My little brother came to my life when I was three years old. I was so excited to become a big sister and meet my first baby brother, but when he was born, I was told that I couldn’t visit him right away.
“Your brother was born with a heart disease and needed a heart operation right away.”
My grandmother explained to me. Some days later, my mother came back home. When I asked her where was my baby brother, she told me that he was in the ICU.
“ICU?”
It was the first time I heard of this term. From that day, every evening, I visited the hospital with my mother – to meet my brother in the ICU. But I was too young to be allowed in the ICU, so I always waited in the waiting room while my parents met my brother.
Since I was on my own during this time, I needed something to play with. There were always two items that I brought to the hospital with me. One was a Mickey Mouse plush and the other was a collection of plastic toy fruits. Both were something my father had earlier bought for me at a kiosk in the hospital.
Every evening, after taking bath, I would collect the toy fruits in my green raincoat bag and pick up my Mickey Mouse plush before my mother grabbed my hand and left home for the hospital.
In the waiting room, I would sit next to my Mickey Mouse plush and open the green raincoat bag to take out the toy fruits to play with them. There were a few young ladies also sitting in the waiting room. They looked kind and always spoke to me with a smile, but I wasn’t a type of child who would easily talk to a stranger. However, once my toy fruits spilled on the floor, and they helped me to pick them up. After that, I started to smile and interact with them more friendly.
I don’t remember how long this ritual continued before my brother was finally allowed to go back home, but it lasted long enough to constitute an era in my memory. And Whenever I think back on that time, I always picture the toy fruits in my green raincoat bag and the Mickey Mouse plush in my arm.