Two patients, a boy and a girl,that had just had eye surgery had rooms next to each other in a private hospital. Their eyes were still healing and highly photosensitive so they had on bandages blindfolding them. Every mid-morning , the nurses would take each of them out of the hospital to sit on benches basking in the sun.
On this particular day; the two were made to sit side by side, on the same bench.
“Hey,” he started the conversation.
“Hie…I wasn’t aware that there was anyone around,” said the girl with a chuckle.
“Oh, you’re blindfolded too?”
“I’m not the only one? Which surgery did you have?”
“Radial Keratotomy…or something. You?” replied the guy.
“Umm I forgot what they called mine… photoreflection…blah blah…i don’t know,”
“Medical terms…” giggled the boy. “I’m Jacob,”
“Mary,”
“Guess it would be funny to attempt to shake hands Mary…we’re both blind bats right now,”
“I can totally see you I was just messing around this whole time,” joked Mary.
Jacob chuckled. “Where you from? You have an interesting voice.”
“Really?” Mary laughed. “I’m from around here. I was born in this city.”
“Oh, me too. Born here, went to Greenpark High, Greeenpark Technical College, and I now work at the local municipal office.”
“You went to Greenpark high? My school and yours were rivals!”
“Let me guess; St Helen’s?”
“Yes! We hated how pompous the kids from G.H were. You all thought going to an expensive school made you some sort of superior beings,” said Mary with a giggle.
“Haha, and we thought St Helen’s girls would all grow up to be either nuns,or some sort of man-hating species. You’re probably the latter.”
Mary laughed. “Said like a typical mean G.H student. You all should have your own planet.”
Jacob chuckled. And they went on talking and laughing , getting along as if they had known each other for years.
After two hours the nurses came to take them back to their wards for lunch. They both wished they could stay longer and have more conversations as they staying in individual wards felt lonely.
The following mid-morning they sat together on the bench again, and had an even more fun time in each other’s company.
Days passed. They were getting so acquainted to each other with each unfolding day , that they would request to the nurses to sit on the bench for longer.
“You have one of the most interesting voices I’ve ever heard, Mary,” Jacob said, amidst one of their conversations, one day.
“Really? Thanks. That’s not a compliment I get every day,”
“I can only imagine how you must be blushing right now,”
“Oh please,” said Mary, smiling. “If you could see me, that’s not the kind of compliment you’d have given me… that’s if you’d give a compliment at all,” said Mary, profoundly.
“Why? You’re that ugly?”
“I’d slap you if I could find your face right now,”
Jacob laughed. “Being blind for this week has helped me appreciate some things in life I never paid attention to,” he said, solemnly. “Like, I listen to music and I actually distinctly hear the melody of each instrument so much it’s like I’m listening to the songs for the first time,”
“I know right! Have you heard the sounds crickets make at night and the birds in the tree next to our ward windows? It’s pure music.”
“Or,you’re just pure crazy.”
Mary fumbled about to get hold of Jacob and she got his hand. Instead of continuing to pinch him as she intended, she was taken aback by the way he held her hands.
“You have the softest hands ever,” he whispered.
“You have the lamest lines ever.”
He was gently stroking her hand. It reminded her of the way her former boyfriend used to hold her…before she found out he held five other female hands the same way. She quickly withdrew her hand and pretended to be choking, coughing briefly.
“Are you okay?” asked Jacob.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
That evening, as he lay in his bed, Jacob thought about his life and the decisions he’d made. He had long lost passion for anything at all. Nothing, and no one made him feel excited and he felt as if there was nothing to look forward to. He decided to go to church to find the hope that seemed so far out of reach. It was as he was still figuring out this hope thing out that his failing sight began to get worse. He had always had sight problems since he was a child. However, here at the hospital, he found himself mesmerised by a girl; something he totally didn’t expect to happen. Moreover, this is a girl he couldn’t physically see. So, this was strange.
Jacob imagined what Mary looked like. He knew she had long, soft hair after she had accidentally leaned on his hand one day as they sat on the bench. From her soft, somewhat gruffy voice that he was so fascinated in, he had drawn up an image of a very beautiful, chiseled jawed, hazel-eyed brunette. It had been a year since he separated with his long-time girlfriend, Anna.
Jacob’s mother was late and his father had remarried and moved to a far away city. His only brother also lived far from Greenpark, working as a mechanic. Jacob had gotten used to getting along alone. Some people at his workplace thought he had a sort of mental retardation as he always secluded himself from them and acted strange. But he really was just another person striving to find direction in his life.
Every lunch visiting hour, there would be noises and laughing voices from Mary’s ward, and from other wards surrounding him, yet no one had came to see him since his surgery. Mary lived with an aunt, uncle and an older sister; they were the only family she ever knew.
“Your family sounds very nice,” Jacob remarked the next day, as they sat on their usual place.
“You were eavesdropping on us?” Mary laughed. “ I miss being home so much. I have to go back.” She said, her voice getting low. “I damaged my own eyes,” she said, and swallowed hard. “I uhh, I wanted to commit suicide by drinking a chemical I had in my apartment. It was kept on the top of a cupboard. So when I tried to reach for it, it slipped and poured on the upper part of my face.” She paused, and gasped deeply. “The doctor says my eyes were mostly affected. I’m at least glad that this skin I use expensive moisturisers and toners on, was saved.” She chuckled.
Jacob was silent, listening contemplatively.
“My family doesn’t know that I was thinking of commiting suicide, they think this was all an accident.”
“I’m sorry.” Said Jacob.
“Don’t worry, I’m okay. I realise it was very stupid to get suicidal.” She smiled slightly. “A lot of things led to me getting depressed; not being able to get a job, struggling to pay rent at the apartment I live alone, failed relationships…it’s quite a lot.”
“I wouldn’t know you’ve had a difficult life with all the humor and the quackiness you display,” Jacob told her.
“It’s only now that I realise the challenges that led to my depression made me stronger instead of weaker.You know, the day before the ‘accident’, I had received a reply from my dream job application, saying I didn’t get the job. It was the hammer that drove the last nail.”
“What is your dream job?”
“To be a journalist for the Greenpark Times. It sounds strange but I really just love the affairs of this city.”
“You are an amazing human Mary. I wish I had met you earlier in my life.”
“Aha, because I want to be a journalist?”
“No, you have such a kind spirit I can’t explain.”
“Aand you got that from me wanting to be a journalist?”
Jacob laughed. “So silly. From our conversations; I've picked out things you did for others; like the time you confronted the random man who was verbally abusing his wife in public; and the time you got a little boy lunch with the last money you had..."
“It was a little girl, and I got her dinner, not lunch. What about you? What inspires you? I've noticed your ward is silent during visiting hours.”
"Uhm, yeah. My family doesn't stay around here."
"And friends?"
"I don't exactly have any."
"No way; you're too friendly to be friendless."
"Well, now that I've met you, maybe i don't have to be so friendless anymore," he said, with a wry smile on his face.
They sat and talked. And laughed, as time went by.
Later on, the nurses came and escorted them back to their wards.
As she lay in bed, that evening, Mary found herself struggling to fall sleep. She could not believe how she was failing to dismiss thoughts about Jacob out of her mind.
Meanwhile, Jacob was listening to the crickets and the birds that night… with Mary on his mind. They lay in their separate beds, in separate rooms, replaying their conversations in their minds…bound together by a string of thoughts about each other, and their bench outside; their happy place.
After her previous toxic relationship, Mary’s life had just down-spiralled. She had not gone to church or opened her Bible in a very long time and drank profusely, getting herself stuck in sinking sand until she contemplated taking her own life…which, apparently, also didn’t go so well.
The following afternoon, after Mary’s sister left towards the end of the visiting hour, Mary heard a strong male voice coming from Jacob’s ward. As she listened, she recognised Pastor David’s voice. He was the local pastor at the city’s largest church. Mary listened as he conversed and laughed with Jacob, and then prayed for him. She couldn’t wait for the next day to ask him about the pastor.
“Miss Mary,” spoke a closer voice. It was the doctor. “How are you feeling today? I have good news for you. From the examination we did in the morning, we have decided to take off your bandages today. If your sight makes good progress without them, you’ll be able to go home tomorrow.”
The doctor summoned two nurses to assist in taking off Mary’s bandages. She was nervous, excited and anxious at the same time.
As soon as they were off, Mary opened her eyes to a blurry world. The doctor tested her visual acuity and then assured her it would improve with time. She was given an injection and some eye-drops. Mary was glad to see the world again. She was looking forward to recovering quickly and leaving this hospital to restart her life afresh.
Mary heard the doctor move on to Jacob’s ward, where she also removed his bandages. She heard him exclaim with joy how well he could see and how he had missed the colours of the environment. He was even more excited when the doctor said his visual acuity was good enough for him to be discharged that evening.
Jacob stood up from his bed and paced around the ward happily. He looked outside through the window and saw for the first time, the bench where he sat with Mary everyday. It was surrounded by a well-maintained green lawn, with beautiful flowers.
As soon as the doctor and nurses left , Jacob went out of his ward, to Mary’s. He had waited to see her for long enough.
Mary sat up on her bed, aware of Jacob’s restored sight, and nervous. She heard footsteps and wished they wouldn’t be his, for she wasn’t ready.
She turned. And there in the doorway stood a blue-eyed, blonde man of medium height. He had a small moustache and some loose chin beard, and he just stood; transfixed in the doorway.
She just sat, also transfixed, and for a moment, none of them said a word.
“Mary?” Jacob finally asked. “You are…”
“Black?” she finished the sentence for him.“Yupp.”
She had on a long black weave reaching her back, and big brown eyes. No hazel eyes, and nothing brunette about her 'hair'. Her cheeks were chubby and her nose flat. Different on the outside, yet he knew it was her, from that interesting voice, and that lovely spirit he had fallen in love with.
“Well, it’s good to finally be able to see each other Jacob.”
“Yeah,” he said, and looked around the ward to avoid eye contact. It was too late, she’d already read the surprise on his face.
“I might get to go home today…the doctor said.” Jacob told her.
“Oh that’s good for you,” She pretended she hadn’t heard already. “I hope to go home soon as well.”
“Well, maybe we’ll uhh…meet again someday,” he said, taking some steps back to leave. “See you around.” Those were the last words he said to her, and he was gone.
Mary turned her gaze to the window and looked outside, fighting tears that wanted to flow. She’d hoped there was maybe a little chance that Jacob could have assisted her rebuild her life. But from the look on his face, the hope had been extinguished.
She hadn’t expected him to be of a different colour either, and it was funny how that had not really popped in her mind the whole time. Neither had it essentially mattered to him. It’s not that he was bothered she was black, or she was bothered he was white…it’s uhm…okay, yes, the difference in skin colour definitely played a role. And it makes no sense, but it’s the reality.
Mary got discharged from the hospital after two days.
A month later, Mary, determined to live stronger and more courageous, started making decisions towards being better. One day, as she was re-arranging her apartment to give it a different look, she went to check her mailbox. Then she realised she had a letter from Greenpark Times. It stated that she had been considered for the journalist post and should come the next Monday for an interview. Mary jumped around with joy.
Her sight had drastically improved, but her eyes needed the aid of spectacles to focus properly.
In two weeks, she was working as a fierce journalist, feeling like her life was beginning to shape-up again. She had got the job without a rigorous interview, as the director said she had been highly recommended by a trusted companion. It was miraculous for Mary.
Two months later, she found herself at church; where she rededicated her life to the Lord.
After that Sunday service, she went to talk to Pastor David. She expressed her gratitude to God for the transformation in her life, and as she went on telling the Pastor about her life, she spotted Jacob, standing with some people outside the church.
Pastor David noticed she was looking at him.
“Has he told you?” he asked.
“Who? Told me what?” asked a startled Mary.
“Jacob. You inspired him. Back when you were both admitted at the hospital.”
Mary was surprised. “I inspired him how?”
“To get off the ground and look at the positive things in my life,” answered Jacob himself, walking towards them. “Hie, Mary.”
“H..hie”
Pastor David excused himself to give these two some space.
“How’ve you been?” asked Jacob.
“Fine. I uhh, I’m working at Greenpark Times now.”
“Oh I heard, congrats.”
“Wait a minute, it was you wasn’t it? The director told me someone had recommended me to him. That must have been you. Not many people know about my love for journalism.”
Jacob just giggled, confirming it.
“Thank you,” said Mary.
“You inspired me. Really. You may not know it but the way you were always happy when we spoke, even though you hid in you some difficulties, encouraged me to be optimistic. So, thank you too."
Mary smiled. She lifted her eyes to meet his. He gazed past her not-hazel eyes, deep into her soul, the lovely soul he had gotten so deeply acquainted to. They were not standing as two different looking people. They were just standing there as two people, created and loved by the same God.
“Would you like to go out for dinner some time?” Jacob asked her, a smile across his lips.
Mary smiled back. “Yeah, why not?”
And so they walked together from the church, talking and laughing, just as they had on that bench outside the hospital; blindfolded, oblivious to colour – yet awoke to love. Love, flowing from the inside out, blindfolding them again, but this time, to the rest of the world’s negativity.
THE END.
