what's in a word?

after two days of straight duty, i almost came home emptyhanded, with no pay from the hospital. and it's all because of my gullibility...or plainly, my stupidity.

at around midnight, one duty night, there was a man who brought in a woman with a posterior splint bandaged on her left leg. she was accidentally hit by his motorbike, while she was walking, and her foot, in turn, hit a big rock. the man told me he could have easily left the woman but his conscience wouldn't let him. plus, he was afraid his wife would beat him to death. i think this was the main reason he didn't run away.

after the surgeon explained to the man the procedure that was going to be done to the patient and an estimate of the cost it would take, he decided to transfer the patient to a government hospital. so, the bill was prepared and i did a referral letter to the hospital of their choice. when everything was ready, we realized the man left! the woman's companion informed us that the man left to withdraw money from the ATM. at the back of our minds, there was a big possibility that the man wasn't coming back. i gave him an hour and if he didn't come back, we're calling the authorities. after more than an hour, he came back, emptyhanded. he said all ATM machines in the area weren't working.

he asked if he could just return the next day to pay for the ER bill. he looked so desperate and i took pity on him. and more importantly, i thought, the patient had to be transferred at once. period. so i told him to write a promisory note and leave his address with us, without checking first with the hospital director or from the higher-ups.

the next day, i told my sister about what happened. she had big doubts about the man coming back to pay the bill. oh no, if he didn't come back, i would be forced to shoulder the bill coz i let him go without him leaving an ID or his driver's license, just his word!

nowadays, a word or a promise doesn't mean much anymore. and yet, when this man pleaded with me and promised he'd be back, i believed him. was i gullible? yes. was i stupid? yes. but i had faith in him. i somehow knew he would be true to his word. i may have started to doubt him a little when he didn't show up by lunchtime, but i was still hopeful he would be back.

i desperately wanted to believe this man was different from the others who would take advantage of stupid people like me. and he didn't fail me. he came a little after 3 in the afternoon, a few pesos short because that was all the money he had, but it didn't matter. what mattered was he was true to his word.