To Stand Beside Her (38 page)

“Leila, you are not completely healthy yet.
You should stay out here just in case it is something contagious,” Roger warned as he and Nalick began to follow Tim.

“Anatolio should be near
by, so you should be safe,” Nalick said
,
carefully enter
ing
through the broken half door.
Leila watched as the remaining children ran from Roger and Nalick.
T
hey all feared adults.

Once inside, Tim led the two men to the back of the building.
In a corner near a window, Phillip was sitting with Ruth.
Phillip
was desperately trying to get
Ruth
to drink the small glass of water in his hand.
When he saw Tim return
,
Phillip
was relieved but then
became
startled to see the adults with
him
.

“Tim, who are they?” Phillip asked as Roger approached in front of Nalick.
“Is
Leila
with you?” Leila was the only adult that the children could trust.

“She is outside.
She has been sick, and I didn’t want her to get
any worse
.
She sent me in to look at Ruth,” Roger tried to explain to the young man who eyed him anxiously.

“This is the man who trained Leila and always fixes her when she gets hurt,” Nalick explained
,
and Phillip relaxed
a bit
.
Roger moved near Ruth and carefully began to examine the young child.

“How long has she been like this?” Roger asked Phillip
reaching down to feel her face
.

“About two days.
She has been not eating much
,
and anything she
has eaten
came back up,” Phillip explained
,
backing up to give Roger room to move
.
“I tried to get her to at least drink some water, but she stopped doing that this morning.”

Roger felt the child’s forehead
again before he began to prod around her body
.
“Has she been this warm the entire time she has been sick?”

“No.
Sometimes she is warm and other times she is not,” Phillip said.

“Can we bring her back with us?” Roger asked Nalick.
“I can do a better job back in the medical ward.
Who knows what diseases they are passing around here.
”

“Of course,” Nalick said
,
mov
ing
to pick
Ruth
up.
A scared Phillip stood by and watched.

“Can you make her better?”
Phillip
asked the two men.

“I will do the best I can,” Roger said.

“Can we come with?” Phillip asked
,
not wanting to let the two men leave with Ruth.

“Of course,” Nalick replied.
“We will hurry ahead with Ruth, but Leila is waiting outside.
She will bring you back with her.”
Phillip and Tim followed the two men out of the building.
Once outside Leila neared the men, but Roger quickly pushed her back.

“We are heading back to the palace.
Leila
,
you need to stay away for now.
I don’t need you to get sick again,” Roger said to her.
“She has some sort of infection. Until I find the source, you need to stay back. ”

“Is Anatolio here?” Nalick asked her
keeping
at a
distance
.

“Yes
.
” Leila waved to the shadows and the young man appeared.

“Please walk Leila and these young boys back to the palace.
We are going to hurry ahead,” Nalick explained.
Anatolio nodded
with a bow
.

“Once you get her back to her room, please join me,” Roger asked
,
and again Anatolio nodded.
Roger and Nalick hurried down the street with the young girl in their arms.

“Phillip, this is Anatolio
.
Anatolio, this is Phillip, and this is Tim,”
Leila
said about the young boy pulling on her dress.
Leila smiled down at
Tim
.
“Sorry
,
I can’t carry you today.”
Phillip stared at Leila.
He
watched as she began to slowly walk using the cane in the same direction as the men had hurried.

“You’re her, aren’t you?” Phillip asked pick
ing
up his younger brother and
beg
inning
to walk along side Leila.

“I thought I saw you on our way home,” she said to him
,
not answering his question.

“I heard you got really hurt bad when someone tried to kidnap you,” Phillip said
,
checking her for some major new scar
.

“I was hurt, but that man who left with Ruth fixed me.
I am almost back to normal,” Leila explained
,
continui
ng
to walk in her slow pace.

“Leila, if you need to stop, we can,”
Anatolio
said to her.
Phillip looked at Anatolio.

“Is he your guard?” Phillip asked.
“He doesn’t look much older than me
.
”

M
ost people would underestimate Anatolio due to his age for the rest of his life.
Leila turned back to Anatolio.
“I’m fine, really,” she said but did not convince him.
“Exercise is good for me.
I need to build my strength
back up
.”
Leila
was stubborn and any protest would fall on deaf ears.
Without objection
Anatolio
wound his arm around her waist to balance her as she
continued to walk
.

“So that man really is a doctor?” Phillip asked.

“Where I come from, he is,” Leila said.
S
he patted the young man on his back.
“
Don’t worry.
Roger has never failed to fix me up
and I get hurt all the time
.”

They continued to walk in silence.
Leila kept walking at a steady pace, but as they neared the palace she began to slow.
Macarius and Theo quickly hurried over to her as she approached.

“Nalick said to help you back to your room,” Macarius explained as he scooped Leila into his arms.
She was too tired to protest
,
and
Macarius
carr
ied
her back to her room.
The two young boys followed and
were
soon amazed as they walked into her
spacious
,
richly furnished
room.

Chapter
22

“Tim, do you like to draw?” Leila asked.
The young boy turned to her with a grin
and nodded vigorously
.
Leila grabbed paper and pencils from Nalick’s desk and set them on the table.
Tim climbed into the chair and began to draw.
It was the first time Leila had seen him be quiet for more than a minute.
She returned to Phillip
, who
had fallen asleep.
Leila walked back to her bed and sat down.
Her leg was getting tired
,
and she decided to rest a bit also.
After
a
while, Tim was bored with drawing and soon joined Leila.
She watched as he hopped on to the bed next to her and then wiggled until he was within inches of her.

“Is it nap time?”
Tim
asked
,
pointing to his brother.

“Sure,” Leila replied.
Tim lay down and grabbed the nearest blanket.
Within moments
Tim
was also asleep.

Not long after both boys fell asleep Nalick returned.
Leila stood and slowly walked to the door to join him
since
the boys were asleep.

“
Ruth
had something
stuck
in her foot.
It was not treated and caused an infection.
Roger
was able to get it out
,
but he had to put in stitches.
It will need to be tended to for a while.
Right now she is asleep,
”
Nalick explained.
“Anatolio will bring her up when Roger is finished.”
Leila nodded and returned to the room.
Slowly she made her way to the balcony and sat down outside in the fresh air.
Nalick
followed
her.

“He’s so young to be having to raise his siblings on his own,”
Leila
said to Nalick.

“How old were you when you began to train for your job?” Nalick asked
,
knowing the answer was that she was
younger than
Phillip was now.

“I know
.
B
ut I was never responsible for anyone else
ex
cept myself.
It is a whole
different
story when you have to take care of someone else,” she said.
Nalick understood.
His life was far less complicated when he was alone, but he had no desire for things to be the way they use
d
to be.

“Will she be all right?” Leila asked about Ruth.

“Roger seems to think she will be fine, but she will need to be watched closely
for
the next few days,” Nalick explained.

Leila and Nalick failed to hear the soft footstep
s
approaching them from behind.
Tim had woken from his nap and was hungry.
Following her voice,
Tim
found Leila and Nalick sitting outside.
Gently he tapped Leila’s shoulder.
Startled, Leila turned to find Tim standing
,
still holding the blanket from the bed
and
rubbing his eyes.

“Is Phillip still asleep?” Leila asked
,
pick
ing
up Tim and s
itting
him on her lap.
Tim nodded his head without talking
and
star
ing
at Nalick.

“Tim, you remember Nalick,” Leila said trying to ease the small child’s hesitation.
Tim continued to look at Nalick
,
and then
,
as though he finally remembered, he grinned ear to ear.
Eagerly he slid from Leila’s lap to Nalick’s as he began to tell Nalick the same story he told Phillip earlier.
Leila watched as Nalick listened intently to the small child’s ramblings.
Leila was use
d
to children when living at home with many nieces and nephews always running around.
She was not sure how Nalick would handle the small child
at first,
but he seemed to be a natural.

Phillip woke up the sound of Roger and Anatolio bringing Ruth back.
Leila quickly stood and hurried as best she could to the men to see how the child was doing.
Anatolio carried the small sleeping child and laid her in Leila’s bed.