Child of All Nations by Pramoedya Ananta Toer Read Free Book Online Page A

her guardianship, only one or two years.
    Only twice she groaned; then she gave voice no more.
    This storm receded about four hours later. It was then that Madame Annelies started to soil her bed. The nurse only rarely attended to her now. Forgive me, Minke, that I had to care for your wife in such a situation. Christ was leading me in this work. May His love lighten her suffering.
    And that was the situation as we entered the Channel. I prayed even more, because that was all I could do, pray and pray. If the hearts and minds of men can accomplish no more, is it not to God that we then call out?
    I had such high hopes when the ship entered the ‘t Ij Canal. I whispered to her:
    “Mevrouw, we have arrived in the Netherlands, the land of your own ancestors. Awaken now. We will not be tormented by the sea any longer. You can laugh and smile now! Face these new things with courage and in health.”
    She still didn’t speak, just lay there, rolled over on the bed.
    “Mevrouw, we’ve arrived in the Netherlands.”
    Ya Allah! Mama, Minke, she opened her eyes. Her hand moved; she seemed to be looking for my hand.
    “Jan Dapperste is here,” I said to her.
    “Jan,” she called out weakly for the first time.
    “Mevrouw, Jan is here.”
    Without looking at me, she said weakly: “Be a friend to my husband.”
    “Of course. He is following on the next ship. You must get well quickly, Mevrouw.”
    She didn’t speak again.
    Then the captain came into the cabin with the nurse. He
thanked me and requested me to leave Madame Annelies. I hesitated but I had no choice; it was an order.
    All the passengers were ordered to assemble so that their identity papers could be examined, as well as, for those who weren’t Netherlands Indies subjects, their health cards and passports. Because I had been in the cabin all this time, I didn’t know where these officials had boarded. There were also Marechausee among them.
    After the inspection I hurriedly found my suitcase and then took up a position where I could keep an eye on the cabin. Two dock workers stood outside. Without my realizing it, the ship had already docked. A policeman then passed me, accompanied by an old woman dressed all in black. They too were headed towards Annelies’s cabin.
    Perhaps that was Mrs. Amelia Mellema-Hammers?
    Then I heard them talking as they walked past me, frowning seriously: “Why has no one from the Mellema family come to meet her?”
    “It’s enough that I am here with that letter of authority I showed you,” answered the old woman, who, it now turned out, was not Madame Annelies’s guardian.
    “She is seriously ill. You will not be able to take her. She must go straight into a hospital.”
    “A contagious disease?”
    “No!”
    “I will take care of it all in the proper manner.”
    They headed for the cabin where I had spent so much time lately. They ordered the dockers to enter the cabin too. Not long afterwards, Annelies was carried out on a stretcher, accompanied by the nurse, Marechausee, the policeman, and the old woman in her black clothes. I trailed behind them as they disembarked.
    It was drizzling rain and the cold made its way into my bones.
    Seeing me, the nurse said: “You don’t have to follow us.”
    “I only want to know which hospital she’s being taken to. I would like to visit her.”
    “This lady,” she spoke again and pointed to the old woman—“will take her straight to Huizen.”
    “If that’s the case, then let me help her.”
    “I won’t be able to pay you anything,” said the old woman.
    “I hope for no payment, Mevrouw,” I answered.
    “I have no money to pay for your train fare,” she said.
    “I will pay for it myself. You don’t need to worry.”
    “I have no money for food for you either,” she said.
    “I will buy my own food.”
    “You can buy your food from me.”
    “Good.”
    “Very well. Then let’s go.”
    We left for the train station in a horse carriage. The old woman got down and