The wedding ring

Ngatini Rasdi

Rani opened her office at exactly six in the morning, as usual, tidying the table, chairs and examination table.

But she was surprised to hear a woman's sobs from the waiting room, and she quickly opened the door to let the woman in.

The woman was holding a baby, only a few weeks old.

"How are you feeling, bu (Mrs)?" asked Rani.

"It's my baby that's sick, doctor. She's been feverish since yesterday afternoon and hasn't fed," said the woman, wiping away tears.

Rani examined the baby, who had a temperature.

"How old is she?" asked Rani again.

"Only five weeks."

Rani nodded, taking some medicine from her cabinet. "Give her this, but please bring her back if her fever persists, bu."

The woman nodded listlessly. She then took off a gold ring from her finger and put it on the desk.

"Sorry, doctor, I'm broke. Please accept my wedding ring as payment," she said, her voice halting and filled with shame as she got up to leave.

Rani hastily held her back. "Just a minute, bu. Please don't leave that behind."

The woman broke into sobs.

"Tell me about yourself," Rani said gently as she sat her down again. "Where is your husband?"

"My husband is a civil servant. But he ran away with another woman when I was five months pregnant."

"Do you know the other woman?"

"Yes, I do. She's a divorcee and quite well-off."

She related that she had worked in a factory before getting married, but now she helped out cleaning houses when people needed a temporary maid.

Rani took a deep breath, thinking of the woman's hardship.

"My husband is living with the woman because of the ban on polgygamy for government employees. He said she could help us financially, as a family."

Rani was saddened by the story. Single herself, she was used to married colleagues flirting with her, perhaps intent on a fling with her, because they could not take a second wife according to the regulations.

"I've got to go home, doctor," the woman said.

Rani saw her off outside. In the afternoon, though, the woman came again with her baby, whose condition was worsening.

Rani suspected dengue fever, telling the woman the baby had to be hospitalized.

"I can't afford the cost, doctor. This wedding ring is all I have," she said, her voice a whisper.

Rani waved her hands gently. She took her to the hospital, explaining on the way that her practice would cover the costs. But as the child was being treated, the woman vanished.

"This is for you, doctor," one of the nurses said later that night, handing over an envelope. "The mother left it for you."

Inside the envelope was the ring and a note.

I'm sorry, doctor. Please take care of my baby and accept my wedding ring. I must search for my husband. He must know about our sick child and the expenses. He must take responsibility for this.

Rani sighed deeply. She pocketed the letter and wedding ring weighing about two grams.

+++

Tired after her long day at the hospital, Rani came home and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels before she saw one of the late-night crime report shows.

Footage showed reporters crowded around a woman, the same one who had come to her office earlier that day with the baby.

"Why were you bold enough to kill them and in such a cruel way?"

"Who were the man and woman you killed?"

The woman smiled broadly, the defiant smile of triumph of a victor, not the shamed smirk someone accused of murder.

"The man was my husband and that was his mistress. I killed them because they had made me suffer, leaving me like a worthless animal!"

"Do you have any children?"

"I've got one, but she is sick, and in the care of a doctor right now."

Rani was shocked at the sight of the woman, taking the ring out of her pocket and putting it on her finger.

There it remained over the years. Rani brought the child home when she recovered, calling her Indah and raising her single- handedly after she heard the mother had been jailed.

Indah grew up to be clever and pretty, and Rani told everyone that she was her own.

One morning, as she opened her office, Rani found a woman sitting in the waiting room. The face was harder and older than she remembered, lines etched around her mouth and eyes, her skin sallow from years out of the sun.

But Rani could not forget that sloe-eye gaze.

"I've been released from jail, doctor," the woman said breathlessly, getting up from her seat and walking over to Rani.

"I'm not asking you to return my child and wedding ring. Please let me work for you as a maid, so I can be close to her. And please don't tell her that I'm her natural mother. I'm just pleased to see her live peacefully and happily with you."

Rani smiled at her, holding her hands in hers. But she was quiet for a moment, shocked at the woman's sudden reappearance.

"Wait here for a moment," she finally said, going into her examining room.

She quietly picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello, is this the police station? I wish to report an intruder," she whispered into the phone.

Translated by Aris Prawira