Free Bite by Nick Louth

in a glass and grabbed the phone to call reception.
    â€˜This is suite 417. We are still waiting for the doctor you promised. If he doesn’t arrive in five minutes I want an ambulance. Yes really.’ She dropped the receiver back on the hook, and then snatched it up again. Five minutes later Quiggan was standing in the room as Penny harangued him.
    â€˜And you mean to say you just let him come up here alone.’
    â€˜Sure,’ said Quiggan. ‘He’s a big boy now.’
    â€˜Why didn’t you check on him? Why didn’t you call a doctor immediately?’
    â€˜He wouldn’t let me, Penny,’ said Quiggan. ‘He said he just needed an hour shut-eye and we have a conference call with the minister at five.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Well, I guess he’s not going to be better by then. Best make it tomorrow.’
    â€˜For Christ’s sake Don, he’s running a fever of over a hundred five. He is not going to be better for a week. This ain’t flu, I’ll tell you that.’
    The knock on the door made them jump. Quiggan opened the door. A beautiful dark-skinned woman stood there, with a cheeky smile and the smell of wine on her breath. She was a little taller than he, in her mid-twenties and slender except where her full breasts and and bulging cream dress revealed her pregnancy.
    â€˜Hello.’ Her brown eyes danced with intelligence as she watched Quiggan’s gaze move slowly back up to her face. ‘Well, you’re not the sick one are you?’
    â€˜No, he’s inside. I’m Don Quiggan, pleased to meet you.’
    â€˜I’m Saskia Sivali. I just happened to be at a reception downstairs when the manager asked me to help. I’m a graduate student from the Randstad Medical Centre.’
    He showed her into the room. ‘This is Dr Sivali,’ he said to Penny.
    â€˜Not yet I’m not,’ Saskia said. ‘One more piece of paper required. I’m just plain Ms for now.’
    â€˜Hell, but I’m sure you’ve done all the work just the same.’ The moist, avaricious grin on Quiggan’s face followed the woman’s long legs into the bedroom. Penny had seen the same expression when Quiggan assessed the balance sheets of rival companies, ripe for takeover and dismemberment.
    Saskia Sivali looked into Erskine’s eyes, took his pulse and checked the glands under his jaw. ‘So how are you feeling?’ There was no response except a sigh. She looked up at Penny. ‘Has anyone taken his temperature?’
    â€˜Yes. One-oh-five. Fahrenheit, that is.’
    Saskia let a sceptical half smile slip as Penny handed her the thermometer. She checked the bulb carefully and shook it repeatedly. Then she eased Erskine over on to his front, and eased his pyjama pants down while she probed with the instrument. Quiggan grinned, wishing he had a camera to capture this precious moment.
    She needed only one shocked glance at the thermometer. ‘I’ll get an ambulance immediately.’

    We stayed up in Etenzi’s hut this evening, listening to the hissing of the hurricane lamp and waiting for Georg’s translations of the headman’s conversation. A beautiful girl called Cecile waited on Etenzi, moving gracefully with food and drink. I assumed she is Etenzi’s grandaughter, but Sister Margaret corrected me. She is his wife, and just fourteen years old. Etenzi’s first two wives died several years ago.
    Etenzi didn’t even look at Cecile when she gave him something, but just reached out and carried on talking. I got quite annoyed about that but Sister Margaret put me straight. She pointed out Cecile’s jewellery: jangling metal bracelets on wrist, neck and ankle. Then she told me. Etenzi has never seen his beautiful wife. He contracted river blindness thirty years ago, and now he sees her with his ears. To him that is as beautiful as anything in the world.
    River blindness is endemic