An Affair to Remember- In Diapers
It was time for her to go home. Not only had she been there for three and half months and was fully healed, but she needed the freedom to run around outside and expend some energy. Besides that, three-and-a-half year old Jacqueline had yet to master the art of using the toilet. It was time for her to go home. But, two things were stopping her from leaving- lack of family at the clinic, and her torrid, scandalous love affair with Edlin, a man not only one year her junior, but also a good four kilos her lesser.
He was an easy mark, Edlin was. When he first came to the clinic he was dehydrated and malnourished, and his masculine defenses were no match for the feminine wiles of the sultry Jackie. He had spent time at the clinic before, and was just back from a stint in the pediatric ward at the hospital in Les Cayes, fighting off kwashiorkor and a host of other maladies. Like Jackie, Edlin had been left at the clinic without his family; and like two other star-crossed lovers at odds with their families, their attraction was immediate and intense.
Edlin, vulnerable, lonely, and with a soft heart, was an easy mark
Jackie- Oh how she knew how to get her man…
As Edlin grew in strength, nursed by the sweet cooings of the pre-conversant Jackie, their dalliances become more daring. They would oftentimes be spied crossing the cement floor of the nutrition ward, hand-in-hand, Edlin with a goofy grin on his face and Jackie’s tongue hanging out of her mouth, determined to get Edlin away from the clinic.
The star-crossed lovers on a private walk
Other times, they would flaunt their feelings out in the open with a devil-may-care attitude. They were young and in-love, and devil-may-care who knew about it. This thing was bigger than you, or me or any of us, and if they didn’t follow their hearts, than what was left? Sure, the problems of two people didn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. But if they didn’t admit they were in love they would regret it. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of their lives.
Edlin fairly swoons at the thought of his gal
At the Timoun Kontan society masquerade ball- with masks off!
Clearly their love was far too intense and they were careening down a path to destruction. How could a love so grand be sustained by two people so small? (Standing on top of each other they barely passed four feet tall!) Older, more sage heads tried to intervene. Children, they said, watch how you play. We see how you have your eyes on each other. You can run just as fast as you can, a-holding on to one another’s hand. But don’t think your alone, now.
The counseling sessions were long and furious. The older folks pointed out that Jackie was from past L’Asile, back in the rugged mountains of the interior, and Edlin was a boy from the beaches of St. Louis du Sud- like oil and water, so must the people from the hills be with the people of the beaches.
But those were the old rules claimed the fetching female firebrand, and she dismissed the wise counsel as a load of hot air. What could you possibly know, old man, about love and life and truth and beauty? Our love will never fade, and no distance can separate hearts entwined. There ain’t no mountain high enough, and there ain’t no valley deep enough, to keep me from loving him.
All of which sounded vaguely familiar.
Counseling from the older generations was for naught
But time was running out for the couple. Jackie had to get back to her family, and Edlin had to conserve his strength to get back to his healthy weight. The powers- that –be announced they were packing Jackie up and taking her home—home where her family was, where her friends were, where she could soil the floor of her own house until she was toilet trained. At first the couple was defiant, then unbelieving, then sad, and finally resigned. They know they were going to be apart, but they also knew that a love as deep of theirs couldn’t be constrained by being and time. No, absence would make their love grow fonder, and their love would grow like a mixed metaphor fertilized with the compost of distance and time.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
So at the appointed hour, the two lovebirds said a final goodbye, and Jackie was loaded into the four-wheel-drive truck, along with a few extra cloth diapers as insurance, and driven back into the hills beyond L’Asile. The hardscrabble path was rough and demanding, rocks as big as the tires littering the path, as though rolled there by gods bent on keeping the two together. The trail crossed rivers, ascended steep, tortuous hills and crossed fertile valleys. Finally, after finding someone who knew someone who might actually know someone else, Jackie’s family was found returning from the market, mightily surprised to find Jackie driven in a car by two blans and accompanied by a Haitian staff member. The staff member promptly laid into the family for leaving Jackie at the clinic, berating them for neglecting their duty. Jackie sat by, impassive, her mind no doubt steeling her self for the separation from her beloved.
With a final wave and wished of good luck, Jackie walked away with her family, who smiled at seeing her healed and walking. And what will become of their love? Will it last, or was it just a passing fancy of two young hearts? Only time will tell, dear readers, but Jackie does have a rendezvous for a check-up in nary four weeks time. We’ll keep you informed….
Thanks for all your prayers and support-
Tim and Christy
Posted by Christy and Tim at 03:11 PM on November 15, 2003 :: Permanent link
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Letters HomeAn Affair to Remember- In Diapers
Blessed
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Sr. Althea Jonis, Born to Eternal Life 9/9/03
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Dramatis Personae II: The Haitian Lane
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An American PT in Haiti
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