Ahmad, the Hero…

My colleague Majdi Nezal and I were on a visit at An-Najah National Hospital.
 Majdi Nezal, Abu Al-Nada, and I am Dr. Za’arour, Abu Al-Zghlal. We usually enter room by room. So we entered a room that had a child named Ahmad.

Ahmad was lying on the couch, holding a phone in his hand, watching, and his mother was standing next to him.  We tried to work with Ahmad, we did magic for him, bubbles, and we sang for Ahmad, and Ahmad refused to give us any attention.  We didn’t leave anything without trying it for Ahmad, and Ahmad stayed lying on the couch holding his phone. His mother, with regret, asked him to look at us and give us his attention. I told her: “No problem, let him be comfortable.”  And my colleague Majdi and I went to another room.There was a child named Mohammed.  His mother was with him.

 Mohammed was completely different ,anything we did with him, he laughed, and we laughed loudly. Ahmad’s mother from the other room came to listen and see why the child Mohammed was laughing.  Ahmad’s mother called us again so that we would come back and try again with Ahmad — maybe he would interact with us and give us his attention.

By coincidence, the doctor came with nurses.  She said to Ahmad’s mother: “Did Ahmad eat?”
 The mother answered with regret: “No, he refuses to eat, he’s refusing everything.”So the doctor told her: “Ahmad needs to eat. What do you prefer we bring him? An egg, labaneh, a cheese sandwich… but Ahmad must eat.” The mother replied with sadness that Ahmad loves watermelon. My colleague Majdi and I were listening to the conversation happening between the doctor and Ahmad’s mother. So spontaneously and simply, I said to the doctor, “What if I make Ahmad eat?”  She looked at me with a big smile, like “I wish… but impossible,” and she left. I told Ahmad, “I want to make a food competition between me Ahmad and, and whoever wins is the hero  and I’m sure I’m going to beat Ahmad.” Luckily, there were two meals available: one had a peeled egg, and the other had an unpeeled egg. Ahmad sat  that was the first excellent step. I went and sat next to Ahmad.  Ahmad stood up, next to me, so my colleague Majdi started cheering Ahmad on. I gave him the peeled egg, and I took the unpeeled egg, and the race started.Ahmad started eating the egg, and I was trying to peel mine, and he was ahead of me. I was trying to peel it while Ahmad was eating his egg.His mother looked at me with happiness, Ahmad was eating in front of her. Impossible.I brought him water; he drank water. Ahmad felt it was a challenge, he wanted to eat the egg and beat me.  Ahmad finished the egg, and I was still peeling mine.
 And I pretended like Ahmad shouldn’t beat me and he ate the entire egg.

It was an indescribable feeling that Ahmad defeated Dr. Za’arour Abu Al-Zghlal.  His mother was happy that Ahmad finally ate an egg. I was at the peak of my happiness: First, because Ahmad beat me and ate the egg;  Second, because Ahmad interacted with us and gave us attention after effort.  And third, because we managed to feed Ahmad the egg after it was impossible.I felt in his eyes the thrill of victory. Ahmad defeated me, and I accepted the loss with joy, the sweetest defeat I could ever have. Ahmad actually stood on his feet and walked in the corridor. He looked at me with a smile. After Ahmad, the hero ate the egg, got full, drank water, and won, he went to walk in the hospital hallway. We heard words from his mother that warmed our hearts, and happiness filled us. For me, this was pride, a great achievement.