He Let Our Daughter Die for Twenty-Three Dollars novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Are You Safe to Go Home

By eight in the morning my daughter had a tube in her nose and a clip on her foot.

She lay in a clear box under a heater, with wires on her chest, and her ribs showed with every breath.

I had not been allowed to hold her yet.

At eight-thirty the doctor called us into a small room with a table and a box of tissues.

The charge nurse came in behind him and closed the door.

Sheldon sat down across from me and crossed one ankle over his knee.

"She has aspiration pneumonia," the doctor said. "She breathed the feeding into her lungs. She's on oxygen and antibiotics, and she'll be here at least ten days."

"Ten days," Sheldon said. "That's expensive."

The doctor looked at him for a long moment.

"She's also lost weight since she left us three days ago. A baby her size should have gained."

"Children vary," Sheldon said.

"Not by that much on the right formula." The doctor opened the chart. "I'm writing an order today for fortified preemie formula. It's a medical requirement, not a preference."

"Of course," Sheldon said. "We'll buy it."

"Mr. Eccleston, I'll be honest with you. Your wife told the paramedics, and me, that she has had no money for the formula."

"My wife exaggerates."

I reached into my cardigan pocket.

I had kept the slip folded in a square since Monday, and I put it flat on the table.

The ink said $23.50.

"That's what I drew from the silver bowl on the first," I said. "That's all I had for the month."

The charge nurse leaned forward and read it.

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