Lance thought for a moment, surely, she would have remembered him too. Maybe that’s why she took such good care of him. However, he also couldn’t shake the memory of the lion he saw; it had the same blue eyes. Lance was sure of it. Nevertheless, it all seemed so impossible. What was she? Lance had to know. He got up off the bed as Nurse Olivette came in.
“Wetin yu de du? (What are you doing?)Yu mus res naw,” she sighed, shaking her head to scold him, promptly guiding him back to bed.
“I need to see Leonessa. I mean Dr. Kamara, please, is she still here?”
“Non, she gone, she only cum in won day a wek to wok. She tell mi to keep mi eyes on yu.”
“What? Wait, how do I get in touch with her? Does she live in town? Does she have a cell phone?” He pleaded.
“Non, she don liv in Friton, her village is far away, no fons or cell fons. She is a boodiful uman, but she getin marred soon, so get tose toughts out of yu head!” Olivette laughed as she patted Lance on the shoulder.
“It’s not like that…aw hell I don’t know, maybe it is, but it’s important that I find her. What day will she come back next week?” He touched her arm gently, hoping she would understand his situation. Olivette sighed and shook her head.
“OK, she cum evri Thursday. Naw, yu go back to bed, cum tumara yu ken go back to yu hotel, OK?”
“Tenki,” Lance smiled at the nurse as she set about bringing him some fresh water to drink. He would find Leonessa he had to.
Olivette smiled to herself as she filled his cup with water. All men seemed to go crazy around Leonessa, but she never paid them any attention and was quick to put them in their place. She admired Leonessa, but this man seemed different somehow. Leonessa had left her instructions about taking “extra care” of Mr. Harrold. So what was the relationship between them?
She shrugged it off as she attended the betrothal ceremony of Leonessa and Leonis only a few months ago and thought they made a handsome couple, but then she remembered the sadness in Leonessa’s eyes. Leonis had been very proud that day and when he looked at Leonessa, it wasn’t a look of love or admiration, but a look of apathy and indifference. Mr. Harrold, whose eyes held sincere adoration for Leonessa, was different and Leonessa had looked very happy indeed, before she left the hospital. Olivette knew intuitively that Mr. Harrold was not just another grateful patient, there was more but she couldn’t quite understand what it was. However, Mr. Harrold is a white man and human, would he marry Leonessa, or would she be a fling to pass the time while he was here? Olivette knew he was not from this country, so if he did marry her, would he take her away from her people who needed her? In either case, it was not her place to say, if the marriage arrangement between Leonis and Leonessa were broken, it could mean trouble, not just for Leonessa, but for her family and village as well.
