The Nurse

The woman was completely unresponsive. Arthur thought he was not being loud enough so leaned in closer to repeat the same question. The woman responded in the same way, which was to say she ignored Arthur.

However, the young man was now close enough to realize that the woman was mumbling something under her tears. "My poor baby, who can save my poor baby."

That confirmed Arthur's previous suspicion. The woman was indeed a grieving mother.

The woman did not wail but her subdued grieving just made her situation all the more harrowing. It was as if she knew she was facing an impossible odds and crying would not help her situation but she simply could not stop her tears.

Arthur empathized with the woman in the red dress. Even though Arthur had not bore a child of his own, he could understand the pain from losing one's flesh and blood. He could not imagine the duress and pain the mother must have been in.

It made it that much more difficult for him to repeat the question. It felt wrong to interrupt a mother who was obviously grieving. Furthermore, Arthur did not think he would get the woman to respond to his inquiry anyway. She was much too lost in her own grief to interact with the world around her... or at least that was what Arthur thought until the wooden panel to the dispensary started to nudge.

With a speed that surprised Arthur, the woman flew up from the chair and rushed to the dispensary window carrying the baby in her arm. Arthur was surprised she did not trip on her skirt with the way she was rushing so blindly forward.

At the same time, Arthur noticed the bundle in the woman's arms had remained unusually still. It made Arthur feel quite uncomfortable to bear witness to a tragedy as devastating as this. He would not wish this kind of life on even his worst enemy, to lose your very own child, it must have been heart-wrenching.

The woman in the red dress collapsed onto the wall, her hands grasping the edge of the window. If Arthur was standing on the other end of that window, he would have been given the fright of his life but the young woman who slid the wooden panel back did not seem fazed at all.

If anything, she seemed tired and worn. Arthur could not see the woman behind the window clearly from where he was sitting but from the conversation between the two women, it sounded like this was not their first meeting.

When the woman in the red dress saw the young woman, whom Arthur assumed was the nurse, she lost control of her emotions immediately. She wailed for help, "My poor baby, nurse, please you have to help my poor baby."

Instead of asking the woman to calm down or offer to help immediately, the young woman said in an extremely tired voice, "Madam, we've been through this already. We are unable to help you unless you have the necessary funds. That is the clinic's policy."

Arthur made a mental note of this fact. This was not the woman's first visit to this clinic and based on the impatience in the nurse's tone, she was probably shown the door every time.

The nurse's words fell on deaf ears. The woman continued to wail her heart out, "Nurse, you have to help my baby. Please help my baby."

The nurse replied in a tone that sounded heavily exhausted, "Madam, I really wish to help you but rules are rules."

Through the woman's wailing, Arthur heard the sound of plastic crackling. Then, the young nurse continued, "These are the pills that the clinic is selling. One pack for one thousand dollars. Just follow the instruction pasted on the packaging and you'll be good as new." The sales pitch sounded robotic and monotonous, she was probably just reading out from her memory.

Arthur got some valuable information from what the nurse said. 'The medicine costs one thousand dollars a pack, those are some expensive stuff!' Arthur thought to himself. The price was as miraculous as the effect boasted by the pills.

Arthur did not know how effective they were but if the pills were made from the Jade Rabbit's mortar and pestle, these miracle pills should have some kind of powerful medicinal effect to them.

The two women continued their verbal tug of war. The woman in the red dress ignored the many reasons and explanations shoved her way by the nurse, pleading for the nurse to save her baby. Based on the strain in the young nurse's voice, it sounded like she was fast approaching her limits.

The nurse was by no means rude to the woman, if anything, it sounded like she was heavily lethargic and the woman's wailing and crying was contributing to the worsening of her condition.

"Please save my baby. You have to save my poor baby." The woman cried like a broken record. The nurse responded with the recording of her own, "The pills cost one thousand dollars a pack. Madam, please clear the bill and I'll gladly sell you the medicine."

Neither of the woman seemed particularly conscious of Arthur's presence. The woman in the red dress didn't care about him earlier, Arthur doubted that had changed. The nurse had too many things on her plate to even notice his existence. In other words, the mother was consumed by grief and the nurse fatigue.

In the altercation, Arthur sided with the mother like most normal human beings would. The woman needed the medicine to save a young life but the nurse kept insisting on charging her the exorbitant amount of money. Didn't she know a human life hang in the balance?

Even though he had not spoken to her personally, based on what he had observed, Arthur found the nurse to be quite unfeeling and cold-hearted. How could she not take pity on the mother mourning her child? Even Arthur by moved by it so how could she not?

However, seconds later, the nurse said something that completely changed Arthur's mind.