I listened to her for the first time but my tears rolled in my eyes and I was sad.
I tried to endure the physical discomfort and wanted to enter the ward. Ming stood in front of me and
stopped me suddenly. He said hesitantly, “you have to be mentally prepared.”
I looked at him and was more impulsive. I went to the front and looked into the ward.
My tears came down.
There was only one bed and one table in the ward except for one toilet.
Maybe it was because it was on the top floor. It was very cold in the room. I was wearing a coat but my
face could feel cold.
There was a woman sitting on the bed. The woman was dressed in an indistinguishable suit and
unbuttoned.
Her two almost flat breasts were exposed.
She was bony and her pale, wrinkled skin stuck to her bones. Her sternum and lute were clearly visible.
It seemed that her skin is a little purple because of the cold.
Her face was thinner but her big eyes showed that she used to be a beauty.
The woman’s hair was long and at least as tall as her and scattered on the bed.
This room was dirty but the sheet was white.
There were two dolls on it.
Those two dolls were wearing very beautiful dresses. Even after so long, we could see that they were
very high-end dolls.
The woman clapped the two dolls with her thin hand and put the index finger of the other hand on her
mouth and whispered, “don’t wake them up.”
I was sad.
She was my mother. I used to dream of meeting my mother again many times, but I never thought it
would be like this.
My tears were running down. I took off my clothes and wanted to put them on Margaret.
But before I could reach her, Margaret suddenly pushed me away. “Don’t come here! What are you
going to do!”
She said and hugged the two dolls on the bed.
Then she began to coax them, “baby don’t cry. Mom is here. Don’t worry. Mom will protect you. Mom
won’t let anyone else take you.”
Ming walked up and held me.
The nurse said behind me, “do you want to die? Mental patients look normal but suddenly go mad. You
never know when they go mad.”
I turned around and saw a metal basin on the table with a dry cracked steamed bun and a little boiled
cabbage.
I couldn’t help but point to that and ask, “she just eats this?”
The nurse looked at me. “Yes, we charge very little. It’s good that we can offer her three meals a day.”
She seemed afraid that I would complain about her, so she said, “the people who sent her in knew our
conditions from the beginning, but they still decided to send her in. They don’t want her.”
I was sad to hear that.
I looked up at Ming. “Shall we take mom away?”
“OK, I’ll arrange it.” Ming nodded.
The nurse listened to us and said, “she can be transferred, but we can only refund you a small amount
of money, and the accountant didn’t work today.”
Margaret seemed to understand us. She held the dolls in her arms and immediately became alert.
“Where are you going to take me?”
“We...”
“I will not go with you. Don’t try to separate me from my children!”
Margaret warned.
I felt more and more sad.
I stood there and said to her, “no, we’re going to take you and your children to a better place. They...” I
hesitated and said, “they’re growing up and going to school soon. It’s not good for them here. They
need to go to a better place. There is a teacher who teaches them knowledge and treats them well.”
Margaret’s eyes were clear and bright. She looked at me and seemed to understand and become
submissive. “Really? Can she really teach them?”
“Yes, that teacher is wonderful and experienced. Any child who follows her can learn a lot and become
intelligent.” I advised.
Margaret nodded desperately. “Great.” She looked at the two dolls in her arms. “Laura, Lisa, you’re
going to school.”
“Yes.” I kept weeping.
Ming patted me on the shoulder. “Let’s go through the transfer formalities first.”
“OK.” I nodded and said to Margaret, “wait a minute. We will go through the transfer formalities for you
and come back at once, OK?”
“OK.” Margaret nodded.
I held up my clothes and said, “put it on. It’s cold here. Your children will feel warm if you put it on.”
Margaret looked at my clothes and hesitated. She shook her head and grinned. “No, they say they
aren’t cold, and I am not cold.”
“Let’s go through the transfer formalities.” Ming patted me on the shoulder.
I turned around and was very sad.
I thought of the picture Murray gave me.
The woman in the picture was a beauty, but now she was tortured like this.
I felt terrible.
The nurse closed the door. I asked her discontentedly, “has it been so cold? The patients will freeze to
death in winter.”
The nurse looked at me and said, “no, the pipeline is aging this year. It’s OK from the first floor to the
fourth floor, but it’s not hot on the fifth floor. Especially Margaret’s room is at the end, so it’s the
coldest.”
“Then why not repair it?”
“We have reported it several times.” The nurse said casually, “but it’s remote and the Dean doesn’t
care. What can we do? Most patients are left unattended even if they die.”
I listened to the nurse and my heart was bleeding.
If I didn’t find out, my mother might end up like this.
“Well Family is cruel.” I couldn’t help but say.
The nurse listened to me and sneered, “do you think Margaret’s hospitalization fee was paid by her
family?”
“No?” I was a little surprised.
“Of course not.” The nurse played with the key in her hand and said, “Well Family only paid her one
year’s hospitalization fee and said that we could dispose of her at will one year later. Then there was a
boss who paid more than two million dollars at a time so she could live.”
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