Death has a reputation for being unpredictable. We know we will get there but its when is unknowable. So when there is the beginning of a response, when the course of things gives us the deliberate possibility of inflicting it on someone, is it always the so-called death? In the end, do we choose to die or not? And so, what role does Salim have in this? Will he be the murderer and the parent of his daughter? Or will he be her deliverance? The theme is death but what is the right question?
For his mother, maybe because he was still a bad guy, or for some other reason, he had already come to terms with the idea that she would die. For Reina, he saw her born and grow and perhaps as she was his daily challenge, her existence had taken a turn that was not fatalistic, but purely human. If your daughter is born, she will die one day, and that is not important. That was his vision. But when it happens like that, then fate is an option again and with all the faith in the world or not, you're in pain.
He will have to get his daughter killed and he wants to know if it is criminal or not, and if it is right on the part of the creative force to impose on a father to kill his daughter. When he thinks about, he feels like Abraham when God asked him to kill his son. It's part of Salim's innocence to never judge other thoughts and cultures than his own, but even when he thinks about it, he doesn't necessarily think it's stupid to let his son be killed for a god if he really exists. but he said to himself all the same that it would be from his point of view unworthy of this god. So he remembers that this was Abraham's test and it was never really intended to let him kill his son, only to test him. So, what if he too was being tested?
Curious or even hoping, Salim goes to the nearest library he saw on his phone and rushes there. He went to the religion section and looked for a Bible which he rented and went home. It was 10 a.m. when he started reading and noticed 11 p.m. when the fatigue was feeling a little too much. He decides to return to the part that interests him:
Genesis 22:1-14 The Sacrifice of Isaac: After these events, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, "Abraham!" He replied: "Here I am!"; What a fervent Abraham was! thinks Salim, he loves the character. "Take your only son, your only son, the one you love, Isaac, go to the land of Moriah, and there you will offer him as a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you." Salim read the Bible as if God were speaking to him. But he was not like Abraham who got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey and accompanied by his two men and Isaac set off for the mountain.
Salim wonders when Isaac asked where the beast was, if Reina finally wanted to live. She never mentioned it and he never asked. In the end, no one knows what the main concerned herself wants. But in the state, they can only wish for best.
Salim closes the book and resolves that Reina is in terrible pain right now, so the ordeal should not be prolonged. He is resolved, he will. He first calls Frida, then Lisa, Myriam, Halima's mother and informs them: tomorrow morning Reina will be unplugged.
Myriam thanked him for informing her, Lisa hung up after a long silence, Halima's mother was sorry for him and wished him good luck. Frida arrives home.
*
Salim, strangely calmed down, he feels firmly resolved. There are no more unanswered questions, just the will to give Reina rest. So there, he leaves to shower and takes a soda. He sits in the dark and reminisces about his whole life. He is no longer so calm, and the questions come back. Only one is bigger than the others: "what will I become?"
He is about to explode when he hears the front door being opened, it must be Frida. He wipes his tears. She comes in and stands there; they look at each other. She looks exhausted.
" How are you feeling?" she has a forced smile
" And you?"
"Don't drink anything sweet at night at this time. she comes, takes the can from him, puts it down and sits down next to him. "So you've made up your mind, do you agree?"
"How unfair it would be not to do so"
" Yes, it's true." she wipes herself with a handkerchief. Frida wants to ask if she's welcome but seeing who Salim is, it's asking who would be most vexing to him. So she wonders how to be there for him. "It was a great birthday. And I just thought there was some cake left." She goes to the kitchen and comes with two slices.
"It's been in the fridge for two weeks but it should be edible I think." She pretends to be playful, she puts the share in his hands; he does not refuse it and holds it mechanically.
"It's still delicious. It is because Reina was there that this cake arrived, and we eat it even if she is not with us, but each bite reminds me of her, she is there, Salim."
Salim understands his friend's effort but does not respond.
"Coconut is very atypical in taste; it is strong and light at the same time. I can't get rid of it, you should taste it she loved it. When I left with Lisa and her in Cotonou, she was only drinking coconut water. She loved it so much that she hid it in my suitcase." She is nostalgic and her voice begins to stir. "We were stopped at customs at the airport, I had no idea where these nuts came from; Finally, the idea was not long in coming." She laughs but her eyes get a little watery. "I explained to the customs officers somehow that I did not know that it was forbidden to bring them while she listened to us, looking guilty in the distance. In the end they just asked us to get rid of them or drink them on the spot. Thing she, Lisa and I did. It was special to drink coconut water in front of customs officers. But that's one of the anecdotes at Reina's style that we were able to experience together. You left your daughter, your only daughter with us. You trust me so much, like I was your wife or like she was my daughter… like… Reina was my daughter. " She's crying.
Her cries were silent at first and then become more and more audible. She cries "why does she have to leave?" Salim comes down and takes her in his arms. At this moment, he doesn't know why, all his energy is directed towards Frida. He says and does nothing more than hold her in his arms. And when she says "Why can't she live? Why can't she live? As a fake mother why can't I support my daughter?"; and now God appears to Salim and he remembers when he once heard someone very important say "I want to make alive!" A power he had forgotten he possessed. He gives thanks to Frida and he also cries "She will live. Reina will live. I want Reina to live! May my daughter live!" That's when the power kicks in and Salim's blood boils inside him and his ring finger hurts terribly. He feels all his blood sprinting from the heart to the ring finger which hurts excruciatingly. But in these states, he does not let himself be taken by the pain and just holds Frida.
Salim's wish "I want my daughter to live" had been pronounced! Power then could be realized.
*
The next morning Salim is at the Hospital at 7am. Myriam went to find Halima and urged her to come. She told her that "it is our responsibility to opt for this choice. So even if it hurts, watch her leave in your presence and remember her until the end!" Halima remembered, and it's true that she was always the one who feared Reina's departure the most. She's the only one who's ever mentioned it. "Reina, what will I do if you are gone?"; so Reina looked silly and said "it's not enough to be like me to not be here anymore, you know? Do what you will do for all the people who will no longer be there". She does not know how Reina saw herself, but it is a clue that the person concerned is already more capable than her. So she let go.
The papers were signed at 9 a.m., all were dressed in gowns and masks. The doctor and nurses are waiting for them. Halima came last. Reina is in the vat filled with particles of her body cracking and breaking. She looks like a soft bread person seen like that and if the machine didn't show her heart beating, nothing would make you think of a human of flesh and bones. The doctor asks if everyone is here to be sure.
Salim replies yes but Antoine has not returned since. No one tried to call him. Lisa just left him a message last night. "Reina will be disconnected tomorrow at 9:36. " he did not answer.
The doctor asks "did she have any vows, any religious obligations?"
No one answers right away. "I don't know, I'm not religious but her mum was Muslim and she seemed more of that side so I think going that route would suit her."
" OK."
Lisa tries to remember but knows she didn't see Reina's message on her note. Only Antoine read it and kept it. She resigns herself to thinking that Reina has had everything she wanted to have. But no one, absolutely no one knows whether she wants to live or not.
Salim wants to hold his hand but it's impossible, his hand will evaporate if he does that.
So everyone is silent. " I go!" The doctor initiates the procedure. The nurses speak in medical jargon and almost no one except Frida understands everything. Then a single button is pressed and they step back and come to stand near the family.
The machine no longer oxygenates Reina. The electrocardiogram constantly decreases the number of beats. It lasted five minutes. The five most inexplicable minutes. The first phase, the first two minutes were calm, at this moment you start to dwell on things, and you only see the patient as a memory, then the next minute you start to see the inert body, it is the corpse in front of you. Then the last two were the hardest. Halima went to sit down. Myriam is crying, Frida is crying into her hands. And Salim, Salim, poor Salim from how he feels. But during the last 30 seconds, they had in common the only wish "if only you could survive." and when there were only a few last beats left, the agony of death seizes them and it is this fear, mixed with this sadness, this anger that grips the guts, the heart.
00 beats. Reina is with the creative force.
A few last seconds of tribute and the staff will complete the operation. They go out and leave the bereaved family. Salim relives the third hardest bereavement of his life. Before leaving, the doctor stops in front of him and declares "all my condolences!" Before leaving. Salim remembers when before pressing the button he heard the doctor say "In the name of Allah the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful: to Allah we are, to Allah we return!" and when he closes his eyes he remembers his prayer the day before and the pain in his ring finger that he thinks he feels coming back. He thinks it's delirium but the pain is real and he doesn't hear the girls screaming in amazement, he doesn't hear the machine starting to turn again. He doesn't feel the doctors rushing him, rushing towards his daughter. But a "she's got beats, she's got beats" comes to his ears and he doesn't immediately realize what's going on. He sees the doctors around the tank, he sees the beats rising slightly, but he doesn't want to believe it. The doctors push them out and close behind them. The pain in his ring finger is distressing but he doesn't give it a second thought.
The girls are crying in amazement, what's going on?
After the longest 30 minutes, the doctor comes out. All listening to him. He has a stern look as if to amuse himself with the expectation they have to hear him, then he smiles broadly at Salim.
"Salim." he is incredibly enthusiastic "I don't know how, but she breathes, she lives, your daughter: she lives. She survived death." he raises his hands.