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“My son”

“You’ll have to wait” An elderly woman behind the counter cut hi room “They are all sick”

Dhatt signed an admittance sheet, then shuffled back to his wife, who had found a spot on the floor to sit down They waited nearly an hour before a young woan exa area “There is no more space in the examination room,” she announced “Just stay where you are, and I’ll come to you”

The roo by the time she reached the Dhatts The doctor took their son’s pulse, then called to an assistant An intravenous solution bag was brought over, and the doctor injected a peripheral line into the boy’s ar to Dhatt

“The boyWill he be all right?” Dhatt asked

“Yes, I think so You are lucky you brought him when you did We will run out of ”

“Is it cholera? We are careful with the water”

The doctor nodded “Careful does not matter in this instance The entire city seems to be infected, even Bandra And more lethally than usual” She reen shawl, then quickly moved on to the next patient

Dhatt sat with his wife on the floor, keeping the IV bag elevated As he waited to see signs of ilanced at the woman in the shawl

She was sitting on the floor across the roo an infant in her arlimpse of the baby and saith sadness that it was dead The ive it up, however, and just sat there, rocking, for hours

It would not be the last dead child he would witness A steady strearief, unable to save their young frouished wailschildren

The overworked doctor circled back so “Your son looks better I’m afraid that is all I can do for you Take him home And keep him hydrated”

“Thank you, Doctor”

Dhatt studied his son with relief His eyes were fully open now, and he seeth He would be one of the lucky ones Dhatt just felt it in his soul

The tuk-tuk driver helped his wife up and stepped to the door So had bothered him ever since he had arrived at the clinic, and he hesitated at the door in search of an answer He looked around the crowded roo the parents and their sick children It took aAnd then it struck him