CHAPTER 5

'That's great. Congrats." 'Thanks mom. Is Zenia home from school yet?" Zenia was my younger sister and my best friend. She attended a community college since I couldn't afford to put her through an Ivy League college and still paid the bills and put groceries on the table and took care of mom. It wasn't a burden to me but at times we did not had enough, especially when mom's lungs started acting up. I was still paying the medical bills from the last treatments. I went to my bedroom and sat down on the bed, exhausted and hungry. I had walked all the way home from work to budget on cab fares however, I was so grateful because Hollen Tower was approximately one mile away from my home. I changed from my working attires and went to the kitchen to get dinner started. I was going to make lasagna, potato salad, green vegetables and rice with red beans in it. Zenia walked through the front door. 'Hi mommy," I heard her voice greeting our mother. 'Hey baby. How was school?" 'It was all good. I have an assignment I need to complete. Is Jassy home yet?" 'In here!" I called to her. 'Hi sis," she said to me as she came up and hugged me from behind. 'What you're cooking already smells delicious. I'll get change and come back to help you." 'Don't you have an assignment to do?" 'Yeah but I already completed most of it with my free periods. I took your advice." 'Always advance when you can," we both said together with a laugh. Zenia was twenty years old, four years younger than myself. It was easy to tell that we were sisters because she looked like me. We possessed the long black 4a type hair, dark brown eyes with naturally long lashes, fallow brown complexion or a chocolate complexion as some people may say. Our mother was African American but she told us that our father was from Mexico. That bastard. When dinner was finished, I set the table and Zenia poured us some drinks. We sat down around the three seater dinner table and started eating. 'Mommy, how are you feeling?" Zenia asked her. Mom looked pale and flushed like she hadn't been eating properly. 'I'm fine," she replied in very low whisper. 'You don't look fine," I said, studying her. Sweat was pouring down her face and she made attemps to dry it off with a kitchen towel. 'Zenia, Call 911." 'No! I'm fine. I don't want to go to a hospital again. I'm fine. It's just hot in here, that's all. Lets eat," she briskly responded and dismissed the concerns from us. Zenia got up, closed in the windows and doors and turned on the air condition units. 'That's better mom?" she asked her. 'Thank you sweetheart." We ate in an awkward silence after that, Zenia and I glancing ever so often at her. There had been occurrences where she fainted in front of us and that always scared the shit out of me. We finished dinner and I went to do the dishes while Zenia went to her room to complete her assignment. Mom went back to the couch and watched television, one of her favourite shows, Fred. G. Sanford. I heard her laughing and it made me smiled to myself. After the dishes, I was completely drained. I went and sat down next to my mother on the couch and watched the television with her. The comedy was almost over when suddenly she started gasping for oxygen and holding her throat as if something got caught in it. 'Mom! MOM!" I yelled. She rolled off the couch and fell onto the floor with a crash. I retrieved my phone from my pocket and dialled the emergency number and related the situation to the dispatcher. 'An ambulance is on its way ma'am," he assured me. 'Please hurry. She's not moving. She's... not.... breathing....!" 'Can you administer CPR?" he asked. Zenia appeared and began screaming with fright. 'Mom! Please not again!" 'Zen, she'll be okay. She always pulls through. She'll pull through this one again. She'll be ...alright," I said to my little sister with my voice already breaking. 'Ma'am?" the dispatcher's voice came again. 'Yes I'm here," I answered with tears streaming down my face like rain on a rooftop. I hated seeing my mother like this, looking like she was close to her grave. I pushed Zenia aside and got to work. I Placed the heel of my hand on the centre of my mother's chest, then placed the other hand on top and pressed down by five - six cm at a steady rate of one hundred to one hundred and twenty compressions per minute. After every 30 chest compressions, I gave two rescue breaths. I tilted her head gently and lift her chin up with two fingers. Then I pinched her nose and sealed my mouth over hers and blew steadily and firmly into her mouth for about one second. I looked at her chest and it rose. I gave another two rescue breaths and another cycle of chest compressions and two more rescue breaths until the emergency help arrived. I pulled Zenia into my arms and comforted her as we looked on. They placed an oxygen mask on mom's face which was connected to an air cylinder. This was going to put air to her lungs until she'd manage to fully breathe on her own again. They placed her on a stretcher and carried her out to the back of the ambulance. We went with her.