Chapter 7

Toshio remained seated in his waiting room, glaring at the clock with growing irritation. Once it was past three, unable to bare it he picked up the phone. He called the Gyouda house. Even though he'd said as much as he did Gyouda Etsuko wasn't coming. Today was Sunday. The hospital wasn't fundamentally open. Gyouda Etsuko was surely well aware of that but this was no time for letting that get to her. 

The ringer rang six times. Just as he was thinking of hanging up and trying to go there in person, at last someone picked up. The one to pick up was Gyouda Bungo. 

"Ah... Junior Doctor." Gyouda piped in a dismayed voice. 

"Well, Etsuko-san hasn't come yet, has she? Did something happen?"

"No," Gyouda hesitated to say, from there speaking timidly. "Uhm, no matter what it may be, we couldn't impose on a Sunday. She herself said she felt guilty, so if you could have her come in on Monday..."

Toshio breathed a sigh. "Gyouda-san, I'm not trying to scare you but it'd be better to keep an eye on that disease of Etsuko-san's. I can't say anything for sure yet but there's a possibility of it getting worse like that. If that happens, with Etsuko-san at her age and all, I could even see it taking a turn for the worst. Even if it is Sunday, I'm telling you to come."

"Haa..."

"If you don't care whether Etsuko-san lives or dies, then fine. If Etsuko-san's fine with that, then do what you want. But, if you're worried about your wife, then during the time you have free to worry, could you not bring her here?"

"But..."

"I'm the one telling you to come to me. I've been waiting here at the hospital to close since this morning. Maybe you're trying to be considerate to me, and I'm thankful for that but if you're going to be considerate towards me all the same, then coming right here first thing in the morning and setting me free early is a lot more helpful, wouldn't you say?"

I'm sorry, Gyouda said, I'll bring Etsuko there now, he said. Toshio breathed a sigh and hung up the phone, and then felt a tinge of self loathing. 

Doctors had no right to order their patients to come. That had to be left to the patient's will. Toshio was the vanguard of the villager's health but it wasn't as if he bore the duty of supervising it, and he by no means the authority to do so effectively. He was irritated with himself for ignoring that and unsparingly ordering her to come. And he was irritated with Gyouda for letting him. And most irritating of all was thinking that giving an order and behaving like this was painfully reminiscent of his father. 

Spouting that he was the vanguard of the villager's health, his father behaved as if he saw anything that would bring harm to the villagers in such a way as a personal affront. Injured patients he attacked as careless, sick patients he attacked as neglecting their health and their families as being careless. 

Toshio clickedhis tongue. His own behavior was just like that of his father's. That was so unpleasant he couldn't stand it. 

(I've got to cool down....)

It couldn't be helped that the villagers weren't carrying any sense of dread. Toshio himself was the one who was hushing up the situation so as not to stir up any useless sense of crisis. If he spit out the situation frankly, Gyouda too would be afraid. To be suppressing that while blaming Gyouda was not coherent reasoning. 

While persuading himself of that, a voice called out 'excuse me'. Toshio stood with mild aggitation. He was all the more aggravated at himself for thinking that there was an interphone, and how could he not see it. 

When he went to look as expected it was Gyouda, and Etsuko's condition had worsened. Clearly it wasn't as good as it had been yesterday. At that, Toshio's sense of self reproach swelled further at having called her in. Gyouda's feet were unsteady. If this was how it was when she went out walking, Toshio should have been the one to go. That made Toshio once again displeased. If she was getting worse after all, why didn't he sayas much; and so the target of his anger switched to Gyouda, his irritation getting out of hand. --In truth, Toshio was aware himself that he didn't have control of his own emotions. 

Somehow, he managed to let it pass without saying anything, that Etsuko's condition had worsened. For the time being he took a blood and urine sample. Her urine was a dark color, and on top of being dark there wasn't much. Her breathing was mixed with light wheezing. Once again, he did a full blood transfusion. No other medical treatment that appeared to be effective had arisen. 

If her condition gets earnestly worse, he ordered for them to call call him and an ambulance. But, as Toshio himself said that, he didn't naively imagine that Etsuko would be saved or any such by it.