If Things Had Been Different Ch. 03

Sarah watched in horror as Julie's eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed on the floor in front of Sarah. "Julie... Julie... please wake up," Sarah cried cradling Julie's head before screaming at the top of her voice "SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE."

*****

Two hours later Sarah sat by Julie's bedside listening to the machine's making their steady beeping sound as numbers and lines rolled across the screen. The doctor in attendance, a pleasant looking young man, came in with a clip board and looked at Sarah and said, "There are a few questions I need to ask you about your friend."

"Yes," stammered Sarah.

"We have had the preliminary blood results and they are a little strange. Has she recently been to Africa?" He asked.

"Ummm I don't know." Sarah replied.

"Where is her husband?" The doctor asked.

"She isn't married," Sarah replied.

"Really?" Said the doctor looking disapproving. "her boyfriend then."

"Doctor, she doesn't have one, she is a lesbian." Sarah blushed as she replied.

"Really? Of course she is, well let's start with an easy question, what's her full name?" He asked and looked a bit perplexed at Sarah's lack of immediate response.

"I don't know," Sarah said quietly almost in tears.

"Her date of birth." The doctor continued firmly.

"I don't know," Sarah said a tear splashing on the tiled floor, "I just know I love her."

"You don't know her full name, her date of birth, yet you claim to be her best friend," the doctor said with a frown on his face as he left the room to speak with security about this strange woman.

A thought hit Sarah as she knew Julie would never have left the hotel without her passport so she must have hidden them somewhere and started to feel the lining of the coat carefully until she felt the outline of something passport shaped. Careful examination revealed a concealed Velcro pocket in the lining and as Sarah pulled the package free, not one but three passports clattered to the floor.

*****

An hour later Sarah stood in front of an officious man at the British Embassy as she explained the story of her friend and the passports. The man looked at each of the passports, carefully feeding the details into a machine in front of him, before asking Sarah to take a seat, as he went to walk away he asked casually , "so where is your Julie friend now?"

Sarah blurted out, "CityMD, 944 2nd Ave,". The man nodded and left requesting Sarah wait there.

Two hours later Sarah went to the desk and asked again what was happening. "With what Madam?" A different man said with a stone face.

"My friend with three passports in City MD, the one who collapsed," cursing thinking that the British were supposed to be good at admin.

The man looked at her with his poker face as he said, "Madam must be mistaken British citizens only hold one passport, so clearly your friend could not have had three."

A cold fear gripped Sarah's heart as she ran outside and sprinted the few blocks to the hospital, taking the stairs two at a time until she came to Julie's room., her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Flinging open the door she stared at the empty bed and crumpled to floor sobbing.

One of the nurses who had seen Sarah at Julie's bedside stopped and put her arm round Sarah, "Some nice British men took your friend away about two hours ago. The doctor was most upset saying that in her condition she should see an Obstetrician before being released, but they were very firm."

"A what?" said Sarah as the word obstetrician slowly permeated her brain.