts at her to leave the damn money alone! \u2018I won\u2019t pay him anything, I\u2019ll write about him. With this publicity he\u2019ll earn much more! He knows that so he won\u2019t ask\u2026 \u2019.
\n\tThe private doctor doesn\u2019t answer his phone. They don\u2019t know what to do. The child is stripped naked, the windows opened to let some cold, fresh air in, they rub the boy\u2019s body with surgical spirit. The father caresses his forehead. \u2018My dear, what\u2019s wrong with you?!\u2019. The little boy is rolling his eyes from side to side. The mother is talking on the phone \u2018Hello paramedics?\u2019. The woman takes out clothes, they dress first then they dress the boy. They hold him up to the window and show him the iced snow. They tell him about the sleigh, how daddy will pull it at great speed\u2026
\n\tIt is three o\u2019clock. The child is given another set of clothes. Those wet with sweat are thrown on the floor. In all the bustle they get walked on. The bell rings, the car has arrived. George thinks the doctor will see the child first but it doesn\u2019t happen that way. The woman in white speaks slowly, is tired. \u2018Let\u2019s go!\u2019.
\nThe Dacia ambulance smells of burnt tobacco, the driver is listening to classical music. The nurse yells at him to change the station. Then she tells Mrs. Hencoop: \u2018Stop whining madam he won\u2019t die from a simple flu,!\u2019 The one driving yells too: \u2018Do you like this music?\u2019. A pack of cigarettes falls in an arc from the car board. He stretches his hand, takes them and lights one.
\n\tThe emergency room is empty. The mother manages to find a nurse and she leaves to find the doctor. \u2018She\u2019s just on her ward round.\u2019 The doctor on duty arrives in a few minutes. She is waving her fingers to dry her nail polish. George stays outside and argues with a nurse. She tells him to smoke in the toilet if he cannot control himself. \u2018Smoking is not allowed in the hospital!\u2019
\n\tHis wife emerges; she tells him they must go for a check-up, after nine o\u2019clock, to the local clinic. \u2018Let\u2019s go to the pharmacy!\u2019He struggles not to slip, he is carrying the child. The trams are beginning to run. They are both nervous. \u2018In the emergency room they told me it\u2019s not the flu. So I can relax! You shouldn\u2019t call an ambulance unless the patient cannot be transported\u2019. The woman\u2019s voice is shaking. She is close to crying now.
\n\tAt the clinic there are many parents waiting, holding hands with their children or carrying them. The doctor, a nice and likeable young man, asks for George\u2019s wife straightway. Surely impressed by the child\u2019s red cheeks. He is quickly done with him. The mother emerges with a prescription. They spend the last of their money on the cab.
\n\tThey start arguing at home. \u2018How is that? Didn\u2019t he tell you what\u2019s wrong with him? I don\u2019t understand it\u2026\u2019 She fights back \u2018Why didn\u2019t you come with us? So you could hear for yourself: this is for the cough, this is for fever, that for sore throat\u2026This is what you do all the time, you\u2019re all talk and no action!\u2019 Hencoop phones Titi. He arrives in ten minutes, apologizes for last night, he was away visiting some children. \u2018Be nice, boy, let your old uncle see where it hurts!\u2019 The private doctor quickly concludes: it is pneumonia! There\u2019s no talk of a fee, the doctor won\u2019t allow it.
\nAfter Titi has gone the arguing starts all over again. \u2018Why on Earth did you call the ambulance?! Couldn\u2019t you have had more patience, I would have gone to get him at his house, he is my friend after all!\u2019 \u2018What about you? Why don\u2019t you write about what happens to sick people? You\u2019re such a wuss! \u2019 \u2018Really?! Don’t you know how many doctors there are on every street corner? You can’t escape them, you silly woman!\u2019
\nHearing him call her names George\u2019s wife takes an ash-tray and throws it towards him. He gives it a wide berth, the crystal breaks against the wall. The woman cries, it was a gift from her mother. Hencoop gives up the fight and leaves the house to borrow some money. She is left to pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mihai Batea [Romania] translated from Romanian by: Maria Jastrzebska & Monica \u0162one [MTTLC student] click aici pentru versiunea rom\u00e2n\u0103   The little boy whines. He is not hungry, he doesn\u2019t like anything and has no appetite. George Hencoop is annoyed, he shouts at him: \u2018Don\u2019t be picky, tuck in and go to bed!\u2019. Mother […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[739,22],"tags":[1153,703,797,666,403,1116,312],"class_list":["post-7676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egophobia-32","category-short-story","tag-egophobia-32","tag-maria-jastrzebska","tag-mihai-batea","tag-monica-tone","tag-mttlc","tag-short-story","tag-translation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DakB-1ZO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7676"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7748,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7676\/revisions\/7748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}