The little girl who followed me

I am usually in the wards by 7.30am to join the medical officers (MOs) on the ward rounds with the housemen before the ward rounds with the consultants. As we near the bed of a young 12-year-old Malay girl, we could hear her chatty voice. She’s a friendly little girl. As she was being examined by the doctor, we noticed a Chinese entertainment magazine at the foot of her bed.

Brown Sugar Macchiato

Doctor: *with a smile* I seldom see little Malay girls reading Chinese mags.

Gutsy girl: I buy this issue because I like to watch Brown Sugar Macchiato (a Taiwanese television drama series). I like this one. *she points to one of the pretty boys on the cover*

Doctor: What about this doctor? *the specialist points his finger at me*

Gutsy girl: *laughs shyly*

Little Dove: *blush*

As we went off to other beds continuing the ward rounds, Gutsy Girl followed the ward rounds, like she was one of the medical doctors. She started singing a Chinese song loudly.

Staff Nurse with Cleopatra haircut: Shhh Gutsy Girl, doctors are doing ward rounds. You can sing after they finish.
Gutsy Girl: la la la la *continues singing like nobody’s business*

I thought she had a nice voice and her Mandarin pronunciation was excellent for a Malay. Maybe even better than mine!

I was standing behind the doctors and busy paying attention to their plan of management for each patient. From the other end of the ward, this little girl ran up to me and started to read my name tag in detail.

Gutsy Girl: Where are you from?
Little Dove: From a faraway land.

Then she read my name aloud and started singing my name.

When the ward round was over, I went about minding my own business in the ward. As I was about to talk to one patient, from the corner of my eye, I noticed Gutsy Girl peeking at me. She was busy following me from cubicle to cubicle as stealthily as she can, pretending she was visiting patients in other beds. But she was so noticeable as she was loud when she spoke and sang her way around the ward.

A little girl who paid a little extra attention to little old me after the medical officer incident a few months back.

But she's discharging from the ward tomorrow! Haha. Relief.