Blood Money Read Online Free PDF

from the door. Sami, Bina and Radha’s seven-year-old sister, was watching. She stared at Amber, her big brown eyes wide with horror, then turned and ran, shouting in Hindi.
    Amber was upset. ‘I didn’t think anyone was watching.’ She looked from Li to Hex to Paulo to Alex. She was always so careful and discreet. Now she’d scared a small child.
    There were more footsteps on the veranda and Amber hurriedly tucked her equipment away. It was Bina. Sami peered round her skirts at the five friends in the house. Radha appeared behind them, her face serious.
    ‘You know about medical stuff, right?’ said Bina. It didn’t look like they had come to complain.
    Li asked them, ‘What’s wrong?’
    Amber got up to make room for them on the wooden bench and plumped up the cushions. ‘Come in; sit down.’ Her concern showed in her voice.
    The three sisters sat in a row on the bench. Bina looked worried, Radha miserable. Sami stared at Amber’s abdomen, where she had seen the needle go in.
    Bina asked, ‘Do you know anything about selling kidneys? I’m really worried about Mum.’
    Amber swiftly sat down on the arm of the bench next to Bina. The poor girl, having something like that on her mind, she thought. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘we’ll see what we can find out. Hex—’
    ‘Already onto it,’ replied Hex. He tapped out a few commands on the keyboard. The screen reflection blinked on his face as he called up web pages, searching for information.
    Fascinated, Bina and Radha went and stood behind him. For a brief while their worries were forgotten as they watched Hex use the tiny gadget to read pages from all over the world.
    Hex found a site he was happy with and pointed out a paragraph to them. ‘Look, it says here. One good kidney is enough to keep the body healthy .’ He read from the screen. ‘ The operation to donate a kidney is a serious one but it does not shorten your life. After you have recovered you can work and participate in sports as normal .’
    Two more figures appeared at the door. Bina’s parents, watching and listening.
    Paulo jumped to his feet. ‘Mootama, Naresh,’ he said, ‘come in.’ He offered Mootama the chair he had been sitting on.
    ‘We wondered where the children had gone,’ said Naresh as Mootama made herself comfortable. ‘You have information about selling kidneys?’
    ‘I’ve found a bit,’ said Hex.
    Mootama spoke in a quiet, calm voice. ‘I know I will have to have tests. Can you tell me what they are?’
    ‘Hang on,’ said Hex. ‘I saw something about that.’ He hit the BACK key. ‘Yes, here we go. Donors’ cells must match the recipient’s, otherwise the recipient’s body will destroy the new kidney. Living donations are usually best from people related to the recipient because the kidney is most likely to match their tissues. But it’s also possible to find matches between people who aren’t related at all .’ He flicked to another page. ‘Ah here we are, the tests themselves. They’ll take some of your blood and mix it with some of the recipient’s blood in a test tube. If the cells kill each other, it’s not a good match. If it is a good match, the doctors will check your general health and whether your kidneys are working well. You will have X-rays and scans, but they should not be too uncomfortable.’
    Mootama was nodding as Hex spoke. ‘Yes, this is what I was told.’
    Li was sitting nearest to Mootama. She saw the redness around her eyes; the woman had been crying.
    Naresh stood behind his wife in an attempt to comfort her. But he looked lost too. ‘It is better this way. Otherwise we will have to use a moneylender. We don’t want that. You use a moneylender and you spend your life in debt; you can never pay it off.’
    Was he still trying to convince himself? thought Paulo.
    Mootama took up the story. ‘The moneylenders knew we would need to borrow. They kept offering us loans, but we told them to go away. So they said there was another