دکتر

chapter two

The Doctor

‘The doctor will not come,’ the people in the doorway said.

‘No,’ Kino said to Juana. ‘The doctor will not come to us.’

Juana looked at Kino. Juana’s eyes were cold. Coyotito was Juana’s first baby. He was the most important thing in Juana’s life.

‘Then we will go to the doctor,’ Juana said.

Juana put one end of her shawl over her head. She put the other end of the shawl over the baby’s eyes. The people in the doorway pushed against the people behind and Juana went out of the house. Kino and Juana went out of the gate to the little path and the neighbours followed. They were all going to the doctor with Kino and Juana.

They all walked quickly to the centre of the town. Juana and Kino were first. All the neighbours and their children were following. The sun made black shadows on the ground. All the people and the black shadows moved quickly towards the town.

They came to a place where the little wooden houses ended and the stone houses began. The city had houses with big walls and cool gardens. Red and white flowers hung over the walls. Juana and Kino could hear little birds in cages singing in the gardens.

The poor people crossed the square and passed in front of the church. More people were following Kino and Juana now. Everyone was talking about Coyotito and the scorpion. The people knew that Kino and Juana were taking their baby to the doctor.

The beggars in front of the church looked at Kino and Juana. The beggars looked at Juana’s old, blue skirt and the holes in her shawl. They looked at Kino’s old blanket. They could see that Kino was poor. The beggars followed, because they wanted to see what was going to happen.

The beggars knew everything in the town. They knew about the little crimes and the big crimes. The beggars slept outside the church. No one could enter without the beggars knowing.

And the beggars knew the doctor, too. They knew that the doctor was no good. They knew that he loved money more than anything else. They also knew that the doctor could not make people better. They had seen the dead bodies go into the church.

There was nobody in the church now. There was nobody in the church with money, so the beggars followed Kino and Juana. They wanted to see what the fat, lazy doctor was going to do for a poor baby with a scorpion’s sting.

The crowd of people came to the big gate in the wall of the doctor’s house. They could smell the food cooking in the doctor’s house. Kino stopped and thought about the doctor.

The doctor was not of the same race as Kino. The doctor’s race had beaten and robbed Kino’s race for nearly four hundred years. Kino always felt afraid and angry when he came near people of the doctor’s race. Kino felt that he could kill the doctor more easily than he could talk to him. People of the doctor’s race spoke to all of Kino’s race as if they were animals.

Kino raised his right hand to knock at the door. He felt angry. His lips were tight against his teeth, but he took off his hat with his left hand. Kino knocked at the gate and waited. Coyotito cried a little in Juana’s arms. She spoke quietly to the baby. The crowd pushed nearer to see and hear.

After a moment, the big gate opened a few inches. The man who opened the door was a man of Kino’s race. Kino spoke to him in their Indian language.

‘My little boy,’ Kino said. ‘A scorpion has stung my little boy.’

The door started to close. The servant refused to speak in the Indian language.

‘Wait a moment,’ the servant said in Spanish, and shut the door. The bright sun threw the people’s shadows on the white wall.

The doctor sat on the bed in his room. He was wearing a dressing-gown made of red silk. The dressing-gown came from Paris. He was drinking hot chocolate from an expensive cup. The doctor held the cup gently between his fingers. The doctor was fat and he did not look happy.

There was a little bell and some cigarettes on a table beside the doctor. The furniture and curtains in the room were heavy and dark. The pictures in the room were religious and there was a large, coloured photograph of the doctor’s wife. She was dead.

The doctor drank a second cup of chocolate and ate a biscuit. The servant from the gate came to the open door and waited.

‘Yes?’ the doctor asked.

‘A little Indian with a baby is here,’ the servant replied. ‘A scorpion has stung his baby.’

The doctor put his cup down slowly, then he got angry.

‘Have I nothing better to do than make little Indians well?’ he shouted. ‘I am not an animal doctor!’

Then the doctor thought for a moment and spoke again.

‘Indians never have any money,’ said the doctor. ‘Go and see if the Indian has any money.’

‘Yes, sir,’ said the servant.

The servant opened the gate a little and looked at the waiting people. This time, the servant spoke in the Indian language.

‘Have you any money?’ he asked.

Kino put his hand under his blanket. He brought out a piece of paper. He slowly opened the paper so that the servant could see eight pearls. The pearls were ugly and grey and almost without value. The servant took the pearls and closed the gate again. This time, he soon came back. He opened the gate and gave the pearls to Kino.

‘The doctor has gone out,’ he said. ‘He was called to a man who is very sick.’

Then the servant shut the gate quickly because he felt ashamed.

Now, all the people felt ashamed because they could not help Kino. They slowly went away. The beggars went back to the church steps. Kino’s friends went home. They tried to forget Kino and Juana and the shame that they felt.

Kino and Juana stood in front of the gate for a long time. Kino slowly put his hat on his head. Then, suddenly, Kino hit the gate with his hand. He looked down, surprised at the blood running between his fingers.