Page 63 of The Moon Sister
‘I will go and tend to him. You two get off down to the forge.’
María went into the boys’ sleeping quarters to find Felipe was burning up. Hurriedly, she went to her herb cupboard and mixed together an infusion of dried willow bark, meadowsweet and feverfew, then cupped Felipe’s head and spooned the liquid between his lips. He vomited it up a few seconds later. She sat with him all day, using a damp cloth to cool his fever, and dribbling water into his mouth, yet still the fever did not abate.
By sunset, María could hear that Felipe was struggling to breathe, his chest heaving with the effort.
‘María, is Felipe sick? I heard his coughing through the walls,’ came a voice from the kitchen. María peered around the curtain to find Ramón holding two oranges.
‘Yes, Ramón, Felipe is very sick.’
‘Maybe these will make him better?’ He indicated the fruit.
‘Gracias, but I think it will take more than that. I should fetch Micaela and have her come out to give him a potion, but I dare not leave him and the boys are not yet home from work.’ María shook her head. ‘Dios mío, I think his condition is very serious.’
‘Do not worry, I will go and get Micaela.’
Before she could stop him, Ramón had disappeared from the kitchen.
Micaela arrived half an hour later, her face a mask of concern.
‘Leave me with him, María,’ she ordered. ‘There is only enough air in here for two of us.’
María did as she was told and tried to concentrate on putting together a thin soup of potatoes and a carrot for her other sons.
Micaela came into the kitchen looking grave.
‘What is wrong with him?’
‘Felipe has a disease of the lungs. He must have caught it in the dampness of those cells, for it is well advanced. Bring him out here into the kitchen where there is more air.’
‘Will he recover?’
Micaela did not answer. ‘Here, try to get some poppy tincture down him. At least it will aid his sleep. If he is not improved by morning, you must consider taking him to apayohospital in the city. His lungs are filling with water and they need to be drained.’
‘Never! Nogitanoever comes out of that hospital alive! And look what thepayoshave already done to my poor boy.’
‘Then I suggest that you light a candle to the Virgin and pray. I am sorry,querida, but there is little more I can do.’ She clutched María’s hands in hers. ‘It has gone too far for my help.’
When Eduardo and Carlos returned from the forge, they carried Felipe through to the kitchen and laid him on his pallet. María shuddered as she saw his pillow was spotted with the blood he had been coughing up. She took a cleaner pillow from her own bed and placed it gently under his head. He barely stirred.
‘His skin looks blue, Mamá,’ Carlos said nervously, looking at María for reassurance. She had none to give.
‘Shall I run down and fetch our grandparents?’ Eduardo asked her. ‘They may know what to do.’ He paced up and down as his brother lay on the floor, struggling for breath.
‘I wish Papá was here,’ Carlos added poignantly.
María shooed them outside then knelt next to Felipe.
‘Mamá is here,mi querido,’ she whispered as she bathed his forehead. Shortly after, she called for her boys to bring sacks of straw from the stable to prop their brother up and aid his breathing.
As the night wore on, Felipe’s breathing became increasingly ragged; it seemed he did not have the strength left even to cough and clear his lungs temporarily. Standing up, she walked outside to where her other two sons were smoking nervously.
‘Eduardo, Carlos, go and fetch your grandparents. They must come now.’
Understanding what she meant, their eyes filled with tears. ‘Yes, Mamá.’
She handed them an oil lamp to light their way so they could run as fast as they could, then crouched next to her Felipe.
His eyes fluttered open and focused on her. ‘Mamá, I’m frightened,’ he whispered.
