Sunday March 13

Sunday March 13

I was resting comfortably in that netherworld between sleep and awake when my phone rang around 9 AM. It was Adamah who said that Auntie Jennie wanted to speak to me; she then got on the phone to ask if I was up and about. I said of course, and she asked if I would come next door to the President's house as she wanted to speak to me. I got up, put in my contacts, and quickly dressed. I was ushered into the President's house, and upstairs when I met Madame and Auntie Jenny in the hallway so we all went into the dining room together where Adamah and Rob were waiting. Apparently the President was out with people yesterday, and one of the young men she spoke with was later assaulted and stabbed; he was brought to JFK and observed overnight. His hemoglobin was 8.6 and apparently there was some concern that he had lost enough blood to need a transfusion. Dr. Moses had seen him and said that he could be discharged, but apparently someone was worried about that, and by means unknown, had contacted Auntie Jennie, and now the President was concerned. So she wanted to know if I would be willing to go to JFK to provide another surgical opinion, and of course I said yes. Adamah asked if I wanted to bring anyone with me, and I thought that in case it was serious, it would be good to have Santiago along. So he was roused from bed by Dewalt since he wouldn't answer his phone, and soon he was at the table eating breakfast with us.

The President decided she wanted to go to JFK to see this man and his family also on her way to church. So before long, we went downstairs and I was told to ride in the Presidential limousine with herself; Santiago rode in the Secret Service vehicle ahead, with 3 M-16s on the seat next to him. We proceeded the short distance to JFK, and were met by the CMO Dr. Johnson, and then went through the hospital to the Trauma ER where we found the patient. He had a small laceration on his right shoulder, and a superficial laceration of his left upper abdominal wall; he was stable, talking, and in no distress. I assured the President that he was fine. The patient's mother was then brought in, and she talked for several minutes about what had happened to her son, and the fact that she couldn't donate blood last night when he came in because she had been drinking beer, and a whole lot more which I couldn't understand. I was quite astonished that this woman was yammering on so much to the President, but Madame took it all in stride and only commented at the end on how important it was to reduce violence among young people. We all then went outside, where the President said that we should not go back to JFK today, but rather we should take the day off and go to the beach ! She then left for church and we came back here.

In the afternoon we went to RLJ as instructed by the President ! My sister-in-law's friend Sondra Tyler was arriving with her group to stay at RLJ for a few days, so I left a note for her at the desk and also spoke to one of the people from the host organization, but I haven't heard back yet.

We left the beach around 6:30 to go back to the Guest House. Later we went for dinner at Sajj, and then home to get to bed early, at least compared to our last couple of nights.