Wish You Were Here
Jade screamed as the doctors pulled the baby from her womb.
After cleaning his tiny, messy body, the kind pudgy nurse placed Jade’s newborn in her arms and she looked deeply into the eyes of her first child. She looked at him through tears. Jade cried out of happiness at her the arrival of her son and out of grief for the departure of her sister.
The waiting room was filled with friends and family. Her father sat in a hard chair as he awaited news of his grandson’s birth. A clean bandage covered the area of his neck where he had been grazed by the minister’s bullet. He stared at the clock on the wall and couldn’t help but smile. It was 11:11 in the evening and the wind whistled as it passed the open window of the break room.
Laurie, Tim and John sat close by as they prayed for a safe and healthy birth. They had only just come from the morgue downstairs where they kissed Heather goodbye one last time. Tommy and Jack were at home with their dads, trying to prepare for a new life without their mother. Erin and Angie banged on the soda machine to retrieve their snack or their lost coins. Their anger came more from the loss of their friend than the loss of their soda. Frankie and Jeannie sat in chairs in the corner, staring off into space. Lisa and her family sat huddled together in an adjacent lobby. None of them spoke to each other or anyone else. Their grief filled the room and suspended sound.
The doctor came out and announced to the group that the baby had arrived, alive and well. Although everyone was happy, no hands went joyously into the air and no cheer escaped the group. Heather had only died of a drug overdose hours before and none of them was truly capable of joy quite yet.
After allowing the nurses to take her baby away so that she could have a short nap, Jade closed her eyes and imagined her sister. She remembered her last words.
Look for me, she had said.
The nurses arrived at the nursery and placed the new child into his tiny waiting hospital bed. They cleared his nose and his mouth and tested his reflexes. They cooed over the way he seemed to smile already and at how happy their new little resident was. He didn’t cry or fuss or demand their attention. On the contrary, the baby boy seemed perfectly at peace.
The young nurse who wheeled him in noticed a man looking through the glass. She assumed by the way he stared at the infant that he must be family. She gathered her purse and keys and gave orders to the nurse at shift change. When she walked out of the nursery, she glanced back at the happy man who still smiled and stared at the child.
“He’s a good baby already,” she said and walked down the hall before exiting the double doors.
“Yes,” he answered distractedly after the nurse had already walked out. He was smiling and appeared mesmerized. The man walked toward the glass and placed a hand against it as though he longed to touch the infant.
He pulled a red bandana from his pocket and knotted it at the back of his head, all the while staring at the brand new baby boy in the blue bassinet.
“All is finally well,” he said softly as he reached his hand into the other pocket.