Chapter 48 Summary
On the first Sunday of every month, just after midnight, Marion calls Hema. It can be an expensive call because Almaz, Gebrew, and sometimes Matron want to talk first. They are no longer afraid their phone is being bugged—not since Hema delivered Comrade Mengistu’s child. Life in Marxist Ethiopia is difficult for most, but those who do favors for its leader—and particularly for his wife—are not forgotten. Missing faithfully receives its medicines and supplies without having to spend its precious money on bribes. As he dials, Marion thinks about his extended family, watching the clock and waiting for a call from a continent none of them have ever seen.
Almaz and Gebrew tell him they are praying for him. Matron is chatty and talks as if they were in the hospital hallway at Missing. When he talks to Hema, Marion is open about his time with Thomas Stone because he believes she can no longer feel threatened by him. When he tells her about the bookmark and what he did to the man’s apartment, Hema is silent. Marion can tell she knew nothing about Shiva’s having a copy of Stone’s textbook. Later, Matron will confirm that it was Hema who wanted every copy of the book removed or destroyed because she did not want the twins to see his work or even his picture.
When Marion tells Hema about his dinner with Thomas Stone and the message he delivered from Ghosh, her silence again says she did not know about Ghosh’s dying wish. When he tells her what Ghosh wanted Thomas to know, she cries; the message speaks more about Ghosh’s goodness than anything about Thomas Stone. He asks if she knew anything about the bookmark or a letter. She did not, and as Marion waits to talk to Shiva, he hears Matron answering no as well.
The telephone is not a comfortable instrument for Shiva, who says he knows nothing about a letter. As they talk, Marion learns the story of the textbook. Shiva got the book from Ghosh before he died; Ghosh took it from Thomas Stone’s quarters on the day the twins were born. Shiva had never seen a picture of their father before then, and Ghosh did not mention anything about a letter from their mother. Ghosh did not say why he wanted Shiva to have the book. When Shiva saw the reference to a letter on the bookmark, he did not go back and ask Ghosh anything about it because he thought that Ghosh would have given Shiva a letter if he had wanted to. Shiva gave Marion the book because he wanted him to have it. Marion is annoyed but Shiva is not. Either there is no letter or Ghosh destroyed it for reasons of his own; both are possible.
Marion does not expect small talk from his brother and is ready to hang up when Shiva asks how the operating theaters are at Our Lady. He wants to know all about the dimensions and the placement of objects in the room. After Marion answers all of his questions, Shiva asks when Marion is coming home. Marion wonders if this is an attempt at reconciliation. He explains he has four more years of residency but perhaps he can visit in a year—or maybe Shiva can come to America. When he is reassured that he will be able to see the operating rooms (not theaters), Shiva says he will be there and gives the phone back to Hema.
These phone calls are always depressing for Marion; just as he is transported back to his family...
(This entire section contains 1295 words.)
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and things that are familiar, he hangs up the phone and finds himself in his bare room in the Bronx. The next time he talks to Hema she tells him Shiva’s request for a visa has been held up, and they both know Shiva will lose interest soon anyway. Hema has checked with everyone else she can think of at Missing, and no one knows anything about a letter. Marion writes a note to Thomas Stone telling him the results of his search for the letter, but he does not hear back from him.
The next four years go by quickly for Marion. He sees Thomas Stone occasionally but only as a fellow surgeon, which is a more comfortable position for them both. He does three rotations in Boston, one of them with his father, and the work is challenging and engrossing. The one time Stone asks if he would like to have dinner, Marion says his work is too consuming and his father seems relieved. In 1986 Marion finishes his fifth year of training; he serves as Chief Surgeon in his final year. He stays at Our Lady and works with Deepak as he studies for his board examinations. Despite the time-consuming and grueling process, Marion admires the American system for training surgeons. There is little he has not done, and he feels competent to do any major surgery; more importantly, he is also confident about taking care of patients both before and after surgery.
This year Shiva becomes famous. Deepak shows Marion the article. His immediate response is bitterness as he remembers the pain of betrayal and even envy. Shiva’s hair is short and not as gray as Marion’s is, but he is still a mirror image of his brother. Marion did all the noble and right things and followed all the rules, but Shiva took the only girl Marion loved and spoiled her for him. And now he is famous. Some time must pass before Marion can read the article.
The Times reports that Shiva is the world’s expert and notable advocate for women with vaginal fistula. He is praised for his genius in developing a World Health Organization campaign to prevent the condition. There is a picture of the poster Shiva created called “Five Failings that Lead to Fistula,” and it depicts a dejected woman (could it be the Staff Probationer?) in the palm of a hand that Marion recognizes as Shiva’s. The poster, which lists the causes of the dreadful but preventable disease, has been distributed in Africa and Asia in forty languages. The article says women come to Missing however they can to see Shiva, often with handwritten notes that say things like “Fistula Hospital” or “Cutting for Stone.”
When Marion next talks to Hema, he sends his congratulations to Shiva but says she should have been given more credit. She deflects his praise by telling him it is Shiva who is single-minded about preventing, curing, and operating on this disease. The donations have been overwhelming, and Shiva has plans to build a v-shaped compound, with two wings converging into Operating Theater 3, the point of the v. As he reads the article again, Marion senses that the writer is struck with the man more than the mission. She quotes Shiva as saying that what he does is simple—he repairs holes. Marion is reminded that his brother makes them, too.
Marion’s success is quieter; he passes the written exam of the American Board of Surgery. He takes his oral examinations in Boston, and when he is finished he knows he has done well. Marion plans to take the shuttle back home, but he changes his mind when his Ethiopian taxi driver greets him in their language. He asks the driver if he will take him to the Queen of Sheba’s, and the taxi driver says it will be an honor to do so. The driver asks who he is and what he does. Marion proudly shakes the man’s hand and tells him his name is Stone and he is a surgeon.
