Chapter Two
NURSE ELAINE
Fri. July 8th
Bonjour Meme,
I've become a temporary nurse, not that I want to be; but now that I am, I don't like the responsibility of life and death. Meme, let me start from the beginning by telling you about my early morning trip to Sea Lion Bay.
I felt sick, not in my stomach, but in my nerves. I even stopped, meme; hoping, no, praying that God would watch over me, if I continued His mission. I blindly, with nothing but faith, and maybe a little hope, hoping that my work would matter, continued on.
I don't know why I labored, pushing the wheelbarrow with us, to collect driftwood. But hindsight is always 20/20 and unforgivable; however, as everything went, we didn't need the wheelbarrow. Anyhow, I thought I'd give Me' Loss a ride in the contraption on the way down, but it didn't last long before she jumped to more stable ground.
Meme, I cautiously continued towards the lump in the sand. I pushed the cart up to the motionless lump, it didn't move; I realized it was the sea lion pup. I panicked and looked around for the pup's mother; but the pup was dead. There was no mother around.
And when I put it in the cart, to move it and bury it, it moved. It wasn't dead, it was sick. I looked around, scared because I wasn't sure. But I'm pretty sure it was left to die. Perhaps because I picked it up earlier, perhaps because I touched it? Pappy said it was a myth, about touching animals, but where is its mother?
Meme, I know maybe I shouldn't have, but I picked it up and began to walk back with the pup in my hands; but I ended up panicking and running the rest of the way home.
I have the pup in a wooden crate next to the door, away from the wood stove, and with an old blanket bumper wrapped inside the box. I can't get her to take in any of the powdered milk I reconstituted. So, I've been keeping her hydrated by applying a wet sponge to her body and keeping her lips moist the best I can. I'm not sure if she's really a girl, but I like to think of her as my baby girl.
I'm afraid my nursing isn't helping.
Meme, pray for us. Sleep well.