we hadn't seen noz jr. in over a week. last we heard he was in the hospital. it was very frustrating.
then today, we finally were told we'd be allowed to visit him in the hospital. but first we had to go to the orphanage to pick up the doctor. it was only with the orphanage's doctor that we would be allowed into the hospital to see him.
so off we went, me and mrs. noz, the doctor, our translator and the driver, from the orphanage to the hospital. we parked in an alley behind the facility and the doctor went in first. "we must wait" said the translator.
so we waited. mrs. noz asked the translator to give us the name of the hospital. all week we had been trying to find out where noz jr. was without success. "it is a children's hospital, i do not know the name" said the translator. "it's 'CHOT'", i said to mrs. noz, trying to be helpful.
then the driver made a noise like he saw something in his rear view mirror. i turned around and saw the doctor running, literally running, towards the car with a bundle in her arms. she opened the back door of the car, threw noz jr. into my lap, jumped in the front seat and told the driver to go. we sped back to the orphanage. i whispered to mrs. noz, "this feels like a baby-napping."
in fact, the baby was not napping. he was looking at me and mrs. noz, as confused as we were.
when we arrived at the orphanage, i got out of the car, baby still in my arms. "quickly into the baby house" said the translator, further reinforcing the baby-napping vibe of the moment. i ran inside as instructed.
mrs. noz later pointed out that the doctor was probably running from the hospital and the translator probably urged me to hurry inside when we reached the orphanage because it was freezing cold outside. noz jr. had just gotten over pneumonia and even when he was well, the locals seem to have a crazy obsession with keeping him warm1
so yeah, that's probably what was going on. but it's a much better story if you go with the baby-napping angle.
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1- in our first meeting he was wearing multiple layers of warm winter clothes and was wrapped in a blanket. this was in a room that was so hot i had to strip down to a t-shirt to be comfortable. the boy was obviously sweating, but they kept telling us to throw another blanket on to keep him from being cold.
