Unborn Again Part 2

The doors slide open and he rushes into the carpark. He never thought asphalt and petrol fumes could be so rea.s.suring. As Numis fiddles for his car keys, he can hear the faint "Help! Help! Help!" It reminds him of a distant car alarm. At this distance he has no social obligation to help.

He turns and looks back at the window to Dejerine's room and wonders now whether she was acting after all. Realizing that he will never know, he shrugs and blips the car.

Under his breath he mutters, "Mad old cow." As he drives away, the image of rotting brains haunts him.

Back in her room, Dejerine is comforted by the nurse, whom she recognizes.

"It's okay. He's gone now. He's gone," the nurse whispers in her ear.

Dejerine stops screaming and the tears roll down her cheek. "I was so scared! What did he want?"

"He just came to fix something. He's gone now." It is easier to lie than explain.

She settles, and turns back to the window. The nurse leaves, pleased to have calmed her before she disturbs another resident. Sometimes one resident's distress can trigger another's, and then another's, in a screaming domino effect.

Dejerine looks out at the dusky light. Her eyes see a shape move in the distance. The image on her retina is keen as a sas.h.i.+mi knife, but her disease reduces the crisp image to a cognitive blob drifting across her cortex. It could be a car leaving the grounds. Then the scene is still.

She rocks back and forward again, soothed by the abstract clouds that filter through to consciousness. She tries to remember why she is impatient in this purgatory. She is bathing in the Lethe and her memory is slowly was.h.i.+ng away in its waters. She feels cleaner every day.

As the sky darkens and the stars appear, she recalls what it is she so desperately awaits: The fall of night.

China has a venerable tradition of oxymorons, from the People's Liberation Army to the Shanghai Children's Welfare Inst.i.tute; the latter is responsible for orphans and disabled children. The Inst.i.tute "cares" for many children, mostly girls. The orphanages are tough for all their wards, but those who are ill or require exceptional care - and sometimes those who are naughty or "just not good looking" - are marked for jiudi jiejue, or "Summary Resolution," a new entry in the Thesaurus of Euphemisms.

The existence of the Dying Rooms is denied by China, but their practices are doc.u.mented by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch/Asia.

Thanks to One World Online for their excellent web resource. You can find them at http://www.oneworld.org for superb coverage of international issues with a human rights angle.

Brian Woods, the journalist who covered the story, helped set up The Dying Rooms Trust, 68 Thames Road, London W4 3RE, United Kingdom.

Amnesty International can be found on the web at http://www.amnesty.org.

Human Rights Watch can be contacted at 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6104, USA.