The Visitors by Rebecca Mascull Page B

in, it couldn’t reach the back of the eyes. Your vision developed well as most of a baby’s preserve is seen closely, such as your mother’s face. But your myopia grew worse as you grew older. Then you developed cataracts in both eyes. These make your lenses cloud over. And you lost your vision completely. Both of your problems lie in your lenses, which help you to focus. I can give you an operation that will take the problem away. I can remove your lenses. This will remove the cataracts and change the way light reaches the back of your eye. Other parts of your eye will still be able to focus light for you. If the operation is a success, you will be able to see. You will be able to look at distances quite well. You will need spectacles for reading and close work. But you will be able to see for the first time. You should also understand that there are risks with any operation. You could have an infection afterwards, which could harm or even destroy your eyes. Or make you very ill. In the worst cases, infections can be fatal. But we will do everything we can to stop that from happening. You do not have to have this operation, Adeliza. But it is your best chance to see.’
    I cannot believe what I have just heard. I had no idea this was why we had come. I thought we were meeting another associate, another nosy parker to poke and prod and study for their own ends.
    I reach for Father’s hand. ‘Why did nobody tell me that the doctor could make me see?’
    ‘We did not know for sure. The doctor had to examine you first. We did not want to raise your hopes to have them dashed.’
    ‘Is it really true? Can he make me see?’
    ‘There are risks. And I am worried about those. You might lose your eyes or become very ill. You might even die. And I cannot bear the thought of it.’
    ‘I do not want to die.’
    ‘I know. And I would never put you in harm’s way. But I believe you are old enough now to understand the risks of this. And I believe you have the right to decide your future. If you accept the dangers, and choose to have this operation, I will espouse that decision. Mother feels the same way. And I believe that God wants you to see the wonder of His creation and He will protect you.’
    ‘Ask the doctor what happens in the operation.’
    Lottie narrates: ‘He says you will have special medicine to make your eyes numb, then he will use a very sharp knife to make a small cut in each eye and remove your lenses. Afterwards, you will be bandaged for many days and stay in bed in a dark room. The eyes should heal on their own. When the bandages are removed, we will know if the operation has worked.’
    I ask Lottie, ‘What should I do?’
    ‘It is your decision.’
    ‘But what would you do?’
    ‘It is not important what I think.’
    ‘It is, it is!’
    ‘What do
you
think, Liza?’
    A Visitor says,
Where is the nurse? She said she would bring remedy and it hurts, it hurts.
    A creeping fear takes hold of me. I twist my fingers. I do not know what to do. I have never felt the need of counsel more. I think and think. Of the operation, the medicine, the knife. Of the time after in the dark room, of infection and destruction, of the boiling fever when I was two and how I suffered. To go through all that and to make it worse, perhaps become so ill, maybe to die, to die, to die. But to see, to see, to see …
    I say, ‘Do it now.’

6
    I have to wait for the operation. Dr Knapp is very busy and treats many people. The waiting is agony. I feel sad in my eyes all days. A legion of hopes and fears punish me.
    I try to imagine what it will be like to see. I turn my face to the light and sense its benevolent warmth and try to stretch my memory back and back to the time before the Time Before, when I was a happy child without cataracts. Yes, my eyesight was bad then, as the doctor called it, high myopia. But I could see things close by, my parents’ faces, the breast, my hands and toes, the blanket, the bottle, the spoon,